I'm on a 2+1+1 team: 2 hard core techs, 1 manager (but with a serious tech background), 1 sales/marketing/bizdev/business intelligence person.
The sales/marketing person has made connection with all the right people in the industry, has generated a huge interest in our product, has gotten some RFQs running, and has mapped the competitive landscape better than any of us techs could do. (Especially since we are busy coding) - things that you wouldn't necessary look at, such as - who are the key decision makers with a customer organization, what are their internal conflicts and pain points.
Do not underestimate the value of a good bizdev / bizint / sales / marketing person (bbsm).
That said, it is much harder to evaluate the capabilities of such a person -- even for people who do that well -- than it is for a tech guy to evaluate the capabilities of another tech guy. So not every bbsm person is worth their weight in some precious metal - but some (including ours, luckily), do.
So far, he's been putting the team together (we didn't all know each other before we started), working on funding, some strategic alliances, budget plans, g&a stuff, door openers.
And he also does some technical stuff when he has the time.
He is not a "manager" in the sense of making a plan for others to follow. Maybe at this point "organizer" and "facilitator" is a better description. But the usual title for this is manager / CEO. Regardless, even at this stage (for our kind of market) it is almost a full time job on its own.
The sales/marketing person has made connection with all the right people in the industry, has generated a huge interest in our product, has gotten some RFQs running, and has mapped the competitive landscape better than any of us techs could do. (Especially since we are busy coding) - things that you wouldn't necessary look at, such as - who are the key decision makers with a customer organization, what are their internal conflicts and pain points.
Do not underestimate the value of a good bizdev / bizint / sales / marketing person (bbsm).
That said, it is much harder to evaluate the capabilities of such a person -- even for people who do that well -- than it is for a tech guy to evaluate the capabilities of another tech guy. So not every bbsm person is worth their weight in some precious metal - but some (including ours, luckily), do.