How To Build A Tech Startup With No Technical Skills
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- Опубліковано 26 кві 2024
- Based on the thousands of companies YC has funded over the years, the biggest common element between all successful startups is having technical talent on the founding team. But what do you do if you don't know how to code? You may think you can get by using no-code tools, part-time consultants, or dev shops to bring your startup idea to life. But that thinking is wrong.
In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we’ll discuss exactly why that is and why recruiting a technical co-founder is the single biggest way to create value as someone trying to start the next big thing.
Apply to Y Combinator: yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: yc.link/DandM-jobs
Chapters (Powered by bit.ly/chapterme-yc) -
00:00 - Coming Up
00:32 - Technical Founders
01:52 - The Intersection
05:06 - Software Engineers
09:18 - How to Find Them
10:31 - Ask The Best
11:28 - How Not to Pitch
13:26 - The Adventure
14:17 - Great Recruiters - Наука та технологія
Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Coming Up
00:17 - Why Business Folks Need Great Technical Co-Founders
00:32 - Technical Founders
01:52 - The Intersection: Great Business Founders and Hiring Amazing Technical Co-Founders
03:32 - Making The Point Explicit
04:44 - Advice From Personal Experience At Twitch
05:06 - Great Software Companies Are Built By Great Software Engineers
06:54 - Equivalent In NBA
09:18 - Where Do I Find Technical Co-Founders?
10:31 - Thought Experiment: Ask The Best Person You Know
11:28 - How Not to Pitch: Come Up with the Idea Together
12:18 - Being An Amazing Recruiter
13:26 - Offering An Adventure: Building A Company Together
14:17 - Pattern: Successful Non-Technical Founders Are Great Recruiters
14:59 - Outro
One of the most inspiring non tech founder is Tope Awotona, the CEO of Calendly. There are countless videos on youtube explaining how he did it.
My 2 cents if you're a non tech founder looking for a tech founder - learn to code. Even if you just get a surface level understanding, it'll be easier to evaluate potential cofounders, discuss technical challenges, and tech people will respect you more when you can truly appreciate their trials and tribulations mastering the craft.
wow, that's what i am doing as we speak
+1 I taught myself to code a year ago and have shipped a product solo to some legitimate customers at this point. It’s hard but doable. I highly recommend learning to code.
That is wise, but doesn't come without its pitfalls. Other than the fact that it is time consuming, another pitfall I could think of is that if you need someone with a particular specialisation, it'll be difficult to assess them vertically. There is easier criteria to assess by: how fast can they learn and figure things out from conceptualisation to working prototype?
While that might be true, most technical founders who pick up a technical cofounder get it wrong at the rate of 9 out of 10. There is a reason a small percentage of tech companies survive their first three years and the main reason isnt a bad idea, it's bad attitude, grit, and expectation.
If you cant build a product you dont have anything to sell and if you cant sell a product then building it is a waste of time.
I disagree that a business person should learn coding since there is little to no value to know basic coding. Its like telling a coder to learn basic accounting, basic sales, basic marketing like its going to add any value instead of telling them to be the best at whatever they do since a company is a diverse environment of specialties.
When people say learn to code like what specifically? Not all software is built on the same language/llm/ algorithm (forgive me if I'm wrong I'm mostly non software technical)
I was making $110 hourly as a software engineer and I dropped my full time job when my co-founder proposed 50/50 equity in our partnership building the product from his idea. 2 years later we are making 1M in ARR (bootstrapping) and it’s was worth it the entire sacrifice in this journey
That's really amazing trajectory, but what do you get out of life?
How did you get the initial traction? An tips or ideas that worked for you that you would recommend? Thanks :)
What is your product?
My co-founder was our first customer. He used our competitor for three years and had a list of 20+ items to make that product better. So we just started copying this competitor model and enhancing. @@stefan-bayer
Interested to expand in india?
Started out as a non-technical founder. I made the decision to become technical a couple years back. I have learned an incredible amount and feel fully comfortable developing our product, outsourcing pieces when I get stuck. GPT has been an incredible learning tool, which has accelerated my learning immensely. Waiting for the magical technical co-founder to appear that shares your vision/passion will likely not happen.
The best advice I can give to a non-technical founder is to make the mental switch and become technical. The sooner you do it, the better off you’ll be.
