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Getting a partner only because he is a friend does NOT cover basic requirements for partnership.

Explanation:

Your idea is not going to work if no one knows how to code. Period. Your friend starting now will need a minimum of couple years to get to an OK level to build what you want. Your product will have bugs, inefficient code, hard to maintain. Given that, the only way to make it is if the market and idea are exceptionally strong and really pull you in sales so you hire someone better. Not likely.

What could happen?

Being honest and meaningful now with him is important because it will settle thigs right between you guys. If you keep him only because of friendship (yet worse, afraid to break friendship- if he is a friend he would understand whats meaningful for both) there will always be tension between you, low morale, the business will not move fast and things eventually will fall apart. Keep in mind also that you are getting him into something log term that is not likely to work this specific way, which is a bad favor.

What to do?

In my opinion, to keep the friendship and the business be honest with your friend and find a programmer to partner with. Or at least bring in a third person experienced coder. Otherwise it feels like you will lose both.

Thank you both for the fast replies. I appreciate it.

I guess I have a decision to make. Ultimately, I'm trying to build something with some complex features. It seems it might, as willpower put it, eventually outpace his ability to consume and learn fast enough. It isn't business-y as much as it is an internet platform for a lot of users (social network aspects, but not a social network persay).

Bleh. I'm not trying to be stingy with equity or anything by not wanting him on if he can't contribute, but the reason for me thinking of now changing my mind is the following:

1. He's a good friend. I want him to stay that way. If it's truly hard for him to keep up, I don't want to then get need someone better to jump on board later. Then what does he do?

2. Say he doesn't bother doing the technical side. I'm not sure where else he'd fit in terms of skills. He's not terribly artistic/design inclined. And while I don't doubt his business skills, I have immersed myself in business and marketing books, went to school for business, and am far more energetic/passionate as a salesmen. It is why if he did know the technical side, his personality and skills would complement my own.

3. Well... I feel like lists always need at least 3. Unfortunately, I started the numbering before realizing that I didn't have a third thing to say, ha.

So, it's actually more just about team dynamics and what he'd even have to do than dealing with equity or something.

Since, honestly, I've been doing everything but the back-end side just fine (not progressing quickly as I'd like due to my full time job, but I digress) on my own and expect to continue handling all of that.

Oh man. I feel terrible. I was just so excited when I thought about the idea of us working together and finally have a partner who could perhaps handle the technical end. I neglected to fully realize how difficult a role I was putting in his hands as someone with no technical experience.

One last thing. Since as of now it seems like I made the wrong decision and want to back out of it. Would you think this is a reasonable thing to say:

I'm sorry to say this, but I was thinking more about the ability for either of us to learn to code the back-end and I think it'd be tough to get up to speed fast enough starting from scratch like this. And all our other strengths overlap, so it'd be hard to really split roles up, so I don't think it's a good idea to partner up on this. You seemed excited about starting something and why not keep with it, even it's not with this idea? Just brainstorm some ideas on your own, bounce them off me, and still go through with it. We can help each other along the way.

I don't know. I'll say something like that to him. Let me know if it comes off terrible. Since I feel terrible.

"Bleh. I'm not trying to be stingy with equity or anything by not wanting him on if he can't contribute, but the reason for me thinking of now changing my mind is the following:"

Yeah I meant what pepeto said for sure. Use equity to equally vest in a 3rd member who is a dedicated programmer slash eventual CTO. Once he proves his weight and you guys reach the next round of funding you can restructure everything based on the partnership agreement.

p.s. I know your pain. I've lost two cofounders. Once who didn't believe in himself or his abilities, another who didn't share the vision and was more interested in his ex. ;) it's a tough road.

It's not the most popular move, but it can totally work in the right industry if you hustle. If you're trying to build Facebook, stop now. But if you're working on something sales heavy, B2B, with complicated legal/marketing hoops or in other words, more business-y needs than killer tech skill needs, then by all means make a run for it.

I started my company with another biz guy and it worked out. We hustled like crazy, got sales before there was a product, gave design/coding our best shot and eventually got lucky enough to find a tech co-founder who could tell that we were legit. It's not the easiest road, but it'd doable if you are in the right space with the right person. GL

I know I don't have as much experience as some of the other HN users here, but I think it's definitely possible to succeed with no experience as long as you're willing to try.

My cofounder and I have a similar story. We are building our first iPhone app with no prior design or programming experience and it's taken us 11 weeks so far. We've improved leaps and bounds and we've rewritten parts of the code over and over again if we find a better way to do it. There's bound to be some bugs here and there like all apps, but I'm confident we'll launch a solid product. We've had our first startup already where we hired freelancers and it was a flop, before we decided to finally do everything ourselves and force ourselves to learn to design and code.

I just started a blog about it today (blog.grooovy.me). Either way, I wish you good luck.

Well, it's been said. He seemed cool with it. A bit disappointed but trusted me when I said it would take over a year to really be proficient enough in coding for this to work and that it wasn't fair to either of us for all that.

I still feel terrible about it. It's a lesson learned I guess.

I don't think it'll hurt our friendship or anything. I hope he doesn't take it personally, as if I don't trust him or think he's smart enough or something. Because ultimately it's just out of his control... I assumed, incorrectly, he could learn the necessary skills far sooner than is reasonable for anyone (no matter how intelligent) could learn them.

Anyway, I appreciate the advice. All of the advice and some further reading I did really helped me make this decision. Hopefully it was the right one and all works out well.

"I came up with an idea. I researched potential competitors, talked to potential customers, and overall got good feedback. So, I went along working out features (as well as refining down to MVP) and started designed a pretty detailed wireframe."

You certainly sound like the ideal business side of a partnership.

I'm a programmer, I've been coding since I was 13 (28 years ago.) and building websites since 1999. Here's my most recent http://strongcoin.com and one I've had for a while http://status2k.com.

I'd be interested to hear your idea, please contact me on ian.purton at gmail dot com.

Thanks for the honesty pepeto.

I've been struggling with this today. My gut just tells me to break it off, knowing I was too impatient when jumping to ask him about this. I usually think everything through and I just didn't do that here.

I think it ultimately will be better for both to not go through together. If he is still serious about entrepreneurship or coding, he will go along with it anyway, on his own. And anything I learn on my way I'd be willing to share with him. Hopefully something like that can happen..

Again, thanks everyone. If anyone else still agrees with this proposition, please let me know. The more support I can gain, the better I'd feel in letting him know. Thanks!

imho, if you are successful, you will reach a point where the needs of the business will eventually outpace a non-hacker's ability to consume and learn fast enough.

Keep your friend on, but start looking for a coder as a full time co-founder.

And don't be stingy with equity. Vest him in with graduated steps up to 33.3%. Is the easiest way to find someone of quality.

Two Non-Tech Co-Founders...??