Chopped Liver?

Stanford Researchers have completed a Study which shows that technical people are just adept if not more so in start ups. The summary is:

New research on entrepreneurship shows that diverse business skills are not always the secret to success in the world of tech start-ups. While different strengths matter sometimes, researchers found that a tech-focused founding team is almost always best. ...

The research revealed that a technically focused team can more quickly reach market milestones, from design and prototype completion – all the way to product launch. On the other hand, more diverse founding teams are better prepared to compete against mature companies, which similarly have well-established diverse skills in areas like marketing, operations, sales, engineering and other skills.

 It is good that this is now known to the Business School Academics. After all, if one looks outside the Stanford Campus there lies Silicon Valley.

But wait, my sarcasm may be not on point. Again I am reminded of my students a few years ago remarking after a dinner with a MIT PhD CEO that they did not know that a MIT PhD could start and run his own company. They believed they needed to get a Harvard Law or Business person. My response was, "What do I look like, chopped liver?"

That also may have been a bit much, since I have no idea how that transliterates to Mandarin. Now the issue of competing against large mature companies may also be best done by technical entrepreneurs. Evidence also demonstrates this as well. The Business types will develop strategies whereas the Technical types will just attack at the weakest points.

The problem is that all too often the Technical types get too entrenched and secure and/or the Business types take over. The classic example of both happening was DEC. A great company but it just grew mold.