I completely agree. I was also non technical, I spent many years doing cofounder trials, and trying to get a product built by other people. In the end, I taught myself to be technical, shipped v1 solo, and have not looked back. I cannot recommend it enough. It sounds hard, but it is incredibly freeing to be able to build anything you want yourself.
Which languages did you learn?
That's awesome, I definitely commend you for it. But the only thing I would say, if you take that approach, you skip two of the most important steps in your entrepreneurial journey, the ability to sell and recruit. If you can't get a couple tech people excited enough about your idea to commit a couple of hours per week to your project , how will you get users excited about using your product or someone investing in your product? That "If I build it, they will come" mantra has been proven not to work time and time again.
What did you study to become a technical founder? When I think technical founder I think computer science, computer engineering and information technology.
@@maxiynachojavascript
I was a non-technical founder. Learned how to code, it's been the biggest asset. It unlocks agility + opportunities to explore more things. I would always recommend knowing how to bake the cake if you're starting a cake shop. But if you're funded well, know someone close, it's always of course better to let someone else do it - regardless, knowing how tech works will still go a long way.
Which language should I start with?
@@fgboii4687 python is the easiest, but it's backend. Node js is frontend. So decide what's priority at this point and you can start. Would recommend looking up full stack nextjs projects to learn node js.
I started my tech company as a single mom, with hardly any money and no backround in business or in tech, but I had a vision. Finally after six years of perseverance and learning much along the way in both business and tech, we were discovered by one of the biggest names in Technology. Trust me, if I can do it starting from less than nothing... it can happen for anyone who puts their heart and action into it.
Am also a single mom with hardly any money and no background in tech. It has been harrrd getting a tech person to do what needs to be done but am determined to execute my vision. I took more time looking for a tech co-founder to commit than actually working on my startup. So i finally decided to move forward without one. Thanks for your comment. You give me hope.
Wow! Inspiring! Would love to hear more about your journey and story! Can I contact you?
Keen to hear what type of company you created and what made you want to create it? What was that WHY behind it?
And which industry did you come from
Before founding this one?
May I ask how did you support yourself economically during those 6 years? A common cause for failure for many startups is they run out of money
Bootstrapped! However, in the early 2000's I made investments in physical gold and silver while I was in my former career but eventually left it to persue this full time. Trust me, I remember there was a time when I had $1.13 in my checking account but I still knew/ believed in God and my technology. This is a creating Universe not a created one. We are all selected to complete this picture (we are are actors in this universe), if you get an idea in a timeless flash, you know that this was your calling, your mission and your roll. No matter how crazy, how broke or how hard it is... persevere!!! When YOU are GREAT, GREAT MEN WANT TO KNOW YOU.@@exmachina767
Gentlemen, this conversation was timely and needed.
In addition, your channel is one of the avenues that made me improve my tech. obsession. Respect to Y-Combinator.
There are tech founders who are looking for business/operations co-founders. I was in this position personally and I am sure many startups out there are in a similar situation. Would be cool if you guys can dedicate an episode for this topic. Thanks
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
Finally a mature convo on the topic. Thank you for your honesty
Yet another good episode from YC! I have two thoughts listening to this: (1) as a non-technical founder, it would be useful to have deep domain knowledge and network in certain area where you want to tap into with your startup - this is what makes you non-fungible as a business developer. (2) technical co-founder needs to also be a good leader. So many great software engineers out there struggle when it comes to hiring a technical team and managing people... Programming skills are simply not enough.
Best content on youtube. I swear this is helping more than all the incubators & accelerators I went through all together
I'm not technical but I'm very passionate by solving my problem.
I've already talked to potential customers and discovered they also have this problem.
So I'm learning code by doing the MVP.
Great video!
Now let’s back to work
What is MVP ? Could you please explain
@@SaifAli-gb2zl
Minimum Viable Product. It is the first working prototype of our product. It will only have the core features. After building an MVP we give it to few potential customers for review. Then based on their feedback we'll improve the product. And this loop continues. Meanwhile by 8-10 iterations our MVP will be transformed into the desired product.
Why would you? Why not focus on areas where you're strong today, so your ambition and passion can lead you to do more impactful work, rather than just learning new cool things! Bring in those who have invested time and energy to help you in areas where you're currently a junior at.
