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"You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

metamorphblog.com

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Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#11

Post by ubu »

smanek wrote: post #6
ubu wrote: post #4

YC sounds alot like the c-founder type you describe. it doesn't look that way with all the hype but think about it... ( like a good engineer) would google founders have fallen for YC's offer?

Yeah, except YC takes ~5% while the annoying business c-founder type take ~80%. And I'd argue YC even provides considerably more value than most 'business' co-founders.

it's not about the % YC or any venture capital. it's about your judgment of what's added to your startups value. of all the startups applying, being select etc a few become hits. the question is how much of it was do to the founders and the work they put in, how much with the idea and how much with SPECIFIC things that YC brings in. Not the hype. Also can it be brought in otherwise and would it have become a sucess without YC. I would ask the same thing about veture capital. sure it feels good when someone hands you lots of $$$$ and say here work on your idea but I wouldn't take it if it's not going to be usefull or need. if you think about its kind of ironic because YC understands this and so gives only few dollars to start. it realy isn't needed at that stage but then neither is YC.

by the way if I had even 1% of google I'd be so rich :)

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#13

Post by torpor »

I was a co-founder for a major ISP in the 90's, but got treated like the Engineering-Bitch instead of as an equal, so I left .. within a year, the guy I started the company with was worth millions, and I was still churning through startup after startup .. okay, I escaped with my own integrity intact (avoided having to deal with a later Federal investigation into the investors of the company) but there is a lesson to be learned: If you're a tech guy, always get the ducks in a row when you have to do business with an entrepreneur whose primary purpose is to make themselves rich at the expense of others ..

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#14

Post by arethuza »

nostrademons wrote: post #8

Caveat on the "hire college students": You need at least someone on the engineering team that's experienced and has seen all the ways that large systems can go terribly, horribly wrong. Ideally that'll be one of the founders, because you'll have a tough time convincing someone experienced to join otherwise. But occasionally someone loves the product idea enough to commit. Otherwise, a team of inexperienced college st…

"inexperienced college students is very likely to build a large system that goes terribly, horribly wrong"

Maybe you should hire them when it is their third system? First one goes horribly wrong because of lack of engineering, second goes horribly wrong because of over-engineering (the well known second-system syndrome) and by the third they should be ready to go.

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#15

Post by MediaSquirrel »

DaniFong wrote: post #5
MediaSquirrel wrote: post #2

I hope people find this useful.

Hey, this is a really good post! Also your startup is really cool. If you want to improve conversions, make sure the speaker text homepage says something really specific about what you do. Something like "With SpeakerText, clicking on a transcript zips you to the right time in a YouTube video!" It wasn't obvious that this was what you did when I looked at it.

Yep. Our site kind of sucks right now. We def need to improve it.

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#16

Post by thomaspaine »

shin_lao wrote: post #10
nostrademons wrote: post #8

Caveat on the "hire college students": You need at least someone on the engineering team that's experienced and has seen all the ways that large systems can go terribly, horribly wrong. Ideally that'll be one of the founders, because you'll have a tough time convincing someone experienced to join otherwise. But occasionally someone loves the product idea enough to commit. Otherwise, a team of inexperienced college st…

I agree. I'll go even further: hire only experienced people at the beginning, so that they can mentor college kids when you hire them (fresh new blood is always a nice addition). If you can't convince experienced people to come on board, something is wrong with your project.

The problem is that experienced people cost a lot of money, and since they are typically older with things like a family to support, mortgage to pay, etc, are going to be more risk averse.

Especially in the early stages, all projects are more or less a crapshoot, so in order to tempt someone away from that 200k a year job, you're going to need to hand over a lot of equity, raise a lot of money, or overpower them with sheer force of charisma.

If you want to hire five of these people, you better be heavily bankrolled, or rolling natural 20s.

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#17

Post by andrewcooke »

arethuza wrote: post #14
nostrademons wrote: post #8

Caveat on the "hire college students": You need at least someone on the engineering team that's experienced and has seen all the ways that large systems can go terribly, horribly wrong. Ideally that'll be one of the founders, because you'll have a tough time convincing someone experienced to join otherwise. But occasionally someone loves the product idea enough to commit. Otherwise, a team of inexperienced college st…

"inexperienced college students is very likely to build a large system that goes terribly, horribly wrong" Maybe you should hire them when it is their third system? First one goes horribly wrong because of lack of engineering, second goes horribly wrong because of over-engineering (the well known second-system syndrome) and by the third they should be ready to go.

ah yes, the mythical inexperienced college student working on their third system...

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#18

Post by hga »

ciscoriordan wrote: post #7

I like the juxtaposition of "You need a Co-Founder, not an Engineering Bitch" and "Recruit college kids. They're young, hungry and don't need of a living wage."

Heh, but a few items later is "Treat everyone you hire like a co-founder." So overall he's saying "You don't need any [fill in the blank] Bitch." (And it's implied that the Engineering Non-Bitch is experienced.)

To echo others, this is an exceptionally good version of the standard "I've been there" startup advice.

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#19

Post by hga »

andrewcooke wrote: post #17
arethuza wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"inexperienced college students is very likely to build a large system that goes terribly, horribly wrong" Maybe you should hire them when it is their third system? First one goes horribly wrong because of lack of engineering, second goes horribly wrong because of over-engineering (the well known second-system syndrome) and by the third they should be ready to go.

ah yes, the mythical inexperienced college student working on their third system...

I'm sure there are some out there. You'll probably have to pay them a bit more, but if you can find any of them....

Re: "You Need a Co-Founder, Not an Engineering Bitch..."

#20

Post by shin_lao »

thomaspaine wrote: post #16
shin_lao wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I'll go even further: hire only experienced people at the beginning, so that they can mentor college kids when you hire them (fresh new blood is always a nice addition). If you can't convince experienced people to come on board, something is wrong with your project.

The problem is that experienced people cost a lot of money, and since they are typically older with things like a family to support, mortgage to pay, etc, are going to be more risk averse. Especially in the early stages, all projects are more or less a crapshoot, so in order to tempt someone away from that 200k a year job, you're going to need to hand over a lot of equity, raise a lot of money, or overpower them with…

Well, first of all don't go to people thinking why they might turn you down.

People don't care about money, as long as you can pay them enough to pay the rent / mortgage and the little extras in life. If you don't have that kind of money, you're doomed anyway.

Offer them a dream job. If they believe in the project, they know money will come later.

On a really tight budget? Recruit less. 2 seniors instead of 5 juniors.

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