How to Find a Technical Co-Founder
Do you need a cofounder or do you need some software built?
This is the most important question to answer first.
It’s so, so tempting to think, “Ah, if only I had someone to build the whole thing we’d be on our way!”
I wish it worked like that.
Building software, entrepreneurship and sharing ownership are all complex. Then combine them. Whew.
- Learn about Software — You’re not going to regret building a baseline understanding of technology. This can help you to understand if your product actually needs a complex long-term product roadmap or if you’d be fine for quite awhile on a more simple low code platform. These are questions like: native vs. hybrid development, data volume & security, data science vs. data analytics. Aman Agarwal has a great guide to software for non-techies to start with.
- Getting Work Married — Cofounding is a huge commitment. You do not want to add a cofounder and find yourself trying to steer a boat with too many captains. Or with someone you need to manage.
If you’re building a startup in venture then you understand the value of ownership and are likely learning what an ownership mentality really takes. Founders and employees are not the same thing.
If you do decide to add a cofounder, it’s critical to have an in-depth agreement on what you’re both expecting in a ton of detail. Talk about what strengths and weaknesses you bring. You’ll need to be explicit about how decisions will get made and who is responsible for what. An attorney should draft an operating agreement detailing as much of this as possible including what happens if someone wants out.
3. The Search — It can be a long process to find the right match and that time tradeoff is something to consider. Not only will you need to find potential options but you’ll need to vet them on fit from multiple angles: commitment, technical skills, vision, expectations, bandwidth. If you’re ready to put the time in and prioritize this idea over anything else and your cofounder is not, this is not going to end well.
If you do just need software built, let’s talk about options:
No-Code/Low-Code/Prototypes
Bubble, Webflow, Figma Glide, Airtable.
A realistic prototype or lightweight functioning version of your product can help you land investors and customers.
Pros: Price & Control. You’ll be able to move at your own pace and these are affordable platforms to get started on. You won’t have to communicate through any channels and will be able to bring your vision to life.
Cons: Ramp up & capabilities. You’ll need to ramp up on how to use them and they don’t have infinite features. Before starting you’ll want to decide if you want a realistic prototype to pitch with or a working app.
Agency Partners
Some of my favorites include Uptech, Bust Out, Headway & Sprint1. Jeff Lin, CEO of Bust Out has a great suggestion to notice overhead when choosing an agency. For example, will you be working with the dev team directly? Or working with an account rep or through other admin channels? This can tell you a lot about how they work.
Some agencies build highly complex applications from scratch while others focus on no-code MVPs. You’ll want to understand their typical process and how that meshes with you. When will you get updates? Is it an established framework that you fit into? Or will you make a plan together?
Pros: You’ll get a team that the agency has vetted and hired. The team is usually cross-functional (User Experience, Development and Quality Assurance) and they’re often used to working together which adds speed. You’ll be able to work on a per project or hourly basis which is more flexible than committing to a hire.
Agencies who work with startups are also used to helping founders vet candidates when it is time to hire. A very useful partnership.
Cons: This can be an investment. Rates for a good agency can be $150/hr+. Some agencies may work with you for a cash/equity blend. You’ll also want to make sure you find a good match. Software engineering is complex and things like estimates are notoriously difficult.
Hiring an Engineer
You can get setup as an employer with a PEO like EmpowerHR or payroll software provider like Gusto or ADP. These are partners that can help you handle payroll, taxes, regulations at a base level.
But the paperwork is only one part of being an employer. You also need to find (or use an agency like us to find) the right person, vet them, manage them. Managing work product that you’re not familiar with will take time.
Pros: Dedicated focus. With the right person who grows with the business, this can also be a great long-term relationship. You maintain control but you’re not alone.
Cons: Competition. These people are in very high demand and you’ll need to recruit them.
Requirements can change really quickly. A full-stack (someone who can work across the whole application from front to back) and polyglot (someone who can work in multiple programming languages) engineer isn’t easy to find and a single person will often have their own bias towards certain tech over others. That’s ok but tough to make a lot of quick changes if you don’t hire the right engineer.
You also need to commit to this person including payroll and benefits.
Contract Engineers or Moonlighters
You don’t need a payroll to bring on a senior engineer on a contract. Instead you’ll pay an hourly rate and they’ll handle their own taxes. There are some great people out there who love the flexibility of working independently. People who (because they are awesome!) would be very expensive to hire as employees but you could work with directly on a contract basis. While it’s not a guarantee, you could even start working in this arrangement and someday have it grow into a more permanent arrangement.
Pros: Flexibility! These people may have full-time or part-time hours to devote to your project. You also have one point of contact which can be easy for you to manage.
