Give engineers right tools to do their job. They will manage themselves.
Ask HN: When Does a Startup Need Management?
21–24 of 24 posts
Re: Ask HN: When Does a Startup Need Management?
#22Management is to general. What specifically do you want this person to do? Build plans? Make decisions? Make sure the office is clean?
If it is shape our business. I would say you need someone with a background in what you guys are working on. I think it'll be difficult to find this person out of your core group. One of you needs to do this job for the time being.
Re: Ask HN: When Does a Startup Need Management?
#23I don't think you are looking for managers, but rather advisor's. At your stage you need people who have "been there and done that". I imagine that you and your team are technically focused (building the tech and filing for patents), but you need advisor's to help you shape the business.
My experience is that I am too technically focused, but my advisor's help me and teach me about the business side of things. At a later date, when I have employees, then I will think about getting managers, and I will also try and keep hold of my advisor's as directors.
People who have done it before and raised funding will help you shape the business to raise funding, not managers.
Re: Ask HN: When Does a Startup Need Management?
#24I think a StartUp needs management from the beginning. Maybe its because I'm a business student, but I think if there isn't someone with a perspective on strategy, finances, marketing and management in general the StartUp will fail because of lack of direction and the costs involved in changing direction later on (and I'm not saying it needs to be someone who has an MBA or something similar) You ask what someone with…
> a perspective on strategy, finances, marketing
Why the assumption that business folk have those skills?
Yes, some do, or rather, some have one of them, but the claim was stronger.
How about going through them and discussing some specific instances where "business" types add extraordinary value? (Note, this comparison will require knowing what engineers know. If, for example, you say "selling equity", you must describe what you know about that that we don't.)
I'm particularly suspicious wrt strategy. Why the assumption that you know the customers better than engineers? Doesn't that depend on the customers, the engineers, and the business folk?
> management in general
Sorry, but you don't get to argue for management by saying management.
> the StartUp will fail because of lack of direction
Startups fail because the folks involved stop working.
What's the evidence showing that business folk usefully add direction in a way that reduces the odds of that happening? Again - the comparison involves knowing what engineers actually do.