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Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

joshuavolz.com

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Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#31

Post by mahmud »

ced wrote: post #21
patio11 wrote: post #4

I get approached from time to time by people who think I'd be the perfect person for implementing their Big Idea. (That should be red flag number one, since if I'm the best you can do, you clearly don't have good skills at identifying programmers.) Almost universally: 1) They want full-time effort out of me (often, in the exploitative sense of "full-time"), but they're not full-time on the project themselves. 2) Ther…

if I'm the best you can do, you clearly don't have good skills at identifying programmers. Aren't you underestimating yourself? Most businesses don't need Knuths. They need "smart & gets things done". By my reckoning, you're way ahead of the average HNer (and myself) at this game.

FWIW, I think Patrick has shown far more business sense than actual programming.

If I were to hire him, I would make sure he stays from actual coding as much as possible; that would be a waste of his talents and our time.

Not "underestimating" his coding skills, it's just that his business sense far eclipses anything else he might be good at: programming, Japanese language, or competitive Polka dancing.

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#32

Post by mahmud »

jlees wrote: post #24
il wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why a business guy and a hacker is the best team. I love creating new marketing strategies, building campaigns, writing sales copy and doing customer development. But writing code bores me...I hate slogging through coding and debugging whenever I have to do it.

il, I'm the same, but I think it helps to at least be on that side of the fence - a hacker turned to the dark side - than be the proverbial "Here are my mockups in PowerPoint, now build me a website" clueless/exploitative 'business guy'.

If you hate coding you're not a "hacker", in the same way that I am not a vegetarian just because I eat salad before my dinner. We both do it because we "have to".

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#33

Post by extension »

sandipagr wrote: post #16
klbarry wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in NYC, this is true. The majority of coders are not the mythical hackers of the valley, just as most businessmen aren't amazing. Just partner with people who work hard and are great, as there's enough work to go around in a start-up.

I dont understand why coders have to be mythical hackers. Isn't all it matters is if you can get the shit done? The reason I am saying this is cause lot of times there are comments that for some reason give "hackers" a higher credibility when coders and hackers are essentially same here. Of course there are projects that require real hacking to complete the job, but most of the times a normal coder can do it as well.…

Software development is hard enough that you have to be a mythical hacker just to get shit done. At least, any but the most mundane cookie cutter shit, which is not what startups make.

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#34

Post by extension »

d_r wrote: post #9

I'm a software engineer. After spending a few years in Silicon Valley, I have also have met many "business people" who'd pitch me their great idea and try to recruit me. Now here is the tough question (for engineers): yes, we have the superior ability to execute any idea because we can code. But are we actually going to? This might be generalizing, but most fellow engineers I met prefer working for a stable paycheck…

As with writing code, just get your hands dirty. Once you start making things happen (making money) you'll get interested quick.

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#35

Post by ultrasaurus »

larsberg wrote: post #10

To the list of things business cofounders could bring, I would also add "deep domain knowledge." For example, if it's a site on selling foos to wumpats, you'd better have spent all of your years before bschool in either the foo industry, working for wumpats, or hopefully some of both. As a tip, though, I usually just ask bschooler-types a few basic questions like 1) how many foos are bought today 2) how do wumpats ma…

I think that's a good point. So many business decisions are made on gut feeling, and then we make a spreadsheet of wumpats sales to back up our gut.

If all someone brings to the table is "I think this will work" that's essentially nothing.

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#36

Post by ezrider4428 »

Disclaimer: I have not read all the comments below. I was too enraged by this post.

Lets get this out of the way. IF YOU WANT TO GET A SALARY GO WORK FOR AN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS.

This post is so short-sighted that if Joshua doesn't already have glasses he should buy a pair. I am a little surprised that someone that runs a business actually posted this. Joshua are you aware of all the activities that actually go on in a business? I can enlighten you: - Sales - Marketing - Partnerships - Legal - Design - Customer Service - Business Strategy and yes - Development

The reason this post is short-sighted is that you are forgetting about what ACTUALLY makes a business (not an idea) successful. OPERATIONAL PERFECTION

Some supporting evidence is looking at a business plan or even a pitch deck, how many slides are dedicated to the technical aspect? 1 of 10.

"What you business guys should be thinking about is this: what am I bringing to this business?" THIS IS A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE IN EVERY BUSINESS. If you do not directly contribute to the success of the business then you are not valuable it doesn't matter if you have technical skills or business development skills.

I am not a developer! I said it, i'm proud of it and i never want to be a developer. I could never be successful as a developer and i would be doing my business an injustice if i tried to code anything more then a simple webpage.

Startups need to be higly efficent in the way they do work, each of the team members need to be very focused on what is important and what they are good at. Yes, a smart developer can learn to sell and a smart business development person can learn to code, but WHY would do that business development and technical development are two very different skill-sets.

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#37

Post by ezrider4428 »

mixmax wrote: post #2

The three things listed (money, promise of money and connections) are exactly what a business founder should be able to deliver. Along with customers. Paying customers. Before you launch the product. If he (or she) can't deliver that, then you've found the business equivalent of a scriptkiddie that promises a business person he can build the next Google from a wordpress install. People that think they are good at bus…

Basically you have listed a VC/Angel Investor here. As i mentioned in my reply a business (not an idea) is only 1 part technical excellence and 10 parts business excellence.

Re: Business Cofounders are a Dime a Dozen

#38

Post by ezrider4428 »

ezrider4428 wrote: post #36

Disclaimer: I have not read all the comments below. I was too enraged by this post. Lets get this out of the way. IF YOU WANT TO GET A SALARY GO WORK FOR AN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS. This post is so short-sighted that if Joshua doesn't already have glasses he should buy a pair. I am a little surprised that someone that runs a business actually posted this. Joshua are you aware of all the activities that actually go on in…

Maybe you should refer some of the "idea junkies" to this guy http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1608315
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