Does she? Where does that knowledge come from? Why is it necessarily true that technical folks don't have it and that non-technical folks do?
Yes, there are non-technical folks who know more about selling houses than I do, but that's a long way from the above claim.
You're mixing up "able to sell" and "knowing what to build".
Knowing what to build does not require lots of contacts or knowing how to sell. While "can articulate" is required to sell, it isn't required to build.
However, knowing what to build does require knowing what can be built.
In short, "knowing what to build" is well-within the domain of technical people.
Getting "it" sold isn't.
As an example, a few years ago I was advising a company who wanted to automate the calculation of tax. You would have thought that this was easy, but in fact it's the most complex thing ever and you need that non-technical specialist domain knowledge. (You know you're in for a fun ride when you ask a question and the answer is "we're not sure, but we've booked flights to Italy to go and ask the authorities there".)
I think I have missed out a load of qualifiers in my previous comments. Here they are:
* The skills required for a startup will probably be spread out over many people.
* There's no hard and fast rule about which skills anyone will have.
* Technical people might be good at sales.
* "Non-technical" people might not be good at sales.
* "Knowing what to build" and "able to sell" are skills which may or may not be found in the same person.
* Knowing what to build might be a skill of any of your founders have, depending on their experience in the market.
There's probably a few more. I suppose this is the trouble with trying to write concise generally true comments, you forget to cover all the edge cases.
Who said anything about software?
> As an example, a few years ago I was advising a company who wanted to automate the calculation of tax. You would have thought that this was easy,
No, I wouldn't, because I know a little about taxes. A technical tax person would know even more and understand a lot of the complexity.
> but in fact it's the most complex thing ever and you need that non-technical specialist domain knowledge.
Why do you persist in saying that domain knowledge is necessarily non-technical and that technical people can't have it?
Both are wrong.
Much of "business" probably is largely mechanical. But what your non-technical founder brings is the knowledge of what to build.