Is it more important to be a techie or a businessman?

It's a good question. Clearly this business is more technical than many others, so being grounded in the technical skills helps.

I think a large part will come down to budget. The reality is that these days you can outsource many tasks at a very competitive rate (yes, I know quality can be an issue). Given that, I suspect being an excellent marketeer and business business will give you an upper edge over a "techie", provided you have the ability (and budget) to outsource the technical tasks.

It is more important to be business minded and not technical, you can pay people to do the technical stuff for cheap, as one off outsourced jobs or on a more permanent basis, as long as you can understand what your business is about and what is needed to make it a success.

Quick example Richard Branson doesn't know how to keep Aeroplanes maintained and flying, but he runs one of the worlds biggest airlines, he employs people at the top who know what departments are needed and they employ the mechanics and other staff to deliver the services they provide.

He wanted to give the best airline service, so found the people to help him do it.

No your not wrong.
You actually hit on the same thoughts I have had for years. There always seems to be talents in one skill or the other.
A prime example would be an SEO with a good idea on a new linking strategy. But being unable to automate and streamline it. Perhaps to create a world beating product out of it.
And then there's the Coder. Who has no idea about SEO or Marketing. And throws software together from random comments he finds on forums. Only in the hope something will stick and be successful.

That is why We find so many software's that each do single tasks. And never a complete hands free package. Without someone sitting over their shoulder to say "No Stop. It needs to do this" or after that "it needs to do that". We end up with whole bunch of software. That do a whole bunch of nothing.

Forcing the marketer or SEO to combine and use several software's or processes to do one job.

Put me in a room with 10 adept coders, and I will give you the world and everything in it.

In my opinion it's much more important to have a mindset of a business man, there's usually no way around that. Even if you're a techie you need it.

There are of course exceptions but, a business oriented person will survive and make more money more often in any environment.

Generally speaking I would say the two characters are often very different.

You cannot be one or the other. It will not work. You need a keen eye for both the technological side of things as well as seeing it as a business.

Techies will be employees, business men are those that employ!

If you're both, and like to get your hands dirty in all aspects of your business - that's great!

Regards,
Dan

First you will have to understand business. When you have understood business once, you can be technical then.

Like any other businesses it is important to have both. Though not all people are equal when it comes to skills, and very few have excelled in both it shouldn't stop you from achieving more. Think of restaurant owners, not all successful owners are chefs but there are also chefs owners but are basically delegating managerial tasks to their more capable staffs. In that sense, analyze your skills, which venue are you more efficient? Are you willing to outsource some tasks? See, both aspects are important but are not constant detrimental to your success.

A marketer and business-person, I think.

Techie stuff can be outsourced. Marketing and business skills not so easily (if at all).

I think it's one of the reasons.

Not just "this business", though: that's probably true of most forms of attempted self-employment, and for roughly the reasons you're probably thinking of?

That said, outsourcing "techie stuff" is a skill-set all of its own, and some understanding, knowledge and experience of what one's outsourcing clearly makes the outsourcing process easier and more successful, overall: it's much easier to outsource things you can do than things you can't.

As initially a total non-techie, it took me over 3 years to do, but I've now built up enough of a working knowledge of the "techie stuff" to have a very clear and practical perception of the three subdivisions of the "techie stuff" I'm ever likely to need: (a) things it's better to learn myself and do myself; (b) things it's better to learn just enough about to be able to outsource them successfully and supervise attentively; and (c) things I really don't want to spend my time learning anything about at all, that I simply have to outsource "by recommendation", hope for the best about and learn sometimes to expect the worst (mercifully a very small group of things). Of course, with outsourcing, the more experience you have of it, the more you develop the necessary outsourcing skills to increase the chances of successful outcomes, and the more the contacts you gradually build up, which also helps.

But broadly I share your perspective.

Truth is, as a shrewd business man you will be able to spot, recognize good deals and take positive actions towards success and techy can be outsourced like what Alexa mentioned up above.

While the techy guy knows it all and willing to learn but i can't vouch for implementing it.

In my opinion, it's better if you are both a business and techy man..

There's definitely an advantage to be able to do the finishing touch and correct/improve where the person hired to do the job has not done it right or good enough.

