Minimum Viable Hustle

http://patrickwoods.tumblr.com/post/35207924925/minimum-viable-hustle

by someproduct • 14 years ago

22 6 14 years ago

patrickwoods.tumblr.com

I have a system: I assume that anyone who uses the word 'hustle' non-ironically lacks any form of 'hustle'.

It's an awful, awful word.

To make a point relevant to the article - what if the non-technical chap has deeply relevant domain knowledge and valuable contacts within the industry?

I can't say it bothers me enormously, but I do find the idea that all non-technical cofounders have to be wizards who magically hustle themselves into meetings with people who don't really want to meet them to be both funny and misguided

alanctgardner2• 14 years ago

I guess the idea is that non-technical founders' role revolves around persuasion and negotiation. They typically handle the business end, which involves substantial networking, promotion, customer acquisition, etc. Knowing people works for a while, but once you've tapped out your social network, where do you turn?

I would argue that a founder with domain knowledge isn't 'non-technical'. I know traditionally that term refers to people who don't code, but if I was working on an earthquake detector, a seismologist would be a technical founder, even if they didn't code a thing. Same with mathematicians. Domain knowledge in non-science/maths areas is harder to divide, but I would say there's as much weight behind saying a non-technical founder focuses on business dev as saying a technical founder focuses on code.

loceng• 14 years ago

Never be waiting around for something to happen.. That's what hustling is.

asanwal• 14 years ago

"Business guys" are people who can make business happen, i.e. make sales, strike partnerships, raise financing, etc.

What is described in this article are neither "business guys" or founders but hapless/clueless "idea people" - of which the startup community attracts a lot since it's much better to say "I'm working on a tech startup" than to say "I'm unemployed".

As a general rule of business, avoiding clueless, unmotivated, wind-bag'ish people is a good rule - "business guys" or otherwise.

teamlaft• 14 years ago

Couldn't agree more. What separates an "idea person" from a potential true entrepreneur, is that in order to find a technical co-founder they would begin doing everything else to make their product a reality. Things from having a detailed idea of how their product should work, to preparing mockups and wireframes, to writing website/app copy, etc that you can hand off to your developer and say "Build this"

kevin_morrill• 14 years ago

I agree with most of what Patrick is saying here.

One thing I'd add is that it's not just the non-technical founders job to do a great communicator that can get people to do things. A CTO needs to be able to do this to recruit a team and get them moving forward.

Minimum Viable Hustle

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