Idea Guy Looking for Developer • Hacker News Board

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#101

Post by raganwald » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:13 AM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #97

raganwald wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may be the lone dissenter... Could it be that there are many business people, some of who have ideas but no ability to execute, some of who can execute but have no ideas, and a very few who have ideas and can execute on them? And like wise could it be that there are many developers, some of whom have ideas but cannot build their dreams, some of whom can build but have no ideas, and a very select few that have id…

In this case, it's really irritating to hear someone play devil's advocate, because you know as well as the rest of us do most of these "ideas guys" don't offer much in return. If they had real domain specific knowledge, big time connections, or heck.. even capital, that'd be a different story. But let's please be honest here - self proclaimed "ideas guys" are looking for free or dirt cheap labor.

I'm sorry you're irritated, but have a little empathy for business guys. Have you ever tried to hire a programmer? It seems like sturgeon's Revelation applies: 90% of everything is crud, and 99.99% of the self-proclaimed anything-guys (business, ideas, programming, investing, whatever) are full of it.

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#102

Post by raganwald » Wed, May 25, 2011, 9:16 AM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #96

I have a great idea for a song, but I just need someone musically inclined to write and perform it. I'd be willing to give them 10% of the earnings when it hits number 1 on the billboard charts.

You're joking, but if Quincy Jones says that to Rod Temperton, you can bet there's a number one song coming out of this :-)

Of course, Quincy was a successful trumpeter and band leader before becoming a musical "idea guy" :-)

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#103

Post by marknutter » Wed, May 25, 2011, 1:01 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #101

marknutter wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case, it's really irritating to hear someone play devil's advocate, because you know as well as the rest of us do most of these "ideas guys" don't offer much in return. If they had real domain specific knowledge, big time connections, or heck.. even capital, that'd be a different story. But let's please be honest here - self proclaimed "ideas guys" are looking for free or dirt cheap labor.

I'm sorry you're irritated, but have a little empathy for business guys. Have you ever tried to hire a programmer? It seems like sturgeon's Revelation applies: 90% of everything is crud, and 99.99% of the self-proclaimed anything-guys (business, ideas, programming, investing, whatever) are full of it.

Interesting perspective. Let's agree that 90% of everybody is full of it :)

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#104

Post by giardini » Wed, May 25, 2011, 1:41 PM UTC

jtbigwoo wrote: post #11

Here's the funny thing about learning to program vs. hiring a developer. I politely decline offers to work on ideas that my non-programmer friends come up with. However, if one of those friends came to me and asked to learn PHP, I'd happily spending a few evenings helping them out. It's a difference that very few "idea guys" seem to understand.

"Helping them out" with PHP? With few exceptions, teaching a non-programmer to write production code takes years.

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#105

Post by MatthewPhillips » Wed, May 25, 2011, 2:08 PM UTC

Travis wrote: post #46

raganwald wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may be the lone dissenter... Could it be that there are many business people, some of who have ideas but no ability to execute, some of who can execute but have no ideas, and a very few who have ideas and can execute on them? And like wise could it be that there are many developers, some of whom have ideas but cannot build their dreams, some of whom can build but have no ideas, and a very select few that have id…

I don't disagree with your statements -- their is definitely a spectrum of each type of cofounder. However, out of the spectrum of idea guys, one signal I look for is their desire to pursue their idea. One great way to do that -- teach themselves to code. It doesn't mean that their ideas aren't any good. But at a glance, if someone has an idea that they believe in enough to teach themselves basic skils... well, then…

Personally I don't want non-programmers coding. It's a waste of both of our times. I want them to be excellent at whatever else they're bringing to the table. If content deals are necessary, I don't want to have to worry about that, I want the idea guy to lock those up for me so that I can just implement it. I want them to help our product go viral on twitter, or get prominently placed in app stores. Those are two things I hate having to do working solo projects.

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#106

Post by lhnz » Wed, May 25, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

wtracy wrote: post #90

lhnz wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I know a heck of a lot of developers who don't have very many ideas. They come into work, do what they are told to do and then go back home to watch TV...

... and these idea people have automatically weeded those developers out by looking for people on GitHub. Maybe they need to be looking somewhere else?

That's actually a good point. Certainly don't look for programmers who already enjoy coding their own ideas, look for programmers that are solely motivated by money and couldn't care less about your idea.

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#107

Post by raganwald » Wed, May 25, 2011, 3:48 PM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #103

raganwald wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry you're irritated, but have a little empathy for business guys. Have you ever tried to hire a programmer? It seems like sturgeon's Revelation applies: 90% of everything is crud, and 99.99% of the self-proclaimed anything-guys (business, ideas, programming, investing, whatever) are full of it.

Interesting perspective. Let's agree that 90% of everybody is full of it :)

Speaking for myself, I have established 90% as my lower bound :-)

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#108

Post by joeyespo » Wed, May 25, 2011, 3:52 PM UTC

Well said. There are some excellent points that I tend to leave out, like opportunity cost and the importance of marketing and promotion for the product to really take off.

This is a good reminder to explain these, since it better puts the idea guys in the dev's shoes.

Re: Idea Guy Looking for Developer

#109

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 05, 2011, 3:45 PM UTC

flyosity wrote: post #19

The thing that always gets me is that "idea guys" seem to assume that "developers" can't get ideas, like it's a skill that only a select few can possess. Guess what? Everyone has ideas, and being a developer is great because we can actually build our ideas.

[deleted]