Ask HN: What does a non-programmer bring to a 2-3 person startup team?

non-programmer founder here,

Things I brought to our startup:

- convertible note on great terms

- crappy-but-functioning prototype

- fully-designed HTML wireframes for prototype v2

- meaty customer pipeline including 2 customers pre-sold

- extensive network of sales contacts in our space

- extensive network of press contacts in our space

- 2 years experience running a site where I used and helped sell the early version of our product

I feel I bring a lot of value to our company. And I am very intent on proving that I will continue to do so. I try to justify my involvement every day. So when I talk to technical friends of mine thinking about working with someone non-technical, I tell them about the stuff I do and that they need to ask these "biz-dev" guys if they can bring stuff like that to the table.

When someone's awesome, their value-add should be clear and obvious. If you find yourself talking yourself into someone, that's a bad sign.

I was with a startup and was the only technical member of the founding team. While the two other members personally bootstrapped the venture, I have to admit that outside of the funding, they were of very limited value during the first 6-9 months when development was the primary activity. In anything, they were a distraction because they constantly changed things, expanded scope, etc. Needless to say, it wasn't a successful venture, and from here on out, I plan to stick with only technical founders.

coffee?

As someone who was in your position about 2 years ago, I have the following advice for you.

First, you should look at some tutorials before you find this individual so you understand the very basics of whatever language you are looking to grok. If you are looking for PHP, www.w3schools.com is a decent place to start for the super basics.

Once you have a very basic understanding of the language, the best thing to do is find a developer who will work for equity, or a minimal salary, and make it your job to watch him/her as he/she builds your product. It is definitely going to tie up most of your time when you could be doing "other things," but it will serve two major purposes. For one thing, you will have at least a rudimentary understanding of the technologies which will compose your product, thus assisting you in future hires. Secondly, assuming the individual you bring on initially is patient enough, you will have a private tutor who can step you through the creation of a real product, as opposed to contrived academic problems which you will lose interest in very quickly. Granted, this is really just "minimum viable programming" insofar as you will probably not have the occassion to really generate a deep understanding of the concepts behind software development, but at least you can contribute more directly to the actual product.

Ultimately, this approach is dependent on the individual you bring on to build the initial product. If he/she is patient and willing enough to be your teacher, then it can work out nicely.

Best of luck!

If they taught themselves to program, does that not then make them programmers?