I'm not a hacker, I'm just someone who is really enthusiastic about technology! I used to be a program director in a nonprofit doing things like marketing, training, recruitment/selection, grantwriting, strategy. Where can I fit in a start-up environment, B2C or content - and how do I get gain some more "street cred" to prove my mettle? Thanks!
Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#2Learn to hack? At least a bit. That'll give you a bit of street cred.
In the early stages you need to be able to quickly 'muck in'. Learn some linux sysadmin, apache setup, email setup, html/php/mysql etc It'll certainly come in useful.
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#3There is room for fund-raising and marketing at start-ups. If you think you can help start-ups with your skill set, apply for appropriate jobs, and try and network with the industry you want to work in.
Or you can start writing some code, and see what happens. Do you have a website?
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#4This has been done to death:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+b...
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+i...
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+n...
And a dozen variations on the theme.
Edit: The link filter is stripping the quotes off of those terms. They need quotes or they're a bit too off-target (SearchYC.com also seems to refuse to recognize quotes for phrases, which is why I never link to it. Weird and annoying.)
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#5There is room for fund-raising and marketing at start-ups. If you think you can help start-ups with your skill set, apply for appropriate jobs, and try and network with the industry you want to work in. Or you can start writing some code, and see what happens. Do you have a website?
If you don't think hacking is appropriate, then learn the business side. If you can take a bunch of hackers with a good idea and figure out how to turn that into a business and money then you shouldn't have much of a problem. Any coding types worth working with will know that there are "business-y things" that they're better off not doing and will eventually wish they had someone to pick that stuff up.
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#6Have cash or the ability to get it. That's what all those other activities you mentioned really mean.
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#7Learn to hack? At least a bit. That'll give you a bit of street cred. In the early stages you need to be able to quickly 'muck in'. Learn some linux sysadmin, apache setup, email setup, html/php/mysql etc It'll certainly come in useful.
Yeah, I was thinking about doing this. Starting off with a community college class or two this summer.
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#8There is room for fund-raising and marketing at start-ups. If you think you can help start-ups with your skill set, apply for appropriate jobs, and try and network with the industry you want to work in. Or you can start writing some code, and see what happens. Do you have a website?
I don't have a website, just a Posterous blog that doesn't seem relevant to post here. I've created a couple WP blogs and helped out a lot with site design/content for past work roles. It's a great idea to try and do my own thing, if only to at least learn while doing. Thanks.
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#9Learn to hack? At least a bit. That'll give you a bit of street cred. In the early stages you need to be able to quickly 'muck in'. Learn some linux sysadmin, apache setup, email setup, html/php/mysql etc It'll certainly come in useful.
wannabetechgeek, that's truly the best advice you can get. You may think that being a business guy you will easily find hackers to build your idea for equity, but that's just not the case unless you have a lot of hacker connections and an evidently good idea.
I'm a bachelor in economics, but I've learned to use PHP/MySQL/apache/nginx/etc because I need it to build my web analytics app, and because I could not persuade anyone that "competing with Google Analytics" can be a good idea.
Re: Ask HN: How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
#10Technology startups require very specific knowledge about particular topics. For example, general business marketing is very different from marketing on the internet. You may think you know it, but if you've never done it, you don't know it. So how about starting a website or something online, and trying to gain the specific marketing (and content) knowledge to survive in the internet world? This way, you actually will be able to contribute, you gain a clearer picture of how boring the tasks can be, and you have something you can point at to show that you were successful.
Enthusiasm is not helpful. There is little worse than someone who is enthusiastic and thinks he has better ideas on how to design websites than website designers, better ideas on marketing than people who have been doing it for years, and knows exactly how to make money on the net, even though he never made money of it.
There is a lot of domain specific business knowledge required by startups. But learn it first before going out to apply in a start up. Actually doing stuff is a lot more difficult than wanting to do it, and if you want to learn it on the job, you'll be deadweight, and there is no guarantee you will ever enjoy the nitty gritty of running a technological business.