Looking for Junior Partners in financial StartUp with WEB and APP programming skills

[yetanotherquant]

Hello together,

I have (from my point of view) a promising start up idea: ultimately I would create a "financial supermarket", so that a user can manage all his financial issues (from controlling his household expenses to advanced mortgage and investment decisions) on a single webportal.

Of course it is a big project, which should be split in subprojects (which, in turn, should become breakeven as soon as possible). I would start with the most advanced (and thus most interesting) part - investment decisions.

I am quite sure that I will be able to make it popular without a huge advertisement-budget.
(who doubts just search for Kelly Criterion in Google and Bing, you will find my paper on SSRN or my website kelly-criterion.com in Top10 results).

However, I do not have sufficient time for coding. Thus I am looking for junior partners (young, ambitious, hard-working, without kids). I would outsource as much non-financial work to Russia/Ukraine/Belarus/(India?) as possible but I am pretty skeptical about the outsourcing, thus I expect solid programming skills (first of all Web and Apps) from my parners.

If interested, please PM me.

Regards
Vasily Nekrasov aka finanzmaster aka yetanotherquant

 

[C S]

Hello together,

I have (from my point of view) a promising start up idea: ultimately I would create a "financial supermarket", so that a user can manage all his financial issues (from controlling his household expenses to advanced mortgage and investment decisions) on a single webportal.

Of course it is a big project, which should be split in subprojects (which, in turn, should become breakeven as soon as possible). I would start with the most advanced (and thus most interesting) part - investment decisions.

I am quite sure that I will be able to make it popular without a huge advertisement-budget.
(who doubts just search for Kelly Criterion in Google and Bing, you will find my paper on SSRN or my website kelly-criterion.com in Top10 results).

However, I do not have sufficient time for coding. Thus I am looking for junior partners (young, ambitious, hard-working, without kids). I would outsource as much non-financial work to Russia/Ukraine/Belarus/(India?) as possible but I am pretty skeptical about the outsourcing, thus I expect solid programming skills (first of all Web and Apps) from my parners.

If interested, please PM me.

Regards
Vasily Nekrasov aka finanzmaster aka yetanotherquant

Sounds interesting. How much capital have you raised so far?

 

[IntoDarkness]

code for equity

 

[pingu]

Hello together,

I have (from my point of view) a promising start up idea: ultimately I would create a "financial supermarket", so that a user can manage all his financial issues (from controlling his household expenses to advanced mortgage and investment decisions) on a single webportal.

like mint.com?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

"
However, I do not have sufficient time for coding. Thus I am looking for junior partners (young, ambitious, hard-working, without kids). I would outsource as much non-financial work to Russia/Ukraine/Belarus/(India?) as possible but I am pretty skeptical about the outsourcing, thus I expect solid programming skills (first of all Web and Apps) from my parners."

They must also be "passionate"? How much $ will you pay them?

Here in my area there was a government project that was outsourced costing 250 million and it did NOT work. A local Dutch company did the job for 8 million within a year.

Outsourcing IMO is too good to be true. It's not as easy as you think. Too many middlemen and a lot of stuff gets lost in translation.

 

[yetanotherquant]

Sounds interesting. How much capital have you raised so far?

I do it iteratively (like Kissinger did his shuttle diplomacy).
So far I have a couple of private investors, each would invest €200 - €500 per month in a promising start-up. This suffices to pay two or three developers in India, probably in Ukraine (in Russia not, so far).
As soon as I find developers, I can get started. As soon as there is the first version, I can attract more private investors or try with the institutionals. And so on.

like mint.com?

Inter alia. My (more or less) original idea is a web financial supermarket.
As to its components, they may be improved clones, i. a. of mint.com
Improved clones may be successful, just like Pavel Durov created vkontakte, stealing (well, borrowing) the idea from facebook and like he currently creates Telegram.

"
They must also be "passionate"? How much $ will you pay them?

At the first stage, not much. In India or Ukraine it will still be above average salary.
But it is just to let them concentrate on the project, liberating them from thinking every time about their primary needs.
Since I also offer a share in startup to every developer (juniors less, seniors more but everyone should have a share), I expect they to perceive themselves partners, not employees.

As to the guys from US/Western Europe, I don't think that €200 - €500 will be interesting for them. Instead I am going to offer a bigger share. And a participation in a promising start-up may, as such, be interesting. At least it would be for me, as I were under 30, single and very active.

"
Here in my area there was a government project that was outsourced costing 250 million and it did NOT work. A local Dutch company did the job for 8 million within a year.
Outsourcing IMO is too good to be true. It's not as easy as you think. Too many middlemen and a lot of stuff gets lost in translation.

