Does your tech startup really need a technical co-founder? Yes.

No. For a social network for dogs. Will you build my website? No. Let's build a company together. Yes.

Welcome to Dalton Post Michael. Today, we're going to talk about why business folks need great technical cofounders. So who's this video for? Let's talk about.

the business folks we're talking to. Yeah. I think to set this up, Michael and I both talk to a lot of aspiring founders in any number of different venues, on the streets, at conferences, in interviews, wherever. Like, they find us. They find us. And, one of the more common opening lines is something like, well, I'm a really good business person. With a great idea. I have the best ideas.

Yes. You know, how do I need a technical co founder? Or, how do I find a technical co founder? Or, I can't find any good technical co founders. Like, this is one of the number one opening questions we get when we meet people in the real world. Yes. And so, this video is aimed at all of those people that ask all these questions that we have met Yes. And all the people that haven't met us Yes.

That might be thinking these questions. And what we wanna do is give you the key secret to actually being the best.

business cofounder. And we're not gonna hide it. We're gonna put it right up front. The best business founders recruit amazing technical cofounders. And that is how they distinguish themselves. That is the number one distinction.

So it's not what's on your resume, where you worked, the fact that you were some fancy executive, that you're tall, people like to go and have drinks with you, you've got amazing ideas. Unfortunately,.

there are a lot of folks like that. Yeah. Imagine the set of people. Imagine the intersection. There's the set of people that are great business founders Yes. And there's the set of people that can recruit amazing technical cofounders. Yes. You want to be in the intersection of those two sets.

And, there's not many people. No. That puts you in a very special class.

Well, and, I would argue, it is so distinguishing that you're given amazing opportunities. But what's tricky is not only do people not see this or do people try and not get a technical finder. Or they just dismiss it out of hand. It's too hard. Like, they'll just kinda like shut this line thing That's what's even more common.

It's just that like, well, I I can't find this person so I'm just I don't know anyone. Belong. Yeah. I don't know anyone. Okay. Now, you know. And this is the crazy thing because like a lot of people will pitch this to me. It's like, but this is the true spirit of an entrepreneurism.

Like, no barrier can prevent me from getting my product to market. Right? Like, I couldn't find technical cofounder so I just moved to the next challenge. I hired some engineers or I got a dev shop and like nothing will keep me will hold me back. And what's so sad about that way of thinking about it is that like, one, the percentage chances of death just went through the roof. Right? Yes.

Like you've just completely reduced your chances of success. But two, I bet if you would put the same amount of effort you put into getting a product to market without a great technical founder into finding a great technical founder, at least half people would be able to do it. Yeah. And so it's just like it's a shame because it's so much wasted talent.

Yeah. I I like to think about it this way. Again, we are what we're talking about implicitly let's make it explicit. We're talking about a company that uses software as a deep part of it. Tech software startup. If we're talking about a software startup Yes. And you somehow don't have a technical co founder, this would be like, I'm gonna build a rocket to the moon Yes.

But no one here knows anything about physics. We can my I have such a big heart. We can just like like, I have such hustle. I'm Johnny Hustle. I'm going to the moon, Michael. Like, do you see how absurd that is? But Yeah. And the asterisk is, okay, if you want to start a new clothing brand or a liquor brand, okay, you don't need to do Do it.

It doesn't apply. Obviously. Yes. But if you're if you're saying, yeah, I'm gonna build a software company Yes. And you don't have a software co founder, it just, you're not even in the in the ballgame. You're not even in the stadium. One, what's so sad for me is like when I say that to people, sometimes they think I'm trying to discourage them.

But, if you go back to like, I'm gonna prove you wrong, Michael. Yeah. I'm gonna learn physics. Yeah. And, I'm like, I am not trying to like, I am trying to tell you the number or, like, I came to you for advice about my product,.

but you're telling me I need a co founder. You're insulting me, Michael. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, no. I'm trying to give you the most important thing I can tell you. And, you know, what was interesting is that like this is advice is informed by my personal experience. Right?

Like, I was the single nontechnical person on a four person co founding team at Justin TV and Twitch. And like, I'll just make it plain. Without my three other cofounders, none of that shit happens. Like, ideas are a dime a dozen. And so, I think that more business people need to embrace the idea that great software companies are built by great software engineers. Yep.

