'If I'm Not Going to Be a Lawyer for the Rest of My Life, I'm Not Going to Do It for a Day – Luca’s founder story

Luca Waterstone is a 23-year-old first-time founder building COMN (formerly COMN GRND) — a marketplace connecting people through fitness and wellness events and communities. After leaving a career in law and travelling to India, Luca came home with a new sense of purpose: to combat growing social disconnection by bringing people together through movement.

With a freshly launched brand, a founding engineer found through SkillsRobin, and an MVP on the horizon, Luca is proving that being young, non-technical, and unfunded doesn't have to be a barrier to building something meaningful.

Read on to learn about:

• Why Luca left law and how a trip to India changed everything
• What COMN is building and who it's for
• How he navigated building a tech product as a non-technical founder
• His experience using SkillsRobin to find his first engineer
• Advice for founders hiring technical talent — and for developers joining early-stage startups
  ‍

Was it scary leaving law to start a company?

No. After an internship fell through, I had nothing lined up, so I went to India. That trip opened a lot up for me. I met people who were confined in their circumstances with massive dreams but very little opportunity. That was humbling. I had dreams too, but I'd been suppressing them — scared of failing. After seeing what's out there, all of that felt superficial.

I thought: I'm fortunate and I've got to give this a crack. If I'm not going to be a lawyer for the rest of my life, then I'm not going to do it for a day.

My grandfather has a quote: "I felt bad for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet." That's something I've always lived by. There are going to be hard days. But it's going to be worth it.‍

‍

Tell us about what COMN does?

COMN is a marketplace for fitness and wellness events and communities. On one side, we help people discover great things to do. On the other, we give event organisers a light CRM and backend to post events, manage communities, and grow. 

Both sides matter — you can't build a more connected world without enabling the people creating these communities.

Why this problem?

I'm not a big drinker or party person. My means of connection is running with my mates every Wednesday and Saturday morning. That's where COMN was born.

As a young person, I really struggled to find friends with a like-minded interest in wellness and movement. When I did find that, it was a pivotal shift. I wanted to bring that opportunity to everyone. 

We're meant to be more connected than ever through social media, but people feel more disconnected. I did a ton of research and I had some difficult conversations where people were quite open about their struggles. That confirmed I was working towards something meaningful.

The initial spark actually came from a weird moment on my couch — what about a dating app for fitness people? That was probably too strange, but it led me here. I had no idea how to code or build a company, but I was willing to give it a crack.

‍

‍

What's the journey been like building from scratch?

The biggest mistake I made early on was thinking you can concoct a product in your mind and people will automatically want it. I started in a dark room on my laptop thinking my app was the greatest idea ever. Then I got quotes from development companies and that was shocking.

I was lucky enough to find a pre-accelerator through the Australian Sports and Technologies Network, which gave me the framework I actually needed — doing interviews, research, figuring out adjacent markets, and who our customers really were.

One critical learning: we'd initially designed an iOS mobile app, but when we asked organisers where they do most of their work, the answer was unanimously: on my laptop. We pivoted to desktop before writing substantial code. Now we're in the building chapter.
‍

How did you find your founding engineer through SkillsRobin?

I saw a post in a Slack group — possibly Aussie Founders Club — clicked on SkillsRobin and thought, this is interesting. I went back a week later, put up a job post and I got a bunch of inquiries. That's how I ended up connecting with my lead developer.

As a non-technical founder, it's a real challenge to figure out how you're going to build the technical side. You can scour Reddit or post on Facebook, but it's hard to do yourself. The fact that candidates were vetted, I could learn about them upfront, and there was a third party watching over the interaction — that was super.

What difference has having a developer made?

There's a misconception through low-code and no-code tools that non-technical founders can build a product and become the next Microsoft. Those tools are great for a prototype, but in terms of shipping and maintaining something consistently, it's not realistic. I was told many times to just spend a few days in Lovable and create my MVP. I tried. How do I maintain it? How do I handle storage? How do I do the backend?

My lead developer has been the answer to all of that. He's helped me understand the technical front — and he's been a great sounding board for ideas. When you're solo and then suddenly there's someone to bounce things off, that's been really beneficial.
‍

What's next for COMN?

First thing: Still be live. Hopefully still working!

Beyond that, I'd like us to have expanded out of Melbourne into Sydney, Queensland, and Perth. We haven't raised capital yet — my rationale has been: build this thing, get traction, and they'll come. I'm not knocking on doors for dollars when we haven't cracked it yet. Long term, we'd be global. Fitness and wellness communities in every major city.

We focus on the human experience, not the artificially generated human — if I can throw shade at all the AI startups out there. We want to grow human connection, not the computer's experience.
‍

Advice for founders hiring their first engineer?

Don't feed into thinking you have to teach yourself to code to launch a successful startup. Get a technical person on board, even as a contractor.

And invest time in that person. They're an individual with goals and aspirations. My developer and I have spent a lot of time just talking — figuring out how the relationship works, what makes each of us tick. You'll get the most out of someone when you invest in them.
‍

Advice for developers joining an early-stage startup?

Don't be scared to share your opinions. These are fast-moving spaces where ideas are just that — ideas. My lead developer is great at this. We'll spend 20 minutes looking at what other platforms are doing, and that feedback has led to better decisions than I'd have made alone. Be open, ask questions, and communicate. Different perspectives are vital.
‍

How can people get involved?

We're pre-launching our MVP — jump on our website to join the waitlist. Follow us on LinkedIn (search "COMN") and on Instagram at COMN.au. You can also find me on LinkedIn — I'm always open to connecting with other people in health and wellness.

‍
Connect with Luca – Luca Waterstone on LinkedIn

‍