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True, but only to a degree. Are you the "idea guy" (in addition to coding) or is everyone expected to produce good ideas and those are vetted by a group of sma

by fallous 13y ago

True, but only to a degree. Are you the "idea guy" (in addition to coding) or is everyone expected to produce good ideas and those are vetted by a group of smart people? Too many founders think they have some exclusive intelligence that is apart from everyone else which is a conceit that usually leads to unfortunate results. I suspect I have more time in startups both successful and failures than you, and while no one knows every way to succeed they certainly can detect the patterns of failure. The hardest thing for any founder is to recognize the wisdom of their own employees.

nhangen 13y ago
I wrote that part of my profile as a way to say that I love coming up with ideas and putting a small team together in order to build them so we can test their merits. At the time, we had a lot of products and I couldn't lead them all (from a development standpoint). That's changed as we have shifted focus to fewer ideas and better execution. We maintain a list of things we want to build, and vet every idea that comes our way, be it from a founder, an employee, or a customer. That said, someone has to be the guy to draw the line in the sand. Also, FWIW, I spend the majority of my working day writing code.
- v13inc 13y ago
  Do you have a team of coding mercenaries? I am now quite curious about your company. Did you assemble a team to execute ideas for other founders? That seems like a pretty solid industry, if that's the case. Edit: just saw some of you other posts, thanks for the info.
- fallous 13y ago
  I love coming up with ideas and executing on them as well, but that's not what provides value in the particular role I'm in at present. It is a good sign that you are worrying less about ideas and more about execution, especially since most businesses revolve around one good idea that needs focused execution at the expense of "things that would be a good idea 6-12 months from now", because a business is what it is at a particular point in time regardless of the end-goal vision. And yes, at times lines need to be drawn in the sand but those are pretty rare times when you have a good group of smart people and usually involve breaking impasses when there is no clear consensus. There's also the whole "I have a responsibility to shareholders at the end of the day" duty that many employees do not feel, but too often founders use both of these as excuses for "I think X, so it must be so" rather than questioning themselves in the face of disagreement with a group of people you brought on board because of their skills and intellects. Frankly, I imbue no magical powers to writing code when it comes to founders of tech companies because often the tech is the least difficult problem to address. I know, I know, I speak heresy given the venue but I can code a great product far easier than what is required to build a good marketing campaign and sales strategy, and I at least can depend on my bash/vi session to be predictable unlike those that have to venture out into the customer acquisition arena with all its unpredictability.

by fallous 13y ago

nhangen 13y ago

I wrote that part of my profile as a way to say that I love coming up with ideas and putting a small team together in order to build them so we can test their merits. At the time, we had a lot of products and I couldn't lead them all (from a development standpoint). That's changed as we have shifted focus to fewer ideas and better execution. We maintain a list of things we want to build, and vet every idea that comes our way, be it from a founder, an employee, or a customer. That said, someone has to be the guy to draw the line in the sand. Also, FWIW, I spend the majority of my working day writing code.

v13inc 13y ago
Do you have a team of coding mercenaries? I am now quite curious about your company. Did you assemble a team to execute ideas for other founders? That seems like a pretty solid industry, if that's the case. Edit: just saw some of you other posts, thanks for the info.
fallous 13y ago
I love coming up with ideas and executing on them as well, but that's not what provides value in the particular role I'm in at present. It is a good sign that you are worrying less about ideas and more about execution, especially since most businesses revolve around one good idea that needs focused execution at the expense of "things that would be a good idea 6-12 months from now", because a business is what it is at a particular point in time regardless of the end-goal vision. And yes, at times lines need to be drawn in the sand but those are pretty rare times when you have a good group of smart people and usually involve breaking impasses when there is no clear consensus. There's also the whole "I have a responsibility to shareholders at the end of the day" duty that many employees do not feel, but too often founders use both of these as excuses for "I think X, so it must be so" rather than questioning themselves in the face of disagreement with a group of people you brought on board because of their skills and intellects. Frankly, I imbue no magical powers to writing code when it comes to founders of tech companies because often the tech is the least difficult problem to address. I know, I know, I speak heresy given the venue but I can code a great product far easier than what is required to build a good marketing campaign and sales strategy, and I at least can depend on my bash/vi session to be predictable unlike those that have to venture out into the customer acquisition arena with all its unpredictability.