Well that brings up the flip side of the situation. Out of the types of roles you need to run a software business, what ones can you outsource? I can outsource my initial design to a site like themeforest, accounting to an accountant, marketing to a marketing company, sales can be outsourced to a form on the site, and the coding can definitely be outsourced.
I've found the only thing that's very hard to outsource is product management because you lose control over the product. Sales might be a close second if your product needs direct sales, but then I'd ask why you need software in the first place?
But, think about it. MBAs spend years learning all of the other aspects of running a business. They learn the basics of marketing, sales, economics, accounting, and management because that's part of the business. Why is it then such a stretch that learning basic software skills is needed to run a software business?
Especially when it is really not that hard to learn. I teach 11 year old kids, 30 year old rock stars, and 60 year old grandparents to do it. I'm sure a smart MBA type could spend a few months learning at least that much.
So you definitely need someone with 'hustle' to go find a market, and you definitely need a coder to build the product. I'd argue that having the same person do both of these things means that there is (a) a higher probability that the solution can actually be implemented as software and (b) that the software will actually work as expected by the customers. (Zed, I suspect that the Product Management role you mentioned might encapsulate these skills.)
A business founder might know how to code but at the end of the day, he/she is less of a coder than that "technical founder". Same way that the technical coder could go out and sell product but the business founder is probably the one better able to do it. It's about respecting what each founder brings to the table and using that to move forward. If they can deliver value, there's no reason to waste any time on proving who is more important.
I've found the only thing that's very hard to outsource is product management because you lose control over the product. Sales might be a close second if your product needs direct sales, but then I'd ask why you need software in the first place?
But, think about it. MBAs spend years learning all of the other aspects of running a business. They learn the basics of marketing, sales, economics, accounting, and management because that's part of the business. Why is it then such a stretch that learning basic software skills is needed to run a software business?
Especially when it is really not that hard to learn. I teach 11 year old kids, 30 year old rock stars, and 60 year old grandparents to do it. I'm sure a smart MBA type could spend a few months learning at least that much.