I agree with your generalities but I think it comes down to the person more so, and this is why I stand behind the notion of investing in people. There are just

I agree with your generalities but I think it comes down to the person more so, and this is why I stand behind the notion of investing in people. There are just as many programmers I would not hire for the founding team for the same reasons you've cited. If you have a bit of money/funding, you can have just about anything built in regard to a minimum viable product these days... This is a good article on hiring developers over programmers. http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Hazards_of_Hiring.html http://www.ericsink.com/bos/Hazards_of_Hiring.html So on that same note, if you're going to put a "designer" on your founding team then I feel he/she should be able to do more than just design pretty pictures... their roll should be moreorless a hands-on product manager who works with the founders/team to act as the voice of the customer and manage the experience.