Re:The Sad State of the Startup Pitch
by mindcrime on Tuesday August 28, 2012 @11:20AM
(#4444114)
There has been a lot of talk on HN that you don't need a non-technical cofounder. Bryce makes a good case for why a business-savvy partner can be a huge help.
That, or one of the techs has to commit to becoming (enough of) a marketing / bizdev / sales / strategy person to do things like articulating a clear value proposition, creating financial models, etc. I'm not actually sure which is the better idea.
At Fogbeam Labs, we don't have a dedicated "business person," and - to date - I've chosen to throw myself into the marketing / business world. But that was kinda easy for me, since I always liked marketing anyway. And even with that being the case, I still find myself wondering if spending a lot of time focusing on marketing is a good use of my time, since that will probably never be my specialty.
For now, my position is basically "if we find the right person to bring on as a sales/marketing/bizdev co-founder, we'll do it. But the fit has to be just right, otherwise I'll continue working on reinventing myself as that kind of person."
Funny thing, even as I'm typing this, I'm listening to a Mixergy interview on "Communicating Product Value". And when I get home from the dayjob tonight, I'll be back to immersed in Chet Holmes videos, learning about building a "core story" and constructing a "stadium pitch" etc. No rest for the wicked...
That, or one of the techs has to commit to becoming (enough of) a marketing / bizdev / sales / strategy person to do things like articulating a clear value proposition, creating financial models, etc. I'm not actually sure which is the better idea.
At Fogbeam Labs, we don't have a dedicated "business person," and - to date - I've chosen to throw myself into the marketing / business world. But that was kinda easy for me, since I always liked marketing anyway. And even with that being the case, I still find myself wondering if spending a lot of time focusing on marketing is a good use of my time, since that will probably never be my specialty.
For now, my position is basically "if we find the right person to bring on as a sales/marketing/bizdev co-founder, we'll do it. But the fit has to be just right, otherwise I'll continue working on reinventing myself as that kind of person."
Funny thing, even as I'm typing this, I'm listening to a Mixergy interview on "Communicating Product Value". And when I get home from the dayjob tonight, I'll be back to immersed in Chet Holmes videos, learning about building a "core story" and constructing a "stadium pitch" etc. No rest for the wicked...