Ask HN: Many Ideas but No "Hacking" Skills

Since you got the very basics down, stop just learning. Start building something Immediately.

  - Design the Outline of Application from user perspective
  - Pseudo code
  - Just Start Coding
  - Learn as you are coding

Instead of just learning random things, it's a lot faster to be building something and learning what you need to know at the very given moment. Pick a small app to build, consider it a big example, if it works, you already have a app and you've learned how to code.

1. I too am not a programmer, but I believe that I have great creative ideas, and I do have an educational background and professional experience in business in marketing. I have a BBA in business mgmt, and MBA in marketing, and I work for myself as a social media marketer. I have been where you are, and I decided not to learn code, but to just research and better understand what I wanted by projects to accomplish with code.

2. When I began my web startup http://www.bidrealm.net, I decided to outsource the programming work through hiring a contractor that I found on http://www.elance.com. Here you can post what it is that you want to create and have people from around the world bid on your project. Here are some tips. Make sure you give your programmer example websites that resemble what you are looking for, with specifics. Only pay your programmer in increments as they complete phases of the project (you can do this electronically via elance.com). Before you hire a contractor, get a full statement of work, that shows exactly what work is to be completed. Us the website's Private Message Board for all communication so that what is said and done is all documented for your safety. Ask a of questions and give the contractor as much detail as to what you want as possible. Check out the programmers posted work on the elance site, and check their references as well. And lastly, you will get the best deal by hiring programmers located in India and China. I hired my programmer from Mumbai, India. He is great, professional, and works for a large reputable company that also has offices in New Jersey, and I saved $45,000 on the programming cost, as opposed to hiring the company I was working with out of Cincinnati, OH. Depending on the magnatude your project, you should pay no more than $10,000. I paid $4500.

3. I would definately apply to YC. I think that Paul Graham and his team can see the potential in you as a person, as well as your idea, and how well you understand it, its opsticals, and how you can overcome them to make your idea a great competitor. It is not required that you be a programmer. A great idea, and real world experience to better understand that idea and how you can develop it, many be a greater asset than being a programmer alone. You can take you and your idea and experience, and plug in any good programmer, and make the startup happen. But if you have just a programmer, and dont have you with your idea and real work experience, the startup goes nowhere.

4. If you're interested in partnering up. Let me know. Again, I am not a programmer, but I have gotten a starup off the ground without it, though learning, hard work, dedication, research, and utilizing resources. And my company is debt free right now, with not investors except myself. Contact me at lorenzo.dickerson@gmail.com if you have any more questions.

Here are my thoughts for what they're worth.

If you hire contractors, it becomes really difficult. Do you know who to hire? You can't just say "I will pay X for you to make Y" and then assume you're good to go for several reasons. First, there are many flaky contractors out there. Since you don't know that much about programming, you wouldn't be able to determine who is a good programmer and who isn't. Likewise, with programs the devil's in the details. That means that, if you aren't paying much, you might get what your spec is, but won't get the details that make it something worth while.

In terms of what to pay them, it's a hard question. Sometimes quality and price run in tandem, but as I've mentioned, if you aren't so much a programmer, you aren't going to be a good filter there. You kinda have to pay by the hour which is crappy because it means that you don't know what the bill will be, but the other way means that you either pay way more than it's worth or you try to skimp and end up getting a developer that quits a month and a half later leaving you just where you started.

And, well, good programmers have better options than being used as cogs. If you were to hire me, I'd want to be a partner in the venture. And I don't mean in terms of the money even. I'd want to be an equal socially - that we respected each other's opinion, liked bouncing ideas off each other, enjoyed being in the same space working, and meshed like that. That contrasts to many arrangements where someone sees themselves as the "vision" person who is so uber-important and then there's some programmer who's a glorified translator who doesn't have the intelligence and vision to be like you. You don't sound like that type and that's wonderful. And project management and prioritization and all that detail work takes a lot of time and you can do that.

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That brings me to another point. Ideas are cheap. Everyone has ideas. Few can execute. When I used to freelance, I'd get people coming to me with ideas all the time. None were that original (I remember one person pitching an idea of "MySpace, but for bands" seeming not to realize that MySpace is already for bands). Facebook didn't become big because they had an idea for a social network. Many had tried before. Facebook became big because their implementation (from the layout of the pages, to the features added, to the annoyances removed, to the architecture that was fast and didn't fail often) worked well. Heck, Gmail is so loved simply because of implementation. Email was a very well defined and well adopted system. Google just made it fast, a joy to use and reliable.

And you can help out somewhat with the implementation in terms of layout, design, and features, but ultimately you need someone really smart at implementing solutions if you want something good.

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Right now, I'd go with #1. Keep learning at least enough that you can filter programmer abilities. Until you can tell a good programmer from someone who talks a good game, you should learn. It's easy for someone to say that they know OO PHP, but most people who say something like that can't tell me what a reference is. It won't eat up too much time and you might find that your learning curve hockey sticks and you don't need outside help.

If you do need outside help, you'll be better equipped to get good outside help rather than being stranded with someone crappy. YC (and other similar programs) are good, but work best when you have a partner. If you're going to take on a partner, make sure they're who you want to be working with and don't be too proud to put them on an equal footing. You don't want someone who is an inferior programmer and the good programmers want a nice happy relationship, not something that feels like a business deal that they're on the short end of. And really, when businesses succeed and people like each other in the business, money is plentiful enough that you'll be happy you enjoy the people you're working with rather than dreading dealing with them.

Good things usually don't come out of negativity. If you want to create something great, you have to treat people like they're great. Then you get the best people, they do the best work, and everyone is happy. I'm not saying you have to give someone more than their due, just that if you decide you're going to hire a programmer for $10/hr you'll get what you pay for - they'll resist the work, make crap, and be of low ability.

Good Luck!

I think you're on the right track. Start hanging out where programmers do. HN is a good start. Go to conferences for ruby/python/web-stuff and talk to people. Make friends, share your idea freely. Tinker. Try to build it yourself but don't expect that to actually happen without years of mistakes. Talk to others about your attempts, problems and successes.

One of two things will happen, eventually. 1) you will actually build it. 2) you will meet someone who you get along well with, who will build it with you.

If you're looking for the shortcut, i don't know.