Ask HN: How do you meet a hacker to start a startup with if you are not in college?
42 comments
Get a job working at some other startup. You'll get
a) Experience in startups
b) Contacts with all sorts of startuppy people
c) Money
d) Stock, which could be worth a lot someday, if it pans out
e) Freedom and a bunch of contacts of good people recently out of work, if it doesn't.
Also, there are a few non-startup startuppy places. Google and Mozilla rank pretty highly up there. I hear Amazon is pretty good too, though the location isn't as good.
"Startup" conventions are pretty low on intellectual content. Startup School is the only one I'd go to. On the other hand, tech conventions are pretty good: Foocamp/barcamp/superhappydevhouse/pycon/ruby meetups are pretty good. Also, there are a lot of startuppy people in the bay area javascript meetups, if you're in the area. http://javascript.meetup.com/4/
Finally, contests in programming (ICFP, SPOJ, ACM, Topcoder) and math (contest in math modeling, the Putnam), and engineering (DARPA grand challenge, the solar car project, robotics contests) are a good place to find smart, project oriented people with a lot of technical depth, drive, and follow through, though you will often have to sell them on the idea of starting a company.
Good luck!
a) Experience in startups
b) Contacts with all sorts of startuppy people
c) Money
d) Stock, which could be worth a lot someday, if it pans out
e) Freedom and a bunch of contacts of good people recently out of work, if it doesn't.
Also, there are a few non-startup startuppy places. Google and Mozilla rank pretty highly up there. I hear Amazon is pretty good too, though the location isn't as good.
"Startup" conventions are pretty low on intellectual content. Startup School is the only one I'd go to. On the other hand, tech conventions are pretty good: Foocamp/barcamp/superhappydevhouse/pycon/ruby meetups are pretty good. Also, there are a lot of startuppy people in the bay area javascript meetups, if you're in the area. http://javascript.meetup.com/4/
Finally, contests in programming (ICFP, SPOJ, ACM, Topcoder) and math (contest in math modeling, the Putnam), and engineering (DARPA grand challenge, the solar car project, robotics contests) are a good place to find smart, project oriented people with a lot of technical depth, drive, and follow through, though you will often have to sell them on the idea of starting a company.
Good luck!
Plan A: Lived 10 years in Miami. Hosted dinners, worked on dozens of projects, ran open source projects, etc. Real Hackers met: 2, maybe 3.
Plan B: Moved to SF, worked at a trendy startup. Real Hackers met: are you kidding? I pass 12 of them on the bus every day.
Plan B: Moved to SF, worked at a trendy startup. Real Hackers met: are you kidding? I pass 12 of them on the bus every day.
As aristus makes clear, the problem is mostly for people outside the Valley(like myself, for another few weeks).
What do people think of this:
http://www.justhackit.com
What do people think of this:
http://www.justhackit.com
I think that the light grey font coupled with the small amount of line spacing makes it difficult to read article bodies. Otherwise, I've registered and made my first post :)
As a side note, other than the lack of members, what makes your site stand apart from hacker news and proggit?
As a side note, other than the lack of members, what makes your site stand apart from hacker news and proggit?
Thanks. Fixed the colors. Will look at the line spacing in a sec.
The lack of members is the biggest feature. The odds of it turning into the next Reddit/Digg are much lower than the odds of that happening here. :)
Seriously, the idea stemmed from the YC meetup last week. PG said that the YC interviews aren't like interviews at all, they just "Do YC". If the team and YC seem to click, then they get accepted. I think the same thing applies for finding good cofounders--you just start something and see if the chemistry among the team clicks. I've started projects with friends and complete strangers before, and whether or not I knew them before the project isn't correlated with how well we worked together. There are a few people I met the day of starting a joint project who I'd love to start another company with.
That's what I hope this site could do: not just bring hackers together to discuss startups, but bring them together to launch things and find new cofounders.
I think there are a lot of people on HN that would be great to work with, and the best way to find them would be to just start projects. I currently am lucky enough to have a few hours free each day, but unlucky that I'm far from the Valley(I've got family commitments that have been keeping me in Southern MA all summer). When I get to the valley, I think it will be easier to find co-founders, but until then it's not that easy.
The lack of members is the biggest feature. The odds of it turning into the next Reddit/Digg are much lower than the odds of that happening here. :)
Seriously, the idea stemmed from the YC meetup last week. PG said that the YC interviews aren't like interviews at all, they just "Do YC". If the team and YC seem to click, then they get accepted. I think the same thing applies for finding good cofounders--you just start something and see if the chemistry among the team clicks. I've started projects with friends and complete strangers before, and whether or not I knew them before the project isn't correlated with how well we worked together. There are a few people I met the day of starting a joint project who I'd love to start another company with.
