Ask HN: deciding to join startup or not?

[arkitaip]

How do you guys decide if you should join a project with friends and acquaintances that might turn into a startup? Are there any MUST requirements you have?

I find myself in this situation right now. A good friend and an acquaintance of him have spent a couple of weeks hashing out their idea (recruiting business, nothing hi-tech) and recently asked if I wanted to join them. There are, however, several things that bother me with their business idea and planning (business model, the fact that all of us would also be studying or working full time, tight launch schedule). I tried to address these things during our (first) meeting but felt they didn't see these things as potential problems. Also, such a short meeting makes it very difficult to properly assess the strengths/weaknesses of the idea. Everything is still on the idea stage but I've grown accustomed to thinking in terms of lean and customer development that deviations from these approaches seem lacking. So I'm unsure about this one.

[brudgers]

The one thing I've learned from HN is that startups are primarily about teams and execution, not so much about ideas. If you are not comfortable with the team or the way in which the members approach the workload, then someone has to change their views and/or behavior...or pass on forming a relationship.

[arkitaip]

Good point about teams before ideas. There's certainly nothing wrong with these guys - one is a close friend - but I'm unsure about some of the ideas. How do you separate ideas that can be solved and those who would take too much effort to steer away from?

[millerfung]

I would say don't join because you feel like you need to join to gain some startup. Startups are everywhere these days, prepare yourself :)

[jp]

Financial solidity and honesty. It is a social nightmare when "friends" owe you $10k and the money is not coming.

[yashchandra]

"There are, however, several things that bother me with their business idea and planning "

I agree with other posts that startups are more about teams and executions. If you are bothered by the team planning etc, you need to resolve it upfront before agreeing to anything. Think about this. if you are not comfortable raising your objections/points to your good friends, how would that turn out when you actually start the partnership?