This:
http://www.paulgraham.com/before.html
Which implies that your question is of the wrong type and that understanding why is a good start.
Good luck.
Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
51–57 of 57 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
#52A couple people here have said "Sales", but in my opinion (technical founder who usually takes non-technical roles), the most important is hiring . I often talk to non-technical people who want to start a tech company, and I ask them really baseline questions about the tech people they want to hire: "What language do you want someone to be able to code in?" Usually, I get glazed-over eyes followed by a defensive resp…
The problem with your answer is that nontechnical people will never be able to hire technical people well. They simply do not have the skills to judge technical talent; at best they can hire based on secondary characteristics like "they really sound like they know what they are talking about". Nontechnical founders who successfully hire good tech talent are just lucky.
I think this same maxim goes for tech people trying to hire sales talent, or nonfinance hiring a CFO, etc. You're just not equipped to judge, and you don't have the time to take CPA classes (or learn to code, or get an MBA, etc) just to hire someone.
The situation is not really this grim, because you should have a social network which can help vet hiring choices - either because the candidate is already known, or because you know someone that can do the interview for you. But "knowing people who can help you hire" is not really a skill.
Re: Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a "Hacker News perspective", it's the basic principle of anything. If you have a car and want to take a ride, you need a driver or you'll crash. If we're talking about a non-technical founder starting a tech startup, the first advice to the is only one: find a technical co-founder and don't even think about starting it without them. What you're describing should be the job for that technical co-founder, and…
all you've done now is change the question from 'what kind of developer do you want to find' to 'what kind of co-founder do you want to find'. Or would you tell someone to trust their gut and blindly pickup a 'technical' cofounder?
No, I would tell them to talk to as many technical people as possible, and look for one who proves able to:
a) understand their vision b) improve on their vision c) get some respect from other technical people
With a) being the crucial step, and if they can't get past that there might be a problem with their vision.
Re: Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a "Hacker News perspective", it's the basic principle of anything. If you have a car and want to take a ride, you need a driver or you'll crash. If we're talking about a non-technical founder starting a tech startup, the first advice to the is only one: find a technical co-founder and don't even think about starting it without them. What you're describing should be the job for that technical co-founder, and…
Actually you're wrong. (Sorry, but I just felt the need the illustrate the obnoxiousness of your original reply). I have to side with Erica on this one for the simple reason that you'll never be able to attract a good developer or a technical co-founder with this attitude of throwing your hands up in the air and eyes glazing over. That doesn't mean that you ignorantly blunder in and tell developers how to do their jo…
Both you and Erica are correct in identifying the problem with the attitude; but trying to teach them technology is wrong. Or, if you find that word too obnoxious, a waste of time and effort.
My point is: if someone is willing to learn, teach them what to look for. If they're not, ignore them.
So we're in agreement. :-)
Re: Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
#55A couple people here have said "Sales", but in my opinion (technical founder who usually takes non-technical roles), the most important is hiring . I often talk to non-technical people who want to start a tech company, and I ask them really baseline questions about the tech people they want to hire: "What language do you want someone to be able to code in?" Usually, I get glazed-over eyes followed by a defensive resp…
The problem with your answer is that nontechnical people will never be able to hire technical people well. They simply do not have the skills to judge technical talent; at best they can hire based on secondary characteristics like "they really sound like they know what they are talking about". Nontechnical founders who successfully hire good tech talent are just lucky. I think this same maxim goes for tech people try…
I think you're right, but it's more nuanced. Nontechnical people can be very helpful early in the recruiting funnel though, and that's a critical time suck/skillset that the technical folks don't have to invest in and can instead focus on their core role.
Re: Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
#56A non-technical cofounder of a tech company should (in my mind) be set on a path to being technical (whatever that means - there are always people that know more, and always people that know less). You can spend your entire career labelling yourself as non-technical, but that is not a reflection of your skill, it's a reflection of your attitude. Have a willingness to learn and be humble with what you do know. Stop be…
That's just semantic framing. Non-technical is a word used from the point of view of engineers, the primary audience on "Hacker" News, who naturally value technical skills the most.
You could reframe the engineers as being non-revenue. Because businesses exist to generate revenue, suddenly they are less important than the business people. Plenty of Silicon Valley companies value revenue-side personnel more than engineers, like Oracle, Salesforce, Intuit.
True. Engineers should learn sales and marketing. Business people should learn how to code. But at the end of the day, having enough depth and expertise on your team to cover your bases is what's required, and really that requires specialization.
I'm a compsci who's a CMO now, so I understand people in the different roles.
Re: Ask HN: What is the most crucial knowledge a non-technical founder should have?
#57I'd say curiosity, creativity, energy, drive and intellectual flexibility. I think the most telling sign of a good non technical cofounder is one who isn't satisfied with being a non technical cofounder and is actively trying to acquire the knowledge/abilities to be a technical founder, because such a pursuit demonstrates some degree of the characteristics listed above.