Do you need to be an expert in coding to build a successful startup??

"Do you need to be an expert in coding to build a successful Startup, or can you employ experts to do the technical work for you?"

This was the question asked over at CNET

http://news.cnet.com/8301-33617_3-57...to-learn-code/

In the Internet Marketing world, Outsourcing coding is all the rage. This author says has a Different viewpoint.

"You have to code, not because you need to be good at it, but because technical employees are far more likely to follow a founder with technical experience."

I personally feel it is "NOT" a (need) necessity as many successful companies have been built without having to personally know coding....HOWEVER it IS an ADVANTAGE in terms of speed implementation and communicating with technical support staff.

In my corporate sales world...the Technical Engineer was brought on to a LOT of conference calls in a Group sell format, and was Vital to the discussion. But the lead sales guy was often Less then technical, basic understanding of benefits and impact to the client of the technology.

So what are YOUR opinions Sowpub? is the author on Target? or did he miss the mark? Do you "need" to be an expert in coding to build a successful startup?

What say you Sowpub?

[Ankesh]

Thanks Duane for starting an interesting discussion. My thoughts are of course biased - as I'm a non-technical founder of a tech startup.

What good developers want is not a technical founder. What they want is a good working environment. Challenging work. Reasonable pay.

Now, to create a good working environment - the developers do require that other awesome developers sit next to them.

And a non-technical person really has no clue on how to go about hiring awesome developers. There in lies the problem. Most non technical founders end up hiring mediocre folks who seem awesome. (And I've been guilty of this too in the past.) Which creates a boring work environment.

So a non-technical founder has to figure out a way to get past this. And hire awesome folks. Maybe ask awesome developer friends to conduct the interviews. Maybe sponsor hacker events and hire folks who win a challenge. But find a way to hire people that are awesome. If he can do that, he can succeed without learning to code himself. If he can't do that, it'll be a struggle to execute the ideas and achieve success.

Originally Posted by Ankesh

Thanks Duane for starting an interesting discussion. My thoughts are of course biased - as I'm a non-technical founder of a tech startup.

Hi Ankesh,

Thanks

- Surprised...more like SHOCKED that you consider yourself "non-technical" considering your blog/business projects over the years. And BIASED opinion is exactly the perspective i.e REAL WORLD that I was looking to "hear"

What good developers want is not a technical founder. What they want is a good working environment. Challenging work. Reasonable pay.

Now, to create a good working environment - the developers do require that other awesome developers sit next to them.

- Interesting insight about "good working environment"...How would one create such an environment virtually? Have you done anything with virtual developers? or are all yours local.

And a non-technical person really has no clue on how to go about hiring awesome developers. There in lies the problem. Most non technical founders end up hiring mediocre folks who seem awesome. (And I've been guilty of this too in the past.) Which creates a boring work environment.

So a non-technical founder has to figure out a way to get past this. And hire awesome folks. Maybe ask awesome developer friends to conduct the interviews. Maybe sponsor hacker events and hire folks who win a challenge. But find a way to hire people that are awesome. If he can do that, he can succeed without learning to code himself. If he can't do that, it'll be