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 talen

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.