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Comment by andyokdj | Hacker News Reader

he got between 10-20% equity and we were doing a comparable amount of work (10-20hr per week) up until I quit my job. now I'm putting in more hours.

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Hmm, well I guess you were lucky to have found someone competent who took that offer. I'm not sure if I would be willing to work equal hours for 4 times less equity.

I'm assuming the Biz dev cofounder would have taken a similar amount. Which should make the equation a little better. However, I agree - he got a good deal with the cofounders (not sure if that is necessarily a good thing)

Not too be too negative but I don't see anything that would take more than a week to build here (technically). The hard part is going to be to stand out among the other thousands of sites with the exact same model.

Based on the title of your post I was assuming to read something like '..and I picked up Ruby on Rails, a few tutorials, and just started coding..'

How much technical knowledge did you have before starting this project? And how much did you learn in the process? Doesn't it feel awkward to say you have 'built' it?

I had very rudimentary HTML/CSS knowledge when I first started. Now I'm proficient with HTML/CSS and I'm learning PHP and Javascript through working on the site and studying in my free time.

I'd define building as putting pieces together to create something of greater value. I came up with the idea for the site and compiled the team and resources necessary to ship an MVP. Our tech co-founder built the site, our designers built the feel, and our bizdev co-founder built up the content. I managed this process strategically and am heavily involved in each aspect. We all built it together.

"I managed this process strategically"

Remind me never to work with ex-bankers

since he was the technical guy, can you talk about what your role was as the founder? did you pick up any technical stuff to help build the product (technically)? if not, what were your main contributions aside from the idea (i assume coming up with what features the site should have, etc...)?

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