Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside

Silicon Valley startup culture was set when David Packard , an outgoing marketing guy teamed up Bill Hewlett, a quintessential nerd, to start HP in 1930s. That combination of marketing man and and a engineering guy has come to be seen as an ideal team. Marketing guy loudly wonders why somebody hasn't come with this or that widget. There would be a huge market for them. Engineering guy responds by saying really? He can design them in no time. Thus is born a startup.

Like a life's journey, teaming with someone makes entrepreneurial journey easier. It is imperative that they bring complementary skills and temperaments to the party. Optimist/pessimist, salesy/nerdy, dreamer/realist are some of the few combinations that work well. It is much better to have divergent perspectives to develop a three dimensional view of the problem.

Large teams do not not work well as they become unwieldy. Yaar/Dost (friends) teams are not very good as one is not objective about friends. There has to be strong mutual respect for each other but also good protocol on how to resolve disagreements.

There should be a clear division of labor between the team. Typically Mr. Inside makes sure that trains run on time while Mr. Outside make sure that there is traffic to serve.

In my case, Mr. Outside turned to be a dud and I tolerated the lack of performance because we were family friends. We almost went under as a result. I had to assume both roles eventually.