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You do need a technical co-founder [video]

ycombinator.com

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Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#31

Post by Alupis »

chefandy wrote: post #23
Alupis wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might I suggest not being "just a programmer" then? In a startup it's extremely important for founders to wear many hats and share many burdens. If you're the person that just goes off into a cave and emerges with beautiful code 6 weeks later and then expects everything to be great - you're wrong. There's a massive amount of foundational work to do to support a startup that technical people don't even think about.

As someone who's rarely been "just a programmer" or "just a designer," that hasn't stopped me from being viewed as such by managers if it's convenient for them to mentally classify me as such.

If that's happening then you're not really a cofounder - you're acting like an employee.

If you're a cofounder you do not have a manager...

Starting a company requires a diverse set of skills, almost none of which are technical. A technical person can excel at those tasks, but they have to have the desire to figure out what needs to be done before asking what needs to be done.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#34

Post by cmrdporcupine »

CodeCompost wrote: post #8

Yeah and then the non-technical co-founder treats you like you're worthless because you're "just a programmer"

It's interesting, how all this stuff is written for the biz-bros, too -- try doing a google search on how to find a non-technical cofounder. Like, say you're an eng, with a technical idea you think would make the foundation of a good startup, and you're looking for someone to "found" the PM/marketing/bizdev side of things. From what I can see, the content/advice doesn't exist, even via YCombinator.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#36

Post by oooyay »

I like Michael's take that the real value in a founder is their ability to recruit the right team. What I don't think was said explicitly here is that typically technical people are progressively marginalized as the business grows. We get some harrowing stories where that doesn't happen, but I don't think that's the standard story. Like they allude to, it's a story of what the people who handle the money and investments value.

Context: Michael is a non-technical founder from Justin.tv and Twitch.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#37

Post by malux85 »

jensneuse wrote: post #17

The inverse is also true. As a technical founder, and maybe even an introvert like me, you should definitely look for a non-technical co-founder who can help you with networking, etc... I found my dream co-founder through YC Co-founder match and what can I say, it's going great. We're focusing on enterprise GraphQL/API solutions ( https://wundergraph.com ) and I benefit from the networking and communication abilities…

It’s great to hear of a YC Co-Founder success, I’m looking for a non-technical cofounder now so I’ll give this a shot

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#38

Post by sonicanatidae »

atoav wrote: post #4

This is what I constantly tell my students: The hard part about doing a tech product for the most part isn't the what beginners think makes tech hard — the hard part is wrangling systemic complexity in a good, sustainable and reliable way. Many non-tech people e.g. look at programmers and think the hard part is knowing what this garble of weird text means. But this is the easy part. And if you are a person who would…

>This is what I constantly tell my students: The hard part about doing a tech >product for the most part isn't the what beginners think makes tech hard — the >hard part is wrangling systemic complexity in a good, sustainable and reliable >way.

I teach the same thing, seemingly every day to my teams. It doesn't work, until it works reliably, within reason.

High-5 from the doers to the teachers! (Both are needed)

For the record, my partner teaches at a major university, just not tech. ;)

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#39

Post by threeseed »

tracerbulletx wrote: post #29

Having started a small business I respect greatly the skills of great sales people and fund raisers and people who are great with people. But I don't respect them when they think they can start a business where they don't take what they actually make seriously and think the product will just work its self out if they sell hard enough.

History has shown them to be right.

There are many terrible products in this world that were successful only because of good sales and marketing. And vice versa.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#40

Post by anovikov »

That's explainable, Dunning-Kruger effect. Whole custom development industry is based on it. Otherwise it will never exist as there are whole agencies with 20-30 year history that never seen a tiny bit of what they produced working in production: everything is a throwaway paid for by these would-be founders.

It's like clouds: AWS exists because enough stupid people don't understand available hosting options and can't make simple cost calculations.

This will never change simply because no one makes money if it does. If those people started looking for a tech-cofounder, then two options:

- they never find one, thus give up on the idea, the money they spend/waste on it will never be spent, thus GDP from this final consumption (which nearly all of custom development is: final consumption, a hobby), will not be created.

- they find someone who will pretend or will falsely believe to be technical. essentially same guy as the original one. and he will waste some time and money with freelancers, become convinced they are all fraud (because this is what happens when you ask for idiotic stuff to be built on impossible budgets - everyone except scammers, decline), then hire some agencies, and waste some money on them, aaaaand it's gone!

How do you explain to people who are not capable of starting a business, that they shouldn't start one?

Bigger question: WHY would you do it? Why not just benefit from them?

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