Need a 50% builder/co-founder for web2.0 prod w/ 60b+ domestic market. Ask?s.

http://hackersports.posterous.com/36164010

by cgshaw • 16 years ago

12 34 16 years ago

hackersports.posterous.com

kls4• 16 years ago

I have to say, this is one of the best "I need a tech guy" post I have seen and for two simple reason, you can see the authors passion, and he clearly explains what he is going to do, how he is going to chip in to make the company succeed and what he has to offer to make a go at it. He shows his value and realizes that the tech guy is an important part of the equation not just an after thought.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Thanks.

I am learning and will continue to learn. I don't think you can be an effective seller without understanding how to build and vice versa, empathy matters. I've thought about the design and ui stuff for years for this product mainly because the existing options are such piles of shit. I've never formally studied programming, just picked up bits and pieces over time, but I want to jump in.

stanleydrew6• 16 years ago

Really? You thought he clearly explained what he is going to do? I can appreciate his passion, but I wouldn't say he was particularly clear about anything.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

EDIT: Check out the response to waterside81's comment above.

What would you like to know?

The post is quite frankly too long already, but I figured folks would want a decent amount of information. Like I said, Ask ?'s.

Thanks for your comment.

kls4• 16 years ago

You thought he clearly explained what he is going to do

Yeah, I was not too clear on that was I. I meant the role he was going to play in the company. Not the core idea, he has.

waterside81• 16 years ago

My exact thoughts. While he doesn't go into too much detail about what the idea is per se, he tells you a lot about himself, which is critical, tells you about compensation, location and expectations. Plus he promises to respond to everyone, which another sign of integrity. Good stuff Chris.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Thanks. In short the idea is to create a truly interactive sports site.

It's simple and allows users to curate a link board (like Reddit), it gets more nuanced to the person as they vote and interact more. Add in comment and voting systems that look and respond like Quora. Very fast, built in editorial controls, extra stuff like formatting and bulleting. This is the minimum viable product.

After you get enough users and enough content being curated, you can start scraping the information. Make a truly personalized sports application. Flipboard, but more bad ass.

People use facebook and such for flipboard concentrate on their ENTIRE network. I have 500+ friends, most don't like sports, many don't like MY teams. I want the best content on my teams from all sources in one place. I also want to be able to interact and game with other sports fans from my teams.

That's a more elaborate version of the idea. -Chris

lkrubner• 16 years ago

In the article, they start with:

"TL:DR. Jump off a cliff and create an awesome fucking company."

Even for a tl;dr, I do not find that enticing. I expect a tl;dr to be short, probably just 1 sentence, but is that the best they could do? Nothing in that 1 sentence makes me want to commit to the project. And, really, the tone is a red flag.

I've got a ton of non-technical friends who have ideas for websites. I probably get asked to commit some time to websites once or twice a month. I say no 99% of the time. I say no unless the time commitment is small and I owe the person a favor, or I actually believe in the idea - which happens about once every 2 years.

A lot of people want my help with websites. If someone wants me to commit my time to them, they need to do a lot to win me over.

Also, I worry about this:

"^I’m looking for one person to be a 50% co-founder"

I think it is usually best if someone is in charge. 50/50 can lead to uncertainty about who is making the decisions.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

50/50 is just in relation to equity distribution. Nearly all of the Angels and VCs I've read about suggest 50/50 that way there is equal stake and interest.

That doesn't necessarily mean that I don't lead and take charge on some things. As far as I'm concerned, once I get someone skilled enough to help me build it's my job to go pitch, hustle, market and work my ass off while the cofounder builds a team, outsources small projects and puts things together.

What's the tonal problem? I'm enthusiastic. Sorry if I offended you the Fbomb, but that's just my personality. I've certainly read (and often been called, lol) more offensive things.

Thanks for your comment.

a_b_c• 16 years ago

I’m looking for an awesome person (people) interested in social, dynamic curation, mobile, near-field communication, qr codes, augmented reality, search, rich-media, minimalist design, gaming, and world domination. Don’t worry, the MVP (minimum viable product) incorporates only some of those elements, but the vision extends in to all of those areas. Some of these ideas I’ve had for a decade or more, this isn't a knee-jerk proposition. This is an opportunity to take ownership and give your own vision. I'm willing to listen to just about anything and use whatever tools best execute the vision. HTML5 / CSS3, whatever back-end language you want. We dream it, pivot, build it, dominate.

hmmmm, Anything else you want to add in there? Not enough current buzzworthy technologies mentioned.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Lol, touche.

