Recently we started a webinar and podcast series featuring the stories of a few of our clients, told by them. An interesting insight, that I hadn't cottoned on to until now, is that many of our clients are tech businesses but the founders themselves have no technical background.
It raises the question, do tech businesses actually need a tech founder? And could NOT having one actually be a significant advantage?
'Brian Chesky didn't know much about tech before starting Airbnb.' Businessinsider.com
This topic can be pretty polarising: tech founders are often massively passionate about the need for someone who can build the product to be a founder and if there isn't one, you need to go get one! It's true that having a founder that can code might be a huge leg up when you're trying to get a tech business off the ground – but there's a good case to be made that a technical focus like that could also distract from the vision of the business. Whoever you have heading up your business, it's going to strongly influence the direction. Look at the businesses around you: the interests of the people that started them play a fairly significant role in focus and direction. A technical founder can run the risk that technology becomes a priority and every problem is a nail that can be sorted out with their technical hammer.
'Programmers turned CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have helped create this stereotype and some notable investors do not fund non-technical founders. Yet the successes of companies like Alibaba, Airbnb and Stitch Fix, which were all created by non-technical founders, is good reason to question this orthodoxy.' Forbes.com
The mind of a developer is a scary place: having worked with a bunch of them for the past 15 or so years, I've seen how wound up in the details they can become. And that's exactly what you want in a developer, but is it always best for a business? During our webinar with Paul Becker of Art Money he talked about his focus being 'how do I get my first 10 customers, then how do I get my first 100 customers' rather than 'what features will I add or should I use TensorFlow or PyTorch'.
'Sometimes I and investors wonder if we had a tech co-founder if the path would have been different. I’ve never regretted not having that as working with a tech partner (Custom D) has given us a lot more flexibility than one tech co founder. But it maybe would have been a different path.' - Paul Becker, Art Money Founder
Navigating the world of software can be daunting. There's something new and shiny appearing on the market every other day and there can be vastly differing opinions on approach, tech stack and how to solve problems. But as technology penetrates every aspect of our lives, it's more and more likely that those with an entrepreneurial mindset but lacking coding know-how will want to start businesses that solve everyday problems with technology-based solutions. And they need a collaborator to help traverse the plethora of information on the technology landscape. At Custom D we offer a technical partnership, bridging the gap that a tech founder might otherwise fill. If we look back at the projects where we're most proud of the results we've delivered for our clients, they are frequently ones where we have to some extent become their technology arm.
Working with external developers means you have access to wider variety of technical expertise and experience. You can scale you team up and down as and when funding allows.
'Technical specialists are hugely valuable in delivering the visions of non-technical founders, but unless they can offer more than coding, they do not have ongoing lasting value past the initial stage. Non technical founders should be weary of giving up large parts of their company to technical partners, just as they would be if their accountant or insurer asked for a stake for providing their services.' Forbes.com
** I'm certainly not suggesting that developers can't make good founders - I'm simply suggesting there are pros and cons and there are other options if 0's and 1's ain't your thing.