Will the Next Zuckerberg Be a Designer, not a Hacker?

I really like the notion of a trifecta--"a tech lead, a designer, and a business hustler". I think that when you have smart people with complimentary skill sets that can work together eloquently, you have a better chance of delivering a quality product with fewer revisions and rewrites.

I'm not sure it makes a difference whether the initial idea comes from a designer or a hacker or a business person. I think that to deliver successfully, a company eventually needs all three, but the initial idea is just an idea. I see no reason why hackers would be favored over designers or anyone else. I think a fund to help designers fund their ideas is a great thing.

The best designers (in video games at least) I've worked with have had a deep understanding of the underlying technology. The others were basically concept artists forever limited by the 'hackers' at their disposal with no hope of challenging the tech people around them.

Many 'hackers' are not enablers for designers. They don't see themselves as a service providers but a god who, if he wants to, brings other peoples designs alive.

While it's possible that the 'next big thing' on the web could come from a designer I'd wager it's more likely to come from a designer that can code or a coder that can design. While the technology is now easier than ever to grasp and design is leading the way I don't think it's at the stage where a designer alone can make it work.