
Does a Business Guy have a Place in Software Startups? - dshah
http://www.tonywright.com/2008/does-a-business-guy-have-a-place-in-software-startup/
======
inovica
Here's an alternative to the "business guy" vs "hacker" debate which sometimes
happens on here. I started out as a business guy 15 years ago and employed
people to write software. My main focus was, and is, starting and running
businesses and this was what I felt natural doing. What I did though, which
made the difference, is that I learned to program. Cold Fusion at first, then
Perl, a bit of PHP and now Python. I'll be the first to admit... "I'm not very
good - and damned slow"... but what this experiene has done is given me a
greater level of understanding for what is required, what is possible and has
given me empathy with anyone I work with who is coding. We have the same
issues with "Designer" Vs "Hacker" and we solve it (or attempt to) by
educating people.

For the hacker, one thing to remember is that often the business guys (or
gals) strength might actually be in "doing business" allowing you to
concentrate on what you love. For the business guy you need to remember that
you are employing people for a skill that you don't have and that there's no
place for arrogance or posturing within the business - work together and
compete against the competition

Where would Apple be without Woz, where without Steve Jobs?

------
sanswork
I have one friend who is a "business guy" but I wouldn't start a business
without him. His value is priceless. Admittedly he won't be building the
product with you but the contacts he makes, the meetings he manages to arrange
and the time spent getting other people excited about the product make it a
lot more enjoyable to work on since you know there are others out there just
as excited as you.

The real "business guys" are the ones who shield you from the outside world so
you can focus on the technology and can find and make the connections with
others that you're too busy hacking to do. Unfortunately these people are
often grouped in with the "idea guys" you all to often see online saying "I
have a great idea, build it for me and we'll split the profits 50/50" but then
don't actually contribute anything to the process besides the original idea.

Business guys good, Idea guys pointless.

~~~
webwright
Yaw, FWIW I was going for a thesis of "For all the people pouring hate onto
the biz guys, it's a bit more complex than that".

Regarding the "shielding from the outside world" idea: For a pre-funding
startup, I don't think there's much outside world to shield you from--
certainly not 10-12 hours a day of it. There are some products that can
benefit from sales effort on day 1. Most (especially consumer plays) really
can't. For the first 3-4 months, what is a biz guy gonna do, other than sell?

I should also add that I truly GET the value of a biz guy. Every company I
have build has required that evolve (or devolve, if you want to be a hater!)
from builder to biz guy. I've played the biz role for more of my adult life
than I've played a development role.

~~~
sanswork
"There are some products that can benefit from sales effort on day 1. Most
(especially consumer plays) really can't."

Admittedly selling(to customers) isn't always needed on day one but having
someone working on building relationships with other companies and arranging
cross promotion, etc is definitely valuable no matter what stage you are at.

------
astine
In any company, startups included, you need a fellow who understands the
market, does sales, and can keep the books. It helps to have a fellow who can
organize things and keep folks directed. These are considered business skills
rather than technology skills, though, they're not beyond most hackers to pick
up. I'd suggest that the best position is where the hackers are the business
guys, or visa-versa. If you're smart enough to get an MBA, you should be able
to learn at least a little comp sci, and if you know comp sci, a book on
marketing and finance shouldn't be beyond you.

------
aneesh
Good to see a balanced perspective; the role of actually selling the product
seems to be often overlooked.

To give an example "closer to home" for most readers, one of the Reddit
cofounders was non-technical, and was responsible for a big part of reddit's
success and eventual acquisition by Conde Nast.

------
wumi
While this certainly sounds great, it's really about the lack of a business
model that fuels the lack of a need for a business guy.

If you have no business model, then you don't need somebody to execute on
that.

And for those who would say "all you need is users and the business model
makes it self" think about your daily activities that go above and beyond
necessities and ask yourself if the product your consuming had an original
business model.

Maybe not absolutely necessary for a "web 2.0" company that is about eyeballs
and users, but for a lot of companies , including software companies, it's not
about the "business guy" but the business model.

------
yankees1
As a business/idea guy I hope I'm needed. I have a a stack of programming
books on my desk, I actually look at code to try to get my mind around what is
going on. But I don't program. What I do bring to the table is experience, an
understanding of why an application needs to exist and why current solutions
don't exist. I just saw that Angie's List just received a good chunk of
funding. That site's founder is not a hacker, but obviously has been
instrumental in its success.

------
NateWeiner
I think it's absolutely necessary to have someone in the group with some
business/marketing/networking abilities. As developers, I would think that
most of us could have easily built Facebook, but it doesn't mean that we'd all
be able to make it what it is today.

Being able to program the idea is key, but it goes hand in hand with pushing
it out the door as well.

------
wmeredith
You know that old meme (a very popular one around here) that goes:

1\. statement x

2\. statement y

3\. ????

4\. Profit

Well, number 3 is where your business guy comes in.

Without a business guy on the team, be it you, or someone else, it's just a
hobby.

------
bprater
In all these conversations, I still don't see any of the "business" folks
saying:

"I'm a business guy, so while my hacker partner is spending 18-hours a day in
the basement, I'm doing this:

* X

* Y

* Z"

~~~
joshwa
Not that I'm a strictly a business guy (I straddle product manager and hacker
roles), but there are quite a few things, depending on the product/service,
that need doing that aren't directly related to building the product:

* The "idea" stuff, also known as product management- defining features, writing requirements, market analysis to make sure you're going to achieve product/market fit, etc. Developers can/should have a say in this, but it's not always a match for all developers' skillset.

* Bizdev - lining up distribution, partnerships, and customers-- talking to them to make sure their needs are being met in the product, and making sure there is sufficient revenue/incentive to keep everyone happy

* Keeping the books, writing the appropriate bizplans/marketing plans/etc if bringing on investors is on the horizon

* Engaging outside resources - legal, accounting, office, contract workers (designers, developers, whatever core competencies aren't on staff already)

* Project management/cat herding

------
edw519
Technology is making the "business guy" less important (not unimportant, but
less important). Why? Because it unchains the hacker with a little people
skills from his terminal.

With modern languages, frameworks, automated testing, debugging, and IDE's,
some hackers can produce much more per unit time. Or produce the same amount
in less time. And then go out and talk about it with the time saved.

Sure, business guys often bring something to the table, but so can unchained
hackers. Just like women threw away their aprons to join the workforce,
hackers can now set aside their keyboards to sell.

Don't forget, a lot of hackers are "business guys", too. Now, it's a little
easier to see the forest when you can cut down trees faster.

