[mgkimsal]

" But the secret is to find a developer who is not a freelancer. Freelancers already made their mind, they don't want to be a CTO, they will treat your contract as any other job, probably not even prioritize yours."

That is so not true. Many of the freelancers I know are definitely interested in committing to something - many have built moderate war-chests of their own to give themselves some runway to burn when they find the right opportunity.

"Maybe a guy with a dayjob who needs the paycheck and can't afford to quit it,"

What? You want to put more stress on someone who can't afford to give your project as much attention as you want it to get?

Of the dozens of approaches I've had to 'be the tech guy in my startup' over the last couple years, exactly 0 have actually brought enough money to pay me even a moderate rate, let alone anything close to a market rate.

All of them were caught (rightly or wrongly) in this cycle of "once we have something built, then we can sell it or get investment to grow and then we can get paid". This idea of "pay someone for an MVP" - I've no doubt it happens in some cases, but my experiences - at least outside of SV (Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina) are that it's extremely rare.

[soneca]

I, as a non-tech founder, would never aproach a developer with a "pay you later" proposal. I do exactly what I advised. I pay the developer about 70% of market rate. And he is actually learning a lot with the experience.

About the guy with a day job, it does not work if it is a huge project. I imagine work load of about 10h a week for a couple of months just to test the idea. If there is validation and you work well together, then hire him fulltime. That is my current agreement. No additional stress in his life, i assure you.

[mgkimsal]

"I, as a non-tech founder, would never aproach a developer with a "pay you later" proposal. I do exactly what I advised. I pay the developer about 70% of market rate. And he is actually learning a lot with the experience."

You're in a minority if you never approach people with "pay you later". And... 70% of market rate... and people are learning a lot with the experience.... you are hiring very junior people, it sounds like.