4 ms·
tl;dr version: you need a strong technical person and a strong marketing person. There's absolutely nothing new in this article - he's just applying fancy label
by shadowsun7 16y ago
tl;dr version: you need a strong technical person and a strong marketing person. There's absolutely nothing new in this article - he's just applying fancy labels to something most people already take as true.
I also object to his usage of the word Hacker. His definition is all over the place:
A Hacker is more than a code monkey, who can quickly build software and find interesting ways to hack together code. Thats a developer. Thats someone who is definitely an important part of a startup, but not critical to its success. A Hacker is someone who looks the problem, and solves it in a unique and special way. A Hacker finds the process of problem solving exciting and interesting, and spends the majority of their time looking at the problem in multiple ways, finding many potential solutions.
Often the Hacker is a coder, but not always the best coder you have on your team. Nate and Natty, of Everlater, are decent coders at best. In the last couple of years, they have taught themselves, by trial and error, how to code. I would imagine if you asked either one of them if they considered themselves amazing developers, they would probably indicate otherwise. But as Hackers? They are amazing.
I have no idea what he's trying to say. His definition, summarized:
a) A hacker is not just a programmer.
b) Sometimes a hacker is a coder, sometimes he is not.
c) If he is a coder, he may not be the best coder in your team.
d) A hacker looks for creative and cool solutions to problems.
e) A hacker is excited by problem solving.
Uh ... what's your point?
- dirtyaura 16y agoI think "hustler" captures the spirit of a skill set needed in an early stage startup much better than marketing/sales guy, in a similar way that "hacker" captures the spirit better than say "software engineer". In an early stage startup, the goods that you are selling are of questionable value to the buyers (investors, early stage customers). You really need to hustle.
- whatusername 16y agoI think the summary is: A Hacker is the girl/guy who gets shit done. They may not be top of their class at MIT - but in the early stages of a startup they can execute like crazy and get it all going.
- _pius 16y agoThankfully MIT doesn't have class rankings. :)
- micahb37 16y agoNot being a coder, I would guess that my definition would be all over the place. :) I guess the best way to describe a Hacker (as I define it) is a builder. Someone who finds unique ways to solve problems and then builds the solution. For example, I know someone who takes the output of the Wikipedia log file each night and parses it for data. Might not be overly complicated, but its an interesting solution to a problem. In many ways, a Hacker is like porn. You know it when you see it.
- shadowsun7 16y agoThis is so much better. Why not use this in your article instead? It's better writing, and it does your argument justice.
- micahb37 16y agoprobably should have. Tend to just write and then press publish, which is certainly not great writing.
- Gormo 16y agoAnd wouldn't the same set of traits applied to the business side of a start make someone a great "hustler"?
- micahb37 16y agoA Hustler isnt really a builder - except that they tend to be decent product people who think in terms of "what can I get people passionate about." It becomes the great cycle of the Hacker (Builder) creating something that the Hustler can get people passionate about. Hustler gets people passionate, which leads to new problems and new things to build.