Technical Co-founders Are Overrated • Hacker News Board

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#21

Post by fragsworth » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:38 PM UTC

Most technical mistakes that a non-technical founder can make will involve one of two things: Scalability, and maintainability

Lacking knowledge in these two things will not hinder an early startup website much, so it's easy to go ahead and build something without expertise in these domains.

The only thing that sucks about these situations is that once your company takes off, the engineers you hire will be left to maintain/fix the mess that the non-technical founder made - which can be quite miserable for the engineers.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#22

Post by Shenglong » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:38 PM UTC

jarin wrote: post #12

Shenglong wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't you think, a business co-founder with a technical co-founder would mainly stick to their strengths?

In my own experience, if the trust is there that's exactly what happens. When there are disagreements, both parties can at least start with the assumption that the other person probably knows what they're talking about.

On an old project of mine, my friend said to me "I don't know why you think that'll work, and I don't agree at all... but somehow you seem to always be right about these things"

I guess it's pretty silly to start a big project with people you don't trust though.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#23

Post by michaelpinto » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:43 PM UTC

If you're looking for a "code monkey" that isn't a technical co-founder. In fact I'd say if you're even looking a CTO with shares that still isn't a technical co-founder. To me a technical co-founder is someone with vision as much as hands on; the first person that comes to my mind is The Woz — or Ub Iwerks for Disney. Someone like that teamed with an evil genius biz person or creative director can conquer the world.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#24

Post by eekfuh » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:43 PM UTC

As a technical co-founder myself, I first read the title and thought "Oh, cute... look at them trying so hard!" but then I read the article and it has some good valuable information,.

Sidenote: I should share this to everyone who tries to get me to join their "$1b idea" companies and the ones willing enough to follow that article might actually get somewhere.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#25

Post by gigantor » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:44 PM UTC

The title is a bit misleading, but I constantly beg for non-technical colleagues to have any sort of application modelling skills. MS Paint Web Mockups, Excel, PDF Forms that save to an email 'database', anything that gives a clear picture of how things work. Huge bonus if the mockup actually functions. You don't need to invest in time learning Ruby or .net since the end result is communication.

Actual execution is where the technical cofounder comes into play.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#26

Post by krisrak » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:54 PM UTC

Good post, I hope all the non-technical / idea guys read this and learn coding, much better than pissing-off technical guys by saying the usual "I have a great idea, it only needs coding, if u sign NDA, we can get this started"

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#27

Post by temphn » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 8:58 PM UTC

palish wrote: post #17

jonnathanson wrote: post #14

This is a great, concise story. To me, the most valuable insight in this article isn't that a non-tech founder needs to get super-technical. Rather, it's that he needs to demonstrate a willingness to do everything he possibly can. That is the secret sauce. It's not about being able to talk shot for shot with a super-techy coder. It's about not being the kind of person who throws his hands up in the air and sets limit…

"Being a successful entrepreneur means doing anything and everything it takes to get to success." I think the world would be a healthier place if we didn't place so much ... emphasis ... on the idea of "do whatever it takes to succeed". Just look at what Airbnb did to succeed, for example.

Given the choice between a world without AirBnB and a few emails to Craigslist users about a better service, most rational people would vote for AirBnB to exist. The ends do justify the means. Just be sure your ends are defensible, and be prepared for blowback if you get too many people clutching their pearls in feigned outrage.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#28

Post by cliftonmckinney » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 9:03 PM UTC

diego wrote: post #2

Good post, but I would change the title. It's not about technical co-founders being overrated. It's about how it's a good idea to make yourself technical enough if you are a business person who wants to start a company based on a web application.

Completely agree. My story is almost exactly the same. Learning enough to speak the language is hugely important and it's one of the reasons, I believe anyway, that my cofounder and I have such a great relationship. I'm mostly hustle--worrying about marketing and having the right relationships, but I can code a mockup in fairly short order when it's needed. I might consider re-naming it "if you're not a technical cofounder then learn to speak the language."

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#29

Post by BrainScraps » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 9:09 PM UTC

palish wrote: post #19

jonnathanson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies. I have been known to go hog-wild on the italics. It's an addiction I am trying to break. Some people have their exclamation marks. Others have their emoticons. I have my trigger-happy asterisks.

Er... I didn't mean to make it sound like I was making fun of you. I wasn't, sorry. I'm truly serious: emphasis on "do whatever it takes to succeed" results in people doing illegal and immoral things to succeed, such as what Airbnb did.

I think that's an over-simplification. Call me naive, but I think that to most people, "do whatever it takes to succeed" assumes a certain baseline of ethics in the intended audience.

This phrase here is meant to spur the reader to do the right sorts of "anything": being disciplined, getting out of their comfort zone, learning, taking risks, getting their "hands dirty" in good honest work, hacking and building.

The author cannot be blamed for those who act immorally because they lack ethical training or discipline.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#30

Post by BrainScraps » Thu, Jun 09, 2011, 9:11 PM UTC

cliftonmckinney wrote: post #28

diego wrote: post #2

Good post, but I would change the title. It's not about technical co-founders being overrated. It's about how it's a good idea to make yourself technical enough if you are a business person who wants to start a company based on a web application.

Completely agree. My story is almost exactly the same. Learning enough to speak the language is hugely important and it's one of the reasons, I believe anyway, that my cofounder and I have such a great relationship. I'm mostly hustle--worrying about marketing and having the right relationships, but I can code a mockup in fairly short order when it's needed. I might consider re-naming it "if you're not a technical cof…

Not the snappiest title, probably wouldn't make it to top of HN.

But definitely more realistic.

C'est la vie.