Does a start-up founder have to be a "hacker"? Can the business major who loves the web and has a good idea about a web based business succeed in the cut throat, competition heavy web space? Or, does one, in order to succeed in a start-up have to spend day in and day out coding in order to really understand how to differentiate and how to survive in the web start-up space? Lets here what you think...
How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
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Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#2I had the same question about a year back, and I'm sure some of you will remember it. I saw myself as the 'business major [I don't have a major] who loved the web and had a good idea about a web based business.' And there's one thing I found out through posting on web bulletins, posting flyers around school, and trying to network - it's extremely difficult to find a hacker cofounder who is willing to jump on board. How could I, a non-hacker, possibly play an equal contributory role has my hacker cofounder? And furthermor, how could I accurately convey my ideas coming from a frame of mind completely different from that of a hacker? I realized that if any sort of relationship was forged for the sake of having a team, these issues would soon arise in the future and cause much bigger problems, and would ultimately hinder the success and growth of a startup. So I started to learn how to hack, and it literally changed the way I think about ideas. I try to conceptualize how I can tackle problems with code, and how feasible it'd be to do so. And it's this newly found understanding that will help me play a more integral role in my team, and allow me to communicate with hacker cofounders on a leveled playing field. Even two of the Auctomatic founders eventually learned how to hack.
At the beginning, I was irritated by the response I got here. People told me left and right that business people are useless and that if you don't know how to hack you can't go anywhere. But, after getting my feet wet and thinking about it, I understand where they were coming from.
So I guess a business guy can in fact lead a successful startup. But do I think that business savvy guy who knows a bit about hacking will have significantly higher chances of succeeding in the web world? Yes.
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#3I had the same question about a year back, and I'm sure some of you will remember it. I saw myself as the 'business major [I don't have a major] who loved the web and had a good idea about a web based business.' And there's one thing I found out through posting on web bulletins, posting flyers around school, and trying to network - it's extremely difficult to find a hacker cofounder who is willing to jump on board. H…
"How could I, a non-hacker, possibly play an equal contributory role has my hacker cofounder? And furthermore, how could I accurately convey my ideas coming from a frame of mind completely different from that of a hacker? I realized that if any sort of relationship was forged for the sake of having a team, these issues would soon arise in the future and cause much bigger problems, and would ultimately hinder the success and growth of a startup."
Indeed. I'd add that you risk being at the mercy of your staff.
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#4This probably sounds fatuous, but hacking experience will make you a better business person in the same way that a daily column will make you a better writer. The reason is that while we are farting about with bits & bytes and star trek jokes, what we're really doing is translating human imagination into a system that is not capable of self-delusion. It does not believe, it does not miss details, it blows up at the smallest inconsistency. Dealing with that is unspeakably frustrating, but it trains you to think more clearly about how systems, any system, actually function. If you are really paying attention you can start using that capacity in other parts of life. The closest business-school type classes to this training would be probably logistics and quantitative analysis
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#5Of course it is possible for a business major to succeed in the web. There are real-world examples of business majors who won't get into the way of hackers (or techies in general) and give them room to think and play and listen to their feedback and suggestions.
There are also enough who just outsource all technical stuff and only care about their very own 'core competencies'.
But in "feelings" of probability:
Mindset, theoretical background knowledge, and experience are essential to understand what is (not only technically) possible and to see what parts need more effort than others and why. To know hacker culture one should live it, otherwise one won't feel the way hackers do. That doesn't mean that you need to code every day. Thinking about problems and trying your solutions is more important. Couple this with (formal) business knowledge and I am pretty sure an entirely new world unfolds with options unknown before that will outcompete the pure business major in most cases.
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#6It depends on what else you bring to the table
If you have biz dev connections that will get deals made, successful experience marketing or fundraising, a design or creative background, experience in the vertical your product serves, etc, these all can add, um, invaluable value to a company
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#7For the last ten months, I have been working on my most recent startup, http://www.LoveMyTool.com, which in time will become an online marketplace-of-choice for network monitoring tools (sniffers, IDS, etc.). The business model is old fashioned (no Google ad here). My vision is that we will become a virtual tradeshow (a zero carbon footprint version of Interop or NXTcom, which are million dollar physical events).
In the future, our revenues will come strictly from participating vendors (same as if they were buying a booth, but now they rent the front page for an hour). We are a long way from that. For now, I am concentrating on building a community.
To guide me towards success, I am following the advises given at the Startup School by Paul Graham, Paul Buchheit and David Heinemeier Hansson, which can be summarized as follows …
“Make something people want … don’t ignore [people’s] advice … listen [mainly] to yourself … don’t worry too much about money … the secret to making money … is to ask for it.”
Notice that there is nothing here that says that you have to be a hacker. It just says that you have to find a problem that is worth solving, keep solving it while listening to your instinct and when you are ready, just ask the customers to pay.
In fact, I believe there are two worst things that you can do to ensure failure of a startup which are heavy reliance on VC money and heavy reliance on technology. The focus should be on customer needs. Hacking is just another means to the end.
In my case, I use no special software and therefore have no need for a "hacker" as a co-Founder. Every piece of software that I am using are off-the-shelf (Typepad, iLife suite, Slideshare, Youtube, Blip.tv, Omnisio, etc.) and I have managed to build a site with 350 visitors a day and rising (who are interested in buying products that I am showcasing and have spending authority from tens of thousands to millions). And I did the whole thing for $180 ($150 for TypePad and $30 for URL's).
Anything is possible here. So if you have a killer idea on how to make money on the web, then go for it. Hackers will follow; they always do.
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#8It depends on what else you bring to the table If you have biz dev connections that will get deals made, successful experience marketing or fundraising, a design or creative background, experience in the vertical your product serves, etc, these all can add, um, invaluable value to a company
Exactly. PayPal would have never succeeded without Peter Thiels' ability to close fundings left and right.
However, I do think one of the founders should be technically savvy, and it doesn't hurt to have the business guy to know some hacking either
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#9If you're doing a web startup, it helps to know how to hack, in the same sense that if you're a football coach, it helps to know how to play football.
I realize it's a somewhat flawed analogy, but I like to think of startups that way.
Re: How technical does a start-up founder have to be?
#10It depends on the team, and how tight they are.
A business type alone is full of fail, but a business type with a strong technical partner (emphasis on partner, not employee) could work (if the communication is good enough).