
Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have? - sidarok
Hey all,<p>I would like to get your thoughts on the subject.<p>- If you are a non-technical cofounder of a tech business, what would be the first things that you wish you should have known from day 1?<p>- If you are a technical cofounder, what is the topmost item in the must-learn list for an ideal non-technical cofounder?<p>I am not asking for which skills, rather for more specific things e.g : They should know about how internet works, how coding &#x2F; programming works, they should understand the basics of the service architecture etc.<p>Thoughts?
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rcaught
A non-technical cofounder of a tech company should (in my mind) be set on a
path to being technical (whatever that means - there are always people that
know more, and always people that know less).

You can spend your entire career labelling yourself as non-technical, but that
is not a reflection of your skill, it's a reflection of your attitude.

Have a willingness to learn and be humble with what you do know. Stop being a
something or a non-something. Just be the best you can be with every challenge
that crosses your path.

~~~
sunir
That's just semantic framing. Non-technical is a word used from the point of
view of engineers, the primary audience on "Hacker" News, who naturally value
technical skills the most.

You could reframe the engineers as being non-revenue. Because businesses exist
to generate revenue, suddenly they are less important than the business
people. Plenty of Silicon Valley companies value revenue-side personnel more
than engineers, like Oracle, Salesforce, Intuit.

True. Engineers should learn sales and marketing. Business people should learn
how to code. But at the end of the day, having enough depth and expertise on
your team to cover your bases is what's required, and really that requires
specialization.

I'm a compsci who's a CMO now, so I understand people in the different roles.

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falcolas
Willingness to learn and pick up skills. Not the technical ones - your co-
founder has that in order. I'm talking about:

Sales

Marketing

Fundraising

How to talk to a lawyer

Figuring out what business licenses you need and how to maintain them

Accounting

Interpreting from Geek to English

Hiring to fill the gaps in your knowledge (and firing those who don't)

Contract negotiation

Identifying niches for business opportunities

Basically, anything involved in creating a business which doesn't involve
technology; there's quite a few of these, and in many ways they are as or more
important to the success of the business than technical knowledge. Even if you
create the perfect product, you still need someone to market and sell it to
the masses.

~~~
fillskills
I would add a couple tech management skills like: 1\. Understanding the 'soft'
nature of software 2\. Iterative development

And one non-tech: . Lean methodology

You got most else covered.

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ericabiz
A couple people here have said "Sales", but in my opinion (technical founder
who usually takes non-technical roles), the most important is _hiring_.

I often talk to non-technical people who want to start a tech company, and I
ask them really baseline questions about the tech people they want to hire:
"What language do you want someone to be able to code in?"

Usually, I get glazed-over eyes followed by a defensive response like "Well, I
just need a developer! They should be able to pick a language to code in!
That's _their_ job!"

This is exactly the wrong answer, and I typically leave the conversation with
a comment about how they really need to understand the basics of "which
language does what", even if they, themselves, do not want to be a programmer.

It is so much easier to hire technical talent when you can at least
communicate in their language--when you can have a real conversation about
priorities, UI/UX, and how long this darn thing will take to get out the door!

So many non-technical founders _really_ do not get this, and I believe it's
one of the huge reasons non-technical founders will continue to struggle with
founding tech companies.

~~~
pc86
Is it really necessary for a non-technical founder to understand the
differences between node.js and C#/.NET?

