[smallerfish]

My father in law (who had a successful exit back in the 90s with an actual silicon business) is a strong advocate of engineer startup CEOs. ~"Non tech people aren't going to learn technology; it's very doable for a tech person to learn necessary sales and finance skills."

Having spent the last N years with sales cofounders, I wish I'd taken that advice on board earlier. (Though, there's certainly value in learning sales from skilled practitioners.)

[long_time_gone]

An assumption seemingly embedded in this comment is that technical people can learn sales, but sales people can't learn technology.

It would be interesting to unpack that concept with actual data.

[jimbokun]

> "Non tech people aren't going to learn technology; it's very doable for a tech person to learn necessary sales and finance skills."

I think this is a good summary of the initial Y Combinator investment philosophy.