Sales. Steve Jobs was a sales guy. Apple's first order was from The Byte Shop for 50 units, he convinced The Byte Shop to buy, before even having the funds to

Sales. Steve Jobs was a sales guy. Apple's first order was from The Byte Shop for 50 units, he convinced The Byte Shop to buy, before even having the funds to build 50 units. So he went and convinced Cramer Electronics to allow him to purchase on credit everything that they would need to fulfill the order. Per your question. You NEED two core competencies to build a company: sales and the ability to fulfill what it is you're selling (product/services). Being strong in selling and building products (or providing services) tend to be separate skill sets, so often two-person teams form due to this concept (like the 2 Steve's). It is important to note that having a sales skill set does not negate the need for technical competency anymore than engineers can ignore building products that align with the business- it's about efficiency. I will end by saying... you don't need co-founders. Solo Founders are responsible for more than half of the exits. (https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/) There are advantages to having a cofounder(s) and the same can be said of going it alone.