@@Zivafgin be the jack of all trades so then you can find the best jack in each trade.
I think the key to Justin Kan's success in recruiting is that he did something, he had proof of concept, he didn't just have an idea.
Great video. The relaxed yet energetic tone, and collaborative discussion between you was fun to watch.
thank you so much for this video! I found a co-founder thanks to it. your podcasts are amazing and so useful for rookie entrepreneurs like me!
My background is Hardware Development and Robotics, 2 months ago I decided to transition into Software Development and started learning JavaScript.
I don't have the "best" ideas, but i have some interesting products in mind.
My objective is to be able to code a MVP to test it at a small scale, then if I like it and see opportunities, start scaling it up. Great stuff YC thanks for sharing
Same here
Hey Dalton and Michael, Hey YC, thats one of the best videos I have ever seen from you guys. It ranks right up on the top. Spot on! :)
I've been waiting for this video for so long!!! Please make more on how business cofounders can provide value in a startup
This was absolutely brilliant. Great learning source this channel is.
Love this ! So happy to hear this, thank you for this ! Great advice will persevere to get the best CTO
I am someone who is technical and I get approached often on YC's co-founder matching platform. I have never once had someone ask me if I had any ideas for a startup. It's always been, I am building x and I will give you y % of the company if you build it. 10/10 I have said no I wasn't interested or if I did take the meeting because I thought it was a cool idea, the vibe was off. For example, a few people had no conviction in what they were building or they came off condescending in the meeting or they simply stated that they were in charge and that I was essentially their employee for no money and a small amount of equity.
Well, they don’t really understand what tech leverage is..
Can we talk?
It's always a pleasure to watch your videos, I deeply love it and I 😁😁😁get a lot of knowledge out of them. Your best fan from CAMEROON
I started as a sales person, got technical skills and can now build (and have started a company in the process).
I’ll say this: the hardest part is selling / marketing.
If you can sell, you’re likely a good listener. This is the most important part of building a great product.
Find a technically strong co-founder who not only can code but can interpret and understand.
Then, go and setup as many conversations with people who have the problem you’ve theorized on & work together with your founder to build the solution.
If you both execute on your respective roles; you finding the people with problems / co-founder building to solve the problems. You’ll find some form of success.
Side note: if you’re coming with the idea you better have deep understanding of the problems & people associated with it.
This was excellent and exactly the path im on.
I went to school for ancient history (BA Classics), then education and religion (MA, MEd). When i realized i wanted a different career, i found the next logical path - marketing.
Once in marketing, i started learning "technical marketing" (seo, analytics, etc.)
Now im in product marketing, impacting roadmaps, up close with customers, and getting a "seat at the table" with technical teams - helping turn their ideas into language and launches people love.
Its taken me 4 years to get here, and itll likely take me several more to find a solid cofounder and launch our own product - but im on the path and thats what matters.
TLDR take the first step. 10 years from now youll either be doing the thing or wishing you tried.
Great technical cofounders are very important. Even if the other person is also a technical cofounder. The point that they mentioned which is big is if you believe what’s your building is something big then you’ll do the necessary stuff to make it happen. If that means it’s time to get a great technical cofounder to part of the journey then that will be done. Just like a million of other critical things that’s needed to be done throughout the journey of the company. In my opinion if it’s a worthwhile problem to solve then getting a cofounder, learning to code or understanding a new technology will be among a long list of important things that must be done and will get done. If not then the issue is not even wether or not someone is a technical founder but rather they’re not committed in their own company. However there are stories of non-technical founders finding great technical founders which is difficult.It’s still important to understand the coding part of it. Basically the people with no technical skills that managed to get great technical founders have a big advantage (even over a single technical founder) and it’s the biggest way to validate the company early on.
Most-awaiting video. I love you both guys. Thanks alot.
It is a no-brainer. You need a great tech co-founder.
You need countless iterations and the velocity to get to product-market fit.
Only a great tech co-founder can deliver it.
so timely. exactly what i was looking for
We love you Michael and Dalton!!
Knowledgeable video thanks sir love from India 💞💕
One of the most inspiring non tech founder is Tope Awotona, the CEO of Calendly. There are countless videos on youtube explaining how he did it.
