How should business guys go about finding great hackers for a startup?
octane: > I am a business guy. I have worked at large companies and managed big businesses. I have started tech and non-tech companies as a founder and an early employee. I have raised money. I have written specs. I have sold stuff to big companies and consumers.I have cut deals with big companies and big brands. Some of these deals have panned out. Some have not. Some of these ventures have been successful. Some have been cluster fucks.A good co-founding engineer will have done all this and more.  You need to give him 35% or more and have a stellar track record to boot.If that's not the equity ballpark you're playing in, and you can't bring more to the table than "well I've started a couple of businesses and I can do sales", you're looking for the wrong type of person.  What you want is a freelance developer that takes $10k and makes a prototype for you.  That way you can keep 100% of your equity.You might think you got lucky if you find some young kid in his early 20s to do most of the work for very little equity and almost no cash, but think about what happens to your business when he decides you're an asshole 6 months later and quits.  Just use your imagination to think about how ugly that can get.  Especially since he's the one running your entire tech infrastructure.