Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
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Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
1–10 of 40 posts
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#2"Touché." —The Developer Community
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#31 mba guy I remembered one post here that stated that the best return if you partner one 'business guy' is if that guy has things like contacts, a customer list, etc.
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#4Its always a pleasure to read stuff that emerges from MBAs minds. Its so easy to understand and relaxing compared to the real things.
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#51 mba guy I remembered one post here that stated that the best return if you partner one 'business guy' is if that guy has things like contacts, a customer list, etc.
More to the point, you need either a cofounder that you would entrust your life to or you need to have part of the requisite skillset so you can choose one that is competent and does not need to be too far out of your league. Because an incompetent cofounder will mess up exactly those things you can't handle, and one that's out of your league will either only have contempt for you or steal your idea and Zuck you.
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#6Why would you even want a non-tech founder. All the value-add an MBA can bring to a small tech startup, namely: (1) contacts (2) presentation skills (3) networking (the human kind) skills - can be acquired by more tech guys if they really put their head to it and put in a sustained effort. A tech-startup would be much more flab-free if a tech guy takes up this role, imho.
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#7Am I missing the irony here? (this happens to me occasionally, I being a non-native English speaker). But if this MBA shit is easy as he says (and none of his 4 steps looks that hard), then seriously why does he deserve more than 15% equity...
I am reminded of some line from Paul Graham. He was talking about literature and physics professors, but it fits just as well here. Imagine this thought experiment: technical and non-technical founders were asked to switch roles and do what the other person did. The business guy will write the code, and the technical guy will figure out how to make people pay for it. The one who fails will be shot. Whom would you rather be?
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#8is it only me, I thought that was all tongue in cheek.
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#9The problem with this suggestion is that it seems to suggest having an MBA is a large part of being a business guy(or gal).
Yes it does take a long time to become a good business guy, but that's because it relies on spending so much time networking and building the kind of relationships that let you do interesting things.
MBAs are often a poor choice of business guy for a startup because the degree means they could be earning lots more in a "normal" job, but brings relatively few startup benefits.
I think a lot of these smaller startups would be better off with a hustler who's young and lacking an MBA.
Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy
#10I feel bad for some of you technical cofounders. You guys just don't 'get it'.
It looks to me that a lot of thechnical people get this really well. We have constantly some examples here on HN.
I know it's not easy stuff, but I think it's not that hard either and I see that in a lot of startups the founders just figure it out as they go. I share pg's belief that MBA founders are overvalued.