Tech founder seems to default to software in YC. I'm in biotech, i watch a lot of your videos, and im not sure what i should dismiss or take with a grain of salt?
Can you do a video on biotech / industrial biotech / chemistry / engineering type startups specifically? What are some typical key differences in these type of startups ? Founder dynamics ? Funding? Product market fit? Dev time? Common businees models? Etc? Would be great to hear YC's perspective on this area 😊
Building a tech startup without technical skills definitely presents its challenges, but it's not impossible. This video offers some valuable insights for non-technical founders like myself. One crucial aspect emphasized here is the importance of taking initiative and learning as much as you can about the technical aspects of your startup. However, it's equally essential to recognize when you've reached your limit and need to bring in experts. You have to have both sides of the coin. You have to be willing to do it yourself and then not be afraid to hire those smarter than yourself. Surrounding yourself with a talented team can elevate your startup to new heights, filling in the gaps in your knowledge and expertise. It's all about finding the right balance between self-reliance and collaboration."
I tried first as a non-technical and i came to the conclusion that I want to be able to build the product myself in the beginning at least. And i landed my first junior role.
On point! I am working on a project as a non-technical founder and I have been able to recruit excellent people to bring it to life. Thank you guys! 1Q 2024, when the product is on soft-launch I will apply to YC.
All the very best.
Hands down one of the best and most practical videos on youtube! For free! Talk about 1 m dollar advice for 9.99
So much value here ❤
Thank you, you just helped me.
I am following you guys and I just searched guide and saw that you just published.
This topic is one of the best !
This was my questions! thanks!
Isn't there another option by now for a non-technical founder: Learning a no-code tool such as bubble, building the first version of the software yourself, onboarding a technical co-founder once the idea has been validated and the first users are onboarded?
If you are able to hire a technical consultant and a good developer. It is a start. You don't always need a technical co founder. It's just finding the initial capital for your prototype or mvp. But it is going to be a lot of work and you will have to dedicate so much of your life to it. And however difficult you think it's going to be, times it by 50, atleast.
I think customer discovery (i.e., validating a problem exists and is a significant one for a group of people) can definitely be done without a technical partner. However, building an actual solution, unless the core of the business is not technological, will be much harder. Granted, these days with the help of ChatGPT and other tools, it won’t be as hard as it used to be. But you will still be in a hell of fight if you decide to go solo without technical skills as you need to iterate on more features and fix tech problems your first users run into.
Okay, let me tell you, I really like spending my hours on UA-cam here on this channel. Seems like so much value coming out from here than mind numbing shorts or reels.
Thanks Dalton and Michael! -Nathan
I would happily pitch (in the exact same way we spend time pitching to VCs) to a forum of potential engineers. Surely there is something like this??
The problem I have is not knowing how much technical a technical cofounder has to be. I know how to read code especially now with ChatGPT, I can write basic c#, basic JavaScript, can do a little bit of game dev, 3d viz, I know how to do basic Arduino and fix 3d printer and could potentially build one with open source software. But I still think I need a technical co founder for a saas.
Much needed video! Also noticed some of the ideas came from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacsan.
I got the next ai bigidea and I believe it will change the world in a whole. I got no skills but however I am working on it it. Thank you for the advice, It will go in handy for me to get a technical cofounder
Good explanations! 👍
Spoken to lots of engineers over the last few years and have also gotten a few to offer to work on what I’m working on right now. I think a lot of non-technical cofounders overweigh the importance of knowing how to code as the factor for getting a technical cofounder to work with you. Technical cofounders tend to already be very good at coding and building software solutions - what they need from you, the non-technical cofounder, is a problem to solve and traction around solutions to the chosen problem. They want to know that you’re not just going to be thinking of ways to do things without actually talking to users who have the problem you’re trying to solve. They also want to see traction from a no-code solution if possible, which can be done with tools like Carrd for a landing page and a bunch of other tools you can use to build a community of users before you even write a single line of code.
Exactly, they want assurance that their time will pay off, unlike interns who need experience
@@dmytrodance yeah, and they also tend to have more choice than most (there seems to always be more non-technical cofounders than technical cofounders looking for a cofounder).
@@jasoncheung8407 yes. The biggest problem - they don't want to iterate with you searching for market fit. They want you to give them a project that start bringing returns rightaway.
