As President (and formerly Vice President) of a university programming club, VandyApps, many requests for developers naturally find their way into my inbox. These requests largely originate from non-technical founders looking for technical partners (i.e. "coders"). Our club meets every week, so most founders will attend one of our meetings to pitch their idea to the club. Having seen many pitches in my time, I have developed a set of suggestions that will help entrepreneurs attract developers to their project.

First, a warning for first time entrepreneurs: Attracting developers to a project is hard. Really hard. No matter how good your idea is, convincing a developer to work with you is invariably going to be an uphill battle. After meeting with and hearing pitches from many entrepreneurs, I have collected a few common problems along with my proposed solutions. None of these solutions are going to guarantee that you will find a developer, but they will certainly help your chances.

In the vast majority of pitches I have seen, the non-technical entrepreneur greatly underestimates how much work is required for their project. This is a red flag for developers because they foresee a situation in which they are on the hook for a late project with an unrealistic timeline.

It is nigh impossible to accurately estimate the length of a software project. However, consulting a friend who is a developer to get their opinion can help you approach a more realistic timeline. If you don't have any friends who are developers, here's a (poor, but acceptable) alternative: Multiply your estimated time length by 4. Also, be flexible; no one wants to be on the hook for a late project.

NDA = Non-Disclosure Agreement. Some entrepeneurs ask developers to sign an NDA before hearing their pitch. Most developers will (and rightly should!) refuse. There is a time and place for NDAs, but the first meeting is not it.

Don't have developers sign an NDA before hearing your idea. You can read more about why here. If you ask me to have our entire club sign NDA agreements before your visit, I will refuse. Please don't do that.

At VandyApps, we hear pitches from non-technical founders almost every week. Many of our members also maintain personal projects. Your idea is only one of many that our members can choose to allocate their time to. For a developer to join your project, the incentives must be strong enough to convince them to reallocate their time.

Developer time is valuable. Many of our members graduate with jobs that pay over $100k, and many more have internships that pay over $10k for the summer. To be frank, your project is in direct competition with those jobs, because the time that a developer spends working with you is time that they are not spending preparing for interviews or making open source contributions. Offering money, even a small amount, can go a long way towards balancing incentives. Not only does it show that you are serious about your idea coming to fruition, but it also shows the developer that you consider their time valuable.

Offering equity is, in my opinion, a necessary token that non-technical founders must offer to technical co-founders. However, offering a measly amount of equity is sure to offend any reasonably seasoned developer. Remember that retaining lots of equity in a worthless company is worthless, so be generous when giving equity to developers -- in the end, your product lives and dies with their work. If equity is not offered, cash compensation must be much, much higher.

If you already have another, experienced, developer working with you, use skill development as a selling point. VandyApps members want to become better developers, and working with someone more experienced is a great way to do that (that's why they come to VandyApps). However, if you do not have a more experienced developer on your team, trying to convince someone that coding alone on your project will help them improve faster than, well, working on a different project alone, is just tacky.

One of the most powerful ways to show that you are committed to a project is to try building it yourself. Check out my post about learning to code for how to get started. Building something on your own, even if it sucks, shows potential partners that this isn't just an idea you had at a bar last Saturday. Doing so will also give you a more accurate estimate of how long the project will take. When you present to our club, show us what you made and explain what you learned; this is sure to to impress us.

Before you pitch to VandyApps (or anyone, really), you should perform quality market research. This will include evaluating competitors and surveying potential customers. Your idea need not be unique (according to Mark Twain, "There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible."), but flat-out ignoring competitors is a red flag. As a non-technical founder, you must demonstrate an aptitude for business skills, especially if you frame yourself as "the business guy/gal."

We at VandyApps understand that you are anxious to get started, and we want to help you as much as possible. Following the above guidelines gives your idea a much better chance of coming to fruition. We're looking forward to seeing you at one of our meetings!