YC application - partner catch 22

You CAN have multiple co-founders obviously, but that raises more questions than anything.

You CAN pay a developer as well, but are they going to care as much as a founder? Probably not.

To me, it doesn't sound like you have a Catch 22, you just have picked the wrong co-founder. That said, it sounds like, from the position you're in, you might not be able to get away with less than 3 founders. If you're front-end, and she's marketing/business, you obviously lack a backend developer.

You either need to find someone else who fits that need, or start learning it yourself. If you already know frontend, Node might present the lowest barrier to entry. The only real alternative is to find someone with business, marketing AND backend dev experience, which is likely going to be a very hard find.

For C#, there are some advantages in using just Visual Basic .NET instead: I'm doing a startup and developing a Web site intended to be a serious business and am using Microsoft, .NET, etc. C#? Never touch the stuff! Instead I just use Visual Basic .NET. The keys are the Microsoft 'common language runtime' and .NET collection of classes, and VB has plenty of access to these although C# has more in some advanced respects. VB has easier syntax, that is, is not 'idiosyncratic' the way C# is borrowing from C/C++. So, VB is easier to learn and easier to read on the page. So, VB is easier for me, the founder and also for anyone I hire.

SQL Server stored procedures? Never touch the stuff! I like the idea of relational database via T-SQL. That's fine. For my work, T-SQL via essentially 'command lines' and/or ADO.NET is just fine, plenty powerful.

'Command lines'? Yes: Use the little program SQLCMD.EXE that comes with SQL Server. So, if want some DB operation, just type the T-SQL commands into a simple text file and give it to SQLCMD.EXE. E.g., can do queries to get data for 'reports' of wide variety. SQLCMD.EXE is not part of the UI but can be just fine for a lot of the rest want from DB.

I don't even like the idea of a stored procedure because it 'distributes' the source code of the software logic in a clumsy way. ADO.NET and T-SQL are so powerful that there's s a good chance won't actually need stored procedures. If someday do need a stored procedure, then maybe download one or have a friend write one for you. Or learn a little about stored procedures and then write one.

To get a good start on the programming, get the relatively well written

Jim Buyens, 'Web Database Development, Step by Step: .NET Edition', ISBN 0-7356-1637-X, Microsoft Press, Redmond, Washington, 2002.

Then get copies of the standard Microsoft Press books on VB, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and SQL Server. Then learn how to use the several thousand Web pages of .NET documentation at MSDN. Here's what I do: For some topic, say, class System.Uri, I start with what I have and/or a Google search. When I find a Web page I like, then I have my favorite Web browser save it. I save it in a file system directory I have on my development computer. So far I have four such directories, one for each of Windows, VB, ASP.NET, and SQL Server. In total I have about 3000 such Web pages. For the file names used for saving a Web page, I have a little macro that assigns those just as MSDNxxx.HTM where the xxx is the next unused sequence number. In each directory I have a table of contents file that acts like an 'index' and collection of 'abstracts': So for each file MSDNxxx.HTM, I have in the TOC the full tree name ending with MSDNxxx.HTM, the URL of the page at MSDN, the title of the page, the first paragraph or so of the page, and maybe some additional notes.

Eventually you will see how MSDN is organized: In .NET there are 'namespaces'. Typically for each there is a nice few Web pages of overview discussion. Those are good to read. Those overview pages have links to more details, often with more overviews, some tutorials, and some pages "How to: ...", usually quite practical with code samples. Then there are links for each .NET class. In the page for the class there are links to pages for the class constructors, methods, and properties. For some of the classes, e.g., STRING, it can take maybe a few dozen MSDN pages to document all of it.

For typing, I just use my favorite text editor. So I use it to maintain and search the TOC files and also to enter source code. No, I won't touch Visual Studio. The text editor I use is KEdit, and it is my most important tool. So far I have found that KEdit is just fine for developing .NET software. For running the VB compiler, I use either a command line script or use the way ASP.NET works in development (which is excellent). For a scripting language, I just use the old ObjectRexx from IBM, available for download for free. ObjectRexx is both elegant and...

Also as a prototype do you really need the Database and other stuff. It should not matter what database or language or framework you use but you should be able to answer the above questions.

Don't listen to the people who say one language is greater than other language. It shouldn't matter. You should pick one which is easier for you and others who join you later.

My point is, give your own intelligence credit, and YC partners might recognize it. If they don’t now then there is always the next cycle and you can try again.