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Tech guy looking for business person co-founder

10 points by isalmon ↗ HN
Hi. I have quite unusual problem.

I've been a web developer for 5+ years and I can say that I became a PHP (and LAMP in general) guru.

I can build any kind of web application and I had experience handling website with thousands of visitors per hour.

On the other hand, I'm an 'entry-level entrepreneur'. I'm finishing my MBA at Babson College with concentration in Entrepreneurship and I'd like to start a company after graduation.

Right now I'm working on a prototype of one idea that I think is great (yeah, of course, everyone thinks his idea is great). My problem is that I can't implement it on my own. I can build the whole application from scratch, but I can't sell it neither to customers nor to VC's. I'm just not that kind of guy. So I need somebody to team up with, but I just don't know where to look for. My college is one of the options, but so far I had no luck...

Can anybody suggest the best strategy of finding a good BUSINESS co-founder? I know there are a lot of people looking for technical co-founder but where are they??

It's probably the biggest decision I have to make now and I want to do it right.

Thanks.

17 comments

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alain94040
You'd be hugely popular at the co-founders meetup (http://www.meetup.com/Co-Founders-Wanted-Meetup/)

The real question is how would you choose who to work with? How do you separate the fake biz people from the genuine ones?

Here's the beginning of an answer: pitch your idea. Let the business person tell you how to change it to make it better. Then decide if that advice is sound or not.

PS: a business person who tells you your idea is great and offers no improvement is just a consultant trying to steal your money.

isalmon
Thanks for the link. I think they are located somewhere in Silicon Valley area, while I'm in Boston - I'll try to find something similar here.

As for your question - I think it's better to find somebody who you can really work with rather than an excellent business person whom you will hate. So personality does matter here. But it's a good question, I'll have to think more about that. In any case it's a good problem to have - so far I have nobody to choose from.

minalecs
I don't understand why you can't do everything yourself, or at least learn or try or why can't you sell it to customers or vc's. I am like you a single founder on techside, and I am very much trying to put my self out of my comfort zone, by talking to people, attending more events, and public speaking. What I look for in a co founder is they had a previous startup/s or has successfully raised money in the past. And really believes in the idea. In the beginning of any tech startup, most of what needs to be done will fall on your shoulders.
isalmon
I agree, but I think good co-founder will balance me in a good way. I hate public speaking and all this networking stuff (that's might be the reason why I'm in this position right now). On the other hand I like to work in a team.

Plus I'm not a native American, so for many VC's it's a red flag.

amirmc
I think you'll need to be a bit more specific with regards to what you're looking for in a biz co-founder. You've already got an MBA (pretty much) so what d'you expect the biz guy to bring to the table that you won't already know something about?

The only thing I can think of would be market experience i.e they've worked somewhere in the industry you're targeting.

isalmon
Thanks for the comment, good point actually. Market experience is exactly what I'm looking for. Plus some sales skills I guess. I cannot call potential customers and ask to try my product - it's not my best suit. Also I think that no one should start a business alone (especially his/her first business).

MBA itself does not give you the skills and most importantly experience.

amirmc
I think you're selling yourself short if you believe you "can't sell it neither to customers nor to VC's".

I expect selling to VCs requires a certain amount of posturing and hubris but doing some Customer Development should be possible for anyone. Customer Development is not sales. You might find it difficult at first but when you realise you're offering something of value to someone it feels a lot better.

Unless you can reveal what market you're in, the advice you get here is going to be pretty generic. If we knew that you were interested in $FOO then a few folks might know about $FOO meetups or conferences that you could attend. Also, bear in mind that you will still need some sales skills to convince a someone to join you.

isalmon
The market I'm going to is e-commerce. The application would create some certain benefits for e-commerce owners. So it's B2B.

I guess I could try doing everything on my own, but due to some circumstances I really need a partner. I'd rather not convince anybody to join me. Maybe it's naive, but I think if a person believes in the idea and the skills I have - he/she will want to join me without any persuasion.

I'm also OK to join somebody if he/she has an idea I would be interested to work on. I realize that my idea could be just a piece of crap and I did not realize it yet.

cme
Isalmon..shoot me an email. I have some experience with B2B businesses and am located in New England. (cpj1357@gmail.com) I've been looking for a technical person to work on ideas with.
hajiss
my question here is, why would you be thinking about vc's at this point? Start small, look around familiar territory (family, friends, and fools...lol) for raising a small Angel round and also potential biz partnership.
isalmon
I'm planning to bootstrap everything, but exit strategy will involve some VC's for sure.
bwb
Hey shoot me an email, I might be able to help and if not I can make a few suggestions if you decide to go in alone too. (bwb@bweeb.com).
Jlambert
I went down this path. After 9 years as a valley engineer I started building companies. It's been a great run - 5 companies! And ive been lucky.

My advice - just do it.

You will find the right partners along the way, but even if you pull a partner in, -all- the founders should sell.

isalmon
Thanks for the advice. Did you have all 5 companies at the same time or one after another?
Jlambert
One after the other. Five companies at once would probably, finally, kill me. ;)
eduardo_f
First of all fill your HN user profile! You are missing on potential connections that you can make through this thread.

Oh and shoot me an email (address in my profile), I might be able to help.