[sixQuarks]

I'm basically in the same situation. Here is the solution I found that is working for me.

I'm assuming you have a clear vision for your product/service. You're going to have to take the lead on owning the product, there's no getting around this. There's almost no chance you're going to find a co-founder that's going to handle the product/development, etc while you focus on marketing. I've tried and each time has ended badly. I advise against co-founders unless you know the person well and have worked with them in the past.

Here's the key to getting something developed in as little time and effort as possible. Start with the design. What the user will see when they come to the site. Don't worry about the backend at all.

Search on Dribble for designers - they don't have to be front-end developers. Actually better if they're not (cheaper). For more affordable quality designers, search eastern europe/russia.

Contact a bunch of designers, see if they're available and what their rates are. See how quickly they respond, etc. Select 3 or 4 and give each one the same first task. It should be something that takes 2-3 hours. It could be taking a sketched mockup, polishing it up, etc. After each one has completed this, you pick the one you feel was the best.

A lot of good designers know good front-end developers. You can find one through the designer. If not, you can do the same process on odesk for both front-end and back-end developers.

This is the process I use after a lot of trial and error, and it works the best for me.

[vtanase]

I will have to disagree on this, this advice is only good if your sole purpose is to make a quick buck. If you want to start a long term solid business than I suggest you treat people like humans and not like cheap interchangeable pieces as this post suggests.

Think of it this way, since you are not the one developing the application how much will you know about all its inner workings? When you will have customers and a critical bug in production who will solve it?

If you intend to outsource it I will suggest that you do not look for a cheap quick hack, but rather look for a freelancer with a decent rate, with whom you can build a working professional relationship. You want someone that will stick around for the long run and take responsibility for the software he develops, since building it is just the first step.

[artharrison]

I agree that I should be looking for people who produce quality work, but I also think there's some flexibility to the 'interchangeable pieces' part of the argument.

Here's the thing: Building anything ends up being a very iterative process. From my personal experience, by the time one moves from the prototype/beta phase upwards of 90% of the original code/design base is thrown away, redone, etc. Since what I'm really looking for here is the first-cut that allows for the validation of the idea and the on-boarding of the first few (hundred-)thousand users, I think there could be some advantages to a little shorter-term thinking; if-and-only-if that means I'm able to deliver that first cut to market sooner than if I were to focus on the stability of the team upfront.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still wavering on my opinion of this (hence this entire thread). But I am really enjoying / appreciating the various methodologies.

[vtanase]

I guess our experiences might vary with what happens to prototypes/first cut implementations.

From my experience what starts off as a simple proof of concept/prototype that is done quick and dirty to validate an idea, ends up being the actual production code. This is due in part to clients that come and say: "well it works, why rewrite it? you can just fix bugs if they come up", making you have to maintain what was originally meant to be a throw away implementation.

While right now your intentions might be to rewrite, I do believe that you might reconsider this decision once you have a couple hundred users to please, who all want new features or bugs fixed. Now I do not know what your idea is and how critical time to market is for you but I would recommend that you consider removing non-essential features to get it out quicker rather than skipping quality.

[sixQuarks]

Who says you have to treat these freelancers "sub-human"? On the contrary, once I find someone that works well with me, I create long-term relationships and treat them with utmost respect. I have a 9+ year working relationship with one of my developers, and even gave a 50% ownership in one of my startups to him. I consider him a really close friend even though we've never met in person.