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Im asking this as im not sure whether it is better to have partners, who are good in more than one discipline (eg sales/marketing and development/programming), share their time across departments or choose one and focus on it. Is it even possible to have someone who is good in different disciplines?

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As a startup, you can't afford to hire specialists because experts charge too much. In addition, a startup doesn't have enough specialized tasks to keep them busy all the time but there are many other things that need to be taken care of. Thus, as Scott Disnsmore said, "Hire your generalists and outsource your specialists."

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We're a startup of three, two of us take care of commercial, financial, project management and product owner tasks, the third is head of technology - i.e. builds stuff. If we need something that we can't fulfil, we'll go outside, until we need that role sufficient to hire it. – Nick Stevens Feb 10 '12 at 15:17
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I think it's possible for a person to be good in several disciplines but not more than 3. If you need partners who can multitask, I think it's more realistic to find one who is really good at one thing, then give them the time and resource to master a new discipline.

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