“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” --― George Orwell

But is it true ?

Are all great tech taken ? There are plenty people who are above average in everything. You don't need the best programmer in the world to be a CTO / Architect.

1) In the lack of capital, the only thing you got is your DREAM. Sell the dream and only hire someone who believes in the product/idea. Ask him what his opinion about the product is and how it can be made better.

2) His(or her) and your wavelength should match - If you are the CEO guy, he should be able read you and you should speak a common language or have a similar thought process. CEO owns the product and CTO delivers it.

What skills should you be looking for
1) Technical - If you need CTO/Architect , don't look for a programmer. A word-press or a .net programmer can be your co-founder but he need to have that big picture vision of product. Architects have a high view of product architecture and the 360 Deg view solution delivery. Need not be an expert in everything but should be able to get things done my other developers. ARCHITECT/CTO IS A MINDSET. You need to find people with that mindset.

How to find people with CTO Mindset
1) Ask them about how to build something like facebook. Check if they talk about Performance, scalability, caching,availability etc..
2) Ask how to do it lean (cheap) - They should be able to give you a ROADMAP (that is the skill you are looking for).
3) Are they aware of what is happening in the industry. Ask them what they read and listen to. Your OUTPUT is a SUBSET of you INPUT

Hope that helped. Let me know if you need any friendly help. I am at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nefinjohn

Nefin