The mvp focuses on social aspects and minimal design. I want to build a company. I'm looking down the road, many of those ideas are pet projects that would be many months or years down the road.

I'd like to teleport you into the game from anywhere on earth and have Eva Longoria teleport with you. I'd also like to allow you to take over the control of your favorite athletes and play in the game.

Thank you for your comment. :-)

stanleydrew6• 16 years ago

Some questions:

What's the most interesting thing you've created on your own or with a small team before?

What kind of alcohol do you prefer to drink?

When I type http://news.ycombinator.com into my browser's address bar and press enter, what happens to make the HN front page show up on the screen? Be as detailed as you can.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

1. The most interesting thing I created was one of the best college debate teams in the country. At Mizzou we didn't have a team, I started one, raised tens of thousands of dollars and my partner and I made it to a final four. The squad placed 12th in the nation despite not having a coach and being underfunded. We beat ivies and all sorts of super well funded and coached schools. We were mostly farm boys. After graduation, I was hired as the youngest coach in the country at Colorado College, one of my teams that year made it to a final four. I'm one of a hand full of people to debate in a final four and coach a team to a final four. Code-wise, nothing that interesting, like I've mentioned elsewhere, I've never really taken a class. I've created websites, blogs and stuff, but never with a team.

2. Maker's Mark is my drink of choice.

3. Front page is 1. Threshold of 100 points, 2. Gawker Hacked, 3. HN Reading Level, 4. No evidence of time b4 big bang, 5. Building Generaion in Unreal 3, 6. Atlantic Turns a profit, 7. NY Struggles to find enough tech people.

How much more detail would prefer?

stanleydrew6• 16 years ago

#1 is impressive.

With #3 I was hoping to gauge your understanding of "how the internet works," but I clearly asked it the wrong way. I assume you have some notion of computers talking to each other in a network. But I thought it would be useful to see how much you've thought about it or read about it or fooled with getting stuff up and running on the internet.

robryan2• 16 years ago

Anyone else assume this was satire before reading the comments here?

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Burn. If the worst thing that ever happens to me is I get made fun of on a board then I'd certainly be going no where with running a company, eh?

:-).

robryan2• 16 years ago

Well it's not your fault, just the fault of the many less genuine people they have gone before you with similar messages. :)

Good luck with your venture.

jacques_chester2• 16 years ago

It's not satire?

I was honestly impressed by the nuanced take on the genre that starts with "I HAV GRATE IDEA FOR GAME COMBINYNG WORLD OF WARCRAFT AND MODEN WARFAR PLZ HELP!!1!" and ends with an MBA.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Deep burn. No MBA, just a J.D. ;-).

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Some folks requested a more elaborate explanation of the mvp.

In short the idea is to create a truly interactive sports site.

After you get enough users and enough content being curated, you can start scraping the information. Make a truly personalized sports application. Flipboard, but more bad ass.

People use facebook and such for flipboard, which looks at their ENTIRE network. I have 500+ friends, most don't like sports, many don't like MY teams. I want the best content on my teams from all sources in one place. I also want to be able to interact and game with other sports fans from my teams.

That's a more elaborate version of the idea. -Chris

jablookey• 16 years ago

To any developer considering this. Here's a list of red flags from someone who's worked with too many guys that fit this mold.

List of red flags:

-No funding. A bedroom in missouri is not compensation. There is absolutely nothing in there about you being able to pay your bills during this. By moving and not having a salary, you will be responsible for assuming the risk of the venture. He however has no skin in the game except a spare bedroom.

-Salesman + lawyer + finance guy. Deadly combo. Can he sell you on the project? Sure. Can he also figure out how to screw you out of your equity stake when there's real cash involved? You bet. Can he twist his words to get you to go along with whatever misguided product pivot floats into his head in the shower? Yup. Can he manipulate all the legal paperwork to favor him? Oh yea. Can he sell the company without telling you? Sure. Can he make up out of scope features in a meeting with advertisers and then freak out when you tell him you can't deliver by the arbitrary deadline he set? Lets just say its happened before. He hustles for a living. He WILL hustle you.

