Technical Cofounding 101

A talk given in Sydney to a group of eager non-technical entrepreneurs looking to find a technical cofounder for their businesses.

Transcript

1. Technical cofounding 101 Finding and working with a technical cofounder.
2. Hi, I am Steve Ringo steven@dynamicclarity.com @stevenringo
3. What is a technical cofounder?
5. I’ll let you in on a secret
6. You don’t need a technical cofounder
7. You don’t need a technical cofounder*
8. If not having a technical cofounder is preventing you from progressing, you’re doing it wrong.
9. What stage? Idea Launch OMG!
10. Minimum Viable Product
12. Idea Launch OMG! Technical skill/capacity required
13. Technical Business • Business Model • Marketing • Sales • Acquisition • Customer development etc. • Feasibility • Basics
14. You are gambling
15. The dating game
16. Start manually
17. ‣ Wireframes ‣ Surveys ‣ Interviews ‣ Mockups ‣ Simulations ‣ etc.
18. ‣ SaaS ‣ Tumblr ‣ Wordpress ‣ Dropbox ‣ Surveymonkey ‣ Mailchimp ‣ Analytics ‣ Mechanical Turk
19. Learn some of the technical ropes
20. Understand the technical challenges a cofounder might face
21. You don’t need a technical cofounder necessarily ^
22. Outsource to get a head start
23. Don’t outsource your core competency
24. Do outsource before you’re competent
25. Don’t be ready to part with your equity too early
26. You can buy a solution
27. *not a real one, anyway :-) You can’t buy a cofounder*
28. Hangouts
29. Technical events
30. User groups
31. Speed dating events
32. ❧
33. Managing Software Projects
34. Thin slices
36. Complete & deploy each one first before starting the next
37. Drawing interface Complete & deploy each one first before starting the next
38. Drawing interface Sharing & Inviting Complete & deploy each one first before starting the next
39. Drawing interface Sharing & Inviting Enhancements. Colours and undo Complete & deploy each one first before starting the next
40. Drawing interface Sharing & Inviting Enhancements. Colours and undo Publishing and replay Complete & deploy each one first before starting the next
41. Issue tracking system
42. Asset & source control
43. Finding Waldo
44. “clicking”
45. nous & passion
46. Good understanding of how technology impacts the business and vice versa
47. Broad understanding of all issues of software development, deployment and management
48. Expertise in your domain
49. Track record
50. Organised
51. Idea Launch OMG! Technology emphasis
52. Thank you