A common retort out here is like, Dalton, we're not building a software business. Software is in there, but it's not that. It's a tech enabled. Yeah. We're just building a simple marketplace. Right? Like, can just use marketplace software. It's just a copy of DoorDash with a little twist.

Why do we need a great software engineer? What's your response?

You know, it's hard to win that debate in theory. Like, it's hard to convince someone just in the debate. They'll be like, well, we're just gonna agree to disagree. Yes. But I think if you just look at the facts, of the companies we funded, like literally DoorDash or literally Airbnb or any of these folks Yes. They lived and died by their speed of shipping software. Yes.

And if they what they did was buy white label software or have some dev shop in a foreign country making edits to the website, there's a 0% chance those companies would have worked. Yeah. And so again, who am I to say there won't be some future company that maybe uses one of these things? Yes.

But the more that the more that we're exposed to seeing what these companies look like at the earliest stages, even if they don't look like strictly tech businesses, man, there's no way these things would have gotten off the ground without having a really great person who cared as much as a cofounder cares Yes.

Building this thing day in and day out versus someone ripping you off, charging you $500 an hour to change some words on the website. And you don't even know ballgame. Like, it's not even.

Well, what pisses me off is that, like, I think in other areas that are equally as hard as being a successful tech founder, let's say athletics, I think more people are realistic about it strangely. Like, the equivalent is, you know, a five foot four person who doesn't jump I can't or Yeah. Can't run. Yeah. And like, they're just a lot of heart mangled. Yeah.

They're not that many of those people who are saying to the world, do I wanna be in the NBA? Right? Whereas we see the equivalent of that in startups all the time. And it's like, it's one thing if you're six six and like you're like a great high school basketball player, you probably won't make the NBA, but like, alright. At least you You're in the stadium. In the stadium.

You're amongst the million people who could. Yeah. And I think that people are not honest with themselves. And I think what we're trying to do is give you this secret, which is that, like, you can almost get a ticket to being in the game, and it requires recruiting one person. Yep. How cool is that? Like, this shouldn't be seen as a negative. It seems like an extreme positive.

It's like a golden what is it? Willy Wonka ticket. And and even if you are technical.

yourself or sometimes people are medium technical. Like, so I I was a technical CEO, but I still tremendously benefited Yes. By having an additional technical Yes. Cofounder. Yes. And so this is also a thing where you're not like, okay. Well, you know, I I can kinda I can kinda cofounder. Like, okay.

That doesn't count. No. There's tremendous benefits from having someone, again, who cares as much as a founder Yes. Who's committed as much as a founder Yes. And who's at, you know, at the top of the game, like a 10 x engineer on a founder level, you're unstoppable.

And what's weird is sometimes we had competitors in in my startups whose teams were constructed this way, horrible tech talent. And it was funny in hindsight because we never had to be worried. They could raise more money. They could have nicer office. They could have more employees. They could have cooler people using their did it matter? Like, better engineering is the gift that.

gives you more every Even if you need to pivot, no matter what no matter what happens, good or bad You're in a better you're in a better position to to these Yes.

And I think the even scarier thing about this is that, like, when you start with a team of business people assessing engineers, and they are naturally gonna start by hiring worse engineers, all of your future engineers are hounded by the Yes.

Exactly. It compounds. Bad. So Okay. So alright, Michael. Alright. You guys convinced me, I guess, whatever. But I don't you know, sure.

This is Dalton Bugger business guy. You know? I guess that's a point you could make. I don't know. But, Michael, I don't know anyone. Where do I find these people? Yeah. How.

again, that's what they always say in these conversations. That's what they always say. So how what is your response when they tell you that? So the first thing is that, like, who are you disqualifying and why? I can't tell you how many business people told me, well, I obviously need a CTO with ten years of experience and who've managed teams of at least 50 to a hundred.

And I'm like, you're 23 years old with no use of experience. Why do you need that? And they're like, well, because, you know, when we launch, this thing's gonna get big. And it's like, come on. So first, you might be disqualifying great people. Don't do that. And so let's say you don't know them.

