Inventor or salesperson? The best entrepreneurs are both.

http://thebln.com/2009/04/inventor-or-salesperson-the-best-are-both/

by pclark • 17 years ago

11 5 17 years ago

jonmc12• 17 years ago

The notion of an inventor is over-generalized in this article. There is a continuum of complexity in invention.

If you invent clever, non-complex products like the Chop-o-matic, or the Sham-wow, then sure, sell it yourself. Hopefully this product concept came from a well identified, easily sellable customer problem to start with, and you became resourceful enough to engineer the thing because you already had a sales channel in mind. This makes you a resourceful salesman, and you better be because that is the only competitive advantage.

However, if your invention is more complex, say an algorithm for linking pages together, or a peer-peer communication protocol, you had better find someone that actually knows how to commercialize technology. Because competitive advantage relies on being the best innovation or engineer, this version of inventor is solely focused on the innovation and invention of technology and needs to find the sales expertise elsewhere.

quoderat• 17 years ago

In other words, sometimes a Steve Wozniak needs a Steve jobs.

david927• 17 years ago

So the best bands/musicians are their own best fans and agent? The best artists? No. That's silly.

But this is, for startup, obnoxious reality. Those who raise funding are not the ones with the best technology -- but instead the ones who play the "raising funds" game the best. Which is why you see businesses raise seed rounds and Series B rounds who simply have no reason for existence. Anyone outside of Silicon Valley rolls their eyes at them, while the next Google sits idle, unfunded.

ldeva• 17 years ago

I think if the inventor has sales skills that would be helpful.

smwhreyebelong• 17 years ago

Also, in some cases, the inventor / creator might miss a huge opportunity which other resourceful salesmen might see.

Take the example of fingerworks. They were making touchpads, touch-keyboards, etc before Apple came along and used that technology to create one of the most popular products in the market right now : the iPhone

Inventor or salesperson? The best entrepreneurs are both.

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