I’m really inspired.
I Love this platform.
Anyway, as a non-techie with this awesome idea reading through comments here I just could not help but be impressed with the way I embraced reality that without money in my pocket no techie would wanna co-found with me.
When I was an upcoming project manager in the construction industry I worked with a lot of small firms and I do know what it’s like to work so hard and not get paid, or to work so hard on deals only for the whole thing to head south. Trust me it’s not an experience I want anyone to have, so I don’t have a total no payment plan for my techie co-founder, no.
With that being said, a partner(co-founder) is necessary for any venture that hopes to succeed except you are Rambo. In my case this is why I would want a tech co-founder and how I would approach him.
Why I need a co-founder
This idea I have would not just need a platform built by a Techie, it would require a Techie constantly working round the clock to manage it. In the place where I have him build it, who would manage it? Or better put who better than the builder to manage it? I need him committed to the project constantly. So a tech co-founder is non negotiable if my proposed startup would work.
How I would approach him
Everything would be documented, with a lawyer by my side and me doing a detailed pitch to him like an investment Banker brokering a M/A for a fortune 500. This would show I mean business and I have respect for him/her. (this won’t cost money only my experience and contact)
Secondly, even if he is a co-founder I would want to know the cost of his service.(my proposed startup I found would need btw $8k-$15k to build the platform, excluding apps for Android, BlackBerry, IOS and windows) he would get an up payment+ shares. The more he gets paid the less equity he owns in the firm. This would bring something we could negotiate on.
Finally to all non Techie’s, get all planed out, work hard to bring something(money) to the table, so you can bootstrap when you eventually kick off.
Even if I am a natural sales man that has been able to convince about two firms who are ready to work for equity, I still don’t want to go with this “work to be my co-found shit” cause I want to be taken seriously and respected.
Also cause you are a non Techie doesn’t mean you should be completely ignorant, start basic programming like am doing so when I speak with my techie proposed co-founder I won’t be in Lalaland while he is in Kafanchan.
Money is king and Chairman without briefcase no be Chairman oh + at-all, at-all nai be winch. Lol
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The above submission captures my thought about co-founding. Co-Founding is more like friends with benefits kinda relationship, you know each other, share some similar values and interest (even socially).
seriously looking for a technical co-founder is like walking to the moon to look for your wife…i have being there and still there
LOL. This was funny. If my wife is indeed in the moon, there’s a fairly high probability that she can be easily located. 
On a more serious note, getting a “techie” to join you as a co founder is heard especially when the techie is really good. You can imagine the number of founders approaching her every now and then to join them . The illusion of having many options will even make it harder for you to convince her except it’s an idea she is deeply in love with.
I think the best advice I’ve read here is to initially offer to pay and as time goes on the techie becomes a shareholder. For those who don’t have so much money however, this is a problem.
Bottom line is that it’s hard when you are not a techie, you don’t have so much money to play around with and you want to go into a tech driven biz.
I don’t have data to back this up but the idea of co founding a business only with long term friends is cool and ideal but not always realistic for the most part. I like to believe that there are as many successful businesses Co founded by friends as those who were initially not friends. The truth is you will not always have friends with the kind of expertise or influence that your startup requires.
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So ermm bros, @akindolu. I couldn’t help but notice that Uber had become an adjective of some sort. Pardon my digression… What does this mean? To be Uber Smart?
Smartness on demand perhaps?
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OGA 
yaff started
You don’t think Uber was a word invented by Uber, do you? Before uber became a thing, Uber has been an adjective, a synonym for the word “Super”.
Google “Uber” as a word, and find its meaning yourself. Clue it has a German origin.
BTW, Uber launched as Ubercab, not as Uber. Just to point it’s a form of high class cab. Down the line, they got the cab part of, because it didn’t matter any way.
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Joker. 
Sorry but I have to totally disagree with you on that. Are you insinuating that you can only consider a friend, old classmate, or family members as potential partners? That is just wrong and limiting. As a matter of fact some of the most successful startup partnerships have been formed by people who barely knew each other. I mean you meet a bright coder or tech guy or an entrepreneur with a great idea at a conference or bar or club or anywhere for that matter, even online, you get talking and you discover your thought or work process align and he can get the Job done I see absolutely nothing wrong in making or considering an offer to partner with such individual. I mean this is 2016 your partner doesn’t have to be your friend or old classmate or anything like that. I Worked with a Tech co-founder in Ukraine for my first startup and it went perfectly fine. Mostly because I just couldn’t find the know how locally then. So first I’d say make sure the idea is cool enough and marketable and you find it interesting enough to work on cause the motivation will come in handy when the the going gets tough. Secondly make sure he can handle his end of the deal. And Helllll take the risk…life is all about risks…(if you love and have passion for the idea)
Investors that ask for the relationship history of founders are not idiots. And they are completely aware of risks involved in venturing. Talk of passion, and all that shows naivety and newbie-ness. Go ahead, found a company with a stranger.
At every stage of venture development, you are all about de-risking yourself. Get a co-founder you can rock with, you have de-risked potential founder’s issue. Build a product, you have de-risked that you can actually build something.
Risk is like onion. Remove one peel at a time. For more Marc Andressen archived post on Onion theory of risk. Have fun.
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Bro I am fully aware of the importance of having a relationship or previous relationship with a potential partner, I think everybody does. I mean its like saying its no good to get to know a girl before you marry her, that’s just stupid. But you didn’t answer a very vital question/ point I raised. Are you saying you are only going to consider your: Old classmate, friend, spouse, family members as potential partners? Come on lets be realistic not everyone has an old classmate that is now a coder or a spouse that wants to be involved in a startup or a ( you get my drift) the point is sometimes you just have to take the chance with someone…
Again I repeat: build with a friend. Or a spouse. Someone with a relationship. If no one in your circle, start building relationships.
You can never build anything without any form of relationship. BTW, saying you have no friend or anyone in your circle worthy of building a company with, disqualifies you inherently.
If you have no smart friend, well, what are you telling me about yourself?
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Bro I didn’t know all my smart friends have to be coders or programmers. or entrepreneurs, While you wait two, three years to build a relationship your perfect idea becomes dormant or its relevance is toppled or someone somewhere comes up with a cooler way to solve your problem. Come on we live in a fast paced world. Take a chance bro. Do your background check but don’t wait for an old classmate or spouse or a perfect partner for that matter. You sit back and wait and you wasting premium time. That can never be regained. That’s my take.
Am almost certain you understand what @akindolu is talking about, but insist on giving the thread a hard time.
The only way 2 people who just met can co-found a business is if one is paying the other. That in effect creates a sort of hierarchy which is essential to maintain order at critical points.
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No one is saying you can’t meet someone today and start something with them but you cannot take out the fact that some dynamic needs to be established before one takes the plunge. I met my friend @akamaozu on Radar and after meeting physically, and eventually becoming colleagues (all in the space of a month), we decided to start a podcast show. We found what worked, our differences and shared interests, and capitalized on it to create something we probably wouldn’t have been able to pull off individually. That doesn’t take away the fact that we took some time to know each other first.
Most cofounder offers are a joke. If you are already aligned as you should, there would be no need creating threads like this one to look for answers. In the words of P. Diddy in 2002…
First we were friends then became lovers.
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Thank you. The fella just made it seem like rocket surgery. I just weak.
That’s the quote you decided to go with to summarize our friendship?
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That is the point I have been trying to make all along bro, while relationship is vital you just can’t limit yourself to friends, spouse, old classmates or colleague as @akindolu suggested. Like you said you met this guy online right here and become partners within a month. That’s proof my perspective on this is very rational and achievable.
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