Perth has a problem at the moment, there aren’t enough developers or tech-knowledgeable people for all the startups. Getting someone on board with your idea who actually knows how to build it is a key indicator of success. Here’s some tips.
Understand the Tech Co-Founder’s Point of View
Most developers in the startup scene have been approached by a lot of startup founders hoping to recruit them as tech co-founder. A lot of them will have already made the mistake once of being a tech co-founder purely for equity, and therefore will have been burnt once already.
You have to understand their point of view. They have a marketable skills in a market that desperately needs those skills. But they must take most of the risk in the early stages of a startup. And if it’s going to succeed, it’s all on them.
A Tech Co-Founder is an Equal Partner, not an Employee
A lot of startup founders radiate the attitude that developers are just nerds, not very likeable people who can push the nerd-buttons and make the thing. The founders aren’t interested in the developer’s opinions, or experience, they just want someone who will build their idea for free and not ask too many difficult questions.
A tech co-founder is not a developer who is willing to work for you for equity. A tech co-founder is the other half of your management team. They will assume complete control of the product development. You will not be able to countermand their decisions. You have no power or control over a tech co-founder, because they’re an equal partner in your business. If this doesn’t sound like a great situation to you, then you’re not looking for a tech co-founder. You’re looking for a developer who will work for free. Try getting an intern instead.
And That Means Equal.
It’s not uncommon to see founders offering 10% or 20% of the equity in the business to tech co-founders. There’s a few things wrong with this:
- the tech co-founder takes most of the risk (see below). So they should get most of the reward.
- the equity really shouldn’t be split up at the start. The global startup community have worked out all sorted of vesting schemes to deal with this, but the basic idea is that everyone earns equity as they go, in return for actual achievements made by the business.
- being offered 10% of an idea in return for building 100% of it is an immediate sign that the founder has no idea what they’re doing.
If you’re really after a tech co-founder then they’re an equal partner in the journey.
Help With the Risk
From the tech co-founder’s point of view they’re about to commit to months of hard work before having something ready that you can start selling. They need to know that when they’ve finished the MVP you will be able and willing to sell it for enough money to make it all worthwhile.
If they can’t make your product idea work, then it’ll be them staying up late at night trying to work it out. If the startup fails because the tech doesn’t work, that’s on them. They’re responsible for all the technology problems of a new product (and there are a lot).
The tech co-founder takes all the risk in an early-stage startup. Why should they join your team and take all this risk? Have an answer for how you’ll help with that.
Know Your Value
What role are you going to play in the team? What skills do you bring to the table? If you’re just “the ideas person” who comes up with great ideas, then you’re effectively worthless. Everyone has ideas, the value lies in being able to make them real. Can you sell? Can you market? Can you handle company formation and administration? Can you pitch for investment, and do you have the right network contacts to get your pitch heard? What experience have you had to prove you can do these things? Defining what actual, constructive role you will play in the company is critical, because otherwise how is this team going to work?
This sounds harsh, but remember that tech co-founders meet with potential co-founders frequently. If you present yourself as just this person with a great idea, that’s not worth much, because everyone has great ideas. If you present yourself as this awesome marketing person, with ten years experience in creating audiences, and your research indicates there’s a gap in the market here, and you just need a dev to test it with an MVP, then that’s much more compelling.
Show That Your Plan is Better Than Theirs. With Numbers
Every developer in the community has a side project that they could turn into a business, usually several. They have the power to build that, all by themselves, and take 100% of the gains.
If they join your team, however, they will get at most 50% of whatever gains there are. So your plan needs to be at least twice as good as anything they can up with. You need to be able to prove that to them, with numbers. Get your validation work done, have customers lined up, have the pitch available that show the exact problem you’re solving, key points of the problem that the solution must address, how many people have this problem and would buy this solution. All in black and white and with evidence to back it up.
Trust
The tech co-founder will assume responsibility for the technology in your product. With that responsibility comes authority. You are not in control of the technology or the product development, they are. You need to be able to trust that they’re making the right tech decisions. If you can’t trust them, you’ll end up killing the startup through co-founder drama.
This is the “Hire Slow, Fire Fast” principle; you’re about to embark on a 10-year sea journey with this person through rough weather in a very small boat. Are they the right person to be doing that with?
Learn to Code
Learning to code is not necessarily about you being able to code the product yourself. It’s more about being able to understand some of the conversations you will be having. The tech co-founder is entirely responsible for the technology in the product, but they will probably want to bounce some ideas around and get your opinion. Improving the quality of your opinions about tech is helpful. It won’t make your opinions anything more than opinions, that the tech co-founder can ignore if they want, but it will help.
Most techies in the community have learned at least the basics about marketing, company administration, sales, design, etc, for the same reasons. They want to be able to at least understand the conversations about the product and business.
Be in the Community
Turn up to all the events. Attend the hackathons, especially Startup Weekend. Attend the learning to code courses and talk to other people there. Get known in the community and if a developer turns up looking for an opportunity, be the person they will be directed to by everyone.
Do not turn up to tech-only events saying “hey everyone I’m looking for a tech co-founder for my startup. Which one of you propellor-heads is interested?”, you will fail. People do this all the time, and every single one of them fails.
Bring Other People In
A great source of tech co-founders is commercial programmers who are currently working full-time for large employers. They usually have a desire to do a startup and eventually be their own boss and escape the enterprise IT rat-race. And they’re usually good programmers with great experience.
The downside is that they’re stuck in the money trap: they usually have mortgages and kids to feed, and can’t take risks with that. So they can only work on the startup in their spare time, after the 10-hour-a-day job and the wife and kids. They’re lucky to get 5 hours a week in which to focus on this project.
But some of them are capable of building amazing things in 5 hours a week, and there are some who are unemployed, or whose life circumstances mean they have time to do this properly. Go out and find them.
If You Can’t Find Them, Join Them
Your idea is burning a hole in the back of your head, obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. But the reason your idea may not be getting any takers might be that it sucks.
There are tech founders out there who need non-tech co-founders to help with their idea, because they don’t have all the skills required. Consider joining their team, if you have skills they will need. It won’t get your idea built, but it will get you experience, credibility, more skills, contacts and (if you’re lucky) enough success that you can fund your whole idea yourself. Much better than just endlessly pitching your idea to uninterested strangers.
Team First, Idea Second
Perth has a real problem with solo founders. Too many of our startups are solo, when teams are known to succeed more. Everyone’s trying to make their idea work, instead of trying to make a successful business. Focus on the team instead of the idea. Find some people who you like and can work with, with the necessary skills to make products and sell them, and go through multiple ideas until you find one that works and makes you all millionaires.
Then you can hire a dev to build the idea that’s still burning a hole in the back of your head.
