Ask HN: Early tech startup with all technical co-founders

#1

Post by bennytjia » Sat, Jan 07, 2012, 11:51 PM UTC

My philosophy is that at really early stage of a tech startup, it's better to have only people who can contribute directly to the product that we're building, therefore, I prefer having coders (like myself) to business/sales people as a co-founder.

My main concern is that since it's early the only thing needs to be done is to get the main product built and out of the door, then there'll be no room for people who can't really code and work on the product.

Of course a startup needs non-technical resources such as sales, marketing, etc, but to me it;s still a long way to go.

Are there any statistics that show the success rate of startups founded by technical people vs non-technical people? what do people here think about my philosophy? Am I right/wrong? I just feel that I need to ask people who are more experienced than me. I have been thinking to start working on a project and get it up and running soon. Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: Early tech startup with all technical co-founders

#2

Post by swiil » Sun, Jan 08, 2012, 12:55 AM UTC

I think on a whole you need balance. Because you're a coder you may not fully appreciate the salability of what your building, either devaluing the work your doing or over valuing things which may be less important. I think a business minded cofounder or at least conspirer is important to the process of actually building something which can be sold.

Re: Ask HN: Early tech startup with all technical co-founders

#3

Post by bennytjia » Sun, Jan 08, 2012, 1:50 AM UTC

swiil wrote: post #2

I think on a whole you need balance. Because you're a coder you may not fully appreciate the salability of what your building, either devaluing the work your doing or over valuing things which may be less important. I think a business minded cofounder or at least conspirer is important to the process of actually building something which can be sold.

I totally agree with that. But my point is that there really isn't much for them to do when you're still ramping up your product or still in stealth mode.

Well they can do what they are good at which is marketing or sales, but since the product is not sufficiently done, what are they gonna market? in addition to that the whole company is in stealth mode anyway.

We want to get as many users as possible so we can get content (if the application really depends on userbase) or be profitable as soon as possible (in the case where we're building a business-oriented product that aims straight for revenue with solid business model). But in both cases, I still don't see how they are going to be useful at very early stage.

Re: Ask HN: Early tech startup with all technical co-founders

#4

Post by aorshan » Sun, Jan 08, 2012, 2:00 AM UTC

bennytjia wrote: post #3

swiil wrote: post #2

I think on a whole you need balance. Because you're a coder you may not fully appreciate the salability of what your building, either devaluing the work your doing or over valuing things which may be less important. I think a business minded cofounder or at least conspirer is important to the process of actually building something which can be sold.

I totally agree with that. But my point is that there really isn't much for them to do when you're still ramping up your product or still in stealth mode. Well they can do what they are good at which is marketing or sales, but since the product is not sufficiently done, what are they gonna market? in addition to that the whole company is in stealth mode anyway. We want to get as many users as possible so we can get c…

There is plenty a business minded person can do even at this stage. Even if you are in stealth mode, he/she could start and maintain a blog that talks about issues relating to the space your future product was in. You can use this blog to gain an audience with people who can become your future customers.

This person could also work on developing relationships with people who could become your future evangelists. Who do you have lined up to talk about how your product is the greatest thing since sliced bread?

Re: Ask HN: Early tech startup with all technical co-founders

#5

Post by leslyn » Sun, Jan 08, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

aorshan wrote: post #4

bennytjia wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with that. But my point is that there really isn't much for them to do when you're still ramping up your product or still in stealth mode. Well they can do what they are good at which is marketing or sales, but since the product is not sufficiently done, what are they gonna market? in addition to that the whole company is in stealth mode anyway. We want to get as many users as possible so we can get c…

There is plenty a business minded person can do even at this stage. Even if you are in stealth mode, he/she could start and maintain a blog that talks about issues relating to the space your future product was in. You can use this blog to gain an audience with people who can become your future customers. This person could also work on developing relationships with people who could become your future evangelists. Who…

I really have to agree! I am the non-tech partner (although the original idea was mine). In any case, I have definitely worked as many hours and as hard as my tech co-founder in very different areas - and realizing that more of my time (if that is even possible) could have been spent developing relationships in the beginning. I can't imagine how a single individual can even get a startup off the ground from tech to town - so to speak.