The Untechnical Founder Death Spiral – Stage 1
In my previous post entitled The Un-Technical Founders Death Spiral we talked about three mistakes that many un-technical founders make in the early stages of starting their company that, when compounded, usually put a company out of business.
As a quick review, we identified three stages:
- Stage 1 – The “Find a Friend to Do Work For Free” Stage
- Stage 2 – The “Outer Mongolia” Stage
- Stage 3 – The “Raise Money and Hire a Contractor” Stage
We’re going to talk about the issues with each stage in depth over the next several posts here on Linked In. If you’re reading this series and find yourself somewhere in one of these three stages, it’s my goal to help you clearly understand the issues you are facing, and more importantly, how to make the right next move.
Let’s talk about the issues with Stage 1.
Why Free Doesn’t Work (in this case)
In my first article, I talked about the temptation that many of us face to hire that “friend of a friend who’s a developer” for free.
My friend Chris Heivly has a book out called Build The Fort, which is a great read on starting a company. One of the things Chris talks about at length is that when you’re starting something new, you need to get as much for free as possible. You need to ask people for help who have expertise that you don’t, and you need to be bold about asking for it for free. I agree with Chris wholeheartedly, and as a matter of fact I’ve asked him for lots of help. For free.
The difference between the kind of help I ask Chris for at no charge and asking someone to build your product for free is that it’s a lot of work to build a technology product, and it’s never really done. If you’re putting your product in front of customers and getting feedback, the work stream never ends.
By contrast, when I ask Chris or anyone else for help, I have very specific needs and they’re usually an hour or less of their time. I prepare ahead of time and make a very focused request. I don’t abuse their time (hopefully).
I’ve volunteered to help more people than I can count on their technology ideas, and I can tell you from experience that I start to lose interest if it’s clear that the idea is still very early or you haven’t clearly thought through all that you need.
It says something about you if you don’t take other people’s time seriously. Remember, they have a life and responsibilities and things they want to do, just like you. Time is THE MOST important currency in life.
It’s very different to ask someone “What do you think of this?” as opposed to “Would you help me make this?”
A short interlude / word of warning:
You should NEVER, and I mean NEVER, give someone equity in your company simply because they are willing to work for free. Equity is for those who are strapped to the mast with you. Those people are called co-founders. Co-founders are people you intentionally invite in to the journey. They aren’t people you bargain-hunt for.
Back to the regularly-scheduled content.
The second reason you should not rely on free labor is that you no longer own the process of delivering your product. In the early going, you have to be able to move fast, and people who have other day jobs and kids and nights out aren’t going to be available when you need them.
It’s too easy to blame-shift. “My developer can only work on every other Tuesday night, so I can’t get to that right now.” Meanwhile, your early customers leave.
Don’t set yourself up for failure.
What’s Your Next Move?
If you’re just getting started with a free coder or currently stuck in a frustrating relationship with one, come to a full stop.
Find another way to get your product built. Even if you’re not a coder, there are so many ways to build a first version of your product without understanding how to code. Not convinced? Watch this video from Tara Reed on how she built her product without writing code.
The goal, particularly early, is much more about proving that you have a business than having a perfectly executed product. If you can prove you’ve got a business, a world of options for next steps will appear before you.
What are some of my favorite tools to build a lo-fi first version?
- Google Docs and Spreadsheets (a simple database)
- Mailchimp (E-mail automation)
- WordPress (So many widgets and tools to build from)
- Unbounce (Landing page testing)
- Zapier (Glue to piece these components together and add your own logic)
- IFTTT (More and different kinds of glue and logic building)
All of these tools are tools that you as a startup founder will be able to figure out and use effectively. What you’ll find as you start to figure out how to do these things yourself is that the veil of mystery around building technology will start to lift.
Your sense of empowerment will skyrocket, and that hopeless feeling that drove you to ask for someone to do this for you for free will disappear. You will truly own your product and your future.
Isn’t that why you started down this path in the first place?
Stay tuned next time when we talk about Stage 2 of the Un-Technical Founder Death Spiral.