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nickpinkston

There's a big difference between the HN stereotype and "real" business people. REAL non-technical co-founders:

- Can raise funding and know funders well

- Have a massive network of people to tap into

- Can cold-call like no-one's business

- Know how to negotiate a deal to the point of paranoia

- Have deep domain experience and connections

- Make plans for the future, but can pivot on a dime

- Can talk enough tech to understand well beyond buzzwords

- Know how to keep themselves and the tech side accountable

- Let the tech side concentrate on what they do best

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All those things are awesome after you have a product and or money to hire.

The people the comment was targeting were "idea people" who I must conclude are useless without any muscle/blood/sweat to turn an idea into a product.

The problem is the "idea people" who can't execute - definitely. I too meet more of these wanna-be's than true hustlers, but the ability to sell and raise funds is VERY helpful BEFORE you have a product.

Hustlers find a way - bottom line.

This claim is the reason so many developers work their asses off to make something, only to realize that no one wants to buy it. You do customer development before you build the product, not after. Step 1: find need, step 2: find out if people will pay $ for it, step 3: make it.

"Real" business people are very good at steps 1 & 2. It's not fair to call them "idea people" if they have useful executional skills to make those things happen.

In addition to the above, a real business person can also be someone who is simply able to generate revenue through other means and can pay for development because they have a vision of a product they want to realize.

Though keep in mind that they might not be a good "co-founder" per say since they are likely going to want to own the whole thing as they are paying for development.

I agree with you, however, I've experienced enough of this stereotype firsthand to basically dismiss most business-types immediately. It's just not worth my time to find the "real" business types, for the same reasons pg mentions in his essay [1].

[1] http://paulgraham.com/start.html

It depends what you're looking to do. If you're doing commercial targeted software, they're invaluable because social media etc. often don't move shit. If you're doing a standard consumer play, they might have less effect.

Yes, if you're building a B2B company, these skills are invaluable. But you're probably not going to find all of them in the same person.

If you can find a business co-founder with half of the above _plus_ an insane drive to master the remaining half, you'll be better off than most startups.

I think Marketing is the big missing piece here.

- Clearly presenting value prop

- Use CustDev framework to test and validate the idea

- Create and manage ad campaigns

- SEO and content marketing

- Conduct user tests

- Getting out of the building

Having a co-founder that focuses on customer development and distribution is super valuable in a startup.

So well said upvoting just isn't enough. (And as soon as I added my point, your total dropped a point. Hmm.)

you´re right. but real business people also know the technology to some extent already. so, the posted advice is for people who do not have that knowledge yet.

True dat. Though a rare species indeed.

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