3 ms·

I get a sense of a little non-developer hate going on below... so fair disclosure, I am not a developer. I am an aspiring entrepreneur, and yes, I am working on

I get a sense of a little non-developer hate going on below... so fair disclosure, I am not a developer. I am an aspiring entrepreneur, and yes, I am working on a web-based company. I also work on Wall Street, so I apparently chose the other option Eric to which alludes. The value add of a non-developer to a startup is pretty simple--they bring a different perspective than a developer does. Diversity is a good thing. I'm working on building something that I believe would be enormously useful, and it approaches a problem in a way that hasn't been done online before. I think the reason I was able to come up with this idea was precisely because I'm not part of the "online" community. There are certain ways things are done when building an online business that have become part of the "culture" to which the article speaks. Being able to approach a problem from a point of view without a preconceived or subconscious notion can add enormous value to a startup. That said, I am becoming part of this community because I do need the technical expertise to help build the product and it is easier to find someone to partner with than learn to program myself (although I do know some). It is the same as growing up reading and writing a western language. You don't even consider the notion that text would be written or read in another direction than left to right. Having a Chinese friend at a young age would keep you thinking in different and more creative ways.

wglb 15y ago
In startups, perspective, ideas, point of view all pale in importance to execution.
- donofrip 15y ago
  Obviously execution is critical; however, I cannot agree with you that everything else pales in comparison to execution. You can execute "successfully", but if what you build isn't something the client wants, then you're wasting your time. Depending on what you're developing, a business side perspective could be invaluable. The financial services industry is full of inefficiency, as an example to illustrate my point. I worked in equity research for a while and we published reports that were simply pdfs of excel files (there are some publishing tools out there like bluematrix). There are huge opportunities here for a better publishing platform that is easy to use for someone who is not technologically savvy (like research analysts). Having someone with the insight into the industry could be very useful and would help a developer identify and focus on developing and designing functions that would be useful to the client. I'm sure more than one developer has wasted time developing something only to get FEEDBACK (also know as perspective) from the client (often business related when not a developer end-product) that the functionality doesn't match what they need or expect. I just cannot agree with your point of view here. In my opinion, ideas and perspective are important, but then again, I am new to this. Can someone explain to me why execution should be held above all else?
  - wglb 15y ago
    One example is Microsoft. They are often knocked for not being so innovative as others in the space. However, they do excel at execution.

wglb 15y ago

In startups, perspective, ideas, point of view all pale in importance to execution.

donofrip 15y ago
Obviously execution is critical; however, I cannot agree with you that everything else pales in comparison to execution. You can execute "successfully", but if what you build isn't something the client wants, then you're wasting your time. Depending on what you're developing, a business side perspective could be invaluable. The financial services industry is full of inefficiency, as an example to illustrate my point. I worked in equity research for a while and we published reports that were simply pdfs of excel files (there are some publishing tools out there like bluematrix). There are huge opportunities here for a better publishing platform that is easy to use for someone who is not technologically savvy (like research analysts). Having someone with the insight into the industry could be very useful and would help a developer identify and focus on developing and designing functions that would be useful to the client. I'm sure more than one developer has wasted time developing something only to get FEEDBACK (also know as perspective) from the client (often business related when not a developer end-product) that the functionality doesn't match what they need or expect. I just cannot agree with your point of view here. In my opinion, ideas and perspective are important, but then again, I am new to this. Can someone explain to me why execution should be held above all else?
- wglb 15y ago
  One example is Microsoft. They are often knocked for not being so innovative as others in the space. However, they do excel at execution.