Sometimes the number one thing to do if you're in this position is to not start the company right now, is to go get a job at a start up, is to go change the people you know. And what's so interesting is that, like, sometimes taking that step sideways is the easiest and best path to starting sort of journey with the highest likelihood of success.

Well, here's the thought experiment I encourage people to do.

Visualize the best person you have ever worked with, either in school or in your job. The best engineer Yes. That everyone knows is the best person. Yes. Can you visualize someone? Okay. Can you get that person to be your co founder? And, often, people are like, oh, yeah.

No. They would never they would never work with me. What do you mean, man? Or, like, they're making lots of money. Yeah. And, again, I would just stop right there and be like, well, why? Have you talked to them? And, they're like, no.

They would just like, basically, folks put up the barriers Yes. To negotiate against themselves Yes. Right out of the gate. And, again, if we zoom all the way out Yes. So you wanna start a company, you wanna do something big, but you won't actually even bother to try to recruit the most obvious person that's a candidate that you know. But, what if they say no?

Or, you talk to them and they're like, no. I don't think so. What often happens, again, to go deep on this Yeah. Is that the way they'll pitch the person is they'll pitch them their idea. They'll be like, I'm an idea guy. I've got a great idea. Do you want to be my like, worker bee to go do all my ideas?

And, of course, the person that's the best person you've ever worked with does not want to sit in a cage No. And do all of the work that you give them. No. And, instead, I'm like, well, have you asked them what if they have startup ideas Yeah. And then, sell yourself where you can come together, come up with the idea together Yeah. As co owners.

And, it's shocking how often that appears to have never occurred to someone. Like, they think the idea of finding a technical co founder is to find someone who will basically submit to their whims Yeah. And be like their like assistant. To find an employee.

Yeah. And that's not the move, man. Try to find a partner. You know, it's funny because my dad would say this to me about my cofounder Justin Kahn. He was like, you know, Michael, Justin's an amazing recruiter. And I always thought I was like, what's weird is that, like, I think if you're recruited by a good recruiter, you don't even realize they're a good recruiter. Right?

But, like, in hindsight, I'm like, alright. So we got me, Amit, and Kyle to work for him. Well, not work for him, but to be his cofounders in a startup where he was wearing a camera and his head streaming his life twenty four seven.

Named after him. Yes. Named after Justin. Named Justin. TV. Yes. Do you wanna work out my startup? Yes.

It's me. Yes. And and and he.

had raised $50,000. Seems like a great deal, Michael. Yeah. Right. I and so it's like, okay. Well, like, how did he build that team? Like, you know, it comes back to, like, you wanna distinguish yourself as a business person. Go do that.

Like.

That's crazy. Should be impressed. I'm impressed. You're a great businessman. And, hey, they're working on your idea. That's even What? I promise you, Michael. I have no idea.

Well,.

you know, I'll tell you what he promised you. It wasn't that the idea was gonna work. Like, it was the adventure. Okay. It was the adventure. And, like, I think what's so interesting when people, don't ask their friend and they assume, oh, but they work at this company. They're never gonna do it. It's like they don't realize you're offering adventure.

You're offering.

the unknown. And, adventure isn't, here's my idea No. For a social network for dogs. No. Will you build my website? No. Let's build a company together. Yes.

That's adventure. Yes.

And, what's crazy is like when you're pitching adventure, there aren't a lot of there aren't a lot of alternatives. Most people don't have six adventures on the plane. Right. It's usually does any one person get pitched adventure? No.

It's usually adventure or, like So,.

you know, it's a good pitch. It's a good pitch. So, anyways, right, I think that we're trying you know, I think that there's like I'll say this. Right? I'm a business guy. Right? I think YC has a lot of messaging that's like, yeah, our business guy is important. Like, you don't need them.

I agree. You don't need them. But I will say this. There are a lot of very successful nontechnical people in our network that do amazing work. And I think one of the things that if you wanna learn from them,.

we're trying to give you one of the most important patterns we see from folks. Yeah. They're great recruiters and they they do this thought experiment of who's the best person in the world. Yes. And, they find a way to get that person to work with That's.

bending the universe to your will is what that is. So, you should hold yourself to their standard and maybe you'll get their success. Alright. Thanks, Dalton. Thanks.