That's what I hope this site could do: not just bring hackers together to discuss startups, but bring them together to launch things and find new cofounders.
I think there are a lot of people on HN that would be great to work with, and the best way to find them would be to just start projects. I currently am lucky enough to have a few hours free each day, but unlucky that I'm far from the Valley(I've got family commitments that have been keeping me in Southern MA all summer). When I get to the valley, I think it will be easier to find co-founders, but until then it's not that easy.
Interestingly enough, I believe the talent pool in S. Florida is starting to froth up. We've got some neat startups coming out of Florida (Myxer, Affinity, Verio, Batanga, Scrapblog, MOLI, PsyStar, Closed First, Lead log).
Although I will not dispute the SF(San Fran) comment, I hope to see South Florida become "the other SF".
I'd say South Florida is one of the top 10-12 places in the world in terms of number of startups at least according to: http://www.startupwarrior.com/
Although I will not dispute the SF(San Fran) comment, I hope to see South Florida become "the other SF".
I'd say South Florida is one of the top 10-12 places in the world in terms of number of startups at least according to: http://www.startupwarrior.com/
Thanks. Can't argue with data.
I kind of agree here aristus. Most college professors are kind of stuck in the past. Just look at all the really creative development stuff that's come out in the last coule of decades....
Linux.... 16 year old Finnish kid with nothing to do during those long cold finnish winters.
MySql.... bunch of swedes with the same problem.
PHP... a few hackers with credentials I'm not familiar with but I don't think they came from academia....
Ruby... Japanese kid obsessed with unix and C.
Rails... Danish kid going to a business school in denmark and hacking on the side......
True, the code that runs the internet was written by a bunch of UC Berkley grad students but that was back in the days when you had to be tied to some kind of entity like that in order to have access to the hardware that was needed to run your code. Since the mid 90s this hardware has been very cheap and available to anyone with the passion to purchase and develop.
Many have and they have left traditional venues for new and creative functionality in the dust.
Linux.... 16 year old Finnish kid with nothing to do during those long cold finnish winters.
MySql.... bunch of swedes with the same problem.
PHP... a few hackers with credentials I'm not familiar with but I don't think they came from academia....
Ruby... Japanese kid obsessed with unix and C.
Rails... Danish kid going to a business school in denmark and hacking on the side......
True, the code that runs the internet was written by a bunch of UC Berkley grad students but that was back in the days when you had to be tied to some kind of entity like that in order to have access to the hardware that was needed to run your code. Since the mid 90s this hardware has been very cheap and available to anyone with the passion to purchase and develop.
Many have and they have left traditional venues for new and creative functionality in the dust.
I just want to point out that Ruby was written by someone I would barely call a kid.
Beyond which, I have only one response to the "look at all the things made by people who aren't professors". Well, look at how many people who can program who aren't professors. Think of all the projects that grew from BSD. Think about Latex.
Beyond which, I have only one response to the "look at all the things made by people who aren't professors". Well, look at how many people who can program who aren't professors. Think of all the projects that grew from BSD. Think about Latex.
The best option is to go out to all the local get togethers for hackers and entrepreneurs, barcamps, and conventions. Plus try to introduce yourself to people online, this worked out much better for me then I expected.
Have your idea fleshed out and know it inside out. Theres a lot at stake when you bring on a co-founder you only met recently. If the person is sincerely interested and is asking the right questions then you can give it a shot... just make sure it's a necessity before deciding to find someone.
I was in a similar situation earlier this year. From my experience starting a business with a close friend, that knowing and trusting a person is only half the battle. They have to have the skills necessary for the start-up. Just knowing a programming language or being a good speaker may not be good enough. Some people aren't cut out to be founders.
Recently I decided that I would rather raise capital and hire a developer with a nice stock option, mainly because I have a technical and business background. Although co-founders are still a great asset.
Have your idea fleshed out and know it inside out. Theres a lot at stake when you bring on a co-founder you only met recently. If the person is sincerely interested and is asking the right questions then you can give it a shot... just make sure it's a necessity before deciding to find someone.
I was in a similar situation earlier this year. From my experience starting a business with a close friend, that knowing and trusting a person is only half the battle. They have to have the skills necessary for the start-up. Just knowing a programming language or being a good speaker may not be good enough. Some people aren't cut out to be founders.
Recently I decided that I would rather raise capital and hire a developer with a nice stock option, mainly because I have a technical and business background. Although co-founders are still a great asset.
Agreed.
We tend to be a socially awkward bunch, so it can be intimidating to approach someone who seems like they've got their shit together. Just send an email and tell them you want to know them. What's the worst that can happen, they say no?
Building a good nerdery is key.
We tend to be a socially awkward bunch, so it can be intimidating to approach someone who seems like they've got their shit together. Just send an email and tell them you want to know them. What's the worst that can happen, they say no?
