Unfortunately all these discussions are too filled with obnoxious generalizations to be useful. In my experience good business people are rare and when you find them you should keep them. I am a science PhD with my own company and my first business development person (MBA dropout - employee number 5) is worth his weight in gold. He brought a customer focus and an outward orientation that few hackers are capable of. On the flip side, I have found some of my hackers to be prima-donnas who think they are special just because they know functional programming.
The real discussion should be about how to find the right business person for your startup. Here is what I look for:
1> outgoing but pleasant to be around, 2> good listener, 3> cares about technical details, is curious, 4> has a broad range of interests, 5> has geek/hacker friends,
6> can conceptualize a business as a systems problem.
Erik and his rant and the emotional charge that he touched is a real phenomenon about which many hackers feel strongly. I agree that a practical discussion is how to work together in a business, but dismissing or discrediting the discussion with an anecdotal counter example doesn't add or address any new ideas.
And I agree that there are many generalizations, and I purposely avoided hedging language to pad them. They do not apply to everyone in all cases, which is why they are generalizations. If you could argue that these generalizations are false or that it is false that they are widely held ---that could be interesting.
The real discussion should be about how to find the right business person for your startup. Here is what I look for: 1> outgoing but pleasant to be around, 2> good listener, 3> cares about technical details, is curious, 4> has a broad range of interests, 5> has geek/hacker friends, 6> can conceptualize a business as a systems problem.