Cons: Sometimes speed. Depending on the complexity of what you need, part-time hours could be perfect or a hindrance.
You want the person who is independent because they are awesome not because they are unemployable. At Newance, we have a network that we know and trust (people like Matthew Snyder!) and also have a group of interviewers for exactly this scenario.
In general, the legal definition of an independent contractor is rooted in them managing their own work. Hiring as a 1099 but treating someone like an employee can have risks. Every state is different but for example of how complicated it can get — consider California with Prop 22 .
Pitch Competitions, Accelerators & Venture Studios
There are accelerators specifically for idea stage companies like this one from Bubble. Maybe you’ll meet someone there or maybe you’ll win the pitch competition for funding.
Large enterprises looking to innovate are launching “venture studios” to incubate and invest in ideas. Some of these come with resources from the enterprise from legal review to engineering. They’re often industry focused but not always.
These are worth exploring at a national level.
Students & Learners
Some student groups or training organizations are looking for projects to work on. These are usually available for sponsorship or entry level rates. For example, the cohorts at i.c. Stars spend their time building a real life project.
Depending on your product and location, local universities may have innovation labs or others resources connect you to students looking for experience.
Pros: Price and goodwill! New developers need practice and this can be a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Cons: This is unlikely to be fast. This will not be perfect. While they do usually work with mentors, the work is new and so this team will understandably not move at the pace of a senior agency team.
Off-Shore Agencies
We get about 100 messages a day from off-shore agencies but have heard more horror stories than anything else. That being said, this can be an affordable option.
If you’re reading this and you‘ve personally worked with a great one — I would love to hear about it. I do not need more cold pitches. (Sorry cold pitchers but I don’t have anything to buy from you and I don’t believe your e-mail.)
Yeah, yeah, yeah I want and need a co-founder.
Ok. Here are some ways to do it.
Create serendipity.
If you’re in insurance and looking to build an insurtech product, you’re more likely to find your co-founder at a developer conference than an insurance convention. The reverse is true if you’re an engineer looking for a subject matter expert. Try hanging out in industry related groups on Reddit too. Engineers love Reddit.
One of my favorite co-founder meet-cutes is Larry Hitchcock & Matthew Salzer of Socialeads. They met at a reverse pitch event. Reverse pitch events mean that companies pitch their challenges to prospective founders. Larry & Matthew realized they could solve the given challenge around lead generation and paired up.
You can also think about setting some sort of honeypot if there’s a good one to use without being a shady creep. For instance, I know people who hire recruiters by creating an engineer profile and looking at the messages they get. A honeypot can great if it’s applicable and isn’t scammy. This is a terrible idea if it’s going to require deep deception or a big investment of time & energy from your future co-founder.
Look online. (yes, here’s how.)
There are spots to post for this: Cofounders Lab, IndieHackers, Reddit Cofounders, AngelList, F6S and Y Combinator‘s cofounder matching platform.
A strong post is clear on:
- what problem you’re solving
- why a brilliant person should care about that problem
- why they should want to work with you
This can include things like your track record, work style and passion for this. If you have an existing tech stack or product built so far, include some details on that too.
You can also look through industry news, Twitter and LinkedIn to find someone who has experience in a related company or even competitor. Be careful about non-competes and have them checked before you sign any dotted lines. You may be able to find someone who wants to solve the same problem as you!
A good cold outreach isn’t “I need a co-founder”. It’s “here’s why this could be amazing for you”. Here’s a big example from Elon Musk & SpaceX.
Tell people your idea.
You’ve now seen how much work it is to move from idea into reality. Is it really that likely that someone is going to take it and go through the work of copying it? When it is currently a wonderful but yet unproven idea? Telling people your idea only helps to validate it, build excitement and increase your odds of meeting others who care about the same problem!
Double-check skills and fit.
Even if you get a referral, knowing someone and working with someone are two totally different things. Bring in technical experts to help you vet someone. When people hire us to do this, we use a combination of interviews, reference checks and cognitive + behavioral assessments like Predictive Index.
When it comes to skills, this is also where product complexity comes into play and having some sort of trusted technical resource can be invaluable. Will your product need a ton of API integrations to other systems? Will it need special functionality like advanced security for healthcare data? Or is it more of a fancy website that uses some standard features?
Partner accordingly because scaling complex software is its own skill.
This was long. If you’ve read this far, you must be dedicated to your startup idea!
How can we help? I have free HR Office Hours open here or am open to questions at amanda .at. newance.co.
Adding in this perspective *from* a technical cofounder about how to show traction (^ see above just start building first!) to attract the right technical cofounder: https://medium.com/@taylorhughes/to-find-a-technical-cofounder-prove-that-your-success-is-inevitable-98d191c78a00
Happy building!
