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You do need a technical co-founder [video]

ycombinator.com

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Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#41

Post by gnicholas »

This is generally true. I had a technical cofounder for the first 4 years or so, but once our tools were built it was less clear what his ongoing role would be.

This is because at that point, our focus turned to licensing our (patented) technology to businesses. We still have B2C customers who use the tools that he originally built (and which have been updated by contractors after he left), but now the vast majority of our revenue comes from our B2B licensing.

We are pretty unique in this regard, since most startups aren't able to generate much revenue from licensing in this way. Specifically, when we work with our licensees, we provide a JS library that they plug into their own platform. We don't need engineers to do integration work, or provide support.

My technical cofounder provided a lot of value in getting us to where we are, for sure. But needing a technical cofounder to launch doesn't necessarily mean you need one all the way along.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#42

Post by michaelmior »

oooyay wrote: post #36

I like Michael's take that the real value in a founder is their ability to recruit the right team. What I don't think was said explicitly here is that typically technical people are progressively marginalized as the business grows. We get some harrowing stories where that doesn't happen, but I don't think that's the standard story. Like they allude to, it's a story of what the people who handle the money and investme…

I'm confused what is harrowing (acutely distressing or painful as Merriam-Webster says) about stories where technical people are not marginalized.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#43

Post by OkayPhysicist »

andy99 wrote: post #13
michaelje wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a technical audience is not the market

I don't think it's about the audience, but the company type. If someone is starting (random example) a food company based on their superior hot-sauce recipe and existing retail relationships, they probably don't need a technical co-founder. If someone is starting a company that "uses AI" to craft and target hot sauce recommendations, but doens't really know what that means and assumes they can get a shop to code them…

In your first hot-sauce recipe example, that person IS the technical founder. Just technical in the field relevant to the business, which happens to not be tech.

The scenario in tech is more often comparable to some dude saying "I want to make a business selling the greatest hot sauce ever" and then having to go looking for someone who actually knows anything about hot sauce.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#44

Post by sebmellen »

atoav wrote: post #4

This is what I constantly tell my students: The hard part about doing a tech product for the most part isn't the what beginners think makes tech hard — the hard part is wrangling systemic complexity in a good, sustainable and reliable way. Many non-tech people e.g. look at programmers and think the hard part is knowing what this garble of weird text means. But this is the easy part. And if you are a person who would…

More people need to read https://grugbrain.dev/

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#46

Post by jeremyjh »

threeseed wrote: post #39
tracerbulletx wrote: post #29

Having started a small business I respect greatly the skills of great sales people and fund raisers and people who are great with people. But I don't respect them when they think they can start a business where they don't take what they actually make seriously and think the product will just work its self out if they sell hard enough.

History has shown them to be right. There are many terrible products in this world that were successful only because of good sales and marketing. And vice versa.

How many of those are from single-product startups? I know some are, but not most that I can think of.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#47

Post by DelaneyM »

Corollary: you do not need a non-technical co-founder.

My advice to engineers is that it's nearly always easier to learn business/sales than to learn to like a co-founder, especially the type generally drawn to being a "business" founder.

It is good to have a co-founder in general though, get one of those if you can. Just don't worry about finding complementary skills, bias entirely towards someone you can work with.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#48

Post by [deleted] »

threeseed wrote: post #39
tracerbulletx wrote: post #29

Having started a small business I respect greatly the skills of great sales people and fund raisers and people who are great with people. But I don't respect them when they think they can start a business where they don't take what they actually make seriously and think the product will just work its self out if they sell hard enough.

History has shown them to be right. There are many terrible products in this world that were successful only because of good sales and marketing. And vice versa.

[deleted]

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#49

Post by oooyay »

michaelmior wrote: post #42
oooyay wrote: post #36

I like Michael's take that the real value in a founder is their ability to recruit the right team. What I don't think was said explicitly here is that typically technical people are progressively marginalized as the business grows. We get some harrowing stories where that doesn't happen, but I don't think that's the standard story. Like they allude to, it's a story of what the people who handle the money and investme…

I'm confused what is harrowing (acutely distressing or painful as Merriam-Webster says) about stories where technical people are not marginalized.

Typically stories I hear where technical people maintained equity it was through a lot of maneuvering. It wasn't given to them by the merits of their accomplishments.

Re: You do need a technical co-founder [video]

#50

Post by michaelmior »

oooyay wrote: post #49
michaelmior wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused what is harrowing (acutely distressing or painful as Merriam-Webster says) about stories where technical people are not marginalized.

Typically stories I hear where technical people maintained equity it was through a lot of maneuvering. It wasn't given to them by the merits of their accomplishments.

Fair point. That makes sense :)
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