While i don't agree with this completely there is some truth to it. I ran an accelerator funded gaming startup for 2 years and was obsessed with development and coding. Most of the real CEO work was done on the side without much focus. In the end i think that played a big part in failing, because ultimately we ran out of money before profits were healthy. This could have been prevented if i had talked to investors earlier and more, focusing on the vision and shorter term goals to keep liquidity in check.
It's not that i didn't see it coming miles away, but it was still too late.
More often than not I've seen founders completely neglect the mundane business of the day to day running of the company. Usually at the expense of their most loyal early employees, if not at the expense of the entire business itself.
It has come to a point where I've pretty much had it with those serial-entrepreneur types who pride themselves on having started an x-number of start-ups.
If you're incapable of, or simply completely uninterested in, running a business, don't start one. It doesn't make you a courageous entrepreneur, it makes you and adrenaline junkie who gets their kicks at the expense of others.
None of this is limited to code or tech in general. I've seen it in all kinds of areas. You may love doing X, but once you start a company doing X, running that company becomes is your job, not doing X.
If you're a founder/CEO and you've hired others to code, for you coding is a now hobby you can pick up in whatever spare time you have (probably none). To do it inside your own company when you should be taking care of your company and the people in it is selfish and self-indulgent.
For those who build stuff and hire vendors..
Is it better to hire vendors that know technical stuff or any vendor will do the same job more or less if they are correctly briefed about the product?
@smallfluffycat - Hiring external vendors can work very well at times. It is a part of recruitment. I try to get the best person for that role for what I can afford. Full time in house or an external vendor - doesn't matter.
I thought this before reading the article. The context 'as CEO' takes the article in a different direction than just the expected don't code everyday mantra.
I do. :) Since 10 years now. Ruby on Rails since 4 years. Was doing Java at a Swiss Bank's Quant Trading Team before that. Disclosure - I can't call myself a great coder though. Still learning the best practices.
I was expecting much more from that headline. The point is that you shouldn't do Don't Break The Chain because you might have other responsibilities? I don't see how it contradicts the original article's advice and I also don't think it was aimed toward CEOs.
And i thought the article will somehow tell us that jeresig argument to code everyday was wrong.
i genuinely thought that the article should do justice by putting the same effort as jeresig post. Yeah OP argument that "CEO job is not only coding" is not wrong but i expect OP will argue that "code is not the onpy thing developer like jeresig do" based on the headline.
Agreed. My post is targeted more towards technologists who are interested in building a business. For those who want to be top developers, I recommend to write code on a regular basis.
Thanks for your input, I have updated the post to state the same.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 54.9 ms ] threadIt's not that i didn't see it coming miles away, but it was still too late.
However, I realized, that I am not able to focus on management - which is also important.
I still code at least 4 days a week (including weekends).
However, doing it every day, I don't think it is mandatory.
It has come to a point where I've pretty much had it with those serial-entrepreneur types who pride themselves on having started an x-number of start-ups.
If you're incapable of, or simply completely uninterested in, running a business, don't start one. It doesn't make you a courageous entrepreneur, it makes you and adrenaline junkie who gets their kicks at the expense of others.
None of this is limited to code or tech in general. I've seen it in all kinds of areas. You may love doing X, but once you start a company doing X, running that company becomes is your job, not doing X.
If you're a founder/CEO and you've hired others to code, for you coding is a now hobby you can pick up in whatever spare time you have (probably none). To do it inside your own company when you should be taking care of your company and the people in it is selfish and self-indulgent.
One common problem I see with tech founders/CEOs is they tend to get into their comfort zone i.e. coding, every time they face a business challenge.
This is especially true for first time entrepreneurs, for whom running a business is a new thing.
Can anybody come up with a good ending? :)
http://www.troll.me/2011/08/31/the-most-interesting-man-in-t...
This was just an attempt to give a different point of view for technologists who are interested in building a business.
i genuinely thought that the article should do justice by putting the same effort as jeresig post. Yeah OP argument that "CEO job is not only coding" is not wrong but i expect OP will argue that "code is not the onpy thing developer like jeresig do" based on the headline.
Thanks for your input, I have updated the post to state the same.
I am using blogger. Should switch soon. Here is the same post on Medium: https://medium.com/p/362c7c6176b8