~~~
dorkrawk
"I know bridges can be built out of metal or wood! I'll just hire a carpenter
and let them figure it out..."

~~~
imron
This should be:

I know bridges can be built out of metal or wood! I'll just hire an engineer
and let them figure it out.

Which is great, because that's exactly what the engineer knows how to do. This
should be the same case with the technical co-founder, if not, they're the
wrong person to choose as your technical co-founder.

------
lukiebriner
The first question is what are you bringing to the party? Just because you
have a good idea, you might be better off hiring in and not taking salary etc.
It is too easy to treat the product as your baby even if you don't add any
value, which means you will make it too slow or too fast to make it viable.

If you want to bring sales skills into the mix then you need to know your
target market segment. Selling cars to the public is not the same as selling
robots to the corporate world.

Startups also should have multi-tasking founders. Ideally, all of you can do
several things. It can be a mistake to think that person A is a sales person,
person B is technical, person C is design etc. because you then need 6 or more
people just to cover all the jobs.

Also, you will possibly come up against problems with investment if a Founder
is seen as dead-weight rather than adding value.

Just my tuppence worth!

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PanMan
Sales. I think the non-technical founders should understand tech well enough
in a general sense (what is a client, what is a server, roughly what happens
where). But the value add should come from sales.

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sunir
Sales. #1 with a bullet. At the beginning all marketing, investment,
recruiting is sales.

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davemel37
They should understand the customer and never stop learning about the
customer.

The best way to do this is to talk to lots of prospects and customers.

Knowing why you are building is more important than knowing how or
what...thoae two stem from knowing why.

Im non technical but knowing the customer is the foundation for everything you
are doing.

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dsugarman
Startups aren't as black and white for you to be able to say for every
startup, there should be 1 technical founder and 1 non-technical founder and
each have roles XYZ. The truth is every company is different and the roles you
need to fill should be clearly understood by you and your cofounder(s). It is
important to outline what key functions and skills are necessary for _your_
company and focus on those. It is important that the collective knowledge of
your founders encompass all that is necessary for your startup to be
successful. For example, someone on your team will need strong industry
knowledge.

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BerislavLopac
Understanding that, no matter what you do, you need a subject expert to build
the product. No amount of kool aid, great ideas and "strategical thinking"
will help you unless you have someone who understands the space you're
targeting. In other words, don't be these guys:
[http://thedailywtf.com/articles/classic-wtf-trouble-with-
fou...](http://thedailywtf.com/articles/classic-wtf-trouble-with-founders-the-
lost-candidate-and-more) (the first story).

If you don't have such an expert, there are two ways to go: a) hire one, or b)
become one.

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bhousel
Basically everything in Steve Blank's _Four Steps to the Epiphany_ (another
phrase for this is "business development")

If there is someone you are considering for a co-founder role, tell them to
get the book and read it.

If they get the book and read it and come back a week later saying "holy shit
lets get started", then you've found your non-technical co-founder.

If they complain about having to get a book and read it, you can forget them,
they are wrong for the job.

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fataliss
The most crucial knowledge is the one you need to get shit done and this is
different every day. There is no such thing as that one key to everything. The
only important thing is: learn. If you don't know something, either way hire
someone who knows or learn about it yourself. That's the key. Technical or
not, it doesn't matter.

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hamiltonians
Ability to be wrong

Ability to take criticism

