A couple of weeks ago, I came up with the concept for what I'm fairly sure hasn't been done yet in the job search market. This happened as the result of both my own job search and a conversation online. I routinely use over 50 job sites to try to find remote work. 6 months in and I'm frustrated and jobless. I haven't found a single job site that actually has got it all right, not even the old ones!

I considered learning all the skills necessary to create it by myself, but realized it would take me far too long to get both the technical and business skills, so I opted to find programmers who wanted to join my project with the idea that it might or might not become a startup.  Many people were interested, several didn't follow through, but 7 did. There are 5 left now, and they're all programmers. We're spread across the world so it's a fully distributed project, and I'm fine with that. We don't have a designer or a front-end lead. We're going to build a website with a PWA instead of an app since we don't really think we need the advantages of smart phone features.  Since I'm the weakest at programming, I'm learning everything I can to lead the team and handle the business aspects.

As far as the design is concerned, I've laid out the key features as well as other features that will eventually need to be built.  We've started up a repository with a Kanban workflow board and I've posted several issues. We're using the combined principles of Lean, Agile and Design Thinking. I've written down the basics for our company culture. We're currently using Discord to communicate but I'm not happy with that so I'm looking at alternatives that have branching (channel threads like on Slack) and make it easy to keep things organized (categories like on Discord, and good structure like Doist's Twist), as well as additional features that might help, such as voice and video.

Currently, two weeks in, the NDA still hasn't been approved by any of them, nor has feedback been given, and we haven't discussed the division of equity, protecting IP or made a partnership agreement. I've told them that until these things are resolved, as well as the company name, we shouldn't proceed with any programming.

One of the 2 that left was actually an important member, so some of the others are worried about what we'll do. I told them not to worry - it's too early for that, and we'll resolve it after the legal matters are settled. So far, I'm not really happy with the level of communication and I'm not sure how much of that is due to a lack of interest in the various things that have to be discussed, an unwillingness to be involved at that level, lack of knowledge, Discord or a combination.

I'm very excited about making this into a reality. I didn't grow up in an entrepreneurial family and although the public school I went to is very highly regarded, they didn't teach this stuff either. This is my first time being an entrepreneur and building a startup and there's so much I've got to learn.

I really need help, which is why I'm here. This course gave me some good tips, but I really need to know a lot more, such as the legal side of things. I"m hoping to find a mentor.  One of the members can help with some things, like marketing, PR and other business things, but the rest can't really help much with that. I'm not a marketer but I know I have to learn that, and I'm trying to get the others to understand they have to step up and take on other responsibilities, too. It's okay if we build slowly - everyone's busy. Most are still in or have just finished university.

I'd love to find an experienced entrepreneur who can mentor me!