Why is there such an emphasis on having a coding founder? • Hacker News Board

Post by thesauce25 » Thu, May 03, 2012, 4:02 PM UTC

Why is there such an emphasis on having a coding founder, especially when applying to incubators? The two most common restrictions I've seen when applying to incubators are:

Chances are low if you're applying as a single founder.

Chances are low if you're applying as a non-coding founder.

I happen to fall into the worst part of that hypothetical Venn diagram. The catch is that the app that I'm working on was selected as a Staff Pick in the Android Market back in January. I'm not saying it's perfect (there's still a ton of work to be done) but it shows that it's possible to have success as a noncoding, single founder.

So, why is there such an emphasis on having a coding founder? Since I'm not a coder, I hired a great offshore team to develop the code based on my UI designs, process flows and logic, wireframes, an excel spreadsheet of the algorithms, and database requirements. It's worth noting that I didn't throw piles of money at my team, in fact the first version, the one that was selected as a staff pick, cost me $300 to develop the code. So why is this approach looked down upon by incubators?

I implement SAP for a living, and this style of work is done quite often. For example, much of the technical team is offshore while the functional team works onsite. So why are startups penalized for taking this same approach when applying to incubators? I'd argue that the ability to quickly scale your team based on current project scope is a very potent tool, which outweighs the argument that because of the time constraints of an incubator you have to have a code friendly cofounder to churn out code.

Just something I've been thinking about, I'm curious to hear what everyone else has to say. Thanks for your time.

Just to give reference, the app I built is called Amazing Grocery List, and it's available in the Android Market.

Post by kkt262 » Thu, May 03, 2012, 5:48 PM UTC

You're relying on someone else to build the core of your business. While it works in some cases (maybe yours), there are many problems that can arise. For example, it could be harder and slower to iterate new versions of your product. It can also be expensive, and as a startup you want to keep your expenses as low as possible.

A friend of mine had outsourced development and later on that dev team said they wouldn't finish the product unless they take 50% equity of the company. Of course this happened because he had very little experience outsourcing, so if you have found a reliable team to do your work then it's fine.

I just think incubators are worried about it because a large majority of the time it doesn't end up working.

As far as single founder goes, I've found it invaluable to have a co-founder. Even just for the emotional aspect and to keep each other accountable for the work is an important part of having a co-founder.