Can we just "sticky" this to the top of HN, as a perpetual answer to the (seemingly) daily "How to find a technical co-founder" thread?
Seriously though, that was good stuff. Now how about a survey that goes the other way? One that's directed towards technical types who are looking for a non-technical co-founder (that is, a "the sales / marketing / bizdev guy" type.)
Not sure about "having trouble," but I'll say that - in my own experience - it isn't necessarily easy. I've been trawling for a sales/marketing/bizdev guy for a few months now and haven't had a whole lot of success finding anybody. But, to be fair, I haven't tried that hard yet. But still, some insights into what it takes to tempt a sales/marketing/bizdev guy into a startup would be useful... at least, I know I'd find it useful, and I'm guessing there are at least a handful of others who would as well.
Of course I'm a little outside what seems to be the norm here... I'm not building a consumer centric webapp or mobile app; I'm working on enterprise software and stuff that is sold through direct sales & face-to-face selling. Maybe nobody else cares about that stuff. :-)
Finding a good sales/marketing/bizdev guy is certainly not easy. I'm a developer-turned-biz guy, so I can offer a bit of insight from my perspective, though it may differ with others.
First, it's important to recognize the market to which you are targeting. Yours is enterprise software, which you correctly realize is different than consumer software. This speaks to the different skills you'll want in a biz guy.
Second, biz skills vary significantly. Being great at sales & direct selling is different than launching a social media campaign, for instance. And if you want a cofounder who is also familiar with the financial and legal aspects of running a startup, those are different skills as well. Startups will probably want people with "T" skills - a wide range of business skills (the horizontal bar in the T) and a deep well of some specific skill (the vertical bar in the T). In enterprise software, you may want someone who's really good at direct sales, for instance.
Third, relevant experience is important. This person needs to know your market well and have a good track record (ideally in startups too). They should be able to rattle off key competitors and have an eye on emerging trends. They also should be able to articulate the key metrics (or KPIs, Key Performance Indicators) of your industry. Every industry has a different set of KPIs. A good biz person will know yours.
Fourth, the biz person's network is also important. For direct sales, it's especially so. If this person already has a connection to your target customers, that will go a long way in securing their business. You may also want a biz person with connections to investors.
Fifth, personality & attitude is another attribute to watch. It goes without saying that this person should be able to gel with you well (i.e. can you imagine being stuck with this person in an airport for 10 hours?). Your biz person should also have an entrepreneurial attitude and know when to be frugal (with hard costs) and when to spend (with great talent). In my biased view, the biz person should also have enough of a technical background to understand your software, at least from an architectural level, to be able to speak to a customer's CTO.
My $0.02. I'm writing this off-the-cuff, so I may have left a few things out.
I get pitched a lot to be a technical cofounder, and I put a lot of thought into assessing the biz skills of a potential sales/marketing/bizdev cofounder.
As you said, some ideas may be better suited to having someone with a sales background as a co-founder while others for someone with killer marketing skills.
And I've also found in the past that I have a different working dynamic with sales vs. marketing people as they often complement/overlap my skillset in different ways.
Another random thing to add regarding founder dating from the techie side is an awareness if someone is giving off the vibe that they're really looking for their first engineer even though they say they're looking for a true cofounder.
Finally, I try to distance the individual from the idea and ask myself, "Would I want to still co-found something with this person if things don't work out and we have to do a hard pivot from the original idea?" I would rather team up with someone great on a marginal idea that may evolve into more than someone just because I think the idea is killer. Most people I know in Silicon Valley have a million ideas on the backburner anyway, so it's a red flag to me if the idea interests me more than the person.
Agreed, dystopia. I would've expected the personality-fit to be of top importance, so it's surprising to me that it really wasn't that important to the people filling out the survey.
I suspect you didn't see personality-fit being of top importance only because the survey didn't offer that as a topline item. At least, not that I can remember or can see in the results.
I've seen a lot of cofounder relationships dissolve because of personality-fit alone. Both parties were at the top of their game and highly accomplished individuals. But together, they were awful. Everything from lack of trust to lack of shared vision hurt their rapport. They all eventually fizzled away.
