I am very interested in startups and business and its components (sales, marketing, finance, legal aspects, innovation) but am not into coding and hacking and so forth. So I am wondering if there is room on start ups founding teams for business people?
I think technical skills are highly over-rated, whether it is programming or mechanical design. The most important ingredient for a successful startup is an insight into a set of problems experienced by a large enough population of potential customers that are currently unsolved and that they are willing to pay money to relieve the pain, even if it means that they might risk their career buying from an unproven startup. If they have identify such an opportunity, you can find technical talents which are highly interchangeable.
<i>"... Can a startup entrepreneur not be a coder? ..."</i><p>Yes. Mitch Kapor was underestimated and you can use this to your advantage. He was seen as a novice non-tech in his Startup, recognised this & profited from it. Read about Mitch Kapor ~ <a href="http://www.kapor.com/bio/" rel="nofollow">http://www.kapor.com/bio/</a> and I've written more about this here: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/2296168310/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/2296168310/</a>
If you've really got a handle on the business side of things and you're a great people person, I'd say yeah.<p>Even if you're not actually coding, you can provide ideas and feedback.
Yes. Your startup doesn't _have_ to be in tech. We have two founders, me (tech, business, sales), and kasey (graphic designer (UX), marketer, sales, evangelism, business, etc) And that's just how it works us, and we're in tech.
In my case, there was room because there's a significant non-technical component to the business. So, my co-founder is a business person. She handles that side of the business, and I do the technical.
yes, if you have connections and an idea that comes from your experience which could be crucial for success, but joining an existing team maybe it's harder if there is not even a product yet...