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Come on techies- why so few responses? Is it because he's right? Is it because you all think you're so smart, precious, and valuable that no 'suit' could ever a

Come on techies- why so few responses? Is it because he's right? Is it because you all think you're so smart, precious, and valuable that no 'suit' could ever add any value? Well, looks at Jobs and Gates. Those techies-turned shrewd businessmen show that smart developers learn the business side of things as well. Conversely, business guys should be learning as much about the technical side as possible without having to directly own it. I have attempted to do just that, and it has helped me immensely in my own startup. I would also add that understanding the design and copywriting end of things is quite valuable. In the end, the sales copy is what replaces you and brings in cold, hard cash. That's why the top copywriters in the world charge up to $500/hr- they create words that generate cold hard cash in your bank account. And they are worth every penny of that investment. The best way to increase the odds of startup success is multidisciplinary teams that cross-pollinate and respect other disciplines. The developers should understand customers, marketing, and visual design and the business guys should always be learning anything they can about workflow and technical vision. In addition, design adds a lot of value, and both the techies and suits should enjoy learning lots about design. Thanks again for a fascinating read and great graphs. Drop some comments people!

jeffa107 18y ago
It's because most of us are still focused on building something people want. Without that, none of these other things matter. Most people who contribute to this community get that. Another important point: There are a bunch of brilliant, motivated people on HN who have shown great ability and insight in both development and business. By not paying someone to focus solely on the business side early on, they buy themselves more time to make something people want, build their user base, and improve their chances of being successful. When you've got the chops to do both, you should. Especially early on.
fallentimes 18y ago
It's still extremely helpful if the "business guy" or non technical knows basic coding & design principles. It makes the conversations between founders much more intelligent and the frequency of words like: "how", "you", "what", "think" is probably a lot higher. I'm not going to pretend like I always know what Tom is talking about, but at least I can ask thoughtful questions (and dumb ones too). He'd probably say the same thing about the tasks I handle. And you can do all of these things without being a buzzword spewing suit. For example, I wear sweat pants every day :). I think it's also helpful if a founder/employee can wear multiple hats. For example, I handle all marketing/SEO/PR/accounting/analytics/writer stuff/affiliates/business deals/VC crap. While Tom handles all bug fixes/main site coding/development/sys admin/design/features/etc. Our biggest weakness is design, but we've managed to get by fine. /non-technical at TicketStumbler
timr 18y ago
"Come on techies- why so few responses? Is it because he's right? Is it because you all think you're so smart, precious, and valuable that no 'suit' could ever add any value?" I'm just going out on a limb here, but maybe it's because this was posted less than three hours ago, on a Saturday afternoon?
- deleted 18y ago
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- danielhodgins 18y ago
  Fair enough, you got me there.....I was so excited about the post I forgot to question why there might not be any comments. Sometimes that's what happens when you are doing design/biz dev/recruiting/hiring/marketing/testing/metrics/admin/coordinating freelancers/articulating the vision/project management/etc/etc.....7 days/week, 12 hours/day. Execution is a lot of hard work, and there are lots of painful lessons learned through trial and error that look obvious in hindsight. Onward!
netcan 18y ago
Well, looks at Jobs and Gates. Would you call them techies or biz guys?

jeffa107 18y ago

It's because most of us are still focused on building something people want. Without that, none of these other things matter. Most people who contribute to this community get that. Another important point: There are a bunch of brilliant, motivated people on HN who have shown great ability and insight in both development and business. By not paying someone to focus solely on the business side early on, they buy themselves more time to make something people want, build their user base, and improve their chances of being successful. When you've got the chops to do both, you should. Especially early on.

fallentimes 18y ago

It's still extremely helpful if the "business guy" or non technical knows basic coding & design principles. It makes the conversations between founders much more intelligent and the frequency of words like: "how", "you", "what", "think" is probably a lot higher. I'm not going to pretend like I always know what Tom is talking about, but at least I can ask thoughtful questions (and dumb ones too). He'd probably say the same thing about the tasks I handle. And you can do all of these things without being a buzzword spewing suit. For example, I wear sweat pants every day :). I think it's also helpful if a founder/employee can wear multiple hats. For example, I handle all marketing/SEO/PR/accounting/analytics/writer stuff/affiliates/business deals/VC crap. While Tom handles all bug fixes/main site coding/development/sys admin/design/features/etc. Our biggest weakness is design, but we've managed to get by fine. /non-technical at TicketStumbler

timr 18y ago

"Come on techies- why so few responses? Is it because he's right? Is it because you all think you're so smart, precious, and valuable that no 'suit' could ever add any value?" I'm just going out on a limb here, but maybe it's because this was posted less than three hours ago, on a Saturday afternoon?

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
danielhodgins 18y ago
Fair enough, you got me there.....I was so excited about the post I forgot to question why there might not be any comments. Sometimes that's what happens when you are doing design/biz dev/recruiting/hiring/marketing/testing/metrics/admin/coordinating freelancers/articulating the vision/project management/etc/etc.....7 days/week, 12 hours/day. Execution is a lot of hard work, and there are lots of painful lessons learned through trial and error that look obvious in hindsight. Onward!

netcan 18y ago

Well, looks at Jobs and Gates. Would you call them techies or biz guys?