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An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

benogle.com

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Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#31

Post by krschultz »

swombat wrote: post #27

> I graduated from YCombinator a few months ago ( S12 Easel ). Anyone else bothered by this view of YCombinator as a kind of university programme? I may be wrong, I have only met a few YC founders and they all seemed like nice, smart people, but it seems a bit off-colour to treat the mere fact that you've been through the YC programme as some kind of "graduation". Maybe I'm just being grumpy or something... It's cert…

I think it's meant to be a training program that you graduate. Military guys will tell you when they graduated A-school or what ever is applicable. Welders graduate from vocational school. "Graduation" is applicable for any training program, not just university.

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#33

Post by amarghose »

helen842000 wrote: post #16

This post made me really happy. THIS is the kind of encouragement that 'non-technical' aspiring founders need. Less of the "if you can't code you don't have valuable skills" attitude. I have a blog post sitting in draft form that has scarily similar advice to this based on my own experiences, however this describes it with some really inspiring YC examples. I started working this way at the start of 2012 and all of m…

More importantly most non-technical founders (my past self included) have a habit of bringing very little to the table. With this kind of approach there's a clear value that both the technical and non-technical people are contributing.

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#34

Post by aganek »

Fantastic approach. Great post.

My takeaways: (1) Look for unconventional ways to create a MVP (2) Hustle is a very valuable asset to a startup. For startups with high hustle-to-technical ratios, they may consider building a culture around hustle rather than code.

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#35

Post by dsugarman »

pytrin wrote: post #4

This is a good approach for non technical people, no doubt. That is if it really suites their skillset. As a non-technical founder, you are likely good at building and maintaining relationships. You are probably good at selling things. You might be great at framing, so people buy into your vision or get excited about your ideas. These are amazing, difficult-to-acquire skills. Unfortunately, too many non-technical fou…

You don't generally have the luxury of having people to build it, people to market it and people to sell it. The fact is, you as a founder need to build something from nothing. The OP does a great job of explaining what that means for a non-technical founder.

your average non-technical founder is extremely likely to fail. If you want to give advice to the them, it should start: become exceptional.

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#36

Post by fomojola »

dsugarman wrote: post #35
pytrin wrote: post #4

This is a good approach for non technical people, no doubt. That is if it really suites their skillset. As a non-technical founder, you are likely good at building and maintaining relationships. You are probably good at selling things. You might be great at framing, so people buy into your vision or get excited about your ideas. These are amazing, difficult-to-acquire skills. Unfortunately, too many non-technical fou…

You don't generally have the luxury of having people to build it, people to market it and people to sell it. The fact is, you as a founder need to build something from nothing. The OP does a great job of explaining what that means for a non-technical founder. your average non-technical founder is extremely likely to fail. If you want to give advice to the them, it should start: become exceptional.

Minor nitpick: the average founder is extremely likely to fail, technical or otherwise. Being a technical founder doesn't really dramatically increase the odds of success. As someone who suffers from "build it and they will come" syndrome, the article is actually decent advice for ANY founder, not just founders who aren't "technical".

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#38

Post by hacker_beta »

Well written article and as a non-tech founder with experience starting a business, you nailed it. I started a company that I didn't know anything about prior to starting and if it wasn't for a lot a lot a lot of hustle I'd be in a much different place then I am today. It's great to have my own office, employees, and take care of personal finances from the revenues my business generates. The reward is great. But the hustle never stops. Actually that's the most exciting part of the business. Is waking everyday with a mission and being solely responsible for the success.

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#39

Post by argonaut »

nness wrote: post #26
mesozoic wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they are non technical and don't have the hustle and flow skills then what exactly would they be bringing to a startup generally? Assuming of course it's not money cause money solves most problems.

Whole range of advisory, strategic or research roles perhaps. Roles like these don't necessary require strong soft-skills or sales\marketing chops.

All of which are fairly devoid of utility at an early stage startup. And even for the instances where those roles are useful, it is not anything that anyone with raw analytical brainpower can't do by themselves.

Re: An idea for non-technical co-founders: try a service-first business

#40

Post by argonaut »

josephlord wrote: post #22
mesozoic wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they are non technical and don't have the hustle and flow skills then what exactly would they be bringing to a startup generally? Assuming of course it's not money cause money solves most problems.

Potentially domain knowledge, contacts, access, name... Whether they are what is required will depend on the situation.

Contacts/access/name are useless if that's the primary skill someone brings. If you are an intelligent engineer, a few months in the Bay Area will get you contacts with investors. A great product will also get you contacts and access.

Domain knowledge is useful, however (i.e. a lawyer at a startup doing online legal documents).

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