- Self-proclaimed nerd. Literally knows enough to be dangerous. He's a self-professed 'net junkie'. He thinks that makes him qualified to make social media product decisions. What does that say?

- He is not 'a builder'. When building a business, if you can't 'build' you're pretty useless.

- He uses words like "dominate". Alpha male.

- Social bookmarking meets sports. I've never heard of that one before.

- "I want someone that works with me not for me." Word of wisdom - you're actually better off working for this guy than with him.

- Can you make this without him? Absolutely.

- Doesn't live anywhere near a major market. Yea I'm sure KC is a big sports city. Not big enough. Is he committed enough to the tech industry move to a proper market? No. Is he committed enough to stay in it when the going gets rough? We'll see.

- He has the delusion that he thinks this is such a great opportunity he needs an application form with test questions. Its not. Its a great opportunity to learn all the ways NOT to do a startup.

I created a throwaway account just to respond to this. Normally, I wouldn't want to sound this cynical but reading this is the equivalent of listening to the sound of nails scraping on a chalkboard.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Jablookey, Thanks for your comment. I’m trying to respond to everything, but let me say first, I apologize if I managed to do or say things that irritated you so much you had to get a throw away account and write 400 words about how much I pissed you off. Wasn’t my intent.

J - To any developer considering this. Here's a list of red flags from someone who's worked with too many guys that fit this mold. List of red flags:

No funding. A bedroom in Missouri is not compensation. There is absolutely nothing in there about you being able to pay your bills during this. By moving and not having a salary, you will be responsible for assuming the risk of the venture. He however has no skin in the game except a spare bedroom.

Me – You’re right, I didn’t make myself clear. The 13 slide deck and 100+ pages of research I’ve culled from thousands of pages don’t mean much to Angels without someone that can build the damn thing. As soon as I am able to find a legit builder, I’d be parking out on Kauffman’s lawn and/or where else I had to go to get some seed money. Worst case scenario, I put some of my own cash into the project, but it’s not like I’m asking someone to join w/ for 10% equity. I want a full partner who shares the risk. I’d quit my job and focus on this full time too.

J - Salesman + lawyer + finance guy. Deadly combo. Can he sell you on the project? Sure. Can he also figure out how to screw you out of your equity stake when there's real cash involved? You bet. Can he twist his words to get you to go along with whatever misguided product pivot floats into his head in the shower? Yup. Can he manipulate all the legal paperwork to favor him? Oh yea. Can he sell the company without telling you? Sure. Can he make up out of scope features in a meeting with advertisers and then freak out when you tell him you can't deliver by the arbitrary deadline he set? Lets just say its happened before. He hustles for a living. He WILL hustle you.

Me – Anyone jumping into a partnership or corporation should have their OWN attorney look at it. No offense, but it’s a problem if you just “trust” just about anyone. I’m not looking for an Eduardo Saverin. I’m looking for a partner. The pivots aren’t in me head, they’re on paper. I realize you’re trying to be funny, but wouldn’t you rather have someone who’s comfortable marketing and selling a product? Do you want to work with a guy that looked as nervous as Zuckerberg used to or as awkward as some others in tech? I have a massive amount of respect for anyone that can code, but selling a product is a different game. Hell read Venture Hacks for ten minutes, I guaranty you’ll come across the concept of having a “builder” and a “seller.” Hell I’d pay for someone else’s attorney to look at any sort of vesting / share transaction / future dilution agreement.

J - Self-proclaimed nerd. Literally knows enough to be dangerous. He's a self-professed 'net junkie'. He thinks that makes him qualified to make social media product decisions. What does that say?

Me – I was one of the first 1,000,000 users of Facebook and I’ve been posting on message boards and IMing for over a decade. I may not understand all of the nuts and bolts of building one, but I understand how most of them are unusable. I can also design in HTML, CSS, some PHP, and jQuery. I don’t know how to do the backend.

J - He is not 'a builder'. When building a business, if you can't 'build' you're pretty useless.

Me - I can build capital, build users, build a team, build an office. You assume because I can’t build a backend or speak in code I’m useless. I truly don’t feel like you gave my post or any of my comments any thought what so ever.

J - He uses words like "dominate". Alpha male.

Me – Touche. I didn’t realize that speaking like an alpha male ever made one so. I’m enthusiastic and gregarious, and yes—loud, but I’ve never had anyone call me an alpha male. I think I do have some “alpha” qualities, however. I don’t quit. I work hard. I fight like hell for my friends and family —I’m very protective. And I guess I’m probably a bit alpha male in that I answer 400 word flame posts from throwaway accounts on message boards.

