"I have absolutely no idea what non-developers do at startups"
Disclaimer: developer at technology companies.
Well, they'd better know how to sell, and sell well, if they want to get a job in a lean business that simply doesn't have room for people who aren't contributing directly to the bottom line. Another position is that of business development. Soft skill, but really necessary to provide pre and post sales support when the company becomes large enough that the CEO/COO can no longer handhold each partner/client/vendor.
In my experience, marketing/hr/low-level product are always promotions given to the poor bastard who spent a year faking it as the office manager.
The last VC-backed startup I worked at, the marketing people were 3 Harvard MBAs that kept the sales people away from the developers, and they helped us figure out what product features were most relevant to implement. They also got us the latest and greatest sample ASICs.
That makes sense if you're not a technology-only company (see disclaimer).
The space is probably/could be crowded and they're going to need some sharp assets to get the word out and obtain customers, but in my case where every sale incurs more work from engineering, one has to balance it out or else we'll end up with a bunch of over-eager sales people signing low-end deals and a couple of angry, burned-out developers perusing HN wondering how their hacker dreams turned into biz dev nightmare.
Actually, we were a technology company. We developed embedded systems for RFID/ NFC technology to sell and license to OEMs. Firmware for DSPs and MCUs is some of the harder technology I've been involved with. I'm not sure I understand your point.
FYI, ASIC stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit.
Again, it all depends on the maturity of the startup in question, the market and the need for highly-paid non-technical people whose contributions can bring home the bacon. If they don't, then they're just a drain on resources or could just be there to prop up the appearance of success in the eyes of the market or investors.
Did Dick Cheney actually run Halliburton or was he there to steer business to the firm? I think empirical evidence would point to the later. So when you do look around and wonder what exactly it is this person does in relation to their job title/description, there may be more than meets the eye and in personal experience nepotism has a lot to do with their presence as sometimes it's just hard to finding the candidate that's a perfect fit and you may have to just hire someone you know and hope they grow into the role.
I understand that a lot of people who read HN are young and tech-focused, but there's a lot more to it than landing a job at a hot startup out of school and the more one understands about their environment and how to apply their skills appropriately, the easier it'll be for them to succeed.
Disclaimer: developer at technology companies.
Well, they'd better know how to sell, and sell well, if they want to get a job in a lean business that simply doesn't have room for people who aren't contributing directly to the bottom line. Another position is that of business development. Soft skill, but really necessary to provide pre and post sales support when the company becomes large enough that the CEO/COO can no longer handhold each partner/client/vendor.
In my experience, marketing/hr/low-level product are always promotions given to the poor bastard who spent a year faking it as the office manager.