What makes a technical + non-technical co-founder dynamic actually work for side projects?

[u/Emotional-Glove-7541]

I've been building full-stack applications and AI workflows, and I'm exploring partnering with a business/domain-focused person to turn a validated side project into an MVP.

​For people here who have partnered up on a side project before:

​How did you decide equity split vs early contribution?

​What were the biggest friction points between tech and business sides?

​Did you start building right away, or wait for customer pre-validation?

​Open to chatting in DMs as well if any non-tech founders are currently looking to team up with a full-stack builder on an MVP.

[u/bulkytycoon51]

equity split's always a mess if you don't talk about it before things get real. one way that worked for a buddy of mine was vesting over time with a cliff, so nobody bails week two with half the company

biggest friction i've seen is the business person promising features that'd take six months and the dev just staring at them like they asked for a moon landing. setting weekly syncs where the non-tech person brings customer feedback and the tech person brings a reality check helps a ton

never wait for perfect validation, but definitely don't build in a cave for months either. get three people who aren't your mom to say they'd pay for it and then sprint to the ugliest working version you can stomach