It's not a "Hacker News perspective", it's the basic principle of anything. If you have a car and want to take a ride, you need a driver or you'll crash. If we're talking about a non-technical founder starting a tech startup, the first advice to the is only one: find a technical co-founder and don't even think about starting it without them. What you're describing should be the job for that technical co-founder, and not for our non-tech guy (or gal) to do. Unless they are also willing to learn enough to become technical enough to play that role too; that takes a lot of time and effort to do right, but it's a viable route too.

So, next time you have a conversation like the one above, don't waste your time on trying to teach tech stuff to non-tech people -- simply, just tell them "find a tech co-founder".

Actually you're wrong. (Sorry, but I just felt the need the illustrate the obnoxiousness of your original reply).

I have to side with Erica on this one for the simple reason that you'll never be able to attract a good developer or a technical co-founder with this attitude of throwing your hands up in the air and eyes glazing over. That doesn't mean that you ignorantly blunder in and tell developers how to do their job, but it means that whatever area your company needs to move in you are keen to learn enough to have an intelligent conversation about it.

I've met dozens (hundreds?) of wantrepreneurs with this attitude of not wanting to know anything about the tech, and invariably they see themselves as brilliant masterminds who just need a peon to execute their vision. Little do they realize that the success of any tech company depends on bridging the gap between the technical execution and the business reality. I am much less turned off by a business guy who is ignorant but trying to learn about tech versus someone who feels they can start a tech company without learning anything about technology.

Both you and Erica are correct in identifying the problem with the attitude; but trying to teach them technology is wrong. Or, if you find that word too obnoxious, a waste of time and effort.

My point is: if someone is willing to learn, teach them what to look for. If they're not, ignore them.

So we're in agreement. :-)

all you've done now is change the question from 'what kind of developer do you want to find' to 'what kind of co-founder do you want to find'.

Or would you tell someone to trust their gut and blindly pickup a 'technical' cofounder?

No, I would tell them to talk to as many technical people as possible, and look for one who proves able to:

a) understand their vision b) improve on their vision c) get some respect from other technical people

With a) being the crucial step, and if they can't get past that there might be a problem with their vision.

The conversation you are describing is not a non-technical founder...its a non-anything dreamer.

I dont think lack of technical knowledge is this guys problem. His problem is that he has an idea and thinks other people are going to do everything for him.

A founder would not be looking for a developer at this stage. They would be looking for a customer at this stage and map out their needs and flesh out the idea.

Notice that nowhere in that conversation did you mention choice of language.

Additionally, the correct answer is "Find a good technical co-founder, or spend money on good consultants, and let them figure out the rest and explain their decisions afterwards to you."