Building a good nerdery is key.
Move to Silicon Valley.
Join this group: http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1737/
Work for a company that has a lot of hackers. (Google and Yahoo are both very good choices.) You want quantity.
Don't go back to school, it's a waste of time and money.
Join this group: http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1737/
Work for a company that has a lot of hackers. (Google and Yahoo are both very good choices.) You want quantity.
Don't go back to school, it's a waste of time and money.
++ "move to Silicon Valley." The vibe here is really amazing.
Two years ago we made the move to Silicon Valley and I haven't regretted it for a minute. Startups are in the air and water here. I've met a number of people that I'd consider co-Founder material. Networking opportunities abound. In the last 6 months I've gone to startup school, started the Hackers and Founders Meetup that Isaac linked to above, and I'm going to DjangoCon in 3 weeks.
If you look in Meetup.com, there's dozens of meetups that happen for different technologies, entrepreneurship groups, startup groups, etc... It's actually hard to avoid programmers in this town.
Isaac's right. Get a job at Yahoo/Google/Facebook/YC Startup and work for a year or two, make friends, save up some money and then make the leap with your new friends into the startup world. At least that's what a lot of other people are doing around here.
If you look in Meetup.com, there's dozens of meetups that happen for different technologies, entrepreneurship groups, startup groups, etc... It's actually hard to avoid programmers in this town.
Isaac's right. Get a job at Yahoo/Google/Facebook/YC Startup and work for a year or two, make friends, save up some money and then make the leap with your new friends into the startup world. At least that's what a lot of other people are doing around here.
...this thread emphasizes how much I need to get out of St. Louis.
Seconded. I've met many people from meetups (from meetup.com or other places) that have the experience and hunger to start new projects.
"Go back to school and learn a new programming language."
Semi off-topic, but if you're in school to learn programming languages you're doing it wrong...
Semi off-topic, but if you're in school to learn programming languages you're doing it wrong...
Get a job somewhere other hackers are working.
An equally difficult question: How do you meet a hacker to start a startup with if you ARE in college? ;-)
Way, way easier. Group projects, the ACM-ICPC, short internships at many different companies, student conferences, research labs on campus...
Start an interesting project.
Get proactive, find other hackers. If you can't find other hackers, it's because you aren't looking.
Physical location isn't necessarily important. I got into my first open source project remotely and that work actually led to a bunch of other jobs that got me pretty much smack dab into the SanFran startup scene.
The key to getting other people to work with you is to wear your passion for a project on your sleeves. People of a like mind will be drawn to that.
P.S. Why would you have to go back to school to learn a new programming language?
Physical location isn't necessarily important. I got into my first open source project remotely and that work actually led to a bunch of other jobs that got me pretty much smack dab into the SanFran startup scene.
The key to getting other people to work with you is to wear your passion for a project on your sleeves. People of a like mind will be drawn to that.
P.S. Why would you have to go back to school to learn a new programming language?
Why would you have to go back to school to learn a new programming language?
Learning a new language would be the excuse, and meeting new hackers in school the goal.
Learning a new language would be the excuse, and meeting new hackers in school the goal.
Go to local "ruby user groups" or whatever your language of choice is. Or, heck, go to "ruby/python/blub++ user groups" even if you use Java; you'll meet some smart people there anyway.
I'm very tempted to implement Blub++ now. Maybe do it as a pre-processor which can compile to Perl/Ruby/Python/Lua/Groovy as intermediate code. Of course, it would have to be a least common denominator of all of those languages.
What do you think of this idea:
http://www.justhackit.com
http://www.justhackit.com
Posting a question on Hacker News about how to meet Hackers is a good start. If you are not in SC, which you are most likely not, you might post where you are.
I'm always trying to meet more hackers in my area which is Denver.
I'm always trying to meet more hackers in my area which is Denver.
you might post where you are.
In LA. Moving to San Fran in January.
In LA. Moving to San Fran in January.
People are drawn to success. Spend some time building your own value by making something cool. If you are impressive more people will want to meet you and more will come out of the people you meet.
One thing that hasn't be suggested is Twitter, twitter with local people and a lot of times you cross some amazing individuals
Find us online? My details are available on HN - probably too much info online :(
i wish to meet an hacker to help me with what i need to do like getting any bank login in united state
i wish to meet an hacker to help me with what i need to do
craigslist?
work in a coworking space
http://coworking.pbwiki.com/
Co-working spaces are a good suggestion. They seem to be used by fairly entrepreneurial people and might be a good way to meet potential co-founders in areas that are still growing in terms of startups.
"Other", obviously.
i wish to meet an hacker to help me with what i need to do
* Go back to school and learn a new programming language.
* Collaborate in open source projects.
* Go to startup conventions.
* Other.