Seeking a Web Developer/ Coder for a Startup. Advice Needed!

RENERO on 19/02/2017 - 12:46

Hi everyone

I hope you can help me or point me in the right direction.

My partner and I have been working on a web app for over a year. Unfortunately, we both come from commerce / legal backgrounds, and we have zero skills in web design and coding. So far, we have managed to fund the project ourselves mainly because a couple of my friends (who are freelancers) have offered to help us with the technical development and coding of the web app for a fraction of what it would cost if we had contracted a proper IT company for this work. The problem is, these two guys live in Europe and, due to various reasons, they are not able to dedicate the amount of time required to complete the app (I would say the app is about 85% finished at the moment). In addition, they will not be able to provide any ongoing support for the web app after it is launched.

The technologies used to develop the web app are: MySQL for the database, Java (Apache Tomcat) and Spring Framework for the backend, and AngularJS, JQuery and HTML5 for the front end design.

As with many startups, our biggest challenge is money. We simply don’t have enough money to “hire” someone to complete the app and provide ongoing support, and, whilst we are able to pay something, we cannot afford anywhere near the amount that an experienced developer would normally charge for these kinds of projects.

In addition, one thing that perhaps concerns us even more than money is trust - how can I find someone that I can trust, who will not run away with the source code that has already been developed?

We live in Melbourne, and we would love to find someone based in Melbourne who can help us with this exciting project. Other than money, we are also open to the idea of a “skills exchange” where we provide business/legal support to the person who is able to support us technically (for example, if you have your own startup idea in mind, we can help you with setting up your own business, incorporating your company, applying for a trademark, etc.).

If you are a developer who is familiar with the technologies used for our web app and is interested in working with us, please let me know and we can catch up to discuss further.

Any other advice / suggestions / guidance on what we should do based on our current situation would be much appreciated!

Computing

Comments

  • cauilfield on 19/02/2017 - 13:08
    +7

    It will be very hard for you to convince someone as from I can see here you have no cash

  • cauilfield on 19/02/2017 - 13:09

    Can u tell us what is your idea ? Are you building a new instagram or Facebook or uber

    • fruit on 19/02/2017 - 13:16

      The Uber of Facebook.

      • fruit on 19/02/2017 - 13:18

        They will then pivot to disrupting the Internet of Fake News.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2017 - 13:36
    +1

    :) OK your friends have already done 85%. You need to apply the 80:20 rule. For them to not see the project to completion translates more to 'the easy part'. There is a saying 'all care and no responsibility'. Working against you is that programmers like to do things their own way and taking controls after the two pilots have parachuted out is genuine work. Mocking up a prototype is fun and has little responsibility…testing and launching are fiddly and unfun work. Maintaining a 24/7 system would ordinarily involve bonuses for being at call just to monitor and restart servers. You need a plan after it launches as there will be no or low numbers of users but it still needs to be maintained. It's reasonably standard to have a 24/7 network admin on call with alerts and a programmer on call for escalation. Your hosting arrangement might cover some of that simpler restarting work, but not the in-depth changes or work.

    As you have noticed, it will be hard to advertise your need without giving away your actual idea. Anyone committing to work and maintenance on blind faith might be inexperienced.

    My opinion is it will be hard to launch a custom hosted web application without a $10,000-20,000 fighting fund, excluding any development. In lieu you will have to consider equity…but that would involve disclosing your idea.

  • chhola on 19/02/2017 - 13:37

    Don't expect someone to contact you to find out what your idea is. If you are at a stage where you can't afford to pay for a proper/decent dev, you have to share your idea first, here. Why? Because at least someone is interested or believes in your idea, they won't work for free (or for future equity/share). If you don't want to share your idea, I'd suggest to look for uni students, they are likely to be interested in getting the experience rather than the project itself for a lower pay.

    Beside, nobody will steal your idea or source code.

  • watwatwat on 19/02/2017 - 13:38
    +3

    You work in commerce and legal and can't afford to pay anyone? Lol.

    At least your post is better than "hey guys, got this super duper good idea for a website. If you can code it and do all the hard work yourself then give us all the copyright, we'll generously give you a percentage of the projected revenue, which will definitely positively guaranteed be more than $0 because my idea for a new social network is killer".

    I can tell you're noob, because you won't tell us the idea. Absolute rookie mistake. You should be openly telling people the idea to validate it because where you make money is implementation.

  • Zaenille on 19/02/2017 - 13:38
    +4

    My advice is earn money, then pay a developer to do his job correctly.

  • Tnetennba on 19/02/2017 - 14:37

    "Skills exchange" won't pay a programmer's bills, and the target audience you are trying to "hire" are probably going to be pretty desperate anyway, so working for free.. I can't really see the benefit.

