You don't want clean separation between co-founders. They should overlap in skills and be multi disciplinary.
Having a tech founder that can't talk to customers or a business person that doesn't understand what the company makes or sells is not a great recipe for success. That's two people that probably can't even talk to each other. That's not a team.
I've learned the hard way that being a CTO means I need to talk to customers and it's one of the more important things I do. There's nobody more qualified in the company to explain what we do and how we do it than me. I don't initiate the meetings and I don't close the deals but having access to me is an important part of the process. It reassures the other side that we are bona-fide, can actually solve their problem, and they'll often do the same and bring in operational people on their side in follow up meetings. Once you have direct lines of communication like that, it becomes a lot easier to close the deal.
Also, being exposed to that means I learn what customers need, want and expect. No ivory tower is going to produce that kind of insight. It allows me to adapt to what is needed rather than me trying to imaging what it is they might need based on whatever filtered down version I might get from a business person. There is no substitute for first hand information.
And that works both ways. Business people without a connection to the product aren't very useful. They'll try to sell stuff that isn't there and they'll undersell stuff they don't even know is there. I've seen both happen. If you sell something that isn't there, you set up a deal for failure. You are misrepresenting the product and that's going to cause disappointment. If you don't sell what's there, you shoot yourself in the foot. Especially if it's something the customer would have liked to have. But business people are great for validating product ideas and trying to imagine how the business side would work early on is a good idea.
It really baffles me that people here don't realize that co-founders should be multi-disciplinary, so all should be able to do some kind of (!) business and/or tech part at least. A clear separation of skills would be a red flag for me that this team operates in an outdated mode. It's not 1990 anymore. If you're the business guy but don't value enough or even hate the tech work, I wouldn't believe in the company.
Having a tech founder that can't talk to customers or a business person that doesn't understand what the company makes or sells is not a great recipe for success. That's two people that probably can't even talk to each other. That's not a team.
I've learned the hard way that being a CTO means I need to talk to customers and it's one of the more important things I do. There's nobody more qualified in the company to explain what we do and how we do it than me. I don't initiate the meetings and I don't close the deals but having access to me is an important part of the process. It reassures the other side that we are bona-fide, can actually solve their problem, and they'll often do the same and bring in operational people on their side in follow up meetings. Once you have direct lines of communication like that, it becomes a lot easier to close the deal.
Also, being exposed to that means I learn what customers need, want and expect. No ivory tower is going to produce that kind of insight. It allows me to adapt to what is needed rather than me trying to imaging what it is they might need based on whatever filtered down version I might get from a business person. There is no substitute for first hand information.
And that works both ways. Business people without a connection to the product aren't very useful. They'll try to sell stuff that isn't there and they'll undersell stuff they don't even know is there. I've seen both happen. If you sell something that isn't there, you set up a deal for failure. You are misrepresenting the product and that's going to cause disappointment. If you don't sell what's there, you shoot yourself in the foot. Especially if it's something the customer would have liked to have. But business people are great for validating product ideas and trying to imagine how the business side would work early on is a good idea.