This is part 1 of 5 on the topic I’ll be writing about - A technical co-founder VS hiring someone to build your product

So you decided to start a tech business. Whether it’s a product or a service. Or maybe a product as a service. (SaaS) To do that you need technical talent. It can come in many forms - employees, yourself, co-founders.
If you fall into the category of non-technical and you don’t have the money to finance a full-time technical employee, or you simply don’t want to risk the money you have saved up then congratulations! You’re looking for a technical co-founder. In this article, I’ll tell you about the various ways you can go about this and succeed. If you’ve never searched for a technical co-founder you might be starting to ask yourself - what’s the big deal, why do I need to read a whole article about this? And I’ll give you the answer right now - the thing is that your company, business or anything else related to these two are highly dependent on whoever is leading the building of your product. What’s especially hard about this is that you’re not just looking for any technical person, you’re looking for the perfect fit - someone whom you can communicate clearly with, who understands you, and your vision, and whose ideas for the future are aligned. Building a tech business is no easy task, it takes a long time, a lot of dedication, and focus. So making sure that you have the right people on your side is the first crucial step towards increasing your chances of success.

There are many ways to find one but I think some base understanding of technical people and partnerships would be quite beneficial.

The best technical people want to solve complex problems. That’s a passion of theirs. It fuels them to continue. It’s what they live for almost. Making sure that you’ve got your hands on a real and complex problem is the first step towards attracting a good technical person. Then after that, you need to be able to communicate it in a good manner, so everyone who doesn’t know what you know can understand you easily. Another thing you must know is that most technical people have been approached at least 10 times in the past year to become a co-founders of an idea. You need to find a way to stand out and spark their curiosity with your idea. That’s not enough though. After they’ve expressed their interest you need to show them what you bring to the table. Is it connections? Marketing? Strategy? You want to show people that you also bring value to the business. Lots of technical founders feel like they don’t need business people until they realize that the product is only one part of the equation. If you can make people realize that you’re likely going to be more successful.

Now that you know what technical people are made of, let’s dive into where you can find one.

First and foremost, the easiest way would be to utilize your existing network. Do you know someone who you’ve previously worked with on a project? Someone who you’ve been hanging around and know is technical? Go talk to them! Explain to them what you see. I must note here, that having prior working experience is a big bonus since you won’t need to discover how the two of you can make things work.

But what if I don’t know any technical people or none of the people I know want to work with me? Well then, you must start expanding your network. Find out where technical people hang out. Startup events, other technical events, or even just tech business events. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find lots of like-minded individuals there.

Another more unreliable way to find a co-founder is on the internet. The goal is the same, expand your network but through a different medium. The idea is the same as attending events. Except that in this case you’ll be attending online ones. Another big advantage of the internet is online communities. You’ll find a dozen tech forums, where people discuss all sorts of different problems, that’s another huge area to explore.

In the next article I plan to write I’ll tell you the next step of your journey towards building a business in tech - evaluating whether a potential co-founder is a good fit. A hard task.