And frankly, I can only code for so long before getting bored, and losing interest. But when I'm marketing, brainstorming partnerships, and discussing potential leads with a company -- i'm in my element, and loving it. I never get tired of it.
There's nothing wrong with what you enjoy doing - it's very valuable to have someone good at it - but there is a difference between a good sales/marketing guy and a good founder, just like there's a difference between a good programmer and a good founder.
I believe that it's just as valuable (i'm not going to say 'if not more')
I guess that's why proven coders and proven commission salespeople (and proven accountants) can always find jobs, while "big picture" folks are left unemployed, wondering why companies can't see their brilliance. Or, if they're lucky, they sue Zuckerberg because he was able to do make an actual product which never got past the great-idea-over-beer phase for them.
(Ducks...)
Specifically, it's much more true in consumer than B2B. In B2B, biz dev is building partnerships, channels, distribution, obtaining resources you need at prices you can afford, all that good stuff. It's the absolute engine of your business.
If you're writing a B2C app, doesn't matter about the platform, then what biz is there to dev? In a similar sense, you need marketers, not salesmen, because your problem is getting a call-to-action out to your potential market as effectively and efficiently as possible. You can't do that door-to-door at scale.
But if you're doing enterprise software, the converse is true. You need biz dev to shape your proposition, and you need a sales force to go and hammer down doors and melt the copper in the phonelines.
Different problems, different solutions, different solvers, that's all.
We spent months and months building a business plan, doing market research, talking about our IP, our proprietary processes, etc. When talking to all the investors we met while in the Notre Dame McCloskey Business Competition, we were basically informed the business plan wasn't worth the paper it was printed on, we had no IP, and the reason investors won't sign an NDA on your idea is that an idea isn't worth shit. When I actually started building something, when we got the land needed for the other part of our business, and when we had substance (not just words); that's when they listened, offered us money, and things started to work out.
Edit: reading your other replies, it doesn't really sound like we're disagreeing.
I'm learning a lot of mechanical engineering stuff from my co-founders that's critical to understanding why our product will or won't work.
As far as passion is concerned, you should be passionate about the whole thing - from start to finish! I want to know the why, how, and what behind my products.
I appreciate your reply, and I agree with you.
That is what I thought too before writing. Let me tell you you don't understand it, my friend.
Edit: That was not a smart comment from me. Let me rephrase it. If you can read and understand it, then writing it should be less hard for you.
That's because it's not all fun and games. It's hard work, and the most important part of an internet startup.
I do front-end development, and I can read backend code, I just can't write it!
The people at the top have to be willing to do whatever it takes, whether they're "passionate" about it or not.