Hi Jake,
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Itâs a nice idea, albeit not the first of its kind, a nice idea nonetheless.
Iâll base this answer on information I have gathered by searching similar topics online, and speaking to developers.
The idea of developing âfor freeâ has somewhat radically changed over the last decades. At the turn of the 21st century, web developers (the ones who were not already getting paid for it) started getting away from all those free gigs and âwaiting for that great opportunityâ type of charity work. I say for free, and youâre saying for equity, thus in your mind it might not be the same thing at all⌠but it is. Why? Because thereâs no supporting evidence that you will ever be able to pay that developer, nor that the project would become a commercial success. If you came to me offering equity in exchange for this app, Iâd think youâre just getting away with not paying me for my work, and thatâs how most will feel. Furthermore, in order to offer equity, youâd have to have some sort of structure in place. An LLC at the very least. This is money you need to inject in the project, although not substantial (that said, it could be for a teenager), itâs still part of the budgeting, money you could spend actually paying a developer for her/his work.
I am in no way trying to discourage you, quite the opposite in fact. Hereâs what I think your options could be:
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Learn how to program it yourself â Had you asked the same question on Quora (if you donât know what it is, look it up), youâd have received that advice aplenty. Why should you learn and develop it? Because you will want to have at least some understanding of what the developer is doing. Developing an app is not just scraping some blocks of code that you tie together to make things work and voila. If you have customers, you need a database to keep their records. Youâll need to make sure that you can protect those records. People will trust you with their information, and itâs your job to keep them safe. The code needs to be secure as well. Youâll want to avoid any potential breaches that could lead to breaking things or accessing said records. How can you know any of this if you donât have some understanding of programming, especially when youâre relying on someone youâre not paying for the current most important task?
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Get another teenager onboard â You want to play the entrepreneur card, go for it. I get it, itâs exciting, everyone seems to be doing it, and at your age particularly, youâre full of ideas and dreams. You should thrive on that and try to make the most of it, Iâm serious. This is one idea but you might want to explore others as well (you donât have to go through with them, just lay them down on paper). This said, if thatâs the path you want to take, youâre gonna need a CTO. A Chief Technical Officer in this case could be considered as your co-founder. This model is the most frequent, it seems. One needs to focus on business development (that would be you, right?), and the other, more technical, on the development front. Why do I suggest a teenager? Because I think thatâs the only way youâll get away with not paying somebody for their work. Reality is that people have bills to pay, lives to lead, sometimes go by, and canât afford such a project âfor freeâ. A teenager, however, can. So âhow do I find that guy?â â I honestly donât know. Ask around, see if a friend of a friend who knows a guy, whoâs sister dated another guy who was friend with a guy who knows a developer might not help you out. Youâre the social media generation, make the most of it. Or start on Codecademy, as you did.
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Raise funds to actually pay the developer â I guess this is the part you donât want to hear about. You might wanna scream at me that this is not an option, that you donât have the money, which is why youâre offering equity instead. I will counter argue that if you want to play the entrepreneur card, you are gonna need to be resourceful. There are plenty of ways to start a project with limited budget. If you believe in this idea, you should be able to convince others that itâs a great idea. If you can convince them, ask them for money. As simple as that. Raise money. It usually starts with friends and family. But! It can also be done online. There are plenty of platforms to raise money, such as Kickstarter for example. Once you have that money, youâll be able to actually pay the developer. There are platforms where you can hire freelance developers, such as UpWork. Its unlikely youâll ever meet the person, and the wages vary depending on location mostly. American developers are expensive. Indian developers tend to be somewhat cheaper, for a certain number of reasons. I know of people who have outsourced in India for big projects, just to make it slightly more affordable. Keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that quality is what youâre willing to pay for.
Also, do these types of projects appeal to independent app developers?
Freelance app developers, such as the ones mentioned above? Sure, if you pay them.
With all this said, Iâll say this once more: youâll need to be resourceful, no matter what you choose. Youâll need to be resourceful should you decide to learn how to program it yourself. This really is the path that I recommend, as youâll learn a great deal, and this knowledge will be tools to be used in your future endeavors. If youâre really not that guy, convince someone to co-found the project with you, and work for free, just like you are. Steve Jobs couldnât hack anything together. If Apple exists today, itâs plain simply because he had the talent to convince people to build stuff for him. I guess it could be appealing to be that person, however it doesnât come easy. If you want to raise funds, the same pattern applies, youâll need to convince people to believe in you and your idea.
Last, Iâll end on this. Would people actually work for equity â with no insurance of ever getting paid?
The answer is yes.
But theyâll do it for the Ubers, AirBnBs and Facebooks of the world.
It takes a lot to become successful, but itâs not impossible. Iâve been told that Uber had hundreds of meetings trying to convince people to invest in the idea at first. Look at them now, worth 70+ billion.
So keep at it, be resourceful, and most importantly, be realistic. It wonât come easy. Work hard, find ways to get things done, and make the most out of the experience.
Hope this helps, and all the best with Jobronimo!