5 ms·

...And as a developer you're a magnet for bullshit founders desperate to hitch their star to yours, especially if you're seen as 'competent' in any way, shape o

...And as a developer you're a magnet for bullshit founders desperate to hitch their star to yours, especially if you're seen as 'competent' in any way, shape or form.

jacquesm 11y ago
There are more types of founders than just business guys without technical capabilities. There are also technical founders.
- nostrademons 11y ago
  There are, but it's a market for lemons. The founders who can build things & get users are off doing that. You mostly don't see them in the startup "scene", because they've found the majority of people are bullshit artists who just want to waste their time. The developers who understand product and can build it successfully are off doing that. You mostly don't see them in the startup "scene", because they've hitched their wagon to a founder who knows where he's going, has a realistic plan for getting there, and treats all the people with him well. When they do appear on the open market, they get snatched up really quickly. What's left are the folks who have impressive-sounding but unattainable dreams, the folks who would rather talk about programming than program, and the folks who believe that everyone exists just to serve them without them needing to bring anything to the table.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    I'm going to have to disagree with that. As a technical guy I used to be biased in the direction that you're indicating but the last couple of years (since '07 more or less) I've been introduced to a very large number of non-technical founders that absolutely rocked. It is very easy to write all non-technical people off as 'lemons' but you'd be throwing away some very valuable people. Tech chops do not automatically translate into ability to run a company, ability to do sales, marketing, finance and so on. These are essential skills for running a business and just like not everybody is interested in those skills not everybody is interested in making computers jump through hoops. The sum of those skills can be considerably larger than the parts.
    - nostrademons 11y ago
      "You've been introduced to." That's the difference. I'm not disputing that there are good business founders out there. I'm disputing that you're likely to run into them at random. Good business folks disappear from the market really quickly; they partner up with a good technical person, usually through a personal introduction.
  - someguydave 11y ago
    This rings true to me. I work at a young company outside California with plenty of revenue, no debt, employee owned. It was all started and run by older engineers who knew their market. Nobody asked anything of the VC circus because the VC circus has literally nothing of value to offer such a company.

...And as a developer you're a magnet for bullshit founders desperate to hitch their star to yours, especially if you're seen as 'competent' in any way, shape or form.

jacquesm 11y ago

There are more types of founders than just business guys without technical capabilities. There are also technical founders.

nostrademons 11y ago
There are, but it's a market for lemons. The founders who can build things & get users are off doing that. You mostly don't see them in the startup "scene", because they've found the majority of people are bullshit artists who just want to waste their time. The developers who understand product and can build it successfully are off doing that. You mostly don't see them in the startup "scene", because they've hitched their wagon to a founder who knows where he's going, has a realistic plan for getting there, and treats all the people with him well. When they do appear on the open market, they get snatched up really quickly. What's left are the folks who have impressive-sounding but unattainable dreams, the folks who would rather talk about programming than program, and the folks who believe that everyone exists just to serve them without them needing to bring anything to the table.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  I'm going to have to disagree with that. As a technical guy I used to be biased in the direction that you're indicating but the last couple of years (since '07 more or less) I've been introduced to a very large number of non-technical founders that absolutely rocked. It is very easy to write all non-technical people off as 'lemons' but you'd be throwing away some very valuable people. Tech chops do not automatically translate into ability to run a company, ability to do sales, marketing, finance and so on. These are essential skills for running a business and just like not everybody is interested in those skills not everybody is interested in making computers jump through hoops. The sum of those skills can be considerably larger than the parts.
  - nostrademons 11y ago
    "You've been introduced to." That's the difference. I'm not disputing that there are good business founders out there. I'm disputing that you're likely to run into them at random. Good business folks disappear from the market really quickly; they partner up with a good technical person, usually through a personal introduction.
- someguydave 11y ago
  This rings true to me. I work at a young company outside California with plenty of revenue, no debt, employee owned. It was all started and run by older engineers who knew their market. Nobody asked anything of the VC circus because the VC circus has literally nothing of value to offer such a company.