It wears me out and makes me try to either hire a freelancer or to try to code it with a help of AI co-pilot.
Hmm ... I usually struggle with the idea of a "non-technical" co-founder seeking a technical co-founder to ... basically execute on the idea. Having more of a technical background, I like the idea of recruiting business specific skills like sales and marketing thinking of it like a different kind of wrench rather than a caste.
Love these startup "crunch topics"s
Non-tech founder with one [failed] proptech startup under my belt built by a friend's dev shop. Learned a lot but mostly - I need to learn to code. Just finished CS50 Python.
This is the closest thing to an impossible task.
It is literally easier to learn SOME tech skills than try to manage getting by without having any. It helps in your business decisions, your strategic process, picking better employees, and making a better product.
Business skills are very necessary. But the skillsets are Yin Yang: you need balance.
Hey YC.. why don't you start a small online meetup kind of a thing where non tech founders can pitch their ideas (small presentation with a pitch deck) in front of tech people for better matching.. this could be on a regular basis and has potential to make lots of meaningful connections..
YC has a find a co-founder part on the website, doesn't involve live pitching, but, you make a profile and it helps match you up with others :)
I didn’t even know there were people out there thinking they could have a tech company without the tech founders haha
I use to be one of them😂
I predict this will be the most popular vid on this channel
I wonder what took them so many years to finally make this 🤌🤌
Good stuff but they really rub it in and totally enjoy it ✌️😝
I am a full-stack dev with knowledge in AstroJS, sveltekit, Nodejs Express, Serverless(best) drizzle orm and some edge sqlite database. I don't have good soft skill due to my anxiety would love to be a CTO😅.
I'm an artist, a designer, an account executive, a consultant, and developing my technical skills.
Actively, looking for someone to go on an adventure with me! It's so hard however... but I'll keep searching
Could you make a episode on the other side? How can an engineer find a great business people?
you guys are having too much fun😂😂that's a good job
I'm a technical co-founder who had to learn how to be a non-technical co-founder. Now I can kill a presentation but my coding skills are a bit rusty.
I want someone who is even more technical than me and wants a co-founder like me, since I have a deep understanding of coding and can actually write half-decent code and build a cool UX myself.
On paper, I have all the skills I need. But it'd make it a whole lot easier to get help. Reply to this comment if you'd consider.
Alright, you convinced me.
Much needed
"I got a lot of heart, Michael!" You're so effing funny! Haha amazing line. Yes. Put me in coach! lol
Love this video 🎉
"changing the people you know" is an interesting sentence. I got the meaning, but it took a moment because there are two possible interpretations.
Non tech founder hired a developer. Biggest regret of my life i learned my lesson hard
Would you kindly share your thoughts on responsibility and equity between “visionaries” who have some idea and require engineers to build the prototype, build the product, put everything into production, take responsibility for SLAs? What are the expected roles and responsibilities of each party that warrant sufficient “skin in the game” to determine a fair split of equity?
I agree with what Michael said: “ideas are a dime a dozen”; execution matters far more. I once worked in a startup where the guy who came up with the idea (just a vague one, not even a detailed one with any kind of execution plan) got ~1/3rd of the equity (there were 2 technical and 2 nontechnical cofounders, with 10%, 30%, 30%, 30% equity distribution). After a while, everyone realized how hard it was to go from a rough idea to a viable business model, and how much effort went into customer discovery, iterations, brainstorming, etc. The “idea guy” was absent in most of this. Eventually one of the tech cofounders figured the equity distribution wasn’t fair and tried to negotiate it. He failed to get more, so he quit. After a while, the other technical cofounder quit as well. The nontechnical cofounders tried to keep it alive by outsourcing the work to a dev shop but eventually the startup tanked.
I love your energies
Happy New Year! My name is Raph from Orlando and Sydney. What's your opinion on starting a meditation app company with using zero coding tools? I just graduated from University of Sydney, and I majored in Product Design. My plan is to hire some Chinese programmers on the side as well. I would love to receive a constructive feedback from both of you. Cheers! Much love.
I thought you would say that the best non-technical founders would be people who have business experience in their specific domain, but I guess recruiting is more important.
My take:
U made it easy , yet a tech cofounder is not easy....
-how do u guide his inner motives?
