Usually, a person who is inclined towards entrepreneurship will not go to spend his life in IT, and if he or she becomes a developer, they will very quickly move to top management or leave to work on their own ideas.
There seem to be many founders who can’t launch because they don’t have the strong technical skills to build what they want to build and don’t know how to find a technical co-founder. So we wanted to offer some advice.
First, are you technical enough? It really depends on what you’re building. If you’re developing new cancer drugs, you better be quite technical with biology.
Before pitching a project to an IT engineer, you first need to understand what their motivation is, what they are striving for, and what is important to them. Here are some suggested ways to find a tech co-founder
- When an entrepreneur (first founder), tolerant of risk and hungry for big money, seeks a developer (ideally, second founder) who does not like risks and has all his needs already met, this can result in a misunderstanding. They simply don’t value each other’s goals. These different worldviews could help develop robust business, but first, they have to agree
- Most seasoned engineers with advanced soft skills can make good co-founders if they believe it is worthwhile for them to leave their secure job to pursue your concept. This implies that they must be aware that even if the project fails, they will gain some type of advantage. An impressive paragraph on a CV, for example, or mastery of a potential new technology
- If you cannot test hypotheses, look for clients, reach investors and sell and promote, then as a co-founder you are useless in a technology project. You will not find a good tech lead who would be happy to work with you.
- find companies with strong engineering cultures (nothing outsourced, etc). Then email the CEO and tell her/him why you’re passionate about working at their company and offer to do anything to help whether it’s customer service, bizops, or whatever schlep work is available.
- Start spending more time with them, e.g. working on a fun side project together. It doesn’t have to involve coding; just something that builds confidence that you can work well together. Finally, figure out a real offer to give them, which includes salary + equity.
Lastly, when you identify the right person. Instead of pitching them directly your idea. Brainstorm ideas with that person so it evolves with both of you. This will be a good start to a hopefully lasting relationship of building together.