Hiring Programmers
I've recently come up with an idea for a smart phone app and a website that I would like to pursue. I don't know shit about coding, so I'm looking to hire people that do, but obviously my idea is highly confidential. Do I simply get my employees to sign an NDA, or is it more complicated than that?
I have access to $15,000 in start-up capital, but I don't really know how long, or how or how expensive it will be to develop an algorithm that does what I'm trying to do, although it seems like it should a fairly simple process. I'm considering bringing on at least one partner who knows something about coding, for the purpose of keeping initial costs down, and more importantly to make sure my employees aren't stealing from me.
Any advice on keeping the idea a secret and/or making sure my employees don't steal the algorithm I'm paying them to develop would be greatly appreciated.
If you get them to sign an nda you gotta be willing to commit to suing them if they break it, which could cost a lot more than 15k, with no clear financial gain to it. Dont bother.
Nuts & Bolts of Intellectual Property for New Startups http://gust.com/angel-investing/startup-blogs/2011/12/22/nuts-and-bolts…
Pro tip to all the finance people on this website
Making people sign an NDA is the fastest way to show that you don't know the culture of the startup community. It will lose you respect from VCs, developers, and writers.
The mentality of a startup is "even if you know everything I'm doing, I'll out-execute you and do it better."
The mainstream public watched "The Social Network" and are brainwashed into thinking that everyone's out to get you. No they're not. We all probably think your idea sucks or has been done before, hence why you're trying to do it now.
Based on what you've said, you clearly need a technical co-founder. You won't get anywhere without disclosing your idea, and, as others have said, it's not worth it to pursue NDAs with most people for a variety of reasons.
Once you hire developers as employees, you can have them sign a non-compete for the case that they do steal your idea/code and then make it big. If you work with any reputable outsourced dev shop, they will have non-disclosure and non-compete language in their contracts. They will cost you much more than $15k to get to a final product, depending on the level of complexity (even if you go to India, E. Europe, Argentina, etc.).
Be prepared to give up >50% of the founder's equity to a technical co-founder, particularly if you bring nothing else to the table. An idea on a napkin is worth a napkin.
No just get like 3-6 guys who are experts like 1-2% of the company each for their mentoring.
So, you're probably going to need a technical partner. If you're still in college, or even if you're not, your best bet might be a classmate or a "friend-of-a-friend," or any sort of networking contact.
That being said, smartphone apps and websites are very simple to program, compared to the type of programming that is done as a CS major. It is helpful to have someone who is design-oriented - apps and websites are entirely consumer-oriented, so design matters.
You also don't necessarily need to give them a >50% equity stake. But be prepared to give them a pretty big chunk (40%?) of your company, especially since they would be taking a risk by leaving their job and joining your unproven company/idea.
It's a pretty common arrangement for one startup founder to be business-oriented (e.g. Peter Thiel and Ken Howery in PayPal), and another founder to be technical (e.g. Max Levchin and Luke Nosek for PayPal). Incidentally, Max Levchin came to Peter Thiel with the idea that would develop into PayPal after hearing Peter Thiel give a talk at Stanford on currency trading (since Peter Thiel's background is in IB).
1) 1-2% of an unproven company is pretty worthless.Hire a contractor, not an employee then. They have far more to lose if they steal your idea. Generally though, tech people have little creativity or tolerance for risk, which is why they're not building their own ideas. Stealing your idea would break both of those rules.
Dont let this put you off, just get the best programmers you can, make sure they can tolerate each other, get someone that understands tech to partner with, or pm me and get it built.
This link might be helpful:
http://www.quora.com/Startups/I-want-to-start-a-tech-startup-No-experie…
Thanks for the help guys. With the help of a WSO member, it looks like this idea is going to come to fruition. I'm not sure if he wishes to be named or not though.
Ut dolorem rerum harum itaque et magni. Voluptatem aut dignissimos ullam eum consequatur.
Atque vel eum voluptas. Vitae officiis eveniet a consectetur minus repudiandae. Expedita quasi cum eius aliquam non. Aut tenetur et rerum expedita repudiandae ratione. Sed voluptatibus illo vel rem aut est. Sint natus aliquid omnis aut rem.
Magnam quo quaerat ut earum doloribus. Dolor veniam maiores nihil. Quas perferendis qui et omnis. Quam nihil vel quo.
Eius necessitatibus voluptatem qui est. Laborum molestiae nam ea vitae autem.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...