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The article reads… interesting. A business depends on its demand, competition, scale, operation costs and numerous other factors. If the product is a tech, a technical founder can have immense impact on future success but marketing, customer acquisition, sales, networking, fund raising and other huge headaches are often burdens carried by non-technical counter part.

Of course, the person building something from a vague idea to life wields magical power, but the other aspects of business are more so important.

As an engineer myself, I can see 500 ways I can improve things at my employer’s business, but while I have a technical vision, the non-technical founders of the business has broader picture and what I may wish to spend time optimizing might just be a pocket change issue not worth solving.

We technical folks undermine the mountain of difficulties of marketing and sales as well as interacting with people to convince them to part with their money. Of course, I have seen a fair share of over confident wanna-be founder who would just be next trillionaire if someone would build the 10000th Airbnb clone but for pets so they could sell it and give 5% equity to the builder because their idea was the main thing, but in broad sense of things, tech is just a means to an end for a successful business and simply building is not the 100% of execution step.



Great points. Good founders are on both sides of selling and building. If you don't believe in sellers, you've never worked with good ones.




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