Rather than feeding the ego of a solo founder who wants to play the big chief, I hope this implies forming a cofounder team with equal equity.
Nontechnical founders can't be "idea guys", robotic people managers, or too precious to whatever needs doing. They have to be hustlers first, connected, and making fat stacks with potential customers, partners, and the media. And then, with the other founders, responsible for everything that needs doing and prioritizing in the midst of ambiguity. Always be "parkouring" up the market from one meeting or customer to the next while building product just in time.
Technical cofounders need social skills, resourcefulness, and a hint of business acumen. It's never enough to only be technical. UX, design, FE, BE, ops, budgeting, audit/regulations/compliance/security, disaster recovery/business continuity, technical mentoring, and long-term roadmapping are all important areas to address. Initially, there will be a great deal of dev pain due to a lack of common platform services and tooling. It's important that a technical leader be able to eventually scale up a team that can establish (build or buy) standard practices and tools, divide responsibilities, and delegate.
When in doubt, work with someone you already know and trust because too many people don't or can't act cool when real money appears. There's no magic formula, but there are other cool kids with that twinkle in their eye out there. Honesty and obsessive workaholism seem to help.
Rather than feeding the ego of a solo founder who wants to play the big chief, I hope this implies forming a cofounder team with equal equity.
Nontechnical founders can't be "idea guys", robotic people managers, or too precious to whatever needs doing. They have to be hustlers first, connected, and making fat stacks with potential customers, partners, and the media. And then, with the other founders, responsible for everything that needs doing and prioritizing in the midst of ambiguity. Always be "parkouring" up the market from one meeting or customer to the next while building product just in time.
Technical cofounders need social skills, resourcefulness, and a hint of business acumen. It's never enough to only be technical. UX, design, FE, BE, ops, budgeting, audit/regulations/compliance/security, disaster recovery/business continuity, technical mentoring, and long-term roadmapping are all important areas to address. Initially, there will be a great deal of dev pain due to a lack of common platform services and tooling. It's important that a technical leader be able to eventually scale up a team that can establish (build or buy) standard practices and tools, divide responsibilities, and delegate.
When in doubt, work with someone you already know and trust because too many people don't or can't act cool when real money appears. There's no magic formula, but there are other cool kids with that twinkle in their eye out there. Honesty and obsessive workaholism seem to help.