Following up on the earlier article about why it's hard to find a technical cofounder, here's another one by Eric Hellman in the same vein with some specific advice for would-be "business guys", namely that they need to show that they can deliver results before looking for a partner:
- If you really have sales chops, then you already have a customer ready to sign a check.
- If you have fund-raising chops, then you've already raised a nice pot of money.
- If you really have marketing chops, then you can make the idea sound irresistible, even though it's worth nothing and you'll change it completely six months into the company!
- Product management chops are more complicated, and some nice posts by Vinicius Vacanti and Kate Ray are relevant there. Being a good product manager means you have hands-on understanding of many issues, including domain expertise and technology. If you really have product management chops, then you should be able to define a minimum viable product that's so simple even you can implement a demo version, or perhaps a first iteration of the product, if you're willing to put some skin into it. It's not that hard.
In practice, it all boils down to the fact that the person that anyone is most likely to want to join forces with is one who doesn't really need them in order to build a successful business.
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