HN Explorer

Wanted: Co-founder.

9 points by kimfuh ↗ HN
Straight to the point. I'm a single founder starting a small company that has the potential to become huge. I emailed YC regarding co-founders and they suggested HN, so here I am. I only qualifications needed are to be well versed in social network advertising and a massive amount of free time. That's it. I can't discuss the company details here but, obviously, it has something to do with social networks and advertising. Let's go.

31 comments

[ 9.0 ms ] story [ 77.1 ms ] thread
cperciva
I emailed YC regarding co-founders and they suggested HN, so here I am [...] I can't discuss the company details here [...]

If your idea is so fragile that discussing what it is will destroy it, you really don't have anything useful.

fizx
I think there's a difference between discussing it, and discussing it somewhere it will pop up on your competition's Google Alerts. ;)
kimfuh
It's not that it's fragile. The key with this project is to be the first. I've never seen it done before so I want to do it before anyone else does. Sorry for being so vague. Thanks for the input though.
kls
This is usual a sign that someone with more money will reproduce your success once you prove the credibility of the market. If it is that simple to reproduce then you don't have a strong product. If it is a strong product then you can tell the world and it does not matter. Some blasting Facebook and twitter with advertising idea, that anyone can set up with a server and some JavaScript is neither novel or a strong idea for a long term viable business.
coryl
You've captured the interest of absolutely no one. You can try again though, this is a fickle bunch.
fizx
I like this group--how it's pretty nice and brutally honest at the same time.
kimfuh
Thanks. Wasn't my intention to catch everyone's attention though. Just one person.
pook
The requirements are rather vague. Who nowadays does not consider himself "well versed in social networks" and "not too busy to make money"?

Seriously, you've got to narrow the pool a bit. Telling us your startup plan will do X will not mean some random entrepreneur will suddenly work out an entire functional plan for X'ing.

"Something to do with social networks" is about akin and officially evil as a freelance project offering $50 to clone Facebook.

kimfuh
I'll definitely reveal more details once i've seen a reply that piques my interest. Thanks.
niyazpk
People well versed in social networks will tell you that it is the other way around. People will reply if they see an ad that pique their interest.

This thread has a lot of comments from people who are interested in your post. All they want is a few more details.

kimfuh
That's my dilemma. I want to give more details but I can't without messing up my game plan. So for lack of a better solution, I will be waiting for someone who will jump off the page then discuss the project further with that person. Anyway, i'm going to muscle through with or without a co-founder. I just want to see this thing exist. And I want to do it right. Thanks.
cperciva
Who nowadays does not consider himself "well versed in social networks" and "not too busy to make money"?

I'll cheerfully admit that I'm pretty clueless about social networks; and I'm too busy on my own startup to join someone else's. :-)

But I agree that the requirements are rather broad.

kimfuh
Again, I would love nothing more than to be extremely specific and go into detail, but I can't. Anyway, this may not be the right forum to look. Thanks.
kimfuh
It's about monetizing Twitter.
pook
Considering that http://www.google.com/search?q=monetize+twitter gets >6M results, including several lists of strategies, you may wish to be a bit more informative.
kimfuh
I would if I could, but this concept is so ridiculously simple that I can sum it all up in one short sentence.
coryl
If its adwords for Twitter, its been done.
kimfuh
Definitely not adwords for Twitter. I've looked. Hard. I've never seen this done before so i'm taking a leap of faith.
coderdude
No offense, but this reads like a posting on a game development forum looking for an engine programmer to complete his awesome vision.

Edit: cperciva made a good point. If you're idea is so fragile that merely finding out about it would give your competitors the upper hand, then they're probably going to have the upper hand no matter what you do. Is your startup very early stage, and explaining your idea would give them months of dev time?

kimfuh
I already have a programming team. What I need is someone who is familiar with social network ad rates and the companies who are heavy social network advertisers so that I can price my product properly. Thanks.
coderdude
Alright, I made my edit before I saw you respond, so you can perhaps disregard the last bit about being at too early a stage.
jrockway
Set a price. If nobody buys, it's too high. If it becomes wildly popular, you probably set it too low, but hey, it's wildly popular.

The reality is that nobody wants to advertise on social networks, because nobody that knows how to use Twitter wants to see ads. Have fun with that.

coryl
Okay HN boys, I think we can figure this out. Here's what we have so far:

- Its about monetizing twitter

- Needs someone familiar with social network ad rates and companies that buy social advertising so that he can price his product properly

- "Ridiculously simple" that it can be summed in 1 sentence

- Not adwords for twitter apparently, claims he's never seen this done before.

The fact that he needs someone familiar with selling to companies means the buyers will be businesses. The fact that its monetizing twitter means his publishers will be twitter users. So he'll be facilitating advertising from businesses to tweets on twitter users. I suppose publishers can join his network, select categories of products/services they're ok with tweeting about, and then get paid for tweeting out sponsored messages.

Anyone else have hypotheses?

kimfuh
I've got it. I'll know on the 13th if i've made it through to the YC interview. If I do, i'll just ask for their advice re cofounders. If not, i'll throw my plan wide open here and see. Thanks.
jrockway
Not to sound rude, although I will admit that your tone annoys me. Why would someone need you for this? If they already have the key assets needed to make this project successful, what value would you add? The ability to annoy HN?
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pclark
coming up with the idea counts for nothing
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jrockway
But what if it's a really good idea, like monetizing Twitter somehow!?