Thomas Edison once said that “genius” is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. In the world of technology startups, that 99% involves a heck of a lot of coding and wireframing. If you’ve got an idea for a startup, that’s great — but odds are that an idea is all you have. (Well, maybe you have passion and some savings, too.) But you’ll need more than that to bring your idea to life — you’ll need a developer who can transform your vision into an elegant app or website.

If you’re just foraying into the land of entrepreneurship, you may wonder where the to even start looking for such a person. And even if you do find a developer, how will you know the extent of his talent and whether he’s a good fit for you?

From trolling your network to attending meetups, there are myriad ways to meet skilled developers. When you find one you like, you should have an informal meeting — you’ll be spending a lot of time with the person, so it’s good to get to know him on a more personal level. Plus, you can determine whether he’s equally excited about your vision. If you’re not jibing, let him go — there are other dev fish in the sea, and it’s not worth it to force the partnership. When you find a personality match, move into the formal interview. If all goes well there, you can confidently extend an offer.

Throughout the search, there’s plenty of room for missteps, and you might not know the right questions to ask. But there are some pro tips you can employ to make the dev hunt more efficient and successful. The folks at General Assembly have created this easy-to-follow flow chart as part of the curriculum for its “Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship” program. If you’re serious about your startup idea, this chart can help you navigate your dev search and find someone who’ll turn your napkin sketches into a reality. And if you have any personal experience hiring a dev, tell us about it in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, nullplus, Infographic courtesy of General Assembly

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General Assembly is unique among coworking spaces. In addition to providing a meeting and working space for entrepreneurs, founders Brad Hargreaves, Adam Pritzker, Jake Schwartz and Matthew Brimer deliberately built the space using a campus model. Their goal was to provide a space that went beyond a meet and work place and offered a space for hackers and designers to hone their skills. Their unique, mixed-use building offers a classes in design and and software development in addition to private and open spaces for entrepreneurs to collaborate, work and learn.

In this interview with General Assembly co-founder Brad Hargreaves learn how the space got started, how they designed their curriculum and hear Hargreaves talk about his broader views on the current startup landscape.

Follow Venture Studio, in association with Mashable, which is brought to you by Square1 Bank. The show is hosted by Dave Lerner, a 3x entrepreneur and angel investor. To join Venture Studio’s Facebook page, click here.

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In a story on TheNerve.org Eric Ward reports that the usual suspects, SC State Representatives Bobby Harrell, Kenny Bingham, Dwight Loftis, Joan Brady, David Thomas, and others are pushing a bill to give credits to high risk investors at taxpayer expense–up to $5 million worth per year.

So, according to some legislators, the solution to our economic woes is out-and-out FASCISM. H. 3779 provides incentives to invest in, and removes a substantial amount of the risk for, risky investments for wealthy people who invest in start-up companies very early on.  The taxpayer subsidized credits come into play no matter how the investments perform.  If highly profitable, this special class of wealthy elites still gets a third of their initial investment piled on top the first pile of money they’ve made.

What we’ve got here, ladies and gentlemen, is a case of preemptive bail-outs!

Aimed right at wealthy people, the low end cut-off is described by the bill:

“The Securities and Exchange Commission accredits angels and defines them as investors with either a net worth of at least $1 million, not including their primary residence; an individual income of $200,000 or more per year; or, for married angels, combined incomes of $300,000 or more yearly, according to Andrea Marshall, executive administrator of Charleston Angel Partners.”

So, even if a bunch of us po’ folks got together and put our money up in a pile to invest, we just don’t rate according to the elites like Kenny Bingham and Bobby Harrell.  Equality under the law?  What’s that?

But then, the usual old excuses of keeping the state “competitive” against other states doing the same thing are brought up.  I’m sure they’d be eager to be first to jump off a cliff if other state legislatures were considering it.  In that particular case, however, I’d support their rationale and buy them running shoes so as to be sure to get up a good momentum for the leap.

And do not consider it a mere coincidence that the people in power will be winning many friends among the corporate welfare elites. Elections can be expensive and staying in power in the General Assembly usually means just throwing enough money out there to fool people into thinking that a “true conservative” is running for re-election.  Those most able to contribute and help raise money are considered valuable commodities among the corrupt politicians in the General Assembly.

The only way this state will truly stomp the competition out there is to not give into the “bribe and tax” schemes of other states. Such legislation comes and goes and is always needing lobbyists to facilitate the money flow. What we need is a concrete application of a level playing field.

Perhaps we can start with an equality under the law amendment to the SC State Constitution mandating that no branch of industry nor class of people is favored over another. If a company is looking for a home where they know that they’re treated equally under the law according to the state’s guarantee in the constitution, we’d not only have a more moral and ethical government, we’d also have a more stable, thriving marketplace in which businesses can safely plan and compete.

Build equality under the law and the jobs will come.

Please read the story at TheNerve.org:

http://www.thenerve.org/Comments/11-03-29/Angel_Tax_Credits_Would_Cost_5_Million_a_Year.aspx?utm_source=FITS+-+Morning+Blast&utm_campaign=24d50b2258-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

An open letter in response to:

http://processstory.com/2011/02/15/policy-council-exchanging-money-for-tea/#comment-365

Mr. Donahue:

In your bio, you describe yourself as a “political operative” and you ” run political campaigns and serve as the Political Director for the SC Senate Republican Caucus & the Tech Director for the SC Republican Party.”  You also state that you “own a political consulting and Internet strategy shop.”

So a paid, big time, establishment political hack like you, Mr. Donahue, is  implicitly accusing a citizen of being paid to go after corruption in the General Assembly??? And you defend those venal crooks???  The irony here is monu-freakin-mental! And the stench of such actions by paid political operatives such as yourself reeks of desperation on the part of your masters.

I personally know Talbert Black is NOT being paid (except for his real job as an electrical engineer) and is in fact spending his own time, energy, and money in a selfless pursuit to help end the obvious corruption in the General Assembly.  In fact, I don’t know anyone in the movement who is being paid to do anything.  If some of them are, they’re not telling me and they’re most definitely not sharing!

In fact (and I don’t know about others in the movement but I’m sure there are a lot of similar stories) I make very, very little at my job in the current economy yet have carefully saved and done without so that I could, over the past three years, contribute several thousand dollars I really can’t afford–by any stretch of the imagination.  I even cashed in my HSA so that I had money to contribute.  I’m sure it’s  not much money by your “political operative” standards but it shows that people are committed not only in their time and energy but are also putting their money where their mouths are instead of holding their hands out as paid political assassins as you do.

Whether everyone realizes it or not, war is being waged on us by the fascist, money funneling establishment whose worst offenders are in the General Assembly and hiding their corporate welfare votes–for as long as they can get away with it–every chance they get.  I’ve supported candidates that support real substantive, moral, and ethical changes to restore true power to the people in what is supposed to be a representative republican form of government in South Carolina.

If you really want to contribute to the conversation instead of  simply doing your day job as Jake Knott’s and Glenn McConnell’s soulless hit man, maybe you should do an in-depth study to find out how much money Mr. Black’s activism has cost him over the past few years.

It’s obvious that you are getting paid to destroy the SCPC and tea party activists by those aforementioned crooks in the General Assembly.  I hope you enjoy the jingle of those silver pieces in your pocket because your betrayal of your fellow citizens who only want to end the venality and other corruption in state government will leave you with little else in credibility and principles.