~~~
ska
That's really not specific to a non-technical founder. Or to a founder.

~~~
stcredzero
But it is a non-negotiable with me and should be for everyone.

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andyidsinga
a non-technical cofounder could have a deep understanding of the market
dynamics and users the company wishes to serve. This includes pricing tactics
as and strategy, channel development, scaling a non technical team.

They could help develop the long term strategy for the company ...what are the
5,6,20th features the company will sell etc?

edit: also, they can build the skillsite necessary to develop _and test_
business hypothesis. this might be the most important this they do early on.

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ing33k
\- If you are a technical cofounder, what is the topmost item in the must-
learn list for an ideal non-technical cofounder?

\- Sales

\- Ability to understand the limitations of the team and product

\- Hiring/Firing

\- Charm

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colinmegill
FWIW years ago I googled "technical co-founder", realized I was the butt end
joke of the industry, and have been working my ass off at front-end since. Now
contract as a dev / TPM as well. Have made myself useful.

Learning to program meant I was another voice in conversations about what
could be done, which instructed what was done.

My advice is learn to implement your ideas alongside of everything else you
are doing.

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nikhilkalegregg
I'd say curiosity, creativity, energy, drive and intellectual flexibility. I
think the most telling sign of a good non technical cofounder is one who isn't
satisfied with being a non technical cofounder and is actively trying to
acquire the knowledge/abilities to be a technical founder, because such a
pursuit demonstrates some degree of the characteristics listed above.

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MalcolmDiggs
IMHO: They should know how the VC/Angel world works, they should be well adept
at networking, and they should be "good in a room" (sales wise). If I'm the
technical guy building the product I expect the non-technical person to be out
raising money and closing deals/pre-orders every moment that they have free.

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HenryTheHorse
Business planning and management (budgets, product marketing, sales &
operations).

 _How_ code works can be learned. But knowing _why_ a customer has a problem
with your product vision (and how to address it) is a complex issue and often
requires a broader set of experiences in the field.

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dataker
If you're not technical, I'd assume your must already be good with sales or
have the background for it(social skills).

So, I'd ask technical co-founders and build a network around engineers: it
will be the best way to really understand your product and iterate on ideas.

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mpdehaan2
How to trust others about things they don't know, help others do the things
they don't want to be doing, how to be humble, communicate effectively, share
information well, and know when to get out of the way.

Basically their job should be to make everyone else successful.

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nailer
> Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a Non-technical founder should
> have?

Sales experience, contacts, technical knowledge (seriously, if you're
currently not technical, learn how to program) or a massive amount of capital
to inject.

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brudgers
This:

[http://www.paulgraham.com/before.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/before.html)

Which implies that your question is of the wrong type and that understanding
why is a good start.

Good luck.

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bliti
Being able to execute and follow through on plans/vision. This applies to both
technical and non-technical founders. Its the hardest thing to do.

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rebootthesystem
Huge topic. I could probably write a book about this.

Some of it largely depends on the business "phase". In other words things are
different if you are pre-launch with no product vs. post launch with some
traction, etc.

One of the biggest problems with non-tech co-founders is when they assign
themselves far more value than they should. This typically happens when a non-
techie has a tech idea and they seek out a tech co-founder to make it happen.
I've had cases where people had an idea, no money, no idea how to raise
capital, no marketing skills, no management skills, no business experience and
a job they could not quit and yet demanded 50% of the startup. In other words,
the "tech" co-founder would have to do it all yet the would be valued equally
simply because someone without a clue came up with an idea. Run away from
those as fast as you can.

In an ideal universe you can't have a co-founder who has zero tech background.
It's going to make things very difficult. This person has to have a reasonable
understanding of the domain you are trying to address in order to be able to
have sensible discussions and make the right decisions. As a technical co-
founder you don't want to spend half your management time educating your
partner. The relationship has to be symbiotic, and this requires a high degree
of overlap in the skill set.

In my opinion it is a far better idea to find a tech co-founder who has an
interest in business rather than a non-tech co-founder who might be challenged
in learning what he/she needs to learn to make the business go.

I've had the experience of coding 16 hours a day while my non-tech co-founder
pretty much just sat there twiddling his thumbs and surfing the web while the
product was being built. Useless. Never do that again.

To some degree business isn't hard to learn. You can certainly devote a
fraction of that 25% of time you were going to devote to educating your non-
tech partner towards learning about business.

Some of it depends on the nature of your market. Many years ago I decided I
had enough. I had to take control beyond tech and run the business. I took a
two-pronged approach. First, I bought a pile of business books. I devoted
about half an hour each night to reading these books, typically at night in
bed. I took business books with me when going camping.

I made sure I was learning about business whenever I needed a break from tech
stuff. You know how sometimes you reach a mental block while working on a
design? It is often better to take a break and come back to approach it with a
fresh mind. I these cases I would grab a business book and go read it at
Starbucks. In other words, learning about business never ate into my
engineering duties.

For about two years the going joke at home was that I had more business books
by my bed than technology books. And it was true.

The other approach I took was to have our reseller network educate me on
sales. Rather than have them handle sales calls I'd ask them to let me handle
them. I would buy lunch after the customer visits and ask that they critique
my approach. The first three months were horrible. I sucked at it. I "sold"
like an engineer. Which means I had no clue how to sell anything. It took
about six months to make the transition and about a year before I could walk
into a presentation, say only what was necessary and close deals. Some of the
biggest deals I closed required not much more than showing-up and greeting
everyone in the room while gently guiding the customer into selling
themselves. Magic.

This approach isn't valid for all markets and situations. And, I'll admit to
be biased against having a non-tech co-founder in a startup. I've seen ugly
things that can happen when you have such a pairing. I'd rather see a pair of
tech founders who are able to transition into hybrid roles.

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calebm
$

~~~
benkuykendall
finance, jQuery, or both?

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d0m
sales. Be good at it, your team will thank you.

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cool_ad_man
Writing good.