I definitely should have listed it as #1 in my answer. Whether people realize it or not, personality-fit is very, very important. dystopia brings up a great reason for this. It's very possible you & your cofounder will need to pivot significantly. If the biz person can't do so well (ie. skills are not aligned, interest is not there, can't handle this "failure", etc), then this isn't the right cofounder for you.
People have trouble finding good ones. It took some hard experience early in my career to learn that I should be as picky as that article describes about who I do business with.
maybe in NYC or SF it's easier, but where I am (Ottawa), I'm finding big-business/gov sucks up all the non-technical people. So I end up being a technical guy either on my own, or pitching other technical guys.
I think it goes the same way for (co)founders: partner in lines, not in dots. Your relationship with potential cofounders shouldn't start the day you're looking for one.
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[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 44.6 ms ] threadhttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2256293
Thanks so much for all your help.
Seriously though, that was good stuff. Now how about a survey that goes the other way? One that's directed towards technical types who are looking for a non-technical co-founder (that is, a "the sales / marketing / bizdev guy" type.)
Of course I'm a little outside what seems to be the norm here... I'm not building a consumer centric webapp or mobile app; I'm working on enterprise software and stuff that is sold through direct sales & face-to-face selling. Maybe nobody else cares about that stuff. :-)
First, it's important to recognize the market to which you are targeting. Yours is enterprise software, which you correctly realize is different than consumer software. This speaks to the different skills you'll want in a biz guy.
Second, biz skills vary significantly. Being great at sales & direct selling is different than launching a social media campaign, for instance. And if you want a cofounder who is also familiar with the financial and legal aspects of running a startup, those are different skills as well. Startups will probably want people with "T" skills - a wide range of business skills (the horizontal bar in the T) and a deep well of some specific skill (the vertical bar in the T). In enterprise software, you may want someone who's really good at direct sales, for instance.
Third, relevant experience is important. This person needs to know your market well and have a good track record (ideally in startups too). They should be able to rattle off key competitors and have an eye on emerging trends. They also should be able to articulate the key metrics (or KPIs, Key Performance Indicators) of your industry. Every industry has a different set of KPIs. A good biz person will know yours.
Fourth, the biz person's network is also important. For direct sales, it's especially so. If this person already has a connection to your target customers, that will go a long way in securing their business. You may also want a biz person with connections to investors.
Fifth, personality & attitude is another attribute to watch. It goes without saying that this person should be able to gel with you well (i.e. can you imagine being stuck with this person in an airport for 10 hours?). Your biz person should also have an entrepreneurial attitude and know when to be frugal (with hard costs) and when to spend (with great talent). In my biased view, the biz person should also have enough of a technical background to understand your software, at least from an architectural level, to be able to speak to a customer's CTO.
My $0.02. I'm writing this off-the-cuff, so I may have left a few things out.
I get pitched a lot to be a technical cofounder, and I put a lot of thought into assessing the biz skills of a potential sales/marketing/bizdev cofounder.
As you said, some ideas may be better suited to having someone with a sales background as a co-founder while others for someone with killer marketing skills.
And I've also found in the past that I have a different working dynamic with sales vs. marketing people as they often complement/overlap my skillset in different ways.
Another random thing to add regarding founder dating from the techie side is an awareness if someone is giving off the vibe that they're really looking for their first engineer even though they say they're looking for a true cofounder.
Finally, I try to distance the individual from the idea and ask myself, "Would I want to still co-found something with this person if things don't work out and we have to do a hard pivot from the original idea?" I would rather team up with someone great on a marginal idea that may evolve into more than someone just because I think the idea is killer. Most people I know in Silicon Valley have a million ideas on the backburner anyway, so it's a red flag to me if the idea interests me more than the person.
I've seen a lot of cofounder relationships dissolve because of personality-fit alone. Both parties were at the top of their game and highly accomplished individuals. But together, they were awful. Everything from lack of trust to lack of shared vision hurt their rapport. They all eventually fizzled away.
I definitely should have listed it as #1 in my answer. Whether people realize it or not, personality-fit is very, very important. dystopia brings up a great reason for this. It's very possible you & your cofounder will need to pivot significantly. If the biz person can't do so well (ie. skills are not aligned, interest is not there, can't handle this "failure", etc), then this isn't the right cofounder for you.
I think it goes the same way for (co)founders: partner in lines, not in dots. Your relationship with potential cofounders shouldn't start the day you're looking for one.