You have to have at least a skill in something. If you're good in marketing, then do what Kevin Rose did. He got the first version of Digg built by a contractor on elance for $1200. Then he worked really hard on marketing it. Once it started to pick up, it was easy to get funding and hire programmers.
This is one of the best pieces of advice that I've ever given, so mark it :)
To approach a hacker and not be ignored, you need one thing: to be a hacker.
Now, if you're not a software hacker, just don't talk about software. Start a conversation about astronomy, psychology or whatever the field is where you really HACK. By HACK I mean you are so knowledgeable that you flow, you are very curious for the hell of it and you constantly experiment and innovate. Now, it could even be DANCING. It doesn't matter. We hackers love to hack together. I'm an electronics noob, I have a good friend who's an electronics hacker and when he tries to break down his ideas to me like you tell a three year old I barely follow, and yet I love to spend nights hacking electronics with him, even if sometimes all I can do is turn the screwdriver. It's so much fun to experiment and innovate together, or talk about cool experiments in a field you love.
So hack together, get to know the guy, and THEN suggest a project in his field, and if he likes it - you're in. Clue: he'll like it 90% of the times.
For example, I met this bioinformatics Ph.D. in a Ruby User Group where he came to look for programmers for his really cool web startup. He could do some perl and pascal but wasn't a developer. We started talking about his startup ideas, my startup ideas, genetic music composition - whatever came to mind. During the conversation it happened that we INVENTED NEW THINGS together. Today I advise him technically for free, just because it's fun to work with him, sometimes a few hours a day.
Hi! I just finished reading this short, sweet, easy-to-read book called "One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way" by Robert Maurer. It's a psychologist's attempt to figure out why "Kaizen"-based (micro-plans, small steps, continuous action) approaches to project management seem to consistently succeed where other, much more sophisticated approaches never take off.
Executive summary: Kaizen works because people actually take to it and implement it. They do so because making teeny weeny plans sparks the higher order creative parts of the brain necessary to get things done, whereas big, complicated, sophisticated long-term plans cause stress,
which in turn stimulates parts of the brain which were wired to shut off the higher orders of the brain so we can focus on running away from hungry predators ("fight or flight"). This in turn leads to "brain freeze" as different and competing sections of your brain literally start fighting with each other for brain resources (sugar, magnesium, etc.) which leads to procrastination which leads to the big, complicated plans never being put into action.
Solution? Make ridiculously small plans to overcome
procrastination and bypass your brain's built-in resistance to doing things people need to do to succeed in the modern age.
Example: Next time you feel flustered, just make it your goal to sit down and write 3 lines of code, then go have fun with your Xbox. Easy, right? Too easy, perhaps. Then you think to yourself, "Well, that wasn't so bad. I guess I can write a lot more than just 3 lines ... maybe I can do half an hour's worth of coding." Next thing you know, the sun will be coming up and you'll wonder how you spent the whole night working without even noticing. Sounds too good to be true, sounds silly even, yet this guy's figured out exactly how the brain's wiring gets in the way of modern work and how to bypass it.
Another gem: the manual egg timer. Thing with turn dial. Set to 5-10 minute bursts of intense activity, as in "I'm going to bust my ass clearing my email inbox for just 5 mintues" ... funny how easy it is to keep going way after the first 5 minutes once you actually get the process started.
It's about $12 hardcover. 180 or so small pages with big, big print and plenty of space in between. Fun to read and full of insights as to why you fail when you try too hard to succeed but wind up succeeding when you focus on just enjoying yourself (trying hard makes the brain think you're going to war, shuts of the frontal lobes and gets adrenaline flowing, which in turn sucks magnesium out of your thinking activities and into your body's central nervous system as it prepares for intense physical effort ... which is why you can find yourself "exhausted" after a "hard day's work" when practically nothing
of any significance was accomplished.)
ANYWHOOOO ... if you found the above interesting enough to read the book and the book inspiring enough to apply the simple advice and the advice effective enough to improve your coding sessions, I ASK YOU CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING AS EQUAL EXCHANGE:
I am in New York City area. I want to do a startup like the rest of you. I am not a "haxor" ... but my background is in its own way completely relevant to what I want to do.
Technically the idea is more of a "different use of mostly
already existing technology/platforms" not a "radically new technology" thing, and from my research most of the stuff / functions can be found in open-source
applications.
Nonetheless I need some techies. Connections would be appreciated. Or insights into your minds: HOW DO YOU FOLKS LIKE TO BE APPROACHED? WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU IN A STARTUP? Hours? Freedom? Dress code? Impact on the world at large and the resulting improvement in quality of life for humanity? Adrenaline rush of doing something clever and sneaky that will take people by surprise? A philosophical cause? Doing the right thing? Making the world a better place? A solid business model? Endless supply of Red Bull? Xbox 360s in the break room? Bean-bag chairs? Free beer for late night programming sessions?
Seriously, I have read past posts where people without
programming backgrounds post "looking for programmers" type of posts that seem to get at best ignored or at worst trashed; how can I bypass this seemingly built-in reluctance of programmers to work with people unlike yourselves technically, but like yourselves in
other ways and with different skill sets that would complement your own for a more balanced whole? If you click my profile there's an email if you wish to contact me directly.
Any sufficiently advanced critique is indistinguishable from the random mumblings of someone who not only can't figure out how to occupy their time with more interesting, useful pursuits but fails to realize that you can't establish any serious personal credibility by trying to wreck the credibility of others.
And of course your pithy, Phil Greenspun-esque comment only adds fuel to my ever-growing flame. :P
