Starting up: Techies, hire CEO to run your company

It’s well documented that less than 25 percent of founders of tech startups are still running their businesses after two years. Why? The same reason that I never pitched for the Yankees: Despite my burning desire, I didn’t have the skill sets.

Move ahead with starting a new business, but don’t cling to running it long-term.

Let me ask you something: If your phone rang today and you discovered that your distant Aunt Sadie had passed away and left you her enormous fortune, would you open up an online trading account and start buying and selling stocks with your inheritance?

I didn’t think so. Neither would I. We’d find an expert money manager we trusted to help us maintain and grow our newfound and valuable assets, right?

It is with this in mind that I find it puzzling that the vast majority of tech entrepreneurs who come up with brilliant ideas, start companies and then decide after getting them off the ground that they’re the best candidate to run and scale those businesses.

Granted, this is a generalization, but most of the great techies whom I’ve met in my career have strikingly similar backgrounds: great engineering talent, insatiable curiosity and an incredible appetite and passion for all types of technologies.

by Mark Solon – Highway 12 Ventures http://www.highway12ventures.com/ – Special to the Idaho Statesman

Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/business/story/546272.html