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Founders who can't code are like artist painters who can't paint

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Founders who can't code are like artist painters who can't paint

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An person who pays others to create their work can be called a lot of things, but artist is not one of them.

I disagree. The art was clearly created. I don't think the mechanical act of creating art has supremacy over the creative act. In fact, I'd contend that as a society we've agreed that the creative act is supreme to the mechanical act. Architects, directors, large scale-sculpture artists. Their works are created by other people, they merely provide instructions for other people to execute.

Semantics.

Re: Founders who can't code are like artist painters who can't paint

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. The art was clearly created. I don't think the mechanical act of creating art has supremacy over the creative act. In fact, I'd contend that as a society we've agreed that the creative act is supreme to the mechanical act. Architects, directors, large scale-sculpture artists. Their works are created by other people, they merely provide instructions for other people to execute.

Semantics.

Well the argument is obviously is going to be centered around semantics if I'm responding to the claim that an artist isn't an artist if they don't make art in the right way.

Re: Founders who can't code are like artist painters who can't paint

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are extremely successful artists who pay for other people to create their work. Similarly, artists regularly pay other people to make things for them, such as frames, etc. There are a lot more artists who are technically skilled that don't have a creative bone in their body. You might as well pay them to create your work so you can leverage your best talent -- your ideas.

An person who pays others to create their work can be called a lot of things, but artist is not one of them.

Rodin, Chihuly, Ai Wei Wei. It's more common than you might think.

Re: Founders who can't code are like artist painters who can't paint

#19
Can we also say Founders that can't sell are hobbyists? I can't code. But I work in industry (not tech related at all) and we have niche problems to be solved and customers are lining up. As of right now, I'm a solo "founder" with no coding skills and hired tech guys to do the MVP.

I think your original assertion is a bit much. I wish I was better at coding, but at this point in my life it is more valuable for me to sit with my clients and build relationships. I think that even if I was a very capable programmer, I would still not code and rather go out and talk to my clients or potential clients, because that is something my programming team cannot do. The more I interact with my clients, the more I learn about problems and issues they have that can be fixed with technology.

Re: Founders who can't code are like artist painters who can't paint

#20
Founding a company isn't just about developing something. That's what an open source project is.

It's also about finding the right product-market fit, knowing how to market, knowing how to sell. How about founders who can't market are like painters who can't paint?

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