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Comment by zugzug1 | Hacker News Reader

Count me in. Can't say how many ideas I've head for some startups but always fall short because I lack programming skills. For me, time is of the essence - and it hasn't been easy to wrap my head around programming therefore I estimate at least 5 years of learning to accomplish my ideas.

I've been reading about how no tech people will partner with someone just because they have an idea and frankly I'd like to give the middle finger to those authors, however they are most likely right as I cannot seem to find anyone to help me out.

I just wish there was a place to find good programmers with free time who want to take an idea and turn it into reality.

Any tips?

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Allow me to clarify the "only an idea" issue. Ideas by themselves are not worth very much. They are just a starting point, and they usually change as the business evolves. Successfully building out a project requires many things. Programming the backend is just one part of it. Another crucial, often overlooked, piece of the puzzle is effective marketing. As a developer I would love to partner with someone who had zero web skills but was a tenacious salesperson, the kind that didn't take no for an answer. Someone willing to pound the pavement, make the phone calls, do whatever it takes to get the marketing job done. (In fact anyone who is such a person please contact me, email is in the profile) The problem is when people don't bring anything to a project at all but the idea. An idea by itself doesn't do anything; it doesn't move, take action or otherwise do anything to grow a business, so a person thinking an idea only is something that would motivate programmers is sadly mistaken.

> Any tips?

Succeed, then recruit. Without a track record it's going to be hard to convince someone to be your technical co-founder. If you want to pursue your ideas, and lack the skill set to build them yourself, you need a more convincing pitch.

What would convince me that I might want to work with you? (Were I not knee deep in my own company)

1) Past success. Join a tech heavy team and do all the non-tech work that they are not giving 100% on and help the team succeed. Recruiting with a successful history will be a lot easier.

2) Sell the product first. This obviously depends on what your ideas are, but if you pitched me to be your co-founder and do the tech work, it would be a lot more convincing if you had a pile of customers already lined up and waiting to pay. (As long as the deadlines were reasonable and it wasn't going to be a complete death march)

The key is that a founding developer knows that they are going to be bringing huge concrete value to the venture by actually creating the product. You have to convince them that you are going to be bringing an equal amount of value, and that they won't be the only one busting their ass to make it happen.

If your time is of essence then you surely understand that other people's time is of essence too.

If you want others to help you, you better start by helping your self. Take the time and learn the stuff you need to learn. Just because there are so many technologies on the web it doesn't mean you need to know them all. All you really need is HTML and CSS and a decent editor. Instead of just talking about your ideas create something that others can see.

What do you see yourself as contributing to things? Do you have domain knowledge/experience, business experience, money or do you see yourself as the "ideas man"?

Do you ever mention your ideas to programmers at all? Or do you not know any at all?

Truth be told I don't know many. The few I know are always busy with something even though it doesn't seem like it ever takes them anywhere. Tried hiring a few and communication always seems to be a huge problem, thus projects going unfinished.

I am some what of a jack of all trades. I'm not a programmer, but I know how to program. I can make things work in a hacked sort of manner. Just spending two weeks working through a basic book on python would fix this problem. I've hired developers and designers and just being able to talk to them in their own language even at a basic level helps a ton here.

It's hard to hire a good x, when you can't do x your self. You don't know what to look for.

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