tech-company, productI can remember I asked a question about:
how much it costs to create a flash memory company?
In electronics.stackexchange, but every one said, forget it, first go to university and do electronics course then you can think about this, etc. Also when I searched about this, I saw there were other topics like my topic with these similar answers!
But when I asked:
Should a manager knows more than others in their company/specially technically?
In startup.stackexchange, all comments said absolutely not! you only must know the common things about that business and know the market, etc.
So I am very confused here! I see many successful companies that those funder were inventors of their first products(Gates in microsoft, wozniak in apple, brin/page in google, larison in oracle, etc)
And also I can see there are other companies that they’re funder are more businessman instead of engineer! But I think first group are more successful(at least in IT field).
By the way, I want to know, if someone likes to create a factory, from simpler things like mobile accessories to more complex things like smartphone, laptop and tablet) what qualifications is needed for the funder?
Nowadays we can see many many many Chinese products. are their company funders engineers or what? I heard many of them are in home garages but don’t know is this true or not?
I like to know how someone can make a factory?
But when I asked:
Should a manager knows more than others in their company/specially technically?
In startup.stackexchange, all comments said absolutely not! you only must know the common things about that business and know the market, etc.
That’s not exactly the answer you got. What the answer says is you need to know enough about this or that topic to be able to assess whether whoever you hired is delivering as expected or not.
It also says that, as a strictly business type of person, you should be looking for someone who a) knows how to manage techies first and foremost and b) knows enough about tech to hire the right techies. If you do that, you’ll be better off than if you try to hire techies yourself. (Plus, techies often hate having a business type as their boss.)
But I think first group [techie founders] are more successful (at least in IT field).
Wozniak would probably have gotten nowhere if Jobs hadn’t convinced him to work with him. He’s a wonderful person, no doubt, but I’m suspicious that he’d have made a good salesperson.
Gates, a techie type who was interested in pancake flipping among other topics, had Ballmer at his side - a purely business-driven animal that grew revenue relentlessly (arguably to the point of putting the company’s future in jeopardy) when he took over.
Nowadays we can see many many many Chinese products. are their company funders engineers or what?
Might be; or not. China is a big place. But do keep context in mind for perspective.
China is, like the US was a few decades ago, a major industrial hub. Your suppliers are literally all nearby. Need a new batch of custom screws? Pick up your phone and some arrive within the hour. Need 100 new production engineers and 10k rank and file workers? Put things in motion and get them within a week. There were a few articles going around a few years back on why Apple wasn’t going to bring manufacturing back to the US anytime soon - these were the reasons.
The only two countries that have comparably concentrated industries nowadays are Germany and Japan - but neither have the scale you get from having a billion workers around.
The hypothesized 4th industrial revolution (that is, 3d printing-based; the first three were based on coal, oil, and transistors) might change this, if it fulfills its promise to turn logistics under its head.
China also has a lot of family-based help when setting up businesses. Plus corruption on occasion.
By the way, I want to know, if someone likes to create a factory, from simpler things like mobile accessories to more complex things like smartphone, laptop and tablet) what qualifications is needed for the funder?
(I’m assuming you mean founder.)
Why would you want to do set up your own factory? There are companies like Foxconn that will quite literally set up and run the factory for you. What they need on their end is specs.
What you need in practice is a market to sell to, and well a understood process to produce what you’d like to sell. This is as true for industrial goods as it is for services (including manufacturing as a service or providing VC funding) and IT goods.
The decision to produce in-house or to outsource from there is strategic first and foremost - it entirely depends on what you’re up to. As Boeing, for instance, the last thing you’d want to do is outsource designing wings. (Which, for the anecdote, they did… to Japanese companies, who went on to sell their know-how to Chinese manufacturers. It’ll come to no surprise for those who follow if Boeing goes bust in a few decades because of the latter.)
Anyway, back to your question: if you’re business savvy, look for a technical cofounder, and if relevant for other cofounders with whatever other skills might be missing. If you’re tech savvy, look for a business cofounder, and if relevant other cofounders with whatever other skills might be missing; and so forth.
There’s no magic bullet. Play your strength, and associate yourself with people who are strong where you’re weak.
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