J - Social bookmarking meets sports. I've never heard of that one before.

Me – You’re right. If you’ve ever been to BallHype/d, SportsAg, ChatSports, etc., you’ll realize the concept has been completely fucking mutilated. The sites are terrible. 1. Loadspeeds are shit. 2. Comment systems suck. 3. Almost Unusable UI’s. 4. No Marketing. I have 50 pages just on how to fix most of those problems. It's also worth noting that if I just wanted to emulate what those sites do I could recreate it in a couple of days. It needs to a be a more technologically sophisticated product.

J - "I want someone that works with me not for me." Word of wisdom - you're actually better off working for this guy than with him.

Me – I don’t understand this. If I think the idea has real potential, wouldn’t it be better to work with someone who has as much vested interest as I do to see it succeed. If I pay someone, which I could feasibly do, then I can end up with someone who just collects a check and doesn’t want to see the business grow. I want someone who can eventually be a CTO, help hire people underneath her, who benefits from the business’ growth as much as I do. You ever taken any economics? Your solution misaligns our incentives greatly.

J - Can you make this without him? Absolutely.

Me – Sure, but don’t you need someone to help attract investment, build capital, hire, etc. All mentioned above. And it’s not like I put up the deck and the research online. I have plenty to bring to the table.

J - Doesn't live anywhere near a major market. Yea I'm sure KC is a big sports city. Not big enough. Is he committed enough to the tech industry move to a proper market? No. Is he committed enough to stay in it when the going gets rough? We'll see.

Me – You’re right. The growth strategy has little to do with pro sports markets though. It’s most about colleges first and the craziest sports schools are a hell of lot closer to KC than the Valley. I also feel a loyalty to my city and want to see businesses started here. I’ve seen enough really bright awesome people leave this are to go to either coast or Chicago. However, I’d be the first one to pack up my entire life and move to Silicon Valley tomorrow if someone funded the project. For the purposes of rent and everything else though, it would be remarkably cheap to start here. As far as picking up and moving a long distance on short notice I’ve done it. In 2006, I applied for a job almost a 1,000 miles away on a whim and moved there a few days later.

J - He has the delusion that he thinks this is such a great opportunity he needs an application form with test questions. Its not. Its a great opportunity to learn all the ways NOT to do a startup.

Me – Some actually filled it out. I’d be perfectly fine without that just wanted to chat as well, truthfully. The “test” form, which includes such terrible questions as “Describe your worst professional fuck up” and “What have you built” was meant to prevent me from getting people who weren’t truly interested from sending me spam or other bullshit.

I’m more than willing to listen to an alternative approach to help me find a kick ass builder.

J - I created a throwaway account just to respond to this. Normally, I wouldn't want to sound this cynical but reading this is the equivalent of listening to the sound of nails scraping on a chalkboard.

Me - http://bit.ly/exn54R

Thanks for your comment.

dshankar• 16 years ago

Normally, I hate reading about these. Web dev has become easy enough that anyone should be able to prototype their idea.

Nevertheless, two words in article make this worth reading.

"I hustle"

That's something I really respect (assuming you truthfully hustle). You write well, you probably sell well. Good luck with your venture.

cgshaw15• 16 years ago

Thanks for your comment. I kind of mentioned it before, but I'm not some silver spooned trustafarian with nothing better to do. I'm a blue collar guy that's worked since I was 13. Retail, food service, whatever to get by. My first "real" job was teaching and coaching debate at a top 30 liberal arts school at 22 without a masters or phd, which were job "requirements." I called the dean of students, who was hiring for this specific job, and basically said "you're crazy if you don't consider me." In retrospect probably seemed insane, lol.

I applied on a Tuesday, called his office half a dozen times on Wednesday, flew out Sunday, was offered the job Monday and packed all of shit and drove nearly a 1,000 miles to a place I'd never been just a few days before.

He gave me a shot and I coached a team to final four and it was the school's second best finish in its debate teams 110+ history of debating. Some of my students were essentially my age.

My students were really bright, but I'd like to think I had something to do with it too, :-).

Need a 50% builder/co-founder for web2.0 prod w/ 60b+ domestic market. Ask?s.

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