One case I'm familiar with: The "business guy" went out and sold a pretty sizable contract for the startup...before he actually worked for them.

This sounds like a great story.

Just start hustling? If you bring results, they can't just tell you to go away now, can they?

Edit: Interesting that I got a downvote for saying the equivalent of the other comments here. I should figure out how to be clearer.

It was probably your tone. Phrasing those statements as questions comes across as a bit condescending.

I didn't mind and I think it was a helpful response, but ya, thats probably why.

I was actually questioning myself, since I was just guessing, but you are absolutely right. It does come off that way.

Our business guy introduced himself at a meetup and said he would get us distribution deals on Wii, Xbox, Playstation, Steam. He had meetings set up with all major players within two weeks. He had equity in our company the next week. We had distribution deals a few months after that.

I don't know how that guy did it, but just do stuff.

If the programmer mentions that you're lacking in SEO, show up the next day with a plan to boost SEO rankings. Even better, show up tomorrow and show what you did to boost SEO rankings.

The easiest way to hire yourself is to just start doing stuff that is highly valuable.

The slightly less easy way is to impress somebody every time you open your mouth, and be there when they need somebody.

One way is to start showing business results, before getting hired. Go get sales for the product, figure out a way to reach potential customers and talk to them about the product.

He promised to pull in (much) larger contracts, and delivered on it, without ever being formally hired.