> It's really easy to automatically dismiss everyone who starts a conversation with "I'm looking for a technical co-founder". Doing this means you miss talking to some interesting people. But be upfront that you're not that co-founder so no-one feels like their time is wasted.
This is a good point. I suspect many people here have grown tired of hearing "dude I have this idea for an app..." I just graduated from college and many of my nontechnical friends who went into finance are realizing they hate it and want to get into tech startups. During college I was always busy so I shrugged off these conversations. Now I have time to listen, and it turns out, many of them actually do have good ideas and business models. They just don't know how to code them. But these are smart, well connected people who can raise money. Dismissing their ideas is foolish and could certainly be a waste.
I realized I can monetize all my friends asking me to help with apps. I have a team of programmers I've worked with overseas, and I know how to manage them to complete projects. I've started offering a service to my friends where I take them from idea to MVP (usually a basic CRUD web app). I translate ideas to technical requirements, write a spec, divide it into milestones, negotiate payment schedule, and manage the project to completion. I structure the price per milestone so that my team is rewarded for hitting deadlines, e.g. Milestone X (some subset of feature requirements) pays $1000 by 4/31, or $1500 by 4/24. This has worked well for me in the past and is a good way to keep projects on schedule.
I just started doing this, and I've gotten a new lead or two each week so far. None have been serious enough about the idea yet to immediately execute, but I suspect with some pressure applied they will be ready.
I spoke to an alumnus from my school who graduated 3 years ago and did this in an official capacity. He started a "product development consultancy" wih a hybrid employee/outsource model, and tapped his alumni network for projects. His company completed 39 projects in its first year, all sourced from networking.
If you are an engineer also blessed with a strong network and interpersonal skills, I suggest you look into this as well. You don't need to code every app that someone wants help with. Often you can help give direction, or even charge for your services of managing an overseas team. People who leave finance are a good match because they can raise funds to the point that you can offer cheap, quality service from a friend, but also pay your developers way more than median salary in their country. I think of it like arbitraging my networks and skillsets.
Regardless of whether you do that, I definitely recommend putting an end to the habit of ignoring the app ideas of your friends.
This is a good point. I suspect many people here have grown tired of hearing "dude I have this idea for an app..." I just graduated from college and many of my nontechnical friends who went into finance are realizing they hate it and want to get into tech startups. During college I was always busy so I shrugged off these conversations. Now I have time to listen, and it turns out, many of them actually do have good ideas and business models. They just don't know how to code them. But these are smart, well connected people who can raise money. Dismissing their ideas is foolish and could certainly be a waste.
I realized I can monetize all my friends asking me to help with apps. I have a team of programmers I've worked with overseas, and I know how to manage them to complete projects. I've started offering a service to my friends where I take them from idea to MVP (usually a basic CRUD web app). I translate ideas to technical requirements, write a spec, divide it into milestones, negotiate payment schedule, and manage the project to completion. I structure the price per milestone so that my team is rewarded for hitting deadlines, e.g. Milestone X (some subset of feature requirements) pays $1000 by 4/31, or $1500 by 4/24. This has worked well for me in the past and is a good way to keep projects on schedule.
I just started doing this, and I've gotten a new lead or two each week so far. None have been serious enough about the idea yet to immediately execute, but I suspect with some pressure applied they will be ready.
I spoke to an alumnus from my school who graduated 3 years ago and did this in an official capacity. He started a "product development consultancy" wih a hybrid employee/outsource model, and tapped his alumni network for projects. His company completed 39 projects in its first year, all sourced from networking.
If you are an engineer also blessed with a strong network and interpersonal skills, I suggest you look into this as well. You don't need to code every app that someone wants help with. Often you can help give direction, or even charge for your services of managing an overseas team. People who leave finance are a good match because they can raise funds to the point that you can offer cheap, quality service from a friend, but also pay your developers way more than median salary in their country. I think of it like arbitraging my networks and skillsets.
Regardless of whether you do that, I definitely recommend putting an end to the habit of ignoring the app ideas of your friends.