

Ask HN: How can a non-technical co-founder add value? - Thriptic

Hello all,<p>I am exploring the idea of developing a software product with a few technical friends of mine based around an idea I have. Outside of the idea and some initial seed money, I worry about how much value I can add to a development team as a potential non-technical co-founder with limited business experience (I am a bioengineering grad student).<p>As a non-technical co-founder, what sorts of duties will I generally find myself performing at a budding company, and what are the general avenues by which I can add value?
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mindcrime
Well, if you're willing to throw yourself into the role, _somebody_ has to
deal with marketing, PR, strategy, sales, business development, bookkeeping,
regulatory compliance, making coffee, taking out the trash, etc.

So yeah.. there are a LOT of places for a non-technical co-founder to add
value. Since most techies aren't very marketing-savvy, I'd suggest you go buy
every marketing book you can get your hands on, and do a deep dive.

OK, maybe not literally _every_ marketing book. But if you're interested, here
are a few items I'd recommend to a budding would-be marketer.

 _Permission Marketing_ \- Seth Godin

 _All Marketers Are Liars_ \- Seth Godin

 _Purple Cow_ \- Seth Godin

 _Unleashing The Ideavirus_ \- Seth Godin

 _Positioning_ \- Jack Trout and Al Ries

 _Differentiate or Die_ \- Jack Trout

 _The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing_ \- Al Ries

 _Repositioning_ \- Jack Trout

 _Marketing Warfare_ \- Al Ries

 _The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding_ \- Al Ries and Laura Ries

 _The Discipline of Market Leaders_ \- Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema

 _Blue Ocean Strategy_ \- W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

 _Trust Me, I 'm Lying - Confessions of a Media Manipulator_ \- Ryan Holiday

 _Crossing the Chasm_ \- Geoffrey Moore

If this is a B2B play, I'd read Steve Blank's _The Four Steps to the Epiphany_
first though. Otherwise, I'd suggest starting with _The Discipline of Market
Leaders_ and then go to _All Marketers Are Liars_.

What kind of duties would you be doing in a role like this? Writing web copy;
writing press releases; writing whitepapers; writing blog posts; recording
screencasts & demo videos; setting up mailing lists; running the Web, Twitter,
Facebook, G+, Pinterest, Tumblr, Youtube, etc., presence; talking to potential
customers and soliciting feedback; developing a marketing strategy, PR
strategy, etc; working with your cofounders to choose a "value discipline"
(See _The Discipline of Market Leaders_ ) and putting an operating model in
place to fulfill that discipline; possibly talking to potential investors;
talking to potential partners, doing business development; and SOOOOOOO very
much more.

~~~
Thriptic
WOAH, this is immensely helpful and a very thorough list. Thank you!

~~~
jmalicki
Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy" is oddly missing from the list, as
it's one of the most influential corporate strategy books out there... if you
like the spirit of that list, you should definitely add that one.

(Porter's "5 forces" are one of the highlights of a typical MBA curriculum).

Also, learning some accounting is extraordinarily useful (thinking about capex
vs. opex, etc.)

~~~
mindcrime
Any or all of Porter's works would be fine additions as well. But they're
bigger, longer, dryer and more academic, and - arguably - a bit less
accessible. I'd recommend somebody coming to the "business side of things"
maybe defer jumping into Porter until after reading some of the other works
that touch on, or dance around, his material.

The Discipline of Market Leaders, in particular, could probably be seen as
sort of a riff on Porter's ideas, albeit more focused. I'm actually a big fan
of their approach, and that's really why I put that instead of saying "go read
Michael Porter".

All of that said, the book _Understanding Michael Porter_ is a good
introduction to his approach, and is probably more accessible than jumping
right into _Competitive Strategy_ or the others.

------
esquivalience
The value of a non-tech member is the same as the value a consultant, project
manager, or a lawyer can give to their clients. It's about a mode of thought -
reality checks, decision making and finding creative solutions to the problems
you will definitely encounter on the way. Engineering is a great place to
start from.

------
matttheatheist
Every engineer, regardless of specialty, learns to write code: At least one
semester of C/C++. That's all you need to get started. Learn the rest on your
own.

As a side note, stop calling yourself non-technical. It's embarrassing,
especially if you know bioengineering. Give me the name of your school, and I
will write them an email to complain about the lack of preparation for their
students.

Stop being so lazy. And have some respect for yourself.

And yes, you're very lazy.

~~~
shadowfox
> Every engineer, regardless of specialty, learns to write code: At least one
> semester of C/C++

I doubt this is universally true. It certainly wasn't in both my ugrad and
grad institutions. Non-CS engg students had the _option_ of taking a
introduction to programming style course, but it was by no means mandatory.

Most engg students there had their first introduction to programming via
Matlab assignments, which can hardly be called programming.

~~~
matttheatheist
Matlab is a fine first step for becoming a software developer. I used Matlab
in all my courses for Control Systems, Communications Systems, Signal
Processing etc. So if Matlab is all you got, then that's great!

The toughest part about learning to write code is to learn to think
algorithmically. C/C++/Java/etc all have the same basic syntax.

I have a Computer Engineering degree, so I don't exactly help my argument
here. However, I know for a fact that ALL engineering students (and
math/physics/chemisty/etc) at my school, regardless of major had to learn C++.
Mandatory.

Regardless.... you can always sign up for a programming course. In fact, to be
an expert programmer, you need 2 courses:

1\. Intro to C/C++

2\. Data structures.

That's it. You can easily pick up Java or any other language in less than 1
month.

Just think about it. There's no excuse for not knowing how to write code. Just
do it!!!

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gus_massa
Is the idea related to bioengineering?

Once they have a rough prototype you can be the first tester and use your
contacts to get a few additional users for the beta version. One very
important task is to understand what the users say and translate that to
something the developers can understand. Also, understand what is possible to
do in the site and what would be useful for the users.

~~~
Thriptic
The idea is an offshoot of my experiences as a grad student and also as a
project manager at a core lab at my university. It is not strictly bio E
oriented, but I agree that I could certainly test and find receptive initial
users.

------
rajacombinator
Ideally you would have prior experience in sales, marketing, or fund-raising.
But if you have hustle that can be a substitute while you learn those roles.

------
massappeal
sales, investor relations, project and product management, marketing, PR,
content creation, recruiting and hiring, CRM. There's plenty to do.

