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Founder

Founder Capabilities

Deep Vertical Knowledge

  • Genuine expertise in a specific industry or vertical
  • Real experience of having "lived and breathed" the space

Storytelling Ability

  • Capacity to craft and push compelling narratives
  • Skill to build and spread memes
  • Ability to rally others around a vision

Leadership Excellence

  • Capability to hire and manage high-performing teams
  • People management remains crucial despite increased technological leverage

Implications

The purely tech focused startup landscape is becoming more challenging because:

  • The barrier to entry through pure technical skills has diminished
  • Entrepreneurs with genuine expertise typically have higher opportunity costs
  • Fewer people may be willing to leave established corporate careers due to the expertise requirements
  • Traditional "cookie cutter" approach of matching young coders with customer discovery no longer suffices

This represents a return to pre-tech business principles, where deep industry knowledge and well-rounded leadership matter more than pure technical skills if a project is to last the test of time.