Why you can’t find a technical co-founder

Startups have been the hot trend for the last several years, and while everyone has some genius idea that is going to revolutionize the world and become the next Facebook/AirBnB/Uber/, much fewer have the technical skills to create the actual product. In places like Singapore (where recent studies show a frightening scarcity of talent), this is an even bigger issue. As a result, the web has been littered with discussions typically involving business savvy, non-technical founders trying to figure out why they can’t find technical co-founders to join them.

There are a lot of opinions on why this is the case: some believe that ideas alone are worthless without execution; some folks are simply too risk-averse or not in a position to work without pay; and some are of the mindset that there are just too many great opportunities for techies at the moment for them to care about your back-of-the-napkin ideas.

While each of these theories may have merit, perhaps there is a simpler underlying explanation: a technical co-founder is confident in their ability to handle the “tech side” of things, but doubtful in your ability to deliver on the “business side.” Before we cry foul about perceived prejudices and unfair assumptions, lets see why people may think this way.

A good technical founder knows with 99% certainty that they can deliver anything and everything you ask for on the “tech side”. The majority of apps/sites are actually quite simple in terms of coding and logic (though they may still take a lot of time and skill to develop). Unless you’re creating a new breakthrough technology – highly unlikely, especially from a non-technical founder – the development and completion of the product is fully under control of the technical founder.

Now lets ask you the same question: how confident are you on delivering everything that is needed on the “business side” to make the company succeed? This includes getting to critical mass of users, obtaining paying customers, raising funds, and growing the company while fighting off new and existing competitors – all insanely difficult tasks that are reliant on many factors far beyond your control. In all likelihood, even a generous probability of achieving those goals will be less than 20%.

This is the crux of the issue. A good techie knows they can deliver the technology with virtually 100% certainty, while the chances of the business side achieving their goals is low at best. Who would willingly enter into such an imbalanced situation?

So how do you overcome these odds and convince a technical co-founder to join you? Address the uncertainties upfront and prove your capabilities proactively. Get your initial group of early adopters signed up (simple landing pages can be built on sites like WordPress and SquareSpace with minimal technical knowledge), line up paying customers and/or investors that are ready to hand over cash as soon as the product is ready (KickStarter is full of such examples), and have a clear understanding and strategy for growing, scaling, and competing in your market. Doing this will put you leagues ahead of your peers looking for co-founders and demonstrate your understanding of and ability to execute what is needed to make the business succeed.

Just as important, don’t talk about the technical product as some sort of minor hurdle to overcome or checkbox to be ticked before success can be reached – us techies hate that. Saying something like “all I need is an app to match people up based on location and we’ll have the next Tinder” is the equivalent of us telling you “just sell a million of these apples for a dollar more than they cost us and we’ll have a million bucks.” It says absolutely nothing, downplays the other party’s contributions, and makes you sound naive to the real challenges of starting a business.

Proving your vision and abilities via the above steps will go far in balancing the equation and differentiating you from the scores of other people that “have a great idea,” not only to potential co-founders but to future investors as well. And while there will always be risk and uncertainty on the business side – lets face it, predicting or controlling the behaviour of humans is far more complex than for computers – you’ll be in a much better position to sell your vision to your first and most important customer: your co-founder.

Disclaimer: I’m not suggesting that a technical co-founder has no business side responsibilities. In the early stages and especially for a team of 2, everyone needs to be involved in everything, technical or not. But in a market with huge supply-demand imbalances, the burden is on the the initial guy with the idea to stand out from the crowd.