4 ms·

I'm curious, is that really as big of a deal as the tech startup makes it out to be? When the team is young, small, and scrappy, I understand that technical ski

I'm curious, is that really as big of a deal as the tech startup makes it out to be? When the team is young, small, and scrappy, I understand that technical skills on the founding team are highly valued, but after growing to nearly 1,000 employees surely the core leadership can hand off the technical day-to-day and platform architecture to a technical SVP.

rpedela 13y ago
Technical executives have an innate concept of what is and what isn't possible. This allows them to better evaluate proposals for new features, refactoring systems, etc. This is one reason why I believe Microsoft succeeded under Bill Gates. Due to its size, Microsoft still made a lot of money under Steve Ballmer, who is non-technical, but it definitely lost its place as a technology leader. We will see if the new CEO, who is technical, will change that.
- dkokelley 13y ago
  From Ballmer's Wikipedia entry: "In 1973, he attended college prep and engineering classes at Lawrence Technological University and graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, with a perfect score of 800 on the mathematical section of the SAT... In 1977, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in applied mathematics and economics... He scored highly in the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, an exam sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America, scoring higher than Bill Gates." I'm not sure if he coded, but Ballmer definitely has a mathematical/technical background. I'm not sure technical background is necessarily an indicator of success as an executive.
  - rpedela 13y ago
    I really meant engineer when I said technical. Engineers are both technical and are required to think in practical rather than abstract terms. Is that an indicator of success for an executive in general? It depends on the job and the company. But if you are the CEO of a company that produces technology, they yes I think it matters. Executives need other skills too.

rpedela 13y ago

Technical executives have an innate concept of what is and what isn't possible. This allows them to better evaluate proposals for new features, refactoring systems, etc. This is one reason why I believe Microsoft succeeded under Bill Gates. Due to its size, Microsoft still made a lot of money under Steve Ballmer, who is non-technical, but it definitely lost its place as a technology leader. We will see if the new CEO, who is technical, will change that.

dkokelley 13y ago
From Ballmer's Wikipedia entry: "In 1973, he attended college prep and engineering classes at Lawrence Technological University and graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, with a perfect score of 800 on the mathematical section of the SAT... In 1977, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in applied mathematics and economics... He scored highly in the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, an exam sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America, scoring higher than Bill Gates." I'm not sure if he coded, but Ballmer definitely has a mathematical/technical background. I'm not sure technical background is necessarily an indicator of success as an executive.
- rpedela 13y ago
  I really meant engineer when I said technical. Engineers are both technical and are required to think in practical rather than abstract terms. Is that an indicator of success for an executive in general? It depends on the job and the company. But if you are the CEO of a company that produces technology, they yes I think it matters. Executives need other skills too.