- How do I know if the person is competent? I obviously need someone who knows way more than I do or else I'll just do it myself.
Have they done a similar job before? If you're looking for advantced technical skill that usually comes by having experience. They should have reference. Since you've been dabbling in the technical areas, you've probably been faced with problems you could ask them to solve.
- How do I maintain respect and motivate if they know more than I do? Is there any book on hiring for entrepreneur? I don't want to read
books written by HR guys because those situation won't be applicable
now.
I'm not sure what you mean by respect in this context. There are areas where you provide the expertise, so you will be respected if you perform well in these areas. As long as you recognize the other person's skills and allow them to do their job, you should get a lot of respect. If you're going to constantly challenge them in areas you know nothing about, you're just showing them how foolish you are.
Books can offer some tips in how to hire technical people, but you better get ready to spend a lot of time vetting each other. How are they going to know you are motivated? How can they be sure you respect their technical expertise? Because if you hire the right person, you will never be smarter than they are in this area. This is especially true if you remain focused in running the other aspects of the company.
If you are interested in being the sole leader and want to dominate this partnership, you will either attract poorly talented partners. The good ones will not stick around if you're on some power trip. I suggest you get ready to give respect if you play on getting any.