What To Look For In A Technical Co-Founder
jasonlbaptiste.com
jasonlbaptiste.com
1. The ability to explain things in simple, non-technical terms, even though the issues are usually neither of that. My company builds really cool things -- I need to sell those things to keep it alive. Without co-founders who can help me understand the details and speak at intelligently about our technology, I couldn't do half the pitches I do.
2. The willingness to do technical work "beneath them.". It's grand if your partner is a super talented developer, however, in a startup, they won't be able to always work on the exciting stuff due to bandwidth, and you'll need someone who is willing to deign to do some of the not so fun stuff. For example, the more technical of my partners will still pitch in with simple CSS and HTML tweaks when the rest of the team is stretched thin. His willingness to occasionally do BS that he did in his early teens allows us to keep moving forward with happy clients.
3. Patience and politeness! Your technical co-founder needs to have an attitude that makes them approachable and not intimidating. Staff and yourself need to feel comfortable asking them questions, even dumb ones.
When I was studying mechanical engineering, I was doing a summer internship in a medium sized industrial plant in southern France. Every now and then, the owner of the company got into a forklift and did warehouse duties himself, just like his workers. This is a very old trick in the book.
The list also reminds me of a "what to look for in an employee" article.
That said, I agree that your co-founder and you have to agree the product is worthwhile. I'm just saying; don't expect this enthusiasm right off the bat; that is really only going to happen if your technical co-founder has never listened to a well-pitched bullshit idea.
PS: I run a site dedicated to finding co-founders: http://fairsoftware.net. So I have some experience in the topic. Share your idea: don't be scared that someone will steal it from you. Most people will think your idea is bad anyway. Your job, as the business founder, is to convince me, the technical guy, that you can make it happen. Do you have customers lined-up? Can you raise funding?
If all of these align, then get to know each other, work for a month on the idea and see how you feel then. Then formally commit.
Has to believe in your idea? For me this is a warning sign. It could be the result of the other party being dominated or submissive. I'd much prefer a committed co-founder who is flexible and can be swayed by merit at the same time be critical where necessary.
The software will never be "good enough" to release, and "no one will buy it" as it is. They'll run out of money before they actually launch anything.
Should you happen to bring a perfectionist computer scientist on board, implement first (even if it's not DRY) and cleanup/refactor later. Always stress this message. Particularly Ruby programmers. You can remind them that once you ship, they always have the opportunity to clean it up during maintenance nights. You can make it work with a brilliant computer scientist, but always make sure he's focused on shipping rather than perfecting.
Ruby programmers talk good game. But actual production Ruby code can be pretty messy.
"when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"
The nasty variation on this that I ran into was something that started as a side project where two of us had full-time jobs and one guy did contract work. A couple months later the other guy got laid off and started putting most of his time into the side project, which then evolved into a startup in his mind. Much acrimony followed regarding how much time each person was or should be putting into the project, whether things were "fair", etc.
In the case of my project, there was about 6 months of anger, finger-pointing, and general failure to make meaningful progress because all our time was consumed with debates over how the project should operate. Eventually, I realized that the project was a major source of unhappiness in my life and I announced my intention to leave the project. We reached an agreement for the other two to buy out my interest in the project, and they have since made it their full-time job and are attempting to turn it into a real business, working with a local startup incubator.
You may want to add "Getting their point across" to the list too. Communication skill (and negotiation skill) is very important for tech co-founder role. Early on, the business co-founder may be the voice of all decisions made by the company. But, as the company grows, the tech co-founder will need to defend his decisions to board members and outsiders.