-his own way of working
I have visualized a CTO for my company. He is 100% the ideal candidate. He doesn't want to because he needs money right away and can't work based on just equity.
I've always been of the opinion that a predictor of success of a tech enabled startup is the understanding the founder has of the problem being solved.
1) if the startup solves a technical problem/ is differentiated on the technical implementation, a successful startup will have a technical founder.
2) if the startup leverages technology to solve a business problem, the best founder is one who best understands the problem
There are far too many startups where founders are mismatched to the problem being solved. A technical founder may make a solution looking for a problem, (look at the flood of useless tech adjacent startups) while a business founder may not understand the investments and development needs to differentiate a technical tool.
Hey there! Love your content and really appreciate it! I'm planning to apply for the summer class, but I'm a single founder with just a prototype of the app. I don't have a CTO to build it, and I don't have any numbers like sales or revenue yet. It's still a new idea I'm bringing to life. Do you think this will affect my interview? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
It's the same in big businesses. The management sees engineering as a cost center, not the product.
Awesome advice! How would you recommend to start learning to code?
Although your question can be grouped into a subset of ideas that represent the antithesis of the point of this video, I would say that if you desire to “code”, ask yourself; is this something I would do because of the pure curiosity and joy of discovering the intricacies of manipulating abstract concepts that accomplish solving a particular problem or provides an end product or service and not because I want to launch a start up?
Programmers and Software engineers need no external incentive to continually sharpen their ability to reason about software or code. They love it for the pure joy it brings. They/we are nerds. We wouldn’t be doing anything else anyways lol
If not then I use that effort towards areas that adds more business value in building up your leadership skills.
But if you’re a total nerd, do it for the fun of learning and still go after a technical co-founder.
The advice I give you is seek to understand the underlying principles of programming and do not get caught up specific languages. Also realize most of the content out there that is aimed at beginning programmers is horrible.
The general consensus from the comments is that even if you are a non-technical founder, it is good to form some base level of coding competence. What language would you suggest learning?
what are your thoughts on using no-code tools like bubble or flutterflow initially to build the initial version of the product?
If it works it works
@@TCH534 would investors consider it viable atleast while trying to raise a pre-seed or first round of funding ? I don’t think investors would invest without a CTO in the team
@@StartUpwithSid investors care about making ROI, if you can do that. You’ll be good.
How would you expect to onboard a technical co-founder without product market fit?
amazing video
I m an accountant by training and cant code to save my life. I had a vision and hired a full stack engineer to build an AI app for me. I am about to launch the product. This tech co founder need is over stated. Hire a good tech guy and give him stock.
But however I got an issue what is the best equity split to offer to my technical cofounder?
I think the opposite question is more interesting and difficult... how do I build a tech start-up when the *only* thing I have is tech skills and no business or legal experience?
There are a lot of amazing engineers who just build great dreams, not great business and that's why most startups fail
Good question. You can learn business and legal experience, and AI make this easier as before.
I don’t see why it’s more interesting or difficult. It’s just the reverse question, so its natural answer is: if the domain of your idea (future startup) is complex, find a business cofounder who can help you navigate the waters. If the domain is not that complex, maybe you can do extensive self study and do it yourself, but don’t underestimate the effort that will go into it.
Recently I had a somewhat difficult situation dealing with tax payments in my country. I asked for quotes from several accountants and they all seemed too expensive to me, so I decided to learn the ropes and see if I could get the job done on my own. Eventually I did, but I realized why the accountants charge so much: there’s a lot of details to get right, which requires extensive knowledge that cannot be found in a single place. Having learned that, I would never start an accounting startup without someone with deep expertise (since I’m not really that fond of tax laws myself)
are we able to start a software company after the AI is it possible to generate more income in technical field after AI
In today's world, the motivation of good engineers leans more towards a stable income than venturing into uncharted territories with a friend and an "idea." While having a technical co-founder who shares your vision is indeed blissful, does Y Combinator's emphasis on having a technical co-founder imply that it is more crucial than addressing the actual problem? If a founder can assemble a skilled technical team with equitable incentives to develop a product that effectively tackles the problem, could this serve as a viable alternative to having a traditional "co-founder"?
