

Build Product, Not PowerPoint (Even If You're Non-Technical) - sachinag
http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2009/09/build-product-not-powerpoint-even-if.html

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sachinag
"And if you can't code, and you can't get brilliant coders to like and respect
you, you probably shouldn't be an entrepreneur."

As a non-technical person, this advice is harsh, but it's true. Yeah, your
life is much easier if you have friends from high school who became coders
while you went off into banking. And, yeah, it's all-but-impossible to find
great coders except by happenstance, but it doesn't make this advice any less
true.

Of course, someone (maybe not necessarily VCs and angels) could make a killing
if they would match up interested business guys with experience and
understanding of large markets with brilliant technical people, but I suppose
that hasn't happened to date for some reason. It's beyond my meager
understanding, but there must be a reason.

~~~
zackattack
I was a psych major in college, but took Real Analysis, Discrete Math,
Information Theory, Number Theory, and Abstract Algebra so I could get smart
CS people I want to build businesses with to respect me. Everyone in #startups
thinks I'm a loser because I code in PHP, so I'm moving to Rails. Yee-haw

~~~
mahmud
But you built hiphopgoblin; you're a winner.

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dagw
"And if you can't code, and you can't get brilliant coders to like and respect
you, you probably shouldn't be an entrepreneur."

What if I'm starting a company that isn't a software company? I know Silicon
Valley people sometimes forget, but there are other business models around
than variations of theme write a cool piece of code and then try to charge
money for it.

~~~
nopassrecover
Well this is a "hacker" forum, whom's origins are in software. Secondly, is it
that hard to mentally substitute in your field of choice? e.g. "And if you
can't work in the lab, and you can't get brilliant researchers to like and
respect you, you probably shouldn't be an entreprenur"

~~~
dagw
Either way the quote is stupid. Had he said "...shouldn't start a software
company" I'd be in full agreement. Despite what some people seem to implicitly
assume the word "entrepreneur" isn't intrinsically tied to the software field.
Saying if you suck at X you shouldn't be an entrepreneur doesn't make sense
unless X is "being an entrepreneur".

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dsplittgerber
I just love it when tech people / tech VCs talk like there is no alternate
reality where products get built except for their tech world. There are a lot
of other startups that will ex-post have contributed a lot to the future of
humanity and will not have come from the internet world.

I consider it fairly ignorant to say "if you can't code (...) you probably
shouldn't be an entrepreneur".

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FreeRadical
Most consumer web sites don't require brilliant coders to be honest, just
someone competent enough to quickly get the first version of the site out,
with pleasant UI and a decent set of features.

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drats
I am not a regular here, and not a coder nor business person, but isn't the
whole point of Y-Combinator to find a place between $250k and $0? I.e. to let
20-somethings build their prototype on a shoestring? I mean the "if you can't
code, bad luck" still applies, but I imagine there are tons of Y-Combinator
projects which wouldn't have got "traction" without the breathing space that
the small amount of money and tutoring provides.

Basically what I am saying is this guy is saying absolutely nothing of value
from his blogspot pulpit.

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floozyspeak
You can outsource it, and you can make something even if you don't code.

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zackattack
I looked up this Daniel Clemens guy. Holy shit. Rhodes scholar. Wow.

