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Ask HN: did we make the right call to apply without a technical cofounder?

8 points by housewife ↗ HN
So, here is the situation in which my cofounder and I find ourselves… When we decided to apply for YC, we proposed to our programmer (who we had recently selected after exhaustive searching, to create our site, since we are non-techies) to come on board as a cofounder. We wanted him as we knew he would be a great fit for our team…but unfortunately he declined. He loves our idea, and our vision for what we are trying to do, but he’s got a wife, and a kid, and a baby on the way, and he has to put food on the table, and he is in no way prepared to spend 3 months in Cali. With the deadline for YC looming, just a few weeks away, we decided to forego finding someone new, and just applied ourselves. We really thought it would be better than trying to rush and force a team together that may not work… My question is, do you think that that will hurt our chances, not having a tech cofounder, or did we do the right thing by not just grabbing any old person JUST because they’re tech?

11 comments

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anigbrowl
The right thing - as did your employee for his circumstances. Good luck!
housewife
thanks, that is what we were hoping :)
omegant
It is necessary to be all 3 founders present?, Can he still join you and work from home?.

I'm father of 2 and can't drop my job till I have a MVP and some founding (and then I'll only drop for a year or so)but this is not going to stop me any time soon.

If he is interested and a good fit why not trying working at distance?.

I also have problems currently with technical cofounders, It seems in Spain nobody wants to try a start up. Mind you I'm not asking them to drop their job.

dirkdeman
Exactly the same here! I also have two kids, a day job and a mortgage to top it off. I'd drop everything to move to California to get in YC, and fortunately my wife and kids support me fully. The problem is that I'm having trouble finding a co-founder. I can code/design, but it's a LOT of work doing it alone, after your job, after the kids are in bed. Finding someone equally committed is hard: either they're not prepared to work as much on the project as I am, OR they can work on the project fulltime but feel they're putting more into the project than I am because they don't have kids and a day job. Dutch folks are usually very risk-adverse (apart from a few Dutch guys here on HN!) so it's difficult finding someone who wants to do a startup to begin with. So I definately feel where you're coming from!

If you're interested, shoot me an email. Maybe we can discuss some ideas, who knows how things will turn out!

housewife
Yes, I do know how it is. My cofounder has a 7 year old, and I have a 6 year old and a 4 month old. Luckily for us as well, we have a great support network, and amazing spouses who are super supportive as well. I think if anyone wants us to get YC as bad as we do, it would be my husband :) I think it's easier for us to drop everything for our start up than for him because it's "our" project, you know? Did you apply to yc this session anyway? I'll chat with my girl and maybe we can send you an email monday!
dirkdeman
I did apply, but I think my chances are slim. I did not want to apply this cycle (have applied 2 times before) because I'm far from finishing my project, but did it anyway.

Feel free to contact me! I'd love to bounce of some ideas!

traxtech
You suggest a remote cofounder, you could also try to find one cofounder outside of Spain (there's a lot of potentials cofounders in EU ;)
omegant
Please Add some kind of contact info to your profile;).
housewife
This was sort of our "plan b", but he just can't make the time commitment we need right now.
brudgers
If you did not apply, your odds of being accepted would be significantly lower than they are now.
housewife
absolutely! we actually auditioned for Dragon's Den last year on one of our other projects at the very last minute, with nothing but financial projections, a crappy poster board and a "game" as a hook intro. We didn't get on, but it was a great experience, and, heck, lots of fun!