100%! As an ex founder from a product management background myself I understand the magical allure of the possibility that customers will love my product and it won’t need any sales and marketing. My ego (and the egos of your engineering friends) is very closely tied to my pride in what I’ve built. And many people with an engineering mindset believe that sales and marketing preys on the weak and emotional; that they are immune to marketing and sales.

“Believe me,” I tell them. “You, and I, and everybody else is influenced by marketing and salespeople. We just don’t realise it when it’s done really well.”