Do you need a business co-founder?

Or: Is your startup’s first priority reducing market or technology risk?

Suppose you have developed a technological innovation. And something is driving you to start a company around it. But you’ve been trained as a scientist, surely it would be better to get someone with business experience on board as a co-founder, right? And you’ve heard plenty of accelerators, grantors1 or investors even make it a requirement before they support you.

I’d like to question that. Market and customer-oriented thinking are certainly key to startup success but in what format and at what stage you get such skills on board might depend a lot on your specific case. Just finding a person with a business degree or a certain number of years of industry experience is not a catch-all solution.

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