I’ve been on the YC site for months, met 2 cofounders, worked together on 2 different ideas, almost finished 2 MVPs (never more than 20%), but then ditched the whole project due to lack of communication. Like, is communication and constant updates so much to ask for these days? I promise, it was all them, not me. I do my parts perfectly, I’m fun to be around, I listen, I communicate, I give feedback, I lead, I generate ideas, I find customers, I do all the business stuff, I spoke to tons of VCs, I planned the whole year, I literally do 80% of the work… And all I ask of them is to just finish a damn MVP in 2 weeks so we can get customers and find investors quickly! Are all the tech people this unserious or am I just unlucky?
Trust me, if I had enough money I would have just hired an engineer with a contract and a salary instead of all this headache. Sorry if I sound like the bad person here lol. I really am just so fed up of this unseriousness I keep seeing!
Now I’m back on the site to get a 3rd cofounder. Fingers crossed! But my options are really just very limited to begin with. Imagine being a female, and a POC in the startup world? Literally almost all the “good/unscammy” profiles on YC’s site either require you to be in NA/EU, or they all just wanna do fintech and AI, or they all just indirectly want you to have 6+ years of experience. I read every profile to the fullest before writing a message just so that I can write something personal to show that I care, but I still end up getting ignored lol. Since my profile is perfect compared to most, I really can’t help but take this personally. I feel like I am pre-judged the moment they read my name so they don’t even bother reading the message lol
For the sake of it, I will tell you guys what I’m working on and please let me know if anybody still wants to be my CTO after all of this :))
I’ve been studying Gen Z’s behaviour around the world for like a whole year, and I know what kind of tech would go viral. I have this very developed idea for an app that allows Gen Z to connect with others but while (playing a game of) answering interesting questions or debating a certain topic together. I believe this will unconsciously help them develop their interpersonal skills and teach them new things while having fun with other people in the process. I can already imagine this going pretty viral and I already have the marketing strategy ready. I also have a UI outline, and a rough pitch deck that includes all the business stuff. To be honest, I even have a clear quick exit strategy.
If this sound interesting to anybody and you’re not a mean person and feel like you’d love to join in, I’d more than love to have a team. I’m either looking for a CTO to build the MVP QUICKLY and launch it, or looking for an angel investor that will fund me to hire a tech person to build the MVP QUICKLY, while I handle the rest of the business stuff. Honestly, I’d prefer the latter because I don’t know if I can trust a CTO anymore lol.
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How complex are the interactions?
You’re expecting a lot in 2 weeks unless you’re asking for a barebones implementation in a no-code platform, and if that’s the case, why not spend the time to learn how to build it yourself?
If the idea is as solid as you say, why not create a very manual version first and test with your audience? i.e., you could pair people up and put them in a Telegram/Whatsapp chat with a bot or yourself doing the moderating/question creation?
Are you expecting people to pay for the experience or how would you monetise it?
It’s basically a video interface. Just authentication, a button to start the chat, and the general settings and all that “etc”.
I can only do the front end using no-code tools, but the backend is where I get stuck. I also struggle with some variables and stuff.
For monetisation, ads that play after each chat and some in-app purchases. And in later stages, we can offer a premium for no ads.
Monetisation via ads would require a lot of use to be viable. I would start with the premium version first and see if people are prepared to pay for it.
Does the video need to be live, or could you start with short async messages in reply to the conversation starters that you create?
I’m wondering if you could use Circle (circle.so) for handling user authentication and signup, then create private channels or group chats to handle the connection between two people and Videoask (videoask.com) to capture video, upload from there to video host of your choice to embed in Circle. It would be a bit messy, a bit clunky, but if you can prove there is a real problem to be solved here and that people will pay to access it, you will significantly increase the opportunity to find a sticky cofounder and/or investors.
Some red flags that might be putting off potential cofounders. I appreciate you’re frustrated and these may the result of that frustration, but I know I’d be frighted off by them-
1- “it was all them not me” 2- “finish an MVP in 2 weeks” 3- (does not have) 6+ years experience 4-“ my profile is perfect” 5- studying genZ behaviour around the world for a whole year 6- “Build the mvp quickly”
7-finally the idea is basically buzzfeeds
Why do these things scare me, it feels like this would not be someone who understand the complexities of development, and doesn’t appreciate deep research (there are ppl who have spent decades studying generational culture, anthropology, to claim the be a global expert after 1 year suggests a degree of dunning Kruger)
Just my opinion.
What defiant said is correct, having a functioning MVP up and running in two weeks is pretty unreasonable. Especially with what you are asking for. It isn’t a simple thing to make. Are the engineers you are speaking with saying that to you as well and you are pushing back on them? If that’s the case, that’s definitely why they are drifting away. If they aren’t, they probably aren’t the right person anyways. Your tech partner should be able to get you a more reasonable timeline after reviewing specs/design for an MVP.
So many red flags…
Do you ask them for their estimate on timeframes and listen to their answer?