Technology is one of the cornerstones of startups. At its core, every startup might have a dream and business idea. However, technology is vital in realising the vision and taking the product closer to customers.
Co-founders play a crucial role in a startup’s success. Specifically, for a non-technical co-founder, having a technical co-founder is an invaluable advantage.
If you are an aspiring startup enthusiast or a non-technical co-founder keen on growing your startup, I can imagine how much you would need a technical co-founder.
Wondering why? Join me as I decode more on this.
Who is a Technical Co-Founder?
A technical co-founder is a seasoned technology professional who can handle the technical complexities of your startup.
Technology is an innate part of a startup. From ideation, scaling, hiring, customer experience and delivery—technology is what makes ideas happen in addition to human intellect.
With a technical co-founder on your side, the following related tasks, where technology is an innate part, would be a breeze:
1. Product design
Advancements in technology such as no-code and low-code can help create a proof of concept for your product.
However, to progress to the further steps, i.e., product design and realisation, technology implementation becomes indispensable.
Here’s where a guiding hand becomes essential, which is what precisely a technical co-founder offers.
2. Attracting funding
Investors look at how capable your team can prevent and handle the glitches that might delay the product design and development.
With a proven technology expert in your co-founder team, your chances of convincing the sharks just got better.
3. Team building
A technical co-founder knows what exactly to look into when making new hires for your technical team. Thus, you can stay assured of the return on the tech hiring investment.
4. Effective delegation
As a founder, time is a valuable asset to you.
You might not have time to manage freelancers and agencies you are tied with for your daily tasks.
A technical co-founder is your go-to person to delegate such technical commitments, thus leaving time to focus on your core business tasks.
How to Hire a Technical Co-Founder?
Now that you know what a technical co-founder brings to the table, you probably agree that you need one too.
But how to find a technical co-founder for your startup? Here are some ways I suggest:
1. Professional networking platforms
Forums such as Twitter threads, LinkedIn, Reddit and Slack are gold mines for professionals. Explore the features of these platforms and connect with like-minded seasoned technology experts who might be the match made for your startup.
2. Portfolio and personal websites
Personal branding is the new age mantra, and technology experts implement this very well. A simple Google search brings you the individual websites and portfolios of technology experts.
YouTube channels and knowledge-sharing platforms such as Medium and Quora are treasure troves to find experts too.
An advantage of these platforms is: the content they share on these sites help you to understand their thought process and leadership skills, apart from technical expertise.
3. Personal connections
A co-founder is your partner for life in business.
As Sidharth Rao, Dentsu WebChutney’s CEO believes, “toxic co-founder relationship is one of the top three reasons for failures of startups. You can’t sidestep the hard work that it takes to make a relationship work”.
It is why choosing a technical co-founder whose ideologies match yours is imperative. And hence, personal connections are the safest way to start your search for your technical co-founder.
The person could be someone from your university level or an old colleague who knows you and your passions. Did you make any notable connections in your last technical meetup or startup conference? Explore them too.
The premise is: the better you know the person, the higher the probability for a wavelength match.
Now that you have come to this step, my hearty congratulations to you. You are almost getting closer to finding your technical co-founder.
Here arises another question: How (much) should I pay my technical co-founder?
Well, many technical co-founders prefer to get paid in equity. However, as startups turning profitable is a time-based game, offering attractive salaries is another viable option to pay technical co-founders.
Similarly, pay, perks, and culture are deciding factors to turn your offer attractive. A strong work culture with a scope to learn and grow can ignite the passion of technical experts.
Additionally, a team with shared ideologies and open communication can boost productivity in startups. However, if your startup has these traits, attracting a great technical co-founder can be a cakewalk if your startup has these traits.
With technology everywhere, your startup cannot ignore leveraging the same. And the first step to begin with to accomplish this is hiring (or finding) a technical co-founder.
