There is a myth among Silicon Valley startups that they need a product-focused founder to succeed – Facebook has Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter has Jack Dorsey, and Dropbox has Drew Houston.
But Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang doesn’t believe this to be true. In a discussion with BetterWorks CEO Kris Duggan, Jerry said he thinks it’s more important to choose your strenghts, whether its sales or product skills, and make them better.
I think the Valley has the idea that, if you don’t have the great Mark Zuckerberg product technology founder, you’re not going to be great. I totally disagree with that. At the end of the day, a great sales company will do great. A great technology company will do great.
To give greater credence to his belief, Yang said Cisco is built around a great sales culture while Alibaba’s Jack Ma is best-known for his emphasis on building trust and partnerships. Even Apple’s Steve Jobs wasn’t known for his technical skills.
Since leaving Yahoo in 2012, Yang has become a private invester, primariy focussed on early stage startups.
Jerry YangWhat I say to a lot of our companies is, ‘Pick what makes you strong. Pick your strength and build around it. There’s no right or wrong.