Let's not overlook the element of time. While spending 12 months in search of a committed co-founder, competitors may be actively pursuing product-market fit and securing seed funding. On the other hand, one might coerce a team into building a YC-acceptable company, only to find that success is not guaranteed solely by a technically sound product.
It’s an interesting hypothesis, but ask yourself if maybe it has been tried before and failed due to lack of sufficient skin in the game (equity and intrinsic motivation) on the part of the tech team. I’ve observed a couple of startups trying to do this and none of them seemed to get any traction.
It would be a very interesting discovery if someone found a way to make that work, though.
@@exmachina767 first of all before the term startup was mainstream, people have been building business as solo entrepreneurs. Amazon mentioned no technical founder. Companies are dying today because we have chosen to focus on things that almost have nothing to do with "Business". Get a team build and product and sell like your life depends on it. Nothing else really matters at the end if you are not making enough money.
@@evandaniyel9388 outliers like Amazon are not very useful to make a general analysis of whether the odds are in favor of solo founders with nontechnical backgrounds who attempt to build technology-based businesses without technical cofounders.
Also, I don’t think YC has ever downplayed the crucial idea of finding product/market fit; on the contrary, that’s the one thing they keep repeating again and again. What they often tell people is that if the solution involves technology, your odds of success are much better if you can find someone with technical chops who’s motivated by the problem itself, by the adventure of creating a company, by equity in the company, or a combination of those things. And that’s simply because finding product-market fit often requires many iterations of the initial product with such speed and commitment that is just not present if you’re only an employee without significant equity (let alone if you’re just an outsourced contractor)
If you are non tech co founder and you want to learn tech saas.
What program should you learn first?
does this advice still apply if someone is good at coding (no tech job background, but does have a master in CS) in this times with chatGPT, claude, etc?
I'm a 10x engineer wasting my time on boring jobs and I'm looking for a diligent co-founder.
Let's build a company together.
I have a great idea 💡
@@mof5ive52 Let's do it :)
Hi
The content is great but can you guys please not interrupt each other and let the person talking finish their thoughts. It’s really disruptive when you jump in one each other’s conversation. Thanks
Beautiful ❤️❤️
hmmm . couldn't i create some no code webpage and app ? have the AI help me along the way until I can get funding and then hire a techie ? my startup needs lots of research and the software and hardware would be based on it , it being in the health sector
What if I am a technical person, but I am looking for another technical cofounder? I am currently developing the MVP, but I know I need a technical cofounder.
Yayyyyy people who don't know what they are doing often do the best things! It's the energy I think haha.
I've been a brick and mortal business owner. I want to venture into tech, but for more than a year, I can't find a co-founder here in our province. I found some online, but they are not very committed.
The path I'm trying to take is learning no code tools, then building an mvp, finding product market fit, and then looking for a tech co-founder. Any thoughts on this?
The crux of a startup is finding product market fit before you run out of money. You can do that starting with validation that there are enough customers with a problem who’d be excited to have a product to solve their problems. Many teams fail to even think this is necessary, they think that they can build a solution and customers will come, without even talking first to such customers. For many products, after you have some initial validation, you will need to build and iterate constantly, as no idea or product is perfect on inception. This is a crucial point where having a tech cofounder can make all the difference. Perhaps you can do it on your own, but that will depend on how core to the product is technology.
What if a solo founder has both business and technicall skills?
My question now is what level of skill the technical co-founder needs to have. For instance I am a new mid level developer, Can I make it by with a non technical cofounder or would I need a sr engineer as a cofounder (which I know would be best)
In my experience, it's not necessarily how good you are right now, but your growth curve. If you are mid level and you've been mid level for like, 5 years.... maybe not. If you're mid level and you just started coding a year ago? Honestly, yeah probably. It also depends obviously on the technical domain you're operating in. For example, our startup is all about searching, data and matching. These types of problems tend to lend to a certain type of technical skills vs, perhaps your startup has more to do with streaming, logistics and networking. That's it's own technical domain that will trend towards it's own technical skills.
Does anyone knows how to become a tech founder as someone who is a devops/solution architect in current working position? Is coding necessary to become a technical founder/cofounder?
So my question is, what to do when he/she failed to convince people to become their technical co founder, no everybody is in Silicon Valley where software engineer are willing to take risks of no pay for a possible big future income ?