Need Libertarian Technical Co-Founders

[mmartin478]

Hello Everyone

My Name is Manuel. I’m going to start a tech company and am in search for some technical co-founders. I need someone who can build Android and IOS apps. My app is fully wire-framed, business plan finished, I can raise lots of money. What I need before I can approach investors is a technical co-founder to help me build the product. Ideally I’m looking for a libertarian minded co-founder. This world has enough Liberal billionaires and I don’t know if I would be able to live with myself if I helped to create another liberal billionaire, who will most likely use the money we created to further erode the minuscule amount of liberty we have left. The 1000ft overview of what i am going to do is simple. I am going to create a social media platform for college students. The platform will be exclusively on mobile devices and will take active measures to exclude those who are not in college from using the app. There are 20 million college students in the US and they don't have an exclusive platform. Starting a company with a cofounder is like getting married, being aligned on an ideological front will really help with the flow of the company. My goal is to scale this company to become a beast and hopefully create a couple libertarian billionaires along the way, as well as countless libertarian millionaires. The time is ripe for my idea and I need help. If anyone is interested please respond. I’m going to make this app happen and I very much want to work with someone whom I’m ideologically aligned with, than some socialist who thinks liberty is a grant of the state. Respond here or email me @ manuelmartin08@gmail.com (manuelmartin08@gmail.comHel)

[brandon]

What do you bring to the table? Just an idea?

[specsaregood]

How many successful companies have you founded in the past?

You say, "I can raise lots of money." Do you have extensive experience doing that in the past? In what field?

[CPUd]

You want to start another facebook?

[Indy Vidual]

You want to start another facebook?

Good question, "college only" worked once but the internet copy-cats almost never succeed.

[specsaregood]

Good question, "college only" worked once but the internet copy-cats almost never succeed.

And what exactly does "college only" mean? I mean in this day and age people of all ages take college classes throughout life.

[timosman]

Why don't you tell us what happened with the book you were ghostwriting? http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?472345-Why-do-you-like-Ron-Paul-(-need-material-for-book-)

[fisharmor]

And all you need to do is wire a good faith deposit, so he knows where to send the billion dollars!!!

[mmartin478]

A little about myself. When I was 20 I started a pomegranate jelly company and had three different varieties of jelly/jam. I shut down the company to go back to school and get my degree in business management. In the 2014 election cycle I ran for state assembly here in CA and did well. My party’s voter registration was negative by over 15%, so I had zero chance of winning. I still raised over 20K in the race and did well considering the district and the fact that the Republican Party (which is what I ran as) spent 30K against me. I worked for HP for three years and recently quit to pursue this app. I have the app professionally wire-framed and to the untrained eye it looks like a real app, although it isn’t. I’m 28 years old and have done everything from working on a farm, selling cars, working in restaurants, working for HP or the local chamber of commerce. I have a lot of experience in different fields. Asking for money when running for office is hard, raising money because you have a great product which will return money to investors isn’t hard. I haven’t approached any investors yet because I want to present a product first. With a team and product behind me, I’m sure I can raise money. I’ve presented my app to three people to gauge feedback and they all have said the same thing. That this is the most brilliant idea they have ever heard. The app is very scalable and will only make the users more powerful as the app gains more traction. Many things can bring down a startup, but all great startups start with a great idea.

My app has nothing to do with or is a replica of FB’s social media platform, my app is strictly mobile. The only thing in common would be the general marketing strategy. The idea is to corner the college market with a great product and then grow from there. College students are very active on their mobile platforms yet they don’t have a dedicated platform to express themselves, a platform which excludes non-college students (like mom, dad, aunts, younger siblings etc). If you don’t see a gigantic opportunity there this app’s development won’t be for you.

“College only” Is simple. Anyone who is in college will have an .edu email address. They will need to use their student email address to sign up for the app. We will populate lists of staff email accounts and block them from using the app. Students of all ages will be taking classes and they will be able to access the app, and that’s ok as long as they are students.

As for the book, that’s simple. I have become uninterested in politics. The changes which are needed to bring forth some resemblance of freedom and economic liberty are just way beyond the average person’s grasp. People don’t spend time reading Hayek, Rothbard, Ron Paul, Bastiat or any other liberty luminaries. I hope I’m wrong, but I see the U.S only becoming more and more socialist, I decided to refocusing my efforts on something which will make people lives better. My app isn’t just a social media platform, it has the ability to really help those in need. This company will be a traditional bootstrap startup. I make no promises of riches or fame, only that if we work hard and do it right the app will be a success. Those interested feel free to email me @manuelmartin08@gmail.com

-My app is designed to be monetized from day one
-My app has a way to monetize peer to peer advertising
-My app is designed to generate a peek traffic time every day to maximize CPM
-My app has a huge benevolent aspect built into it, as the app grows so does the communities ability to help other users. Hopefully this plus other tactics will lead to viral growth as it is in the user self-interest to spread the word about the app.
-My app uses variable rewards psychology (like casinos and many social apps) to engage the users and keep them coming back
- My app takes care of the friends vs content problem that many social media apps have.


