Ask HN: How can a non-technical co-founder add value? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How can a non-technical co-founder add value?

8 pointsThriptic12 comments

Hello all,

I am exploring the idea of developing a software product with a few technical friends of mine based around an idea I have. Outside of the idea and some initial seed money, I worry about how much value I can add to a development team as a potential non-technical co-founder with limited business experience (I am a bioengineering grad student).

As a non-technical co-founder, what sorts of duties will I generally find myself performing at a budding company, and what are the general avenues by which I can add value?

View on HN

Well, if you're willing to throw yourself into the role, somebody has to deal with marketing, PR, strategy, sales, business development, bookkeeping, regulatory compliance, making coffee, taking out the trash, etc.

So yeah.. there are a LOT of places for a non-technical co-founder to add value. Since most techies aren't very marketing-savvy, I'd suggest you go buy every marketing book you can get your hands on, and do a deep dive.

OK, maybe not literally every marketing book. But if you're interested, here are a few items I'd recommend to a budding would-be marketer.

Permission Marketing - Seth Godin

All Marketers Are Liars - Seth Godin

Purple Cow - Seth Godin

Unleashing The Ideavirus - Seth Godin

Positioning - Jack Trout and Al Ries

Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing - Al Ries

Repositioning - Jack Trout

Marketing Warfare - Al Ries

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding - Al Ries and Laura Ries

The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema

Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

Trust Me, I'm Lying - Confessions of a Media Manipulator - Ryan Holiday

Crossing the Chasm - Geoffrey Moore

If this is a B2B play, I'd read Steve Blank's The Four Steps to the Epiphany first though. Otherwise, I'd suggest starting with The Discipline of Market Leaders and then go to All Marketers Are Liars.

What kind of duties would you be doing in a role like this? Writing web copy; writing press releases; writing whitepapers; writing blog posts; recording screencasts & demo videos; setting up mailing lists; running the Web, Twitter, Facebook, G+, Pinterest, Tumblr, Youtube, etc., presence; talking to potential customers and soliciting feedback; developing a marketing strategy, PR strategy, etc; working with your cofounders to choose a "value discipline" (See The Discipline of Market Leaders) and putting an operating model in place to fulfill that discipline; possibly talking to potential investors; talking to potential partners, doing business development; and SOOOOOOO very much more.

WOAH, this is immensely helpful and a very thorough list. Thank you!

Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy" is oddly missing from the list, as it's one of the most influential corporate strategy books out there... if you like the spirit of that list, you should definitely add that one.

(Porter's "5 forces" are one of the highlights of a typical MBA curriculum).

Also, learning some accounting is extraordinarily useful (thinking about capex vs. opex, etc.)

Any or all of Porter's works would be fine additions as well. But they're bigger, longer, dryer and more academic, and - arguably - a bit less accessible. I'd recommend somebody coming to the "business side of things" maybe defer jumping into Porter until after reading some of the other works that touch on, or dance around, his material.

The Discipline of Market Leaders, in particular, could probably be seen as sort of a riff on Porter's ideas, albeit more focused. I'm actually a big fan of their approach, and that's really why I put that instead of saying "go read Michael Porter".

All of that said, the book Understanding Michael Porter is a good introduction to his approach, and is probably more accessible than jumping right into Competitive Strategy or the others.

The value of a non-tech member is the same as the value a consultant, project manager, or a lawyer can give to their clients. It's about a mode of thought - reality checks, decision making and finding creative solutions to the problems you will definitely encounter on the way. Engineering is a great place to start from.

Every engineer, regardless of specialty, learns to write code: At least one semester of C/C++. That's all you need to get started. Learn the rest on your own.

As a side note, stop calling yourself non-technical. It's embarrassing, especially if you know bioengineering. Give me the name of your school, and I will write them an email to complain about the lack of preparation for their students.

Stop being so lazy. And have some respect for yourself.

And yes, you're very lazy.

> Every engineer, regardless of specialty, learns to write code: At least one semester of C/C++

I doubt this is universally true. It certainly wasn't in both my ugrad and grad institutions. Non-CS engg students had the option of taking a introduction to programming style course, but it was by no means mandatory.

Most engg students there had their first introduction to programming via Matlab assignments, which can hardly be called programming.

Matlab is a fine first step for becoming a software developer. I used Matlab in all my courses for Control Systems, Communications Systems, Signal Processing etc. So if Matlab is all you got, then that's great!

The toughest part about learning to write code is to learn to think algorithmically. C/C++/Java/etc all have the same basic syntax.

I have a Computer Engineering degree, so I don't exactly help my argument here. However, I know for a fact that ALL engineering students (and math/physics/chemisty/etc) at my school, regardless of major had to learn C++. Mandatory.

Regardless.... you can always sign up for a programming course. In fact, to be an expert programmer, you need 2 courses:

1. Intro to C/C++

2. Data structures.

That's it. You can easily pick up Java or any other language in less than 1 month.

Just think about it. There's no excuse for not knowing how to write code. Just do it!!!

Is the idea related to bioengineering?

Once they have a rough prototype you can be the first tester and use your contacts to get a few additional users for the beta version. One very important task is to understand what the users say and translate that to something the developers can understand. Also, understand what is possible to do in the site and what would be useful for the users.

The idea is an offshoot of my experiences as a grad student and also as a project manager at a core lab at my university. It is not strictly bio E oriented, but I agree that I could certainly test and find receptive initial users.

Ideally you would have prior experience in sales, marketing, or fund-raising. But if you have hustle that can be a substitute while you learn those roles.

sales, investor relations, project and product management, marketing, PR, content creation, recruiting and hiring, CRM. There's plenty to do.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com