How can a non-hacker (with very basic C++ knowledge only) start a start-up successfully? • Hacker News Board

Re: How can a non-hacker (with very basic C++ knowledge only) start a start-up successfully?

#21

Post by cwilbur » Wed, Apr 18, 2007, 3:53 PM UTC

andyjenn wrote: post #19

pixcavator wrote: post #13

I am in the same position as you. All suggestions here seem reasonable but my advice is don't wait until you have a hacker cofounder. Use rentacoder and try to create a prototype.

I'm using eLance - this is just to get something started and then I'm hacking the features I want myself as and when I learn...oh yeah, and then get a co-founder with an unfeasibly large brain who can help you out!

Rentacoder and eLance are neat ideas, but they have the same problem that the job market as a whole does: you want good code from good hackers, and if you're not technically inclined yourself, you will have a very hard time determining who is a good hacker and who just talks the talk.

If you want a technical startup, you need a technical cofounder. "I'll just outsource the development" will doom you to failure. I know this because I am an employee of a startup that thought that way, and learned the hard way that execution matters; and spending umpty-million dollars in the first year on outsourced projects that you wind up needing to pay umpty-thousand-dollars in the first year of operation to replace -- well, let's just say that, even with venture capitalists involved, burn rate matters, and money you spend stupidly still counts as an expense.

Re: How can a non-hacker (with very basic C++ knowledge only) start a start-up successfully?

#22

Post by JohnN » Wed, Apr 18, 2007, 5:04 PM UTC

cwilbur wrote: post #20

JohnN wrote: post #18

i am working on a startup at the mo but am not technical, we got someone to build a proportype (by paying) but realise if you wanna iterate and create a decent app, you cant keep paying people. I wonder how kul and harjeet YC Alumni managed (as they are not coders) the solution to my problem is simple a) im learning how to code from the ground up xhtml, css, php, mysql and then prob move on to ruby (this will take ma…

As someone with a bit of technical skill: when the greatest motivation to work on a project is the money you'll pay me, I have a 9-5 mentality, because that's what you're paying for. When the greatest motivation to work on a project is the insane coolness of the project itself, things are different. Then, the money is just a bonus. Can you figure out something about your idea that hackers will find cool ?

yer, definitely, and thats how im sellin it, in fact ive sold it to one technical person and he is willin to come onboard. prob is our site is php he is a c# man. i think he will be able to pick it up though. its quite strange really, i work for a technology company but there are no coders! lol

Re: How can a non-hacker (with very basic C++ knowledge only) start a start-up successfully?

#23

Post by pixcavator » Wed, Apr 18, 2007, 5:37 PM UTC

cwilbur wrote: post #21

andyjenn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using eLance - this is just to get something started and then I'm hacking the features I want myself as and when I learn...oh yeah, and then get a co-founder with an unfeasibly large brain who can help you out!

Rentacoder and eLance are neat ideas, but they have the same problem that the job market as a whole does: you want good code from good hackers, and if you're not technically inclined yourself, you will have a very hard time determining who is a good hacker and who just talks the talk. If you want a technical startup, you need a technical cofounder. "I'll just outsource the development" will doom you to failure. I kno…

When I have "umpty-million dollars", I'll start worrying about that.

Re: How can a non-hacker (with very basic C++ knowledge only) start a start-up successfully?

#24

Post by pg » Wed, Apr 18, 2007, 5:40 PM UTC

ced wrote: post #17

pg wrote: post #11

Get a hacker cofounder.

Didn't you write something about it being quasi-impossible for a non-technical person to recognize a great hacker?

Probably the best answer is to learn enough about hacking to recognize people who are good at it, like Jobs did.

Re: How can a non-hacker (with very basic C++ knowledge only) start a start-up successfully?

#25

Post by pashle » Fri, Apr 20, 2007, 10:25 AM UTC

rokhayakebe wrote: post #6

One of the first American Billionaires once said he could answer any question asked. He called in a meeting and ask each journalist to come armed with top notch questions (of course industry related ), which they did. The day of the meeting they were surprised to see 16 phones at the Great Entrepreneur 's desk. For each question asked he pick up a phone and call someone who then, somehow, provided the proper answer.…

The billionaire is Henry Ford. The version I was told was that he was on the stand, and that was his reply to one of the prosecutor's questions. Jobs also liked to call himself the "Henry Ford of Personal Computing".