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Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

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Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#11

Post by fgimenez »

mahmud wrote: post #2

You just took the first step. The second step is to figure out what you want to do. If you don't have ideas of your own, ask them to come forward with their own. Use hackers to find other hackers; too many times I found a guy or a gal with a good business brain between their ears, but things fell apart because they're surrounded with too many of their college buddies and frat-brothers who all want a cut in the deal.…

Wow. With all the MBA bashing lately (more so on reddit), younger programmers like myself really begin to fear them like the plague. This is the first truly convincing argument as to why I would want to work with them. Heck, I couldn't see myself wanting to work without this treatment. Where do I sign up?

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#12

Post by jaaron »

rnugent wrote: post #8

First of all forget the "humble" requirment. Anyone that is senior and has crew knows what his value is and is not going to be impressed with a suit. Second, if you have a M$FT based idea then you're in the right place. If not you need to look at California. That's where the rest of the talent is. Lastly, avoid the offshore crowd. They will pick your pocket as sure as if you where there in person. There is no such th…

Agree on dropping the 'humble' part. Obviously you don't want to work with an egotistical jerk, but you definitely want someone who knows his/her worth and isn't a pushover.

Your tech partner should be a partner, that requires mutual respect.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#13

Post by mahmud »

fgimenez wrote: post #11
mahmud wrote: post #2

You just took the first step. The second step is to figure out what you want to do. If you don't have ideas of your own, ask them to come forward with their own. Use hackers to find other hackers; too many times I found a guy or a gal with a good business brain between their ears, but things fell apart because they're surrounded with too many of their college buddies and frat-brothers who all want a cut in the deal.…

Wow. With all the MBA bashing lately (more so on reddit), younger programmers like myself really begin to fear them like the plague. This is the first truly convincing argument as to why I would want to work with them. Heck, I couldn't see myself wanting to work without this treatment. Where do I sign up?

I'm looking for Common Lisp programmers with Hunchentoot, SBCL, JavaScript and nginx skills, and also graphic designers who can do excellent corporate branding and identity.

It's for an online targeted ad delivery platform. The personal email is in my profile.

I will try to be for you the boss I never had.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#14

Post by octane »

> I am a business guy. I have worked at large companies and managed big businesses. I have started tech and non-tech companies as a founder and an early employee. I have raised money. I have written specs. I have sold stuff to big companies and consumers.I have cut deals with big companies and big brands. Some of these deals have panned out. Some have not. Some of these ventures have been successful. Some have been cluster fucks.

A good co-founding engineer will have done all this and more. You need to give him 35% or more and have a stellar track record to boot.

If that's not the equity ballpark you're playing in, and you can't bring more to the table than "well I've started a couple of businesses and I can do sales", you're looking for the wrong type of person. What you want is a freelance developer that takes $10k and makes a prototype for you. That way you can keep 100% of your equity.

You might think you got lucky if you find some young kid in his early 20s to do most of the work for very little equity and almost no cash, but think about what happens to your business when he decides you're an asshole 6 months later and quits. Just use your imagination to think about how ugly that can get. Especially since he's the one running your entire tech infrastructure.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#15

Post by ckjohnston »

vaksel wrote: post #5

Finding a techie cofounder off the street at the idea stage is next to impossible. Because if someone really has the entrepreneurial spirit they are already doing their own startup. You gotta hire. Then at the end of the project, if the guy works out, you can offer him cofounder role. As a "business guy" get ready to pretty much cover all the bills while the other guy codes, no matter if he is a hire or a cofounder.…

vaksel is right. I've seen recommendations on here before about different sites to find tech co-founders and seen the "go to tech meetups" advice. But the real problem is that the programmer you want probably already has his own pet projects. If you want a tech cofounder, you should pay him to develop a prototype.

As a business co-founder you're probably not doing much in the early stages. You come with an idea, which is essentially worthless without the tech guy. So it's only fair that you pay him for the prototype. At that point, both of you will be more comfortable teaming up.

Also, I would make sure you have the tech guy assign any and all IP ahead of time. You'll need this assignment if you want to raise money in the future.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#16

Post by octane »

mahmud wrote: post #2

You just took the first step. The second step is to figure out what you want to do. If you don't have ideas of your own, ask them to come forward with their own. Use hackers to find other hackers; too many times I found a guy or a gal with a good business brain between their ears, but things fell apart because they're surrounded with too many of their college buddies and frat-brothers who all want a cut in the deal.…

You make software engineers sound like children. We're adults. You embarrass me.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#17

Post by mahmud »

octane wrote: post #16
mahmud wrote: post #2

You just took the first step. The second step is to figure out what you want to do. If you don't have ideas of your own, ask them to come forward with their own. Use hackers to find other hackers; too many times I found a guy or a gal with a good business brain between their ears, but things fell apart because they're surrounded with too many of their college buddies and frat-brothers who all want a cut in the deal.…

You make software engineers sound like children. We're adults. You embarrass me.

We're all adults, but many of us start in the industry as professionally child-like. I started hacking out of high school.

By the time we mature, we probably wont fall for an enthusiastic "business guy"; we know both computing and business better than anyone. I wasn't out to embarrass you, all I wanted was to help your younger self, or others its age.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#18

Post by javert »

matthewer wrote: post #9

I am getting tired of seeing this question every week. There needs to be some sort of Hacker News FAQ.

How about somebody build it and register the domain name hnfaq.com. We can just post the link to it every time someone asks a common question. The hnfaq.com site would list the commonly asked questions, and give links to threads addressing the topic.

(I assume PG is not interested in this, otherwise it would exist already.)

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#19

Post by yrashk »

vaksel wrote: post #5

Finding a techie cofounder off the street at the idea stage is next to impossible. Because if someone really has the entrepreneurial spirit they are already doing their own startup. You gotta hire. Then at the end of the project, if the guy works out, you can offer him cofounder role. As a "business guy" get ready to pretty much cover all the bills while the other guy codes, no matter if he is a hire or a cofounder.…

"cofounder" and "first employee" are very different roles. Cofounder takes risks, participates in the whole company development, etc.

What you're talking about is a first employee that is also paid with equity.

And, by the way, there is a way to offer an equity right from the beginning — stock options that vest over time.

Re: Ask HN: How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?

#20

Post by alex_c »

javert wrote: post #18
matthewer wrote: post #9

I am getting tired of seeing this question every week. There needs to be some sort of Hacker News FAQ.

How about somebody build it and register the domain name hnfaq.com. We can just post the link to it every time someone asks a common question. The hnfaq.com site would list the commonly asked questions, and give links to threads addressing the topic. (I assume PG is not interested in this, otherwise it would exist already.)

http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive
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