Recently came across a 1yo app startup that has a founding team that has never worked in software in any capacity. “CEO” had a construction business with a “7 figure exit” (as if that is impressive). Early investors have backgrounds in mortgages, real estate, and ag retail.

One of the founders, who is now mysteriously no longer involved, had a men’s fashion startup that got scammed out of $200K because they shipped boxes of clothes to people who signed up with a prepaid credit cards that couldn’t be charged when the people didn’t send back the clothes.

They didn’t even outsource the development of the MVP to contractors, they used a newish AI powered app generator platform that created a React based app for them. They are now trying to hire their first developer/future CTO and are offering a whopping $100K salary plus equity for that position.

I’ve spent the last 15 years competing against software companies founded and run by people who have never worked in software before. I can’t tell you how easy that is for a team that has decades of experience developing and supporting complex software.

I heard about this company because someone I care about is interested in getting involved with them. I explained the red flags I saw but they are excited and don’t have software experience themselves so they are ignoring my reservations. Luckily, they’ll only be involved peripherally so it shouldn’t be too bad if it all blows up. And who knows, maybe they’ll defy the odds. 🤣

I hate the fiat VC funding model that drives this kind of insanity.