Ask HN: How does a founder judge quality if they can't code?
6 comments
I am also a not a techie who is founding a startup. Fortunately, I was in the position to be able to hire 2 developers locally to bring on my team from the get-go. I didn't give up any equity but if things go well, they will be rewarded. If I was not in the financial position to pay them well, I would have definitely given up equity for the right developers to come in.
If you are starting a web-based company, then code is what makes your tick. It's not like you're selling widgets in a brick and mortar store and you throw a website up to sell more widgets. In that case a website is an add-on to your business. If you are developing a web based application like a social network then that website IS your business. You need to have that core competency of the design and development in-house and not outsource it.
If you're having trouble finding the right local developer, try looking for local freelancers. I would suggest seeing if there is a local coworking office where freelance designers/developers work. Ask if any of them are willing to work on a project at a reduced rate with some equity that vests after a certain amount of time.
If you are starting a web-based company, then code is what makes your tick. It's not like you're selling widgets in a brick and mortar store and you throw a website up to sell more widgets. In that case a website is an add-on to your business. If you are developing a web based application like a social network then that website IS your business. You need to have that core competency of the design and development in-house and not outsource it.
If you're having trouble finding the right local developer, try looking for local freelancers. I would suggest seeing if there is a local coworking office where freelance designers/developers work. Ask if any of them are willing to work on a project at a reduced rate with some equity that vests after a certain amount of time.
Thxs for the feedback. It sounds like you were in the same position as me, your a non-techie and you hired developers. The only difference was geography, your developers were local whereas mine are overseas. So how did you address the quality issue? How did you know what the developers were giving you was actually good stuff?
I can't assume that just because I outsourced to India that the code they write is going to be worse then what a US developer would do. In fact if I stayed with a US developer I would have the exact same problem. Whether the developer I hire is in the US, India, Canada etc, problem is still sorting the good from the bad. I'm just saying local does not equal good programming.
With any developer you aways go through the same stages, checking experience, references, past projects etc but in the end it comes down to trust (which I have in my team) and verification (which I don't have).
How should I get the verification? How did you verify your developer's work?
True, local doesn't equal quality. I guess the difference was that by going local, I was able to verify the quality of my developer's work by people I trusted rather than from people I didn't know. What's more important, the endorsement of a respected businesses person, designer, or developer that you personally know and respect their work, or the endorsement of a random person that someone lists as a reference? The back end developer that I hired was a speaker at a regional conference, seemed to have the respect of the web community that I was looking to enter (Rails development and MailChimp-esque design and UI,) and had glowing references from web designers and developers that I knew at least as acquaintances. These designers and developers were actually clamoring to use him for freelance stuff before I hired him. If this is the route you want to take, I would suggest networking within your local web design community and go to events.
If you want to go the other route, listen to/watch the podcast on Mixergy.com from Nov. 24 on Beanstalk. That guy used a distributed team across the world to do development for his company. The big difference is that he was already a developer.
If you want to go the other route, listen to/watch the podcast on Mixergy.com from Nov. 24 on Beanstalk. That guy used a distributed team across the world to do development for his company. The big difference is that he was already a developer.
cool thanks a lot for the info
Totally agree with znt after starting a co without learning to code (now working on Zed Shaw's Python guide, which is awesome).
Learn to code. IF you don't, and even if you successfully find a tech cofounder/lead engineer, you'll know so little about dev that you'll be wasting everyone's time during project management meetings and/or have no idea what's going on at your startup.
I looked for a tech cofounder for 9 mos. I could have/should have been learning to code at that time. It establishes basic cred you'll need.
And if you're not willing to learn to do that, ask yourself if you're really ready to do a startup, where you'll have to learn painful new skills on a near-daily basis.
Learn to code. IF you don't, and even if you successfully find a tech cofounder/lead engineer, you'll know so little about dev that you'll be wasting everyone's time during project management meetings and/or have no idea what's going on at your startup.
I looked for a tech cofounder for 9 mos. I could have/should have been learning to code at that time. It establishes basic cred you'll need.
And if you're not willing to learn to do that, ask yourself if you're really ready to do a startup, where you'll have to learn painful new skills on a near-daily basis.
You can start learning how to code, not for this startup but the one after this one. Also having a cofounder helps a lot, it validates your idea first of all.
Maybe, instead of asking us "How do I keep my company / money to myself", you should ask yourself "Do I want all of something that is unvaluable or a part of something invaluable?"
Maybe, instead of asking us "How do I keep my company / money to myself", you should ask yourself "Do I want all of something that is unvaluable or a part of something invaluable?"
Am I wrong? Any suggestions how I can fix this without giving away a huge portion of my company to a stranger, or going broke paying a consultant? Any advice is welcome. Thanks.