Ask HN: Where can I find technical co-founders?

Can anyone help me out with some advice on this?

I need to find technical co-founders as I am a sales and marketing focused business owner £2M t/o.

Technical co-founders in the UK (near Bristol) would be ideal as that is where I am based, but I might consider people in the Valley as we may end up there anyway.

My business idea is focused on a concept that would eventually render my own business model redundant.

I don't need work done for free - I am happy to employ someone to de-risk their time investment and I already have 2 investors who will fund us. However, I will self fund for as long as possible.

Any advice is gratefully received.

Thanks.

Nick

Interview lots of people and make it clear that they'll actually get paid. Takes work to get to know folks.

As a follow up, here are the highlights of the lessons taught in that class and what to look for: https://medium.com/how-to-start-a-startup/65-quotes-from-sam...

Bristol has a pretty good startup scene (I've recently moved here). Have you checked out some of the local networking and support groups? There is some stuff concentrated around Engine Shed http://www.engine-shed.co.uk/

If you have finances you could always employ someone in a CTO type role rather than take on a co-founder.

If I were in your position I think I would define what I actually need of this additional senior person. Consider what skills they should have, what input you want of them. Then start chatting to people - if you find someone who seems ideal then you can can find out what kind of terms they would be willing to come on board under.

Flat out hire a technical advisor. Don't bother dangling equity, just pay their rate like you would an attorney - retainer + hourly. Ask them to create a technical roadmap and architecture. With that in hand you can then find a first employee to implement it.

In this way, you can leverage the expensive expertise of a very senior level person where it's most needed and then hire a less experienced and less expensive individual to perform the daily work.

It's like building a house, hire an architect first, but then a general contractor to make it happen.