Prospect wants to partner up. Advice?
Hey IH, I don't post much but I could use some advice. I'm a nontech founder myself, but I'm not dying for a cofounder now unless a great one happens along.
A prospect in my niche is suggesting building some software together. I reached out with a fully-built tool, which he isn't really interested in. He suggested expanding it, and gave some helpful feedback about how that could work (I've been thinking it myself, but it's too big a feature to build now).
Said he has a good idea about how it could work, and suggested building his solution together.
Has anyone partnered with prospects in their niche before? Or any advice when I chat to this prospect?
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I always recommend trying to find a small thing to work on together that doesn’t involve marriage/commitment first, to allow you both to get a feel for working together.
Yes! I agree. A project that is time-bound, goal oriented!
good idea! If everything seems good, I'll suggest that first
He is obviously seeing potential in your product. But to be honest I wouldnt really consider working with him if you dont need to. While i always recommend talking to a lot of people and finding allies, you should stay spare with who you get onboard as cofounder and who not. I once worked with a friend of mine who is a top consultant at GAFA now on a startup. he had nice ideas and insights but it just did not work. we never had a fight or something but it wasnt just a fit. it is pretty unlikely someone you never met is someone you can trust enough and work with to build up your startup.
Thanks for this Gabriel—I have a similar misgiving. I'm not quite sure what he'd be bringing to the table save for some market insights (which I could possibly glean with a few user interviews?). But I'll hear him out at least.
yeah do that but dont get blinded by nice and big words and pseudo experience. i dont know this person but as i said: being cheap with who you get aboard is crucial in the early days in my opinion since there are so many things that need to be defined.
do this if that prospect is ready to finance it or you have free dev resources
the risk here is that whatever you do will end up good fit only for that company and nothing else and maintaining multiple custom versions is not something you want to do unless you have a very good dev team and serious amount of money coming in from each custom version
Thanks @petrovn! This is a good perspective, he's one data point of many. I think my main worry is that this is one of those 'I have an idea, you build it' situations and I'm not about that at all.
It is not a problem if it is "I have an idea, you build it, here you have the money to do so".
I have build a lot of custom software solutions running my own company and there where a lot of "I have an idea, you build it" situations that made significant amounts of money as some clients after they have seen we can build stuff where happy to spend few hundred thousand to make an idea happen that will make them money, but we talking corporations that have the volume to spend the money and then use the software to make additional money, increase speed of operations that make money or simply save money of lost & wasted products.
so don't dismiss it right away if there is a proper financial backing behind it
good advice! Thanks
I recommend that you put an intellectual property agreement to protect your company technology Do Not Put an NDA. The best Investors like then company have IP .
Be fair with share YC will tell you this. 50 / 50 in most cases the best to do.
To protect investor and your self, in the agreement force a law that the share owner must work in the company for at least 5 years or otherwise he lose his share. Some people after finding a VC they sell all their shares because he made a profit but you and the inverters will lose a lot. If you are in USA think about 83(b) election.
Protect everyone, many newbies learn it the hard way.
You should do it and let him run with what you are good at and let him handle his skillsets.
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