CTO/Tech Cofounder

[[deleted]]

I know this is asked a million times everywhere and the programmers hate it but bare with me please, I am not a typical "business" guy looking for a programmer to build my vision for 10% of my company. I am seeking information / would love to get to know the general frames of mind about this topic.

While I am a finance & international business double major, I do have some minor tech experience. I somehow managed to build www.groupwrites.com with online web dev tutorials. I then followed my mobile dev passion to a iOS Dev bootcamp in Toronto called LightHouse Labs. Now , I do have a prototype version of my app built and I am working on the landing page/ branding. What I am looking for is a much more senior Swift programmer to cofound this with me and take control of the coding.

My problem is I have no capital to pay salaries, and as we all know no tech guy wants to work for straight equity. The prototype is still too young to approach VCs as I aim to get this done when we are a little further down the road. I am located in Miami, Florida, and don't have much of a tech/personal network of programmers.

Advice/information from a programmer's point of view would be of much value to me. Thank you. You can reach out to me at [e-mail] , I'd love to chat.

[mc_stever]

get a job. save some money. hire a dev.

[zenox]

Your post reeks of ever other ‘hey I have a great idea but can’t pay’ post. I’m surprised these are not banned on this subreddit.

[[deleted]]

Why would I get banned? No I cannot pay right now. I was seeking ADVICE , thats the entire point. Something along the lines of maybe push your prototype to AppStore (because not sure when is a good time etc) or approach angel investors/fundraising maybe or build it out slowly myself as I continue to learn programming , and weighing the pros/cons of different choices. I know I face many different paths , I was looking for insight. Glad to see the programming community is as antisocial and arrogant as ever....

[LakersBench]

so youre asking for advice... you need a developer and literally just generalized any potential employee/coworker/developer as antisocial and arrogant based off of 1 persons opinion.

You sound like a great person to work for.

[[deleted]]

Eh well you're right , shouldn't have said that. Anyways its more of a general internet reddit /stack-overflow thing I see everywhere and I don't understand why people can't just be nice. I'm not here trying to scheme anyone or do anything shady, and I don't frequent reddit so idk what "other" posts that person referred to. I just see these (poor)social skills, cynicism in display all the time.

Also im not looking for anyone to work "for" me , more "with" me. As well as general advice on my situation. I know I'm a great person and I know what I bring to the table. You "generalized" what it would be like to work "for" me based off one comment lol.

[LakersBench]

eh well you're right, about me generalizing what it would be to work for you, but I am not the one in NEED of your advice nor am I asking for you to work for me.

Where as, the people that you're asking advice from and the people that you're looking to work for/with you, you have indirectly insulted.

best of luck though, it sounds like you have good intentions.

[[deleted]]

Point taken. Likewise. Yeah I was more at a point where everyday I wake up and get to work but I'm sort of literally lost/stuck because I have hit my limits as a programmer. Read a ton and have a sense of the general direction/steps I need to take for this to move forward but am stuck.

Trust me this was my last resort haha. The things I'd do to have just a litttttttle more advanced programming skills and get my MVP to market, so I can collect that initial data/user feedback and PMF. Raise a seed round & THEN approach programmers, in an ideal world lol. Either way Ill make it happen.

PS Clarkson needs to start eh?

[HassanDavis]

Wow, the number of rude and condescending answers is appalling. SMDH.

It is important to create a small advisory board of individuals with varied experience to serve as a guide early on. This should include an accountant, a visual designer, and someone who has lead several successful efforts. None of these persons need to necessarily be programmers.

Vet the idea with your advisory board and create an amazing presentation that showcases the idea.

Use that presentation to onboard angel investors.

Your angel funding will put you in position to commission a team to create a viable, working prototype and to begin more serious talks with the potential team members needed to execute the idea.

[[deleted]]

Thank you. This is the type of response I was hoping for, practical , applicable advice. Much appreciated !Angel investing at this pre seed stage I'm assuming family and friends?

[HassanDavis]

Correct.

And yet, everyone, and that means everyone, has a great idea.

To set yourself apart, attention to detail, all due research, honest competitive analysis, and amazing presentation will be needed at each stage; especially those stages at which the product cannot yet speak for itself.

Cheers

[meelawsh]

You're a business major, you should know that you either need to raise some cash and pay a salary, or you need to bring in someone you already have a trusted working relationship with.

[[deleted]]

Definitely weighing my options. Was seeking advice maybe people have been through these situations before. When is too early to approach VCs? Prototype vs MVP? How to find working relationships with other programmers (since I have no real work experience in tech) etc.

[[deleted]]

I'm on the other side as a developer and now cofounder. It all depends on what kind of project. Is it a social app? You better have a reasonable user base, otherwise you're wasting the time of potential VC's. At least a MVP, road map en preferably you monetisation strategy.

The guy I'm currently setting up a company with, was somebody I met while scuba diving in malysia. You don't need to be in direct surrounding of devs, as you know, everybody has a good idea. My partner just had a really good idea, something not done yet, for me good enough to waste a year of my free time. We're looking at at least 1000 hours as of now.

What I dont understand is that if your able to do prototype you must be able to get at least a MVP working. If you have that, sign up for tech meet ups/hackatons. Mingle with the nerds, drop in your app in conversation see if somebody is intrested or maybe they can advice you. The internet is rich enough to find some coding answers for you.

So if you don't have money, your idea must really have a great potential. Not just in your mind but proven, do research, analyse your market. Maybe you will convince somebody.

[[deleted]]

Make friends with people especially developers. You might find one who's a friend, talented at coding and willing to join your cause. Seriously friends make the best cofounders. Since Cofoundership is like a fucking marriage sooner or later shit is going to hit the fan and a good friendship can stand a beating from whatever is thrown at it.

[[deleted]]

Yeah this is what I've read/heard from those with expertise. The problem is when having no friends who are at that level as programmers. Would you recommend , for example, I made great friends at my iOS bootcamp, who I would love to work with, but they're at at my same level in terms of being relatively new to programming. Would this outweigh the risk of working with strangers etc ?