
Is a business-type cofounder necessary for a startup to succeed? - juwo

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pg
No, but there should be at least one who is willing to do that kind of work
initially, even if it doesn't feel natural.

Octopart, for example, was founded by a bunch of physicists. One is now doing
sales. Sales is not the most natural work for a physicist, and maybe one day
they'll have official sales guys doing it, but for now he is doing
surprisingly well.

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juwo
"It will take you 6 to 10 years to learn the business side, so you must look
for a business-type cofounder right from the start", a former advisor
insisted. Himself a business type, he despises techies, because they despise
'suits'.

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zkinion
"business-type" and having a Jobs to match against a Woz are two completely
different things.

Business type qualities can be shared across several non-business types
easily. When you see startups without the business type succeeding, its
because it is there amongst all of the co-founders, inside of them.

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richcollins
"Business types" are not necessary.

What is necessary is the presence of someone who really understands people.
Your product is destined to be used by people; so make sure that someone on
your team has an interest in truly understanding your users and the other
people that you will have to deal with.

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juwo
That is a new point I have not heard before. Yes, I think it is important;
men-programmers dont have good soft skills. One would have to really know such
a person (from elsewhere) to know they are gifted in this area. Perhaps I
should recruit my wife :)

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wmorein
I think the key here is to define what you mean by "business-type" person.

Someone who can read a financial statement or is willing to learn, who spent a
lot of time growing up or in school reading about the web business, who has
started up a few businesses whatever they do, who is interested in that side
of the company: yes (as long as they are technical too).

Someone who is an MBA but has limited real world experience: no.

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randallsquared
Clearly not _necessary_ , since the list of startups without such a person as
a founder is long.

