Presently I'm involved in everything, as we just recently got going in earnest. I'm a developer and I've been out of development roles for past couple of years, so I'm really enjoying it.
However, I see my day-to-day programming role going down as we get more successful. My eventual role will probably be that of product development (besides corporate leadership). I'm the one with the original vision and I've been in consulting situations where this product would have been very helpful.
You may have seen this post before: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
But the reason I submitted this is because of item #6. As an entrepreneur, I'm technically savvy, but I'm by no means a hardcore programmer. I have other team members who do most of the coding. However, I am by far the biggest creative influence and visionary on the team.
With that said, how do all of you fit into your teams, and what skill sets do you have?
Alternatively, what skill sets are you possibly lacking in your team?
i am not enterprenur..but i dream one day i will..i think an enterprenur is the person who is the sole of a startup company ...he is the person who is innovative.creative..visioniory..and lot of other qualities..Technical knowledge is just part of it..
I'm the tech lead. I make all technology choices, figure out the overall system architecture, and so far have done all the programming (we may pull other founders over to some of the easier programming tasks later). I did not have the original idea, nor do I have any talent at graphics design, so I'm glad I have cofounders for that part.
Depending on how mature the startup is, the roles keep changing. It starts with being a little bit of everything, but if you are lucky, you eventually find people who fit certain roles better than you would.
I just discussed a few examples here http://www.logic2go.com/index.php/archives/2007/03/02/
There's just the two of us so I'm involved in just about everything. We each have our own strong areas so we split up the development in regards to that.
As it is right now, we conceptualize together and I head the front-end development while my partner has been doing substantial back-end work.
Am currently doing the bulk of the market research, b-plan dev and giving guidance to the other two in the company who have never been part of a startup. Soon, I'll be doing the visual design and some custom PHP coding and all of the marketing. So much to do! So little time!
I am the team leader; the one with the original insight. My initial role was as the developer. I created a beta version of the concept and used it to convince two extremely talented people to join my team. I now have an exceptional designer and a marketing guru working with me to create an innovate business.
However, I see my day-to-day programming role going down as we get more successful. My eventual role will probably be that of product development (besides corporate leadership). I'm the one with the original vision and I've been in consulting situations where this product would have been very helpful.