How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

You learn all the hard work Tracy puts in on her own. And in the end she EARNS a technical co-founder. She doesn't stop working on her product while waiting for the mythical tech co-founder to join her. Bravo and congrats.

Re: How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

#5

Post by citricsquid » Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 5:51 PM UTC

The article doesn't answer the headline, unless "become one" is the answer?

Re: How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

#6

Post by limedaring » Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 6:10 PM UTC

citricsquid wrote: post #5

The article doesn't answer the headline, unless "become one" is the answer?

Anyone can be a solo founder, but I'm hoping the article answers some of the qualities and tips you'd need in order to be successful, or at least put yourself on the path to success. So, if you can't find a cofounder, what things to remember and to get yourself motivated by in order to continue endlessly without another person working on the company with you.

Re: How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

#7

Post by limedaring » Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 6:11 PM UTC

nickler wrote: post #3

'cockroach' !! I love it. Stealing that one.

Yeah, I think Paul regrets saying it because I've been using it as my personal nickname now. :P

Re: How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

#8

Post by limedaring » Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 6:14 PM UTC

prgibbons wrote: post #2

I would consider having design skills as a technical skill. Try doing a tech startup with a liberal arts degree (or three) ;) Good article!

Maybe true, but both design and liberal arts degrees are missing the true technical skills that a tech startup really requires: back-end development, experience with servers, databases, etc. That's been the toughest part — it's all well and good to ideate, but implementation is where things really matter. I waffled on the title, but decided that if YC considers myself non-technical, then it fits. :P

Thanks for the compliment! It's really fun being the tech person because at least I'm learning something new every day.

Re: How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

#9

Post by patio11 » Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 6:15 PM UTC

In addition to making all the necessary steps to deal without a technical cofounder (problem: can't iterate without code, solution: crash course in Python programming then), Tracy also really, really works angles that many technical founders wouldn't consider. I did a wee bit of work with her at 500 Startups -- my favorite example of several is that she produced an actual, honest to God, on-dead-tree photo book of her paying customers' wares. It was extraordinarily compelling, both as a product (I have recent experience with wedding product photo books, mostly produced on 1000x the budget of that), as a sales channel for her company, and clearly the hackiest use of paper I've ever seen in a software company.

Re: How to thrive as a solo non-technical founder

#10

Post by limedaring » Fri, Mar 30, 2012, 6:16 PM UTC

scottkrager wrote: post #4

What I really enjoyed about this post is the ending... You learn all the hard work Tracy puts in on her own. And in the end she EARNS a technical co-founder. She doesn't stop working on her product while waiting for the mythical tech co-founder to join her. Bravo and congrats.

Ha yeah — I wrote an article about finding a cofounder the traditional way a year ago (http://www.limedaring.com/technical-co-founder-wanted-for-di...) — well, that didn't work out. This article really is my followup to that article, that I should have just jumped forward then and started working rather than doing a few months of searching for the "right cofounder"!

Thank you!