Minimum Viable Skills
In startups, a minimum viable team consists of an engineer (to build the product) and a marketer or salesperson (to distribute the product).
But let’s look at this one level deeper. Instead of just talking about job titles, let’s see what skills are needed:
Frontend engineering, to build the web frontend.
Mobile engineering, to build the mobile frontend.
Backend engineering, to build the backend.
DevOps, to run a reliable backend.
UX, to build something that users are delighted to use. This needs to be polished, like what a professional designer can design, because people judge the product by how polished it is 1.
Product, to decide whom to build for, what to build, building it, and measuring how it’s doing.
Marketing, to generate demand for your product.
Sales, if it’s an enterprise product or service.
Operations, if you’re doing something with atoms, not just bits.
Fundraising: investors expect so much that meeting their expectations is a job in itself 2.
When you interview someone, look at the above list and ask if the candidate checks a box in the above list that is currently unchecked. Instead of starting with a theoretical notion of an ideal engineer, and rejecting people who are missing that, which amounts to rejecting people based on weaknesses, hire based on strengths. For example, if a candidate applies to a backend engineer position, and is bad at backend, check if he has any other skills that you need, like DevOps. As another example, if a frontend engineer is medium-quality as an engineer, but can design an excellent UX, you could consider him for a hybrid frontend engineer-designer role. You don’t want to let cross-functional people fall through the cracks between your rigid job ladders.
Conversely, a single person can bring in two skills, like a full-stack engineer.
You can also use minimum viable skills to recognise whom to hire. For example, if you’re missing marketing skills, you could be open to hiring a Product Marketing Manager.
I decided not to start a startup as a solo founder, since I don’t have the minimum viable skills.
People are not alike despite their job title. That’s why you need to peel the onion one layer deeper, list the skills you need, and the skills you have, identify the gaps, and work towards filling them.
Even in B2B, given that B2B users today demand consumer-quality tools.
One competent founder I know got a cofounder on board just for fundraising.