Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

lederhosenlabs.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 78 posts

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#51

Post by k33n »

mattmanser wrote: post #48
temphn wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Because AirBnB have cured cancer? Or was it prevented genocide? Or something, like, worthwhile? Most rational people don't give a flying toss whether Airbnb existed. It's pretty obvious the ends did not justify the means. They're a reservations website, wake up, sniff reality and stop drinking the koolaid. Is it ok the aggravation they've caused to small business owners and the total lying. And that's ok because they…

Wow, lots of hate in this thread. I rented a yacht overnight for valentines day for like $200 on AirBnB and my girlfriend was floored. AirBnB actually is changing how I think about travel, and even "just doing something special".

They are a very innovative company, and I for one would vote for them to exist if it were up to me.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#53

Post by freshfunk »

In any startup, founders have to play more than one role. Ergo having a strict business person and strict coder isn't great.

What's better is if you have: - A product person who's done product management, product marketing, user experience and design. Ideally they have a CS background and can understand technology. - A technical person who's a generalist and can code things up from front to back. They should also have some sense of front-end design as well as product.

BOTH needs to have some business sense.

By having product/technical overlap, they can work together to create an elegant solution both in the product sense as well as the technical sense. By both having business sense, they can create a product that fits a business.

A business person with no sense of product is not a cofounder because they can't scope anything out. Just having ideas and describing a solution by mouth or pointing at another website and saying "do this" is not cofounder material.

A coder who needs to be told exactly what to do for anything and has no feedback or insight on the product/business is also not a cofounder.

These aren't hard and fast rules but is my conclusion based on my entrepreneur experiences.

Great product/business people are more than just ideas. Great technical people are more than just "coders."

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#54

Post by willaku »

BrainScraps wrote: post #30
cliftonmckinney wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I agree on the name comment. Funny thing is that I didn't post this on Hacker News, someone else did. I guess the name did get some attention. -Will

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#55

Post by willaku »

FrojoS wrote: post #39
willaku wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its too bad this divide between technical and business folks exists. That's mainly what bugged me about the process and why I wrote about it. In the end I think it comes down to the personality or more importantly how personable the business or technical person are. -Will

So I have a question here. What makes you 'a buisnes guy'? Your skills or that you majored in buisnes [1]? Or to ask in another way, would you have missed something if you had majored in engineering? Anyway, great blog post. Loved it! [1] My assumption!

Great question, and I'm figuring this out as I go along. I majored in German and was a consultant for 12 years. Though I learned some coding skills I know that I can never be the technical person, unless we had a much longer time to build the product. An option that doesn't work financially and given the pace of things on the web.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#56

Post by jleader »

irahul wrote: post #45
richcollins wrote: post #43

After a few months I had a prototype and it actually worked. The application screen-scraped data, stored it in a database, presented it to the user, and then submitted data to an external system. Much better decision than hiring someone that could do it in a day.

Not sure if you are being sarcastic, so I am taking it as you were serious. There are arguments both for and against taking a few months to do it yourself when someone could have done it in day. He invested his few months and now he has the credibility and experience to implement the prototype himself, talk to technical founders, manage contractors and see through bullshit. On the other hand, if this was all his prot…

It also depends whether that "few months" was solely spent learning the technology, or whether it was also spent iterating on the concept. It could be that if he'd hired someone, he'd get a prototype of his initial concept in a day, but then have a harder time iterating because he didn't really understand how the prototype worked.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#57

Post by netcan »

follower wrote: post #50
temphn wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It seems to me that sort of attitude leads to spam and "Tragedy of the commons" scenarios. If everyone who thought they had "a better service" and were thus justified to send "a few emails to Craigslist users" the utility of Craigslist would be negatively impacted. On that basis I would think the "rational person" might not find that sort of behaviour acceptable and would vote to preserve the resource.

I think you're thinking about this wrong. It's not "right because its justified" it's excusable because it's minor in the scheme of things.

Imagine everyone is working really long hours for a couple of weeks to get something important done. You don't make it to the gym, miss a yoga class, get less sleep etc., eat junk food and get irritable. You're unpleasant and insulting to some people for a few days. Is that good? No and it should and can be avoided even if you're working long hours. If everyone did it all the time work would suck. But.. we excuse a certain amount of this if it is minor enough, if it is out of character and if it is understandable in some way.

BTW, I'm not trying to express an opinion here, just clarify what I think is a common position.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#58

Post by dorian-graph »

For my exam revision (university) I've been reading about the history of computing.

In general what happened with many (Pascal, Leibniz, Schickard, etc.) is that they had an idea yet the current state of technology and skilled workers was not adequate.

So, many of them learnt how to do build their ideas themselves. They learnt the necessary skills. From the textbook:

".. he designed his first machine and contracted some local workmen for the construction work. An unworkable instrument was duly delivered. As many were to find after him, having a good idea was not enough, one also had to master the arts of tool making and engineering."

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#59

Post by palish »

netcan wrote: post #57
follower wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that sort of attitude leads to spam and "Tragedy of the commons" scenarios. If everyone who thought they had "a better service" and were thus justified to send "a few emails to Craigslist users" the utility of Craigslist would be negatively impacted. On that basis I would think the "rational person" might not find that sort of behaviour acceptable and would vote to preserve the resource.

I think you're thinking about this wrong. It's not "right because its justified" it's excusable because it's minor in the scheme of things. Imagine everyone is working really long hours for a couple of weeks to get something important done. You don't make it to the gym, miss a yoga class, get less sleep etc., eat junk food and get irritable. You're unpleasant and insulting to some people for a few days. Is that good?…

That's an interesting and objective viewpoint, and I understand completely where you're coming from.

Personally, my sole objection is that they knowingly violated the law for personal gain.

Is that excusable? Pragmatically, yes, but only because we tolerate it.

I would hate to live in that kind of world (even though we do), so I speak out against this behavior.

Re: Technical Co-founders Are Overrated

#60

Post by willaku »

Ixiaus wrote: post #46
willaku wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diego - I admit the title was a bit inflammatory. The theme, as you note, is that business people don't need a technical person to get proof of life. Also, don't treat technical people like shite. -Will

Eh, more than a bit. The epithet you chose echo the exact words I hear from many white collar execs trying to turn "social networking for baby boomers" into some sort of cash cow, believing that licensing a 200k per year social networking software and getting millions in capital is The Right Way. I understand your article wasn't actually about that and it was more about the self-empowerment you found through doing it…

I have no illusions of being able to be the technical side of this business. I was just trying to move things along, learn something (which was fun), and find a partner. A great technical partner and good compatibility interpersonally is key to the opportunity to having success. I (now we) haven't done shite yet, but at least now have the beginnings of a team. -Will
Post reply on HN