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7 Comments

Non-tech founders, do you want to become a tech founder?

Would you rather learn how to code, be independent, and be able to ship the product yourself?

I am a non-tech founder, but I want to learn how to code and ship
  1. Yes, I want to learn how to code and ship a product
  2. No, I want to find a tech co founder to develop code for me.
  3. N/A
Vote
  1. 1

    I think if you do this long enough on enough projects, eventually you will find yourself inside a codebase and start learning enough to be conversant. Then you'll start doing things you don't want to bug your tech co-founder or contractor to do, because modifying the ease in of that side panel is a waste of their time, and then before you know it, you pushed your first feature release.

    I think it comes with the territory if you love what you're building. There will always be a majority of tasks that specialized knowledge will get done quicker, but I think it's important to understand your way around your code base if you are a founder, even if you're not the one responsible for implementing the tricky stuff.

    1. 1

      Thanks @Khidr9 for your comment.

      Is that how you grow your tech skills? Start with a problem and a motivation and figured out whatever coding/tech skills needed to ship your product?

      1. 1

        Sort of. Are started out as non-technical, in that 20 years ago I had a web design company and built flash and asp.net websites, and then got out of the industry for 2 decades. When I started, I teamed up with a technical co-founder, but I realized that it was useless for me to not understand the codebase and be able to contribute, so I asked questions, spent time reading, took a react course (since that's our front end) and got myself to where I can navigate well enough to at least understand where the problems are. There will still be things where the time it'll take me to learn how to build it vs the effort of leaning on my technical partners just doesn't pay for me, but it's important to be "conversational" if you're a non-technical founder.

        1. 1

          Great, thanks again @khidr9.
          If we go back 20 years, and I offer a 2, 3 weeks paid course to teach you all the skills to ship your mvp product, rather than figuring it out all yourself, would you be interested to buy? If so, how much would you be willing to pay?

          1. 1

            Lol, dying. Looks around room 20 years ago... uhhh, I've got this piece of left over pizza, and a couple of netflix dvds I haven't returned?

  2. 1

    Sometimes, yeah. But I wouldn't even know where to start.

    Plus, I have a skillset that pairs well with a technical founder and with the right co-founder, we'd have a strong team.

    1. 1

      Awesome, thanks for your input.

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