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Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

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Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#21

Post by mironathetin »

fhe wrote: post #7

Am 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 a…

"...why does he deserve more than 15% equity..."

Because it is a (bad) habit to hugely overpay these guys.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#22

Post by philk »

pavlov wrote: post #16
fhe wrote: post #7

Am 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 a…

If my life were on the line, I would absolutely go for the business->coding transition. The odds of success are so much better. Learning programming is ultimately a matter of studying hard. It can be mastered through books, Google and relentless solitary experimentation. Making people pay for something is a fickle social art. Who wants to get shot for failing at something so intangible?

You're thinking about this from the perspective of someone who's already technically strong. If you aren't technically strong, trying to prise dollars from fingers is often less terrifying than trying to deal with an impenetrable technical jungle.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#23

Post by soci »

I can only agree with the title of the post, not with the rest of the article.

I'm a technical guy with +10 year background but I also have interest in the rest of areas of a company. Unfortunately I lack any business skills and I'm afraid of failing in basic things if I'm starting my own business.

I don't like at all MBA's with non-technical skills like the one who wrote the post. They tend to be very arrogant and do not seem to care much about the technical aspects, which are indeed crucial for many of the companies discussed here in HN. It's for this reason that I'm pursuing an MBA myself, I think tech+business makes a good tandem. I'll let you know when I finish in two years.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#25

Post by dkirker »

pavlov wrote: post #16
fhe wrote: post #7

Am 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 a…

If my life were on the line, I would absolutely go for the business->coding transition. The odds of success are so much better. Learning programming is ultimately a matter of studying hard. It can be mastered through books, Google and relentless solitary experimentation. Making people pay for something is a fickle social art. Who wants to get shot for failing at something so intangible?

Learning to program (especially beyond just being a basic code monkey) requires a certain kind of mind, on top of years and years of hard work and continuous practice.

So, I wouldn't say that the odds of success are better going from business to programming -- unless you want to run the risk of writing code that may not meet your demands, or you already know how to code and want to start in business (in which case the situation is circular). I have seen business people fail miserably at programming. I would say that the odds are the same, going either way. It takes the right kind of person to program (not just code), and the right kind of person to operate a business. It takes both of these to get both.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#26

Post by mironathetin »

fhe wrote: post #7

Am 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 a…

I think the main point is: you cannot do everything yourself.

It is necessary to concentrate on what you do best and get expert help for the rest. MBAs happen to be experts on something (what ever that may be). That is why they can be useful. That is why you may have jobs for them.

These business guys are the first to reject funding for your startup, if you DO try to learn everything yourself and not get external knowledge into your company. Well, this makes the post a bit pointless, indeed.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#27

Post by ArcticCelt »

fhe wrote: post #7

Am 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 a…

I am pretty sure this was pure satire and a simple role inversion of the exact same monologue that programmers make from time to time.

This:

As a nontechnical founder, I get approached to do a startup by code jocks every few days. "I have this great codebase for a project I've been working on, but I just need you to create a functional business model, marketing plan, and acquire 14,000 customers for me. I'll even offer you a generous 15% of the company, because that's the easy part". Punks.

Is a parody of this:

As a non-business oriented founder, I get approached to do a startup by MBA jocks every few days. "I have this great idea for a project I've been working on, but I just need you to create a functional design and prototype that can handle 14,000 customers per second. I'll even offer you a generous 15% of the company, because that's the easy part". Punks.

I think the message here is that both extremes are non constructive and that you need a balance between business skills and hacking skills.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#28

Post by Murkin »

philk wrote: post #15

It's slightly disappointing when this kind of snarky garbage makes it to the front page. There are legitimate arguments why a good business cofounder can be invaluable. This article completely fails to make any of them.

This is a sarcastic retort to the common advise given to MBA/business people who look for technical co-founders, by technical people on HN:

  "Just learn to code yourself, and don't ask precious me for my time."
I found it witty, humbling and quite to the point.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#29

Post by scotty79 »

I don't know exactly what is that but I read it with pleasure constantly switching from understanding it as irony on tech side and then on business side.

Author of this post is almost surely techie but probably bit tired of people totally downplaying business side.

Re: Stop looking for nontechnical founders, go get an MBA. It's easy

#30

Post by scotty79 »

mironathetin wrote: post #4

Its always a pleasure to read stuff that emerges from MBAs minds. Its so easy to understand and relaxing compared to the real things.

What makes you think that it came from mind of MBA?

Apart from the fact that unknown author of this piece said he is MBA?

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