The Horror
Four plus years as a contract developer in NYC has taught me a thing or two about startups and the mistakes founders make, especially non technical ones. Chief among them is the propensity to over-build something without any indication whatsoever from the market that the product is wanted. There’s a lot more so let’s get into it:
1) Build Build Build There is a notion among first-time founders that in order to launch a successful product, you have to build every conceivable feature and anticipate all possible user demands before release. This leads to one thing: over-optimization. It’s as if no one reads the Lean Startup or has any understanding of its core tenets before devoting tens of thousands of dollars and several months (sometimes years!) before releasing. Please don’t this. Validate your concept - you might be wrong. In fact, you probably are and you really should listen to your potential users as soon as possible - during the ideation stage.
2) Fully Outsource Development If you outsource your development, no matter who you find, the person or people will NOT be as dedicated to the project as you. It’s like asking someone to raise your child for pay - they can go through the motions but will not have the undying devotion that you would. When an interested investor asks to meet on Monday morning for a demo and it’s Sunday night, is your contract developer going up all night to hack together everything you need? Not likely (this scenario happens more often than you think). Only a truly dedicated technical co-founder will have that kind of commitment.
3) The wrong technical cofounder Possibly worse than no technical co-founder is the wrong one. What I have seen play out a few times is an idea guy (or gal) essentially takes anyone as a technical co founder out of desperation because it’s so hard to find one. This may be a grad student or even college student with little or no professional experience. If this describes you, prepare for a world of hurt: Missed deadlines, far longer development cycles than anticipated, buggy code, and a big stinky pile of what’s called “technical debt” - google it. No matter how often I see this (a LOT), every founder I talk to who is about to make this mistake insists he is different and is somehow impervious to this trap. Okay, it’s his time and money, not mine.
4) Spend, Spend, Spend This is a dubious one. There is so much money flowing around Silicon Valley these days that it is strikingly common for a founding team to raise a couple hundred thousand off an idea or half-baked prototype then go Hollywood - hire a dev to hack it together (I was that guy a lot) while they go to SXSW and ‘network’ and play startup CEO. Meanwhile, they also hire interns and marketing staff while renting posh office space in SOHO. To top it off, when the weather gets nice, it seems they are in Montauk every weekend. If this is you, you know what you’re doing.
There’s more but these are most common and in my observation, the most damaging. The root issue here is a lack of introspection and desire to learn about the process before diving right in. People get so excited with their idea that they become convinced of its inevitable success. Much of it also stems from the mainstream popularity of startups today and the massive valuations we see every year. It’s okay to be motivated by these factors - we all are to an extent - but to approach your startup haphazardly with other people’s money is ethically questionable. It’s even more so when so many have tried and failed from whom you can gain valuable insight.
