Needing a CTO | Hacker News Reader

Needing a CTO

11 pointsjnil17 comments

Hello, we're Ampley (http://ampley.com)/(http://blog.ampley.com). Ampley currently consists of 3 guys, 2 in MN, 1 in WA. We are all very passionate about technology and the interweb, and find extreme amounts of inspiration and motivation every day which we think will bring Ampley very far. We've been looking for a web dev for quite some time, and have had no luck. So now, we're trying this approach again, and we're looking for a CTO to work on this exciting project along with some of the most fun and creative people. We have huge plans for 2009 and would love to carry them out with a new CTO. Please email jobs@ampley.com. Thank you.

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Are you sure the problem is job title? Forget about the huge differences between "web dev", "CTO" and "technical co-founder" and think about what info is available to an outsider:

You are three non-technical people.

Your say your idea is really really great but unfortunately secret.

You have been unable to hire a "web dev" (really?), so you decided to replace "web dev" with "CTO" and post again.

From your home page: "New layout & about us coming soon! 37 days ago"

Offers on the blog to send your PR person to talk on podcasts about this great new thing that doesn't exist and you can't talk about.

From the evidence, Ampley is run by people who aren't capable of making an about page, much less "revolutionize the internet". Maybe I'm wrong but from where I'm standing it's not a mystery why "web devs" are not breaking down your door.

First glance at it also said to me, "Not quite with it." -- in addition to not saying what it is they're doing, even vaguely, the first text on the page is incorrect (it's "bear with us", not "bare with us", unless you're getting nekkid.) and the text "test" appears at the bottom of the page.

The lack of attention to detail is a bit alarming, too. For example, the first sentence on the page begins, "Please bare with us as we develop this..." but I don't think you're trying to organize a clothing-optional coding party ("bear" not "bare").

I've read your blog, the page on your website, your twitter feed, and I still have no idea what you want to do, what source of revenue you want to have, even what domain this company operates in.

Dropping the complete secrecy and telling people what the job is about might bring you a little more "luck" in finding a developer or CTO.

PS. Lots of startups want to revolutionize some web-related concept. How are you any different?

Hey guys. I only have five years web development experience, but I am totally amped to work with you guys. Email sent!

I am just a technical guy, so I am obviously going to need a lot of help from you three business guys to understand what is going on. (Thanks in advance for the help.)

I cannot wait to get to work on your Facebook/Twitter/eBay/Google clone.

The world will never know what hit it.

You need some help - there's nothing wrong with that.

The important question is why does the help need you?

Sorry, guys, but this really isn't the place for this sort of thing.

The only hint is on the main page: please "bare" with us.

Thank you everyone for your criticisms. Yes, we are all business types, but we've thought of this idea and as business people want to take whatever actions necessary to get this thing up and running smoothly. It's essentially a new idea that really hasn't been touched upon. Yes, maybe we're going about it wrong and don't have the best design, but we're trying and we want somebody that can help us do that. Why we don't release what we are, is because people have told us, this is uber-simple to do for web-devs and so putting out that information, someone could easily snatch it up and put us out.

I'm going to be harsh here, just to translate how what you're saying reads to everyone else:

"We're three guys that don't actually have any time for the project, can't help with the development of the product, are pretty clearly startup first-timers since we don't know how to do this sort of thing, we won't tell you what we're doing or what we've done, and none of the three of us noticed a basic mistake on our homepage. But we'd like you to join! (Presumably unpaid.)"

Would you jump at that offer? Do you expect anyone you'd want to call your CTO would?

You need to say what you're doing. If it's as simple and important as you think it is, then it'll be copied as soon as you launch anyway. You need to say who you are and what you've done. If you're business guys, have you founded companies before? Have you written a business plan? Are you connected to angel investors? (With four mouths to feed from day one that's going to hurt.) Have you already done market research? Do you have special access to distribution channels?

You can't recruit a good CTO by saying, "We're three guys with a domain and an idea."

Is this a paying gig?

Obviously not.

Another note: All three of us are really busy, we all have families, go to school full time, and have other jobs. We're motivated to keep on keeping on, but we've got other things on the agenda with little time to put on Ampley. Yes, that's probably not a very good excuse, but at least I'm not lying here. We understand there are multitudes of things we could do better, but with limited time, it's hard.

So, you'd like to have a web-dev, preferably one who doesn't ask for pay, to do all the work for you. All the while you smart business-men [who can't even spell properly] stick to your cushy dayjobs and reap the benefits later?

Congratulations, I'm sure you have made it onto many people's blacklist today.

Unless you're a proven company, it's nearly impossible to get people to sign onto a secret project you can't tell them about. Apple was able to do it with the iPhone, and DEKA had similar success with Segway/Ginger. But you're neither Jobs or Kamen, so it's going to be a lot harder, especially with a sloppy webpage.

What do you do?

By the way, can you tell me what does ampley do again? I might have missed it.

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