Outsourcing is just a tool, which may or may not work. First of all it depends on how you master this tool. I, myself, was an offshore webdeveloper in Russia. I also have a lot of friends, who work(ed) for offshore software companies. I need no middlemen (though middelwomen may probably be useful) in Russia/Ukraine/Belarus. I am a native speaker and know the culture of these post-USSR states. The only problem: in general, seniors are [so far!] too expensive and juniors must first be trained at first. But I don't need "in general", at first I need just two or three skillful and motivated guys. So this is a matter of search, and I will likely find them, e.g. among the graduates of my school.
As to India, according to my info, the wages are still attractive for outsourcing. But I don't know this culture in detail, that's why I wrote India with a question mark. But if I find an Indian partner, who I can rely on, this may be an option.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Software development is costly. And then you have to 'sell' it I presume?

What about a github open source project?

As to the guys from US/Western Europe, I don't think that €200 - €500 will be interesting for them

Is that an hourly rate?

 

[yetanotherquant]

Software development is costly.

It depends. In Russia in the beginning of 2000s one could hire a top(!) programmer for $500/mo.
In India they currently report an oversupply of software developers.
In Ukraine and Belarus it will likely also be the case soon.

And then you have to 'sell' it I presume?

Promote - yes, but selling (in the sense of Vertrieb) - no.
It will be a project for the end users, not B2B (though some modules might be sold to business customers, however, I do not count much on this).

What about a github open source project?

Can you image e.g. Facebook code as an open source project?
Still some modules may be put opensource but free only for noncommercial usage.
Apropos, I was recently told that one popular quantitative software extensively borrowed (via copy paste) the code from an early version of QuantLib.
And it is correct to say "borrowed" (not "stole") because QuantLib license allows this.
But being so generous, Luigi has definitely missed a fat royalty.

As to the guys from US/Western Europe, I don't think that €200 - €500 will be interesting for them
Is that an hourly rate?

Have you ever seen such hourly rates (in a long-term project)?
If yes, why do you waste your time at this forum? :P

 

[Daniel Duffy]

It depends. In Russia in the beginning of 2000s one could hire a top(!) programmer for $500/mo.
In India they currently report an oversupply of software developers.
In Ukraine and Belarus it will likely also be the case soon.


Promote - yes, but selling (in the sense of Vertrieb) - no.
It will be a project for the end users, not B2B (though some modules might be sold to business customers, however, I do not count much on this).


Can you image e.g. Facebook code as an open source project?
Still some modules may be put opensource but free only for noncommercial usage.
Apropos, I was recently told that one popular quantitative software extensively borrowed (via copy paste) the code from an early version of QuantLib.
And it is correct to say "borrowed" (not "stole") because QuantLib license allows this.
But being so generous, Luigi has definitely missed a fat royalty.


Have you ever seen such hourly rates (in a long-term project)?
If yes, why do you waste your time at this forum? :P

You are probably dreaming up these numbers.

BTW many of my students are on this forum, so I don't have to market myself in the way that you might be doing here. I already have products since > 20 years.

A lot of hullabaloo about writing a book on Quantlib and then giving up was a great shame IMO.

 

[yetanotherquant]

You are probably dreaming up these numbers.

Once it was the case (as the Soviet economy was disrupted), current economic situation in Russia/Ukraine/Belarus is far from being flourishing, so why shouldn't the recent history and a near future rhyme?

A lot of hullabaloo about writing a book on Quantlib and then giving up was a great shame IMO.

Not at all. It was an exhaustive attempt to make some money with this book.
Exhaustive, because it was not only bla-bla, but a couple of chapters were written and the source code provided. However, there was little interest on this forum, which is statistically representative. I was surprised a little bit but can understand: quant-students are often overloaded with curricula, thus have not much time (and desire) to study additional stuff
(and believe me, very few would take your course if you didn't offer the academic credit points for it).
So after an exhaustive attempt I saw that I likely won't achieve my goal and dropped this project (it is much better than, as we say in Russia, to ram a brick wall with your head).
Instead of wasting my time on an unsuccessful idea, I worked hard on my main job (and was promoted to Senior) and succeed as a wealth manager.

And this topic is not only a direct attempt to find partners, but also a market research.
If there are enthusiasts that share my attitude, than it is likely worth trying.
If not, it is a first warning signal. And for me it is a wisdom, not a shame, to give up an idea if the market research tells you that it hardly has a potential.

 

[ExSan]

outsourcing? count on me!
My resume includes some knowledge of C++
I love coding, sometimes I wake up before 6AM and I can be absorbed by it for 5 to 6 hours. Then I realize I have to breakfast, too late it is luch time.
then I have to rest and browse internet.
I QN everyday.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Tennis 6.15 am?

 

[ExSan]

Tennis 6.15 am?

only on Saturday and Sunday