Hacker News Reader

Comment by makerops | Hacker News Reader

It is surprising you are having a tough time finding a tech co-founder; of all the bullshit MBA types, you have traction, a site that seems fairly developed, and a decent idea. In theory, I for one, after a cold intro, would be interested in what you have to say, as opposed to my typical "I am too busy to build your idea for you" default. Honestly, I think your biggest problem is Java, it's just not going to hit a large enough cross section of 20/30 year olds, that want to take a risk, that are into tech.

View on HN

> It is surprising you are having a tough time finding a tech co-founder ... you have traction, a site that seems fairly developed, and a decent idea.

It's like a handsome, successful, wealthy, socially well-adjusted man who has trouble finding a new girlfriend because he only goes out with his current one. Any developer's first reaction to a new project is to wish they could raze it and start over from scratch, imagine how much more intense that is when the initial development was done by an MBA.

Ummm I didn't develop it with my own fair fingers. Can we stop with the MBA-insults please?

The code is good. Enough people have looked at it for me to know that. Unless we change language it is something to be built upon, not razed.

That should be the least of your concerns. Finding a co-founder is hard enough without expecting him to know Java. Pick based on other criteria, then let him rebuild it as he sees fit. There's a good chance that even a Java guy would end up refactoring it beyond recognition. It's exactly what I would do.

OK, I think this will have to be the subject of another blog post as I have never seen tech guys to polarised between "pick based on other criteria" versus "you've built something solid in Java, you'd be mad to change". It's almost a 50:50 split, and not much middle-ground.

I do think though, a lot of this will depend on the code, and how complicated his site actually is (doesn't seem too crazy complicated though). I think this is more of a developer market fit/social question.

I'm not saying it's not good, my point is that a "technical co-founder" will want to redo it _regardless_ of whether it's good or not. (Also not trying to disparage MBAs, it's just that's how technical co-founders will think of them.)

well tbh I don't have any trouble getting people initially interested. As you say, I do have some filters that should separate me from the "MBA chaff" It's getting the few people that I have felt I could work with to actually decide I am the one for them.

hold on... "of all the bullshit MBA types" - that means you are calling me one of the bullshit MBA types! :( Perhaps you meant "compared to the usual bullshit MBA types"? ;)

The Java point is interesting, and something I have discussed lots with various people - including people who have contacted me today after posting this blogpost. Half the people think I should stick to Java - it's a fine tool for the job, half the people think I will need to switch language. No doubt being in Java reduces my pool of potential co-founders.

There is no reason whatsoever to switch from Java. Ignore this noise.

Of course there is, if he can't find someone to work on it for equity, but can convince someone to write it in PHP for equity.

Everyone knows Java. It's the first programming language taught to every freshman Computer Science undergrad, everywhere in the world. Even most die hard Rubyists know how to write Java. They may hate it, but they know it. Who in the world teaches PHP?

> Everyone knows Java.

Untrue.

> It's the first programming language taught to every freshman Computer Science undergrad, everywhere in the world.

Except where Python is used. Or something else.

> Even most die hard Rubyists know how to write Java.

Well, a lot of the move to Ruby (particularly Rails) was a reaction to perceived issues with Java, so, yeah, Java skill is probably overrepresented in the Ruby (particularly Rails) community.

> Who in the world teaches PHP?

Judging from a quick googling, plenty of places teach PHP.

That is not my point.

Haha...sorry, no I didn't mean to lump you in with the hn-stereotyped non-co-founder masses (and I don't even agree with it, in most cases, but it's easy to use it as an explanatory tool). Java, for sure, is a fine tool for the job, technically speaking; I was referring more to the business/social aspect of having to sell the stack to a developer, and convincing them to work on it. This also may be developer bullshit too? who knows. I do think that the results will speak for themselves, if you can find a great java dev, that wants to work on it, etc, etc, than my theory is probably BS. If you haven't found anyone, than I would seriously consider letting a dev run with the new stack.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com