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My fortune cookie advice on the subject: _Never_ partner with someone who is not as technically literate as you (= not a programmer), even if they have the mon

by jwecker 20y ago

My fortune cookie advice on the subject: _Never_ partner with someone who is not as technically literate as you (= not a programmer), even if they have the money. _Especially_ if they have the money.

dfranke 20y ago
You'd better throw in some epsilon of tolerance there, or finding two people both willing to work with each other is going to be *really* hard :-)
- jwecker 20y ago
  True- Maybe I should add though it doesn't take all that much to be as technically competent as I am ;)
nostrademons 20y ago
I'd amend that to "Never partner with someone who is not technically literate as you, *if* they think they are as technically literate as you or believe that technical literacy is not important." It can often be very productive to partner with someone with people skills, or business skills, or finance skills. Those things *are* important, and yet you won't have spare brain cycles for them if you're doing hardcore programming. That person just needs to realize that *you* call the shots when it comes to technical decisions. Warren Buffett's advice applies, as always. "It's not how much you know that matters. It's how realistically you assess what you *don't* know."
- Alex3917 20y ago
  Agreed. If you're a musician and you never partner with someone who isn't as good at singing then you'll never have a band. If you're a writer and you never partner with anyone who isn't as good at writing then you'll have no editor, no publisher, and no book. I don't see why a startup should be any different. You have so many tasks (design, engineering, coding, selling, fundraising, partnering, etc.) that it makes no sense to only work with people of the same skillset.
  - jwecker 20y ago
    working with != partnership. I really think it's a different beast. I've also been in bands and occasionally someone would say "I'd love to partner up with you guys and manage your band or do PR for you guys." If they had experience playing or producing music, we'd give them a chance. If they listened to the radio and fantasized about being in charge of the back-stage passes for the next big band, but had never picked up a guitar- no chance.
- jwecker 20y ago
  I could live with that definition, but I've had 2 partnerships now in 2 different companies where I felt the person had qualified on those grounds and while they are still great friends etc., I was a bit disappointed. If it is a tech company, I really think they both have to have real tech expertise. It has little to do with just having someone else to do the programming- in both of those partnerships the partner was more than willing to defer to me on all technical matters that they perceived to be technical matters. In a tech company, though, _everything_ is a technical matter- for example- marketing. Early adopters for 99% of tech products are geeks- if you are not one then you do not understand the market (hence all those MBA lead failures of the late 90's). Finance for a tech startup usually has to tie into the product / subscriptions, etc- and is thus a tech problem. PR is to fellow geeks, etc. etc. Then there's the fact that the bulk of the work to be done is technical- if you're going to be having allnighters for the next 3 months getting a product out- there is a _big_ difference between having a partner who is right there with you in the trenches coding across the room, and a partner who comes by every day and says "well, uh, how's it going?"- you spend the next hour trying to explain the latest hangup etc. and then they say "well, let me know if the schedule changes- I've got some great customers lined up..." or whatever. Sometimes that situation is unavoidable, but I guarantee it is not optimal.
  - Alex3917 20y ago
    The only thing I disagree with is your idea that technically literate means being a programmer. Jesse James Garret, the guy who coined the term AJAX and came up with the design philosophy around it, isn't a programmer. But if I were a great programmer then he'd certainly be someone I'd want to partner with. Literacy just means the understanding of a certain discourse. Once you've taken a couple college level programming courses then you can pretty much understand everything a programmer is doing, but that doesn't mean you always know enough to do it yourself.
danielha 20y ago
Competence is of the utmost importance, but it'd be a mistake to ignore those who don't hold the exact same skill-set as you. A startup needs a variety of talents, and it's usually the case where there is some member of the founding team who is the most brilliant hacker, or someone who's great with user interfaces, or someone who has a knack for design and testing. I do agree that your partner should have a hackers' passion and be technically competent. You don't need someone that's all theoretical and won't get down and dirty with some code.
davidw 20y ago
I think that while it's obvious there are some advantages to working with someone that does other things (sales/marketing/finance), one of the reasons why I find myself agreeing that it's best to work with another techie is that it makes the relationship easier. It's easy to wonder if someone else is working as hard as you if you're the one coding the entire system and they're just supposed to sell it or market it. I suppose the opposite is true too... how does the non techie know that you're capable of doing what you dream up? In a relationship that needs to be very trusting, perhaps it's just easier if everyone speaks the same language and works on similar things. It's also easier to divvy up the money and control if it's obvious to everyone what their role is.

