In regards to startups, technical people are so much more valuable than non-technical people. Non-technical people keep on perpetuating this: http://whartoniteseekscodemonkey.tumblr.com/ -esque mentality by saying things like this:
>"I am the nontechnical founder of several great startup ideas (I didn’t say startups) sometimes very poorly executed."
The founder of an idea? That doesn't mean much in my mind (then again, I don't know much about the author at all, nor could I did up much). Execution is key to a startup - and technical people are largely the ones that get the important shit done.
Non-technical people can add value for sure - but I think only a small margin of them have valuable skills that rival technical talent in a startup setting.