BUT ... the drawback to DIY is that you most likely don't spend your time wisely and focus on the things that makes the most money.

It's very easy to end up doing techie stuff that has little value.

WOW! Speak against corporate america if you must, but you guys are no different from corporate america in this respect. It is like you sell a book on calculus and can't add 2 and 2.

OK, you don't need to know EVERYTHING about ANYTHING. Not even about BUSINESS! HECK, NOBODY does! But if you know NOTHING about technology, GOOD LUCK! You will end up spending maybe MILLIONS more for something that you didn't even need in the first place. Sadly, I am NOT exaggerating. I have actually seen such things first hand.

Oh well. At least those that don't have millions in credit will be forced to lose less, unless they just go bankrupt.

Think you can outsource it? THINK AGAIN! WHERE do you think those millions went? Without knowing enough, you have but TWO questions to answer when you outsource? WHY? and TO WHOM?

Oh well, I have seen companies with over 100 years and BILLIONS under their belts that didn't seem to be able to answer those two questions. Just recently, I saw one person that was hired for one thing, and they found they didn't need that, but another thing. They paid him for months. The same company made similar mistakes with me. Just those two minor examples for that one company cost 100s of thousands.

Steve

Everybody seems to say businessman in this thread... but I am not sure I understand what they mean. While I agree that having strategy is important, I seem to see lots of people around here that call themselves business men who just go from one strategy or tactic to another and never accomplish anything. Also, there are a few "techies" that have done pretty well in the world... A fellow named Gates comes to mind. As well as a couple guys at Stanford that came up with the whole Google machine So... the truth is it depends.

To be a businessman minded id the most important thing in this industry, because you can outsource all of your techie tasks.

Businessman, obviously.

Technology matters in IM, but in general, all the technology you need can be bought cheap. You don't need to know how to program or even use HTML, just buy the software that lets you do everything drag and drop, or outsource to a guy on elance.

The most important skills in IM are business, writing, public speaking (for sales videos), and maybe video editing.

Businessman!!! Look at Steve Jobs, he knew enough about the technical side to get by, but his real skill was being a visionary and making others believe in that vision (ie salesmanship)!

Be the captain of your ship and know how to hire/fire fast. Surround yourself with competent people that help make your ideas a reality.

Only catch is, you need a foundation level of competency to understand who you need to hire and if they truly have the skills to help you. So you have to know a little about a lot, then hire those that are highly skilled in a specific area!!

Hope that helps,
Azu.

A businessman.

You can always hire a techie.

Business man for sure, more precisely a visionary, you can always hire someone to do programming for you but business mentality, vision, drive is something that cannot be "hired" but cultivated.

I'm far more knowledgeable tech wise, but I've learned a great deal of the business side as well.

While I believe that businessmen will probably go farther, knowing both is what will get you beyond that.

If you go into this business with just technical skills then you will shot yourself in the foot, you will very quickly find yourself working in the business rather than on your business.

I think technical skills are a must, since you will need to be able to determined quality. If you outsource you will know that you will constantly be checking for quality so you will need a firm understanding of what to look for.

Frank Kern puts tech on the bottom of the list for importance.

Frank Kern presents "The State Of The Internet"

Become a good salesman, and you'll be unstoppable.

Usually you'll find us techies are pretty intuitive and can pick up IM pretty fast.

A businessman hands down. Be a techie if you want to work in web design or programming.

Well off course being a businessman is much much more better than just being a techy. A few reasons I would like to mention are:

* You are your own boss, so no pushing around!

* By being a businessman, you are actually for your own success unlike being just a techie where you would be working for someone else's success. So this is a huge plus, seriously!

* The limit is virtually unlimited because there are unlimited business oppurtunities out there. So you just need to play smart (and some fundings off course :-) ).

* No mandatory work hours, just work as much as you believe is enough for your business.

* All the creative ideas are in your power so you can do anything you believe is gonna do good to your business.

* Once again, you are your own BOSS! Man, I freakin' love this one ;-)

So thats it buddy. Although there is more risk with this route, and chances of success are less, but believe me its still worth it because if you keep working hard enough and dont just give up, you will be successful someday.