    If you can't afford to pay someone, you should consider exchanging skills with a book or tutorial on programming and get cracking.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2017 - 15:00

    Find a venture capitalist. Share ownership over the startup.

  • psyren89 on 19/02/2017 - 15:00

    A developer will cost you ~$100k a year, not counting any of the tools/services they/you will need. If you can't afford it, you've got no chance of getting anyone local.

  • trustnoone on 19/02/2017 - 15:06

    The only real ways I can think of is either A) start some sort of kickstarter type of thing, I think theres some gov or other company places that like to support technology based kickstarters in Aus, try checking out what GoFar did. B) Get some sort of people who are happy to invest on board, I know its not easy but might be able to find someone? C) Getting some Uni students on board, people in software engineering degrees is great to have experience and I'm pretty sure 12 weeks is a requirement of their program, so you can get either cheaper labour or possibly free as work experience?

    You'd probably need some sort of NDA, but honestly without really letting people know about the project is, it will be hard to get anybody onto it, not to mention getting someone onto it with little pay.

  • b-t on 19/02/2017 - 16:10
    -4

    This is interesting, I'm doing a startup in Australia for a technology company but have absolutely no idea about the legal/commerce side. It really depends how much we'd need to exchange (ie. if I was to jump on board, how much effort would you expect is needed/what else is pending). If time permits, we might be able to work something out.

    At least, PM some information about what you're trying to achieve and/or what you're doing?

    • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2017 - 16:42

      Yes. Hand over all your trade secrets to a username 'I pwned (tricked/screwed/humiliated) you'. Sounds legit.

      • b-t on 19/02/2017 - 17:25
        +1

        Lol not sure why I got downvoted. I was probably the only one in here that was willing to help but sure, I wouldn't mind not helping, doesn't affect me :)

        • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2017 - 17:38

          Sorry, but your story is a technology company engaged you to 'do' a startup. Without a contract.

          To be honest I'm not sure it's ethical for the OP to barter legal services as they will also be the ones suing you if/when things go wrong. Maybe they can limit their service to company establishment only, so they don't have a conflict of interest in suing you. If they write the services agreement between you two there would also seem to be a conflict.

      • Ughhh on 19/02/2017 - 17:31

        Whoever 'JOO' is, he/she might have deserved it! Or as long as OPs name isn't 'JOO'.

  • TransportPosters on 20/02/2017 - 08:13

    Frugal Rock makes some very good points. From my own experience, I suggest start again with another person who is local and more reliable or you'll run into a bunch of ongoing problems, not just during development but also after launch.

    Use the original code as a prototype for show the next person to refer to and improve upon in their own way. Since you cannot pay them properly, find someone who will believe in your idea and will share the risk with you (eg. share the profit). Write them up a nice legal contract!

  • furys12 on 20/02/2017 - 09:10

    the way i see it to get someone to come onboard for essentially free you are going to have to wow them with you business plan, the same as you would any sort of investor, your just asking someone to invest time and skills instead of cash, there is no way i would do it without first being won over by the business plan and you'll likely have to hand over some equity too as a form of payment.

    also just because theres no money involved doesn't mean you can draft a contract preventing the developer who does come aboard from skipping town with your ip again i think you'll have to let them in on it to convince them to come aboard before a contract can even be raised

  • bluesix on 20/02/2017 - 09:44
    +1

    1. OzBargain is probably the worst place for this kind of discussion. Try https://cofounderslab.com/

    2. "Skills exchange" is not a thing you can use to 'hire' someone if you don't have any money. Equity (and lots of it) is all you can really offer.

    3. Tell people about the idea, otherwise, why would any one bother contacting you. Experienced coders know this is a red flag

    4. https://lawpath.com.au/legal-documents has great free legal documents so you can get setup properly.

  • mhasan on 20/02/2017 - 11:50

    @renero.. No pro bono. Either partnership or profit sharing. Im happy to help. I will like to hear your business plan and would need some sort of compensation. Look forward to hear from you. Hasan.

  • Waldo000000 on 22/02/2017 - 16:26

    how can I find someone that I can trust, who will not run away with the source code that has already been developed

    Bahahahaha that is not your problem. Your problem is finding someone who will trust you. Also, you won't get anywhere unless you pony up the cash and pay your employees.

  • GOFAR on 23/03/2017 - 16:51

    Hi - I helped during GOFAR's Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is generally for creative, artistic or hardware type projects so I think it would be a little hard to fund a website / app through that platform. I'd suggest pitching at York Butter Factory in Melbourne where there's a lot of creative developers and try to interest one to get you to a Minimum Viable Product.
    I'd be wary of offshoring as it's difficult to manage as a non-technical user. Not impossible, but difficult.

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