[zohaibr]

I had an idea and believed in it, took my own money; hired some Ruby Developers offshore, hired a designer locally and built a MVP. Currently working with test clients but need someone on board to be responsible for the tech and own it. I have learnt a lot and I really respect and appreciate the capabilities of a good hacker. Rather then spend time learning to code (which I still am) I worked with the developers to really understand the basics and run the company on my own. I can push and pull with Git, do little bit of DB management, Heroku is AMAZING! and I love EC2. But to grow more I need a guy who can own the code and really believe in the product.

This is my approach for hiring a good Technical CO-Founder!

[swampplanet]

That's a good way, IMO. I think a lot of non-tech co-founders should look more at outsourcing the development. When even Jrs at good computer schools already have jobs with the big guys, either a tech co-founder really gets your vision and is totally in synch with you (rare) or they have a lot of their own ideas. Let's face it the track record of companies founded without a tech co-founder is dismal and I think that's because the non-tech co-founder has no appreciation for the tech side.

I happen to be a non-tech with a CS degree (old) but at least I know what's involved having come from development. We need to educate ourselves so at least we can have a cogent conversation with techs. One way to do that is to build something with our own resources.

I think also having a prototype that you can at least test customers with and even maybe make a sale or two will go a long way towards swaying a tech co-founder candidate.