alt Hacker NewsI've been a "shipper," all my adult life.
It's always been my job to Make Things Happen, as opposed to "Make Things Look Like They're Happening."
A lot of "Making Things Happen" is boring and un-sexy, but absolutely crucial.
I'm always surprised, when I run into folks that are awesome at schmoozing and getting folks to come to the party (I'm not so good at that stuff), and may be extremely creative and talented, but lack the follow-through, to make their dreams a reality.
It's usually when folks like that, team up with folks like me, that magic happens. Rarely, you have it in one person.
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The key piece to that is creativity. I've encountered a fair few people who basically just have the sales nous and the cash, like the Silicon Valley version of "I've got an idea for an app," but the money isn't put to good use in building an effective team and you essentially have to bring all of the vision, direction and creativity to the table so the founder can take the credit and cash out on it all a few years later.
The other side of that is when the startup struggles, it's the product and eng team's fault and not the founder's. This is fine if it's clear up-front that they're just bankrolling the op and not actually leading it.
> I've been a "shipper," all my adult life.
Have you just always been one (say, for as long as you can think) or did you become one? In the latter case, I'd be very interested in hearing your story of how that happened if you don't mind sharing it. :)