Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#1

Post by notauser » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 10:14 PM UTC

Help request: How to find programmers for a startup
theplanis.com

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#2

Post by notauser » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 10:16 PM UTC

Finding engineers/programmers seems to be a real problem for potential entrepreneurs.

I thought I might try and write up some of my experiences - I plan to post this to a whole bunch of the London start up lists where the worst offenders hang out. If you have any suggestions for improvements I would appreciate them.

Thanks!

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#3

Post by nzmsv » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 10:33 PM UTC

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things.

The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinking of the idea, and you are unlikely to do anything, ever. If you expect a coder to build something for you, have a plan of work that you will contribute (even though it will change).

Also: "Anyone who hasn't spent a whole night awake writing blog posts, calling Japanese leads and obsessing over traffic numbers will probably view the product as the most important thing in the enterprise."

Should it be "will probably not view the product..."? And what about partnerships a being bad thing to mention? This would be helpful to me too, to know more about what to watch for :)

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#4

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 10:36 PM UTC

nzmsv wrote: post #3

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things. The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinki…

[deleted]

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#5

Post by notauser » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 11:07 PM UTC

nzmsv wrote: post #3

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things. The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinki…

Thanks! Good idea. I have heard both of those things before and it put me off pretty badly.

WRT partnerships...

They often take forever to sign up, even longer to integrate, and frequently don't produce any results because one partner backs out.

For every successful partnership (erm...) I can quote you three partnership development projects from my own experience that bombed without seeing the light of day.

Maybe I'm just scarred by some bad experiences :-)

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#6

Post by johnrob » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 11:31 PM UTC

I'll throw in some more advice: if you're going to start a company w/o a technical person, pick an idea that allows you to pre-sell. Enterprise applications are a good, because it's not uncommon to get commitments from buyers before the product exists. If you can do this, it demonstrates two things to prospective developers:

1) The idea/market has legs

2) You can pull your own weight

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#7

Post by ionfish » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 11:48 PM UTC

nzmsv wrote: post #3

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things. The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinki…

> Should it be "will probably not view the product..."?

I don't think so; the idea that the author is attempting to convey is that people who haven't spent a lot of time working on the parts of a business that aren't building the product won't realise how important those other things are. Admittedly it could have been explained a lot more clearly—I had to go back and read that sentence over too.

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#8

Post by nzmsv » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 11:51 PM UTC

ionfish wrote: post #7

nzmsv wrote: post #3

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things. The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinki…

> Should it be "will probably not view the product..."? I don't think so; the idea that the author is attempting to convey is that people who haven't spent a lot of time working on the parts of a business that aren't building the product won't realise how important those other things are. Admittedly it could have been explained a lot more clearly—I had to go back and read that sentence over too.

Ahh, I get it now :) I thought the sentence was about why this specific product is the most important out all products out there. And it's actually comparing the product to other things involved in making it, like markering and customer support.

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#9

Post by notauser » Wed, Nov 25, 2009, 11:59 PM UTC

ionfish wrote: post #7

nzmsv wrote: post #3

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things. The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinki…

> Should it be "will probably not view the product..."? I don't think so; the idea that the author is attempting to convey is that people who haven't spent a lot of time working on the parts of a business that aren't building the product won't realise how important those other things are. Admittedly it could have been explained a lot more clearly—I had to go back and read that sentence over too.

Thanks for picking that up, rewritten to hopefully be easier to parse.

Re: Help request: How to find programmers for a startup

#10

Post by pgbovine » Thu, Nov 26, 2009, 12:31 AM UTC

also, buzzword-laden mass emails sent from business school students to engineering student email lists are real turn-offs :) if you're a business school student, i'd advise to get some friends who are hackers to read over your recruiting emails before sending them out.