Those interested please email me. Thanks for your time.

[fisharmor]

If Facebook suddenly appeared in its current form, it would be rejected outright. The only reason it worked is because it was a massive bait-and-switch - it got everyone on first, and then monetized it.
The same thing happened with Google, and every other billionaire success story on the internet.

There are all sorts of places and apps that offer what you seem to be offering here: ads, ads, selling personal info, selling personal info, ads, ads, and almost no valuable content. College kids come in two varieties: the type that are pretty adept at identifying these apps, and the type that don't use apps at all. Some of them even recognize that some of this shit comes on their phone preinstalled and so they go out of the way to root their phone and install a clean OS which may not even support all the phone's hardware... they're actively giving up their entire bluetooth functionality in some cases just to get rid of apps like that.

Take this as advice, or whatever, but in order to get anyone interested (particularly investors) I think you're going to have to show why kids are going to use your app when they have preexisting, incredibly mature choices. So far all you've got is "they don't exclude people not in college" but you don't say why anyone should care who is and is not in college.

[Dr. Dog]

A little about myself. When I was 20 I started a pomegranate jelly company and had three different varieties of jelly/jam. I shut down the company to go back to school and get my degree in business management.
I hope your business management degree taught you that you should have sold the company instead of shut it down...

[mmartin478]

Thanks for the constructive criticism, however i fear that it is a little misplaced. I haven't revealed any details about my app. My idea is far greater than just a "college app." I don't intend on selling anyone's information and the app will remain exclusive to college students. I don't plan on doing a bait and switch. Those that get the app while in college will get to keep the app (although a slightly modified alumni version) after they graduate with one feature taken out of it which is really college specific. There are very strong reasons why students will want to use my app, everyone i presented the app to has pushed me to make it a reality, even though i have other ideas which will make money and be easier. This app has a bigger purpose. Once again those interested send me an email, and we can go from there. Thanks for the input fisharmor.

[helmuth_hubener]

Sounds like a cool idea. Just ignore all these naysayers. Sometimes people say nay just because, well, maybe to hear themselves say it. I wish you the best, you sound like you're going to do awesome things.

[brandon]

You sound like you've put a lot of thought into it and have a direction. The problem is good ideas are easy to come by. Execution and timing are not. If you really believe in your idea you should either start learning to code and develop an alpha version yourself, or put out some cash to pay a developer (and hire them through the proper channels, not anonymously on a political message board).

I mean this as constructive criticism. If you actually have a working app it will be much easier to convince serious partners to join you.

[mmartin478]

Thanks Helmuth

Brandon- I am learning to code, it just takes some time to become proficient. I am not trying to hire someone, i am looking for one or two people who want to be cofounders in a startup. I'm not going to take the first person who comes my way, we need to be a good fit for each other and the mission of the company. I understand that having a working prototype would be preferable and that's what i'm working on right now. Someone who has been building app's could knock this baby out though.

[helmuth_hubener]

Well hey, it doesn't hurt to try! We have a Marketplace section for a reason. Want to sell your house? Buy a gun? Find a job? Hire an employee (or a co-founder)? Come post a notice!

This guy only has 7 posts, so yeah, it's a little weird, but whatever. If anyone is interested, just be skeptical and don't get scammed. I hope you find someone great, Manuel.

[brandon]

Thanks Helmuth

Brandon- I am learning to code, it just takes some time to become proficient. I am not trying to hire someone, i am looking for one or two people who want to be cofounders in a startup. I'm not going to take the first person who comes my way, we need to be a good fit for each other and the mission of the company. I understand that having a working prototype would be preferable and that's what i'm working on right now. Someone who has been building app's could knock this baby out though.

I understand what you're looking for, but you're very unlikely to find it. People that can code well are making 6 figures working for brilliant tech minds. The last thing a good coder wants to do is work for free under the direction of someone who can't code.

[helmuth_hubener]

I understand what you're looking for, but you're very unlikely to find it. People that can code well are making 6 figures working for brilliant tech minds. The last thing a good coder wants to do is work for free under the direction of someone who can't code.

Well, you're not wrong... but you're not entirely right, either. If this were universally true, then no start-up would ever be able to come into existence. It would be logically impossible. Instead, there are many of them popping up every day in the Bay Area, full of good programmers working for non-programmers, either for peanuts or even for nothing, just pure equity. You just have to find people who buy into the vision.