by jwecker 20y ago

My fortune cookie advice on the subject: _Never_ partner with someone who is not as technically literate as you (= not a programmer), even if they have the money. _Especially_ if they have the money.

dfranke 20y ago

You'd better throw in some epsilon of tolerance there, or finding two people both willing to work with each other is going to be *really* hard :-)

jwecker 20y ago
True- Maybe I should add though it doesn't take all that much to be as technically competent as I am ;)

nostrademons 20y ago

I'd amend that to "Never partner with someone who is not technically literate as you, *if* they think they are as technically literate as you or believe that technical literacy is not important." It can often be very productive to partner with someone with people skills, or business skills, or finance skills. Those things *are* important, and yet you won't have spare brain cycles for them if you're doing hardcore programming. That person just needs to realize that *you* call the shots when it comes to technical decisions. Warren Buffett's advice applies, as always. "It's not how much you know that matters. It's how realistically you assess what you *don't* know."

Alex3917 20y ago
Agreed. If you're a musician and you never partner with someone who isn't as good at singing then you'll never have a band. If you're a writer and you never partner with anyone who isn't as good at writing then you'll have no editor, no publisher, and no book. I don't see why a startup should be any different. You have so many tasks (design, engineering, coding, selling, fundraising, partnering, etc.) that it makes no sense to only work with people of the same skillset.
- jwecker 20y ago
  working with != partnership. I really think it's a different beast. I've also been in bands and occasionally someone would say "I'd love to partner up with you guys and manage your band or do PR for you guys." If they had experience playing or producing music, we'd give them a chance. If they listened to the radio and fantasized about being in charge of the back-stage passes for the next big band, but had never picked up a guitar- no chance.
jwecker 20y ago
I could live with that definition, but I've had 2 partnerships now in 2 different companies where I felt the person had qualified on those grounds and while they are still great friends etc., I was a bit disappointed. If it is a tech company, I really think they both have to have real tech expertise. It has little to do with just having someone else to do the programming- in both of those partnerships the partner was more than willing to defer to me on all technical matters that they perceived to be technical matters. In a tech company, though, _everything_ is a technical matter- for example- marketing. Early adopters for 99% of tech products are geeks- if you are not one then you do not understand the market (hence all those MBA lead failures of the late 90's). Finance for a tech startup usually has to tie into the product / subscriptions, etc- and is thus a tech problem. PR is to fellow geeks, etc. etc. Then there's the fact that the bulk of the work to be done is technical- if you're going to be having allnighters for the next 3 months getting a product out- there is a _big_ difference between having a partner who is right there with you in the trenches coding across the room, and a partner who comes by every day and says "well, uh, how's it going?"- you spend the next hour trying to explain the latest hangup etc. and then they say "well, let me know if the schedule changes- I've got some great customers lined up..." or whatever. Sometimes that situation is unavoidable, but I guarantee it is not optimal.
- Alex3917 20y ago
  The only thing I disagree with is your idea that technically literate means being a programmer. Jesse James Garret, the guy who coined the term AJAX and came up with the design philosophy around it, isn't a programmer. But if I were a great programmer then he'd certainly be someone I'd want to partner with. Literacy just means the understanding of a certain discourse. Once you've taken a couple college level programming courses then you can pretty much understand everything a programmer is doing, but that doesn't mean you always know enough to do it yourself.

danielha 20y ago

Competence is of the utmost importance, but it'd be a mistake to ignore those who don't hold the exact same skill-set as you. A startup needs a variety of talents, and it's usually the case where there is some member of the founding team who is the most brilliant hacker, or someone who's great with user interfaces, or someone who has a knack for design and testing. I do agree that your partner should have a hackers' passion and be technically competent. You don't need someone that's all theoretical and won't get down and dirty with some code.

davidw 20y ago

I think that while it's obvious there are some advantages to working with someone that does other things (sales/marketing/finance), one of the reasons why I find myself agreeing that it's best to work with another techie is that it makes the relationship easier. It's easy to wonder if someone else is working as hard as you if you're the one coding the entire system and they're just supposed to sell it or market it. I suppose the opposite is true too... how does the non techie know that you're capable of doing what you dream up? In a relationship that needs to be very trusting, perhaps it's just easier if everyone speaks the same language and works on similar things. It's also easier to divvy up the money and control if it's obvious to everyone what their role is.