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

The only thing that made me chuckle is the ironic response from HN, that even after reading this hyperbolic parody and not getting it, members still have to validate their ideas of technical > business founders. The motive is so strong it borders on insecurity, I really wonder for those who have replied; which have the real world experience and credibility to suggest so?

Here's the truth: it doesn't matter as much as you think. Its like asking, "which martial arts style is better, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu or Muay Thai?". Its an amateur question, childish almost, because you need to know both and should seek to learn every martial art to be a well rounded martial artist. Being open to new ideas means letting go of your ego, a tough thing for anyone, let alone MEN in BUSINESS and ENGINEERING.

So as a business person whose learning to be technical, all I can say is that it is not black and white, we are not either team business or team technical. We are all artists, who simply paint the canvas differently.

I'm completely aware of that. It's just that I don't read HN for sarcastic retorts, I read HN for interesting viewpoints.

Further, it's a sarcastic retort to an article (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1820495) that doesn't require one; the original blog post is by someone who comes from a non-technical background but taught himself enough to be useful technically, and the top ranked comment contains excellent advice on how to attract technical co-founders.

"Just learn to code yourself, and don't ask precious me for my time."

The people who receive this response generally aren't offering much. They don't talk about their success in selling stuff in the past[1], or the money they've raised previously, or the beta customers they've lined up. If you're going to pitch yourself as a non-technical founder, you need to talk about your relevant strengths. A good idea by itself just doesn't cut it.

And finally, advice to "do it yourself if you can't find anyone else" is sound. If you can't find someone to take care of the business side, learn to sell, learn to figure out how much you need to spend to get a customer and so on. If you can't find someone technical, learn to code a bit. Just making the attempt shows others that you're not the kind of person to let obstacles stand in your way.

[1] And frankly, if their pitch for a cofounder is this bad it bodes poorly for them selling product later on.

This is by and far the worst idea Ive ever heard. Persuing an MBA is NOT learning about business. It's the purchase of proof pretending to know what a real entrepreneur understands through years of experience.

Arrogance is rampant in HN on both sides of the frontline between techs and nontechs. Coders think they're the real driving force behind the company and the biz guy thinks his sales are the only reason you're afloat.

If you want REAL business experience, I have single piece of advice.

Go f-bomb-ing do a shitty sales job. I learned everything I know today through sales. I've sold everything from professional tax accounting services to the tapioca (bubbles) you're probably sucking on in your bubble tea while reading this reply.

Note, read guy kawasakis take on his MBA as well as any other successful businessman with an MBA.

Sorry for the harsh commentary but I truly feel strongly about the MBA being a POS. I hope this advice finds you well.

As an example, a few years ago I was advising a company who wanted to automate the calculation of tax. You would have thought that this was easy, but in fact it's the most complex thing ever and you need that non-technical specialist domain knowledge. (You know you're in for a fun ride when you ask a question and the answer is "we're not sure, but we've booked flights to Italy to go and ask the authorities there".)

I think I have missed out a load of qualifiers in my previous comments. Here they are:

* The skills required for a startup will probably be spread out over many people.

* There's no hard and fast rule about which skills anyone will have.

* Technical people might be good at sales.

* "Non-technical" people might not be good at sales.

* "Knowing what to build" and "able to sell" are skills which may or may not be found in the same person.

* Knowing what to build might be a skill of any of your founders have, depending on their experience in the market.

There's probably a few more. I suppose this is the trouble with trying to write concise generally true comments, you forget to cover all the edge cases.