14 November 2011

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I gave a talk to the Wharton MBA E-club (I think?) earlier today about the difficulties of finding a technical co-founder.  If I find the time, should probably turn this into a post, but for now, slides for the curious 

Also available at git.to/cofoundertalk

TL;DR:

Finding a Technical Cofounder: Slides from talk

Cheat Sheet

  • Don't spend your time looking for a technical co-founder, it's not an efficient use of your time. Instead, either:
    1. Learn to code
      • Step needing to rely on others for execution
      • Meet technical people
      • Managing technical people becomes way easier
    2. Get an external team
      • Don't offer equity
      • Agile:
        • Weekly useful versions of the product
        • Pay weekly or hourly
        • A successful project doesn't 'end'
      • Peanuts ==> Monkeys
    3. Avoid a 'tech play'
      • Use white-labeled 'off the shelf' services where available
      • Fake your back-end: launch with only a pretty design, do hard work manually
      • License the tech from a company in a different vertical or geographic location
  • Other takeaways:
    • No NDAs
    • Get a technical advisor
    • Ask for advice, not employment
    • Co-founders are looking for competence and traction

PS. You should me on twitter @alexeymk

 

Tags: #entrepreneurship #recruiting-penn-engineers