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Comment by startupstella | Hacker News Reader

As a "business cofounder" I'm a little frustrated by this post. While I am technical (I can code) I choose not to because it's not my strength: my technical cofounder builds the product and I focus on getting customers, making sure they are happy, and making sure they tell their friends. Without my work, the business wouldn't exist. Without my cofounder's work, the business wouldn't exist.

Neither one of us is more important than the other: our value exists in our complementary skillset and our ability to collaborate in order to create value. We are very respectful of each other's skillsets and understand what each person brings to our company.

I think a mutual lack of respect is what makes posts like this still exist.

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>I think a mutual lack of respect is what makes posts like this still exist.

My thoughts exactly, and this is tangentially discussed in the beginning parts of the post (and to not enough depth imo). But all things being equal, if the "business guy" really is the side which has all the "people skills", then I think it's the business side that needs to make an effort to first extend a hand to the coding side and try in earnest to build a bridge.

(disclaimer: at this stage I am on the "business side" as well)

Absolutely. I am currently forced to play both roles in our startup, since we have no dedicated "business guy" (I'm a techie by trade), and I'm much more aware (now) of the value of the "business guy" than when I was younger. It really does take both, and the folks doing the "business stuff" are absolutely essential.

I think a mutual lack of respect is what makes posts like this still exist.

Absolutely. I also think that emphasizing - and encouraging people to think in terms of - a divide between the "business side" and the "tech side" is a bad thing. I mean, labels are a convenience, and exist for a reason. But some become damaging by their divisive nature and this is one divide I find to be poisonous. We're all on the same team (in an organization) and I firmly believe that it would be better for everybody to quit acting like there is this "chinese wall" between "tech" and "the business".

Or, to the extent that there is such a wall, start looking for ways to tear it down.

>I also think that emphasizing - and encouraging people to think in terms of - a divide between the "business side" and the "tech side" is a bad thing.

Exactly. If done right, a traditional "tech co-founder, business co-founder" relationship involves both people overlapping a bit, Venn diagram style.

I'm the grandparents co-founder. Stella can do basic coding, but that's not her forte. She has a business mind, while I have a more logical, technical mind. We're like Captain Planet in that sense. We feed off each other's unique skillsets, but we have a solid understanding of each others complimentary skillsets so that we're not divided and disrespectful of our unique contributions.

Is one of us better than the other when it comes to our company? Of course not. The company needs both of us, or it would die.

'm the grandparents co-founder. Stella can do basic coding, but that's not her forte. She has a business mind, while I have a more logical, technical mind. We're like Captain Planet in that sense. We feed off each other's unique skillsets, but we have a solid understanding of each others complimentary skillsets so that we're not divided and disrespectful of our unique contributions.

I hear ya. My co-founder and I have a similar relationship, although the divide isn't "techie" and "non-techie". We're both techies, but different kinds. I'm more of a server-side, backend, database, low-level coding guy, while my cofounder is a UI/UX guru who wrangles HTML, CSS, Javascript, JQuery, etc. And more importantly, she has the designer aesthetic sensibilities that I lack. I "know" CSS in a mechanical sense, but I still can't design a good looking UI. And likewise, she can write code, but it isn't her main strength or her passion. So we complement each other well.

Is one of us better than the other when it comes to our company? Of course not. The company needs both of us, or it would die.

Yep, same here.

Agreed.

The whole "those useless business people..." mentality may pop up in large corporations where roles are siloed off strictly and contact between groups is minimal, but if it's popping up in your startup it speaks to a failure to build a culture of mutual respect and transparency.

I work startup founded by two awesome dudes, who very much respect each other. I can relate to what is being said here.

It is not for those who already understand value of what the other one is doing but many others [parters and mostly employes] who don't get it.

"Technical" things are likely to be more visible, trackable and tangible than "business".

I think the problem aren't those who don't _want_ to do some engineering, but those who simply don't understand it.

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