Column: Being the business monkey

My first idea when reviving the UNC Computer Science Club was to “group idea-makers with people who could make those ideas happen.”

This phrase should have never gone beyond a mission statement. As a sophomore, I met with one of these “idea people” in hopes of partnering him up with a programmer. He wanted to make a Facebook app that could psychologically analyze profiles — an idea so brilliant he would only tell me about it over lunch. So, could I find someone to create this?

No one would bite, it turned out, and I shrugged him off when he messaged me with two more of his ventures in a week. I approached “idea people” differently afterward, usually running in to two or three a semester. All of them were fully prepared to give a programmer 15 percent equity of a nonexistent tech company.

“It has the potential to be the next Facebook.”

“I need a team of dedicated mobile app developers.”

“No, I won’t tell you what my idea is. Intellectual property something something.”

Tech is at the center of the most famous startups in recent years, and a lot of up-and-coming entrepreneurs want to be a part of that.

This is natural. But too often they do not think, “I will learn how to make it,” but rather, “I will find a code monkey.”

Tech companies are not founded by “idea people.” All of the 23 Fortune 500 tech companies founded after 1975 were founded by people with backgrounds in engineering or inventing — those who personally worked on the company’s initial tech product.

All of Business Insider’s “20 Silicon Valley Startups to Look Out For in 2011” were either founded by coders or experienced tech executives who had enough money and clout to make it happen. Foursquare’s founder spent years seeking a code monkey before finally opening a book to teach himself.

Coding is an exponential learning process, and the atmosphere of intimidation that surrounds it is a problem. It’s hard, but this is being countered with efforts to make coding accessible. Nationally, there’s Udacity and Codecademy, among others, and UNC’s computer science department is building many support systems for beginners. The ideal attitude is to openly welcome those who want to learn.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to make a tech startup from your dorm room, and you won’t learn to code, that’s an iron door. Kenan-Flagler students might have pet anecdotes against this — something they saw at some startup event, a feel-good blog somewhere on the Internet — but tech companies are made by coders, not businessmen. Coders are the thought leaders behind the origins of these companies, not MBAs. Businessmen are needed to sustain a company later, but a techie does not need a business co-founder. As one guy on the internet put it, “They are not the code monkey. You are the biz monkey.”

Am I saying you shouldn’t think of creative tech ideas? No, but make your ideas happen yourself.