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Strongly disagree for most cases. I'm a developer. I'm a very smart developer, and very good at what I do. There are things I'm terrible at though. I'm an extre

Strongly disagree for most cases. I'm a developer. I'm a very smart developer, and very good at what I do. There are things I'm terrible at though. I'm an extreme introvert, and have trouble interacting with people. If I was to start a company with someone I would want them to handle the business side of things: fundraising, setting up partnerships, going to parties, etc. I understand that I would be participating in this to some extent, but I'd rather be the wingman. If my CEO is technical, that's great, but it's a bonus on top of him/her being good at the things I'm not good at so I can focus on doing what I'm good at. Wearing different hats in a small business is essential, but if I was partnering with someone, I'd much rather have an outgoing, business-minded person who knows how to hustle than some nerdy developer who happens to know a VC or two.

mattmanser 15y ago
If he knows a few VCs it probably means he can network, thus has the requisite skills you are looking for. If there are two of you sitting there too afraid to pick up the phone, then you have a problem. To hustle is to con someone by the way, usually out of money. We already have enough trouble with the word hacker...
- orthecreedence 15y ago
  Probably right, but on the other hand there are plenty of people who know "important" people via a small network or family ties, but wouldn't fit the bill for CEO of a company. I was more talking about the types that have a few connections through dumb luck vs actually putting themselves out there. also, hustle: "to sell or promote energetically and aggressively," via Merriam-Webster.
coffeemug 15y ago
I think the author means having a technical CEO is preferred, but not sufficient. If the company is building software, it's immensely helpful if the person at the helm understands software, but they need to understand a whole bunch of other things as well (good products vs. good technology, how to network, how to sell, how to manage, etc.)
tdr 15y ago
One of the key advantages of being a software developer is that you will end up learning business (if you work in companies). That's because developers are smart people and they are working on solving people's (business) problems. Also, business is inherently social, so it's "easier" to learn. Don't tell me you never received some "critical bug" where the labels weren't properly aligned, all this while a "minor/medium bug" caused some data to be lost. This is a business lesson, not technical! Now, I find the arguments in the article not the strongest and *the answer" actually is "it depends". It depends at what stage in the startup process you are. Finally, my opinion is that the co-founders should "complete themselves" but if they have overlapping skills (both technical and business), that's a killer feature. Starting out it's probably better to have founders that are specialists, but after growing the CEO should become a generalist and handle the big picture.

mattmanser 15y ago

If he knows a few VCs it probably means he can network, thus has the requisite skills you are looking for. If there are two of you sitting there too afraid to pick up the phone, then you have a problem. To hustle is to con someone by the way, usually out of money. We already have enough trouble with the word hacker...

orthecreedence 15y ago
Probably right, but on the other hand there are plenty of people who know "important" people via a small network or family ties, but wouldn't fit the bill for CEO of a company. I was more talking about the types that have a few connections through dumb luck vs actually putting themselves out there. also, hustle: "to sell or promote energetically and aggressively," via Merriam-Webster.

coffeemug 15y ago

I think the author means having a technical CEO is preferred, but not sufficient. If the company is building software, it's immensely helpful if the person at the helm understands software, but they need to understand a whole bunch of other things as well (good products vs. good technology, how to network, how to sell, how to manage, etc.)

tdr 15y ago

One of the key advantages of being a software developer is that you will end up learning business (if you work in companies). That's because developers are smart people and they are working on solving people's (business) problems. Also, business is inherently social, so it's "easier" to learn. Don't tell me you never received some "critical bug" where the labels weren't properly aligned, all this while a "minor/medium bug" caused some data to be lost. This is a business lesson, not technical! Now, I find the arguments in the article not the strongest and *the answer" actually is "it depends". It depends at what stage in the startup process you are. Finally, my opinion is that the co-founders should "complete themselves" but if they have overlapping skills (both technical and business), that's a killer feature. Starting out it's probably better to have founders that are specialists, but after growing the CEO should become a generalist and handle the big picture.