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Wrong, but in an interesting way. The number one myth about business people is they know how to build a business. No MBA will prepare you for the actual experi
by arohner 15y ago
Wrong, but in an interesting way.
The number one myth about business people is they know how to build a business. No MBA will prepare you for the actual experience of turning nothing into a profitable machine.
Programmers don't know how to build businesses either, but they do know how to build something that might turn into a business.
That doesn't mean business people are worthless; all successful startups combine business knowledge and software knowledge. But in 2011, software ability cannot be outsourced in a startup. Increasingly, software can't be outsourced from any business.
The issue is, non-technical founders don't know what is easy and what is hard. They don't have all of the information necessary to make decisions about what does or does not go into a software business.
- entangld 15y agoProgrammers don't know how to build businesses either, but they do know how to build something that might turn into a business. You're equating all business people with MBA's. That's like saying anyone with a CS degree knows how to code. The article has a point. If you read Innovator's Solution or Peter Drucker books or look at Apple's business philosophy there's a lot to knowing what works with people and businesses. I've done B2B sales before and it wasn't anything like I thought it would be. Those books and Apple illustrate the benefits of building around a marketing focus (customer experience). I can't say most technical founders with projects that I've met do that. Some projects are intensely personal ones built around a technology (insert API) instead of a problem potential customers are having.