Why You Don't Need A Programmer
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Why You Don't Need A Programmer
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Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#2This puts into words very clearly my feelings and experience. I have a friend (very smart) who graduated top of class MBA. He has a 'co-founder' with him working on their idea who is also an MBA. They are looking for a coder, and offered %5-%10 stake in the company for virtually building the whole app and everything with no salary. Completely warped view of an app/online service startup.
Of course they would have every right to give me no equity if they payed me the going rate of 100k year.
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#3If I recall, the successful Photo365 app was created with completely outsourced programmers.
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#4Why do the technical people always seem to get the short end of the stick? I have people approaching me on a monthly basis with their 'great idea' and 'all I need is someone to code it', and compensation varies from 'money when it gets big' all the way up to a very enticing 20% equity. After working on a few of these I now ask for cash up front, no equity. I have plenty of my own ideas and not enough time to work on them, tvym.
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#5Good piece. I've talked with numerous people looking to start a startup with the assumption that implementation is just a case of hiring a few devs or outsourcing to n freelancers.
I especially liked the wake up call to developers at the end. Would be very interested to read any reciprocal articles on why technical founders need a business co-founder.
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#6Bookmarked for easy access so I can send this out on a regular basis. Nicely summarized and stated.
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#7Why do the technical people always seem to get the short end of the stick? I have people approaching me on a monthly basis with their 'great idea' and 'all I need is someone to code it', and compensation varies from 'money when it gets big' all the way up to a very enticing 20% equity. After working on a few of these I now ask for cash up front, no equity. I have plenty of my own ideas and not enough time to work on…
We often do get the short end of the stick, and the article addresses that bit, but probably not clearly enough.
The message that I've taken away from it is "dude, hustlers need hackers and hackers need hustlers, so equal footing is probably a good idea."
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#8Why do the technical people always seem to get the short end of the stick? I have people approaching me on a monthly basis with their 'great idea' and 'all I need is someone to code it', and compensation varies from 'money when it gets big' all the way up to a very enticing 20% equity. After working on a few of these I now ask for cash up front, no equity. I have plenty of my own ideas and not enough time to work on…
Technical skills and business acumen aren't necessarily the same thing. Technical people have a tendency to discount the market value of their abilities because they often seem "trivial" once mastered. Also time spent developing technical skills often comes at the cost of developing interpersonal skills that are important at negotiation time (and for detecting BS).
But anyway, my sense is that a lot of these "needs technical co-founder" people have sufficiently poisoned the well that it's getting difficult for them to find bright, bushy tailed nerds still naive enough to accept their terms.
Now if only programmers would demand what they're worth from the game industry..
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#9[deleted]
Re: Why You Don't Need A Programmer
#10What about the money? Most technical people is not looking for a risky undertaking but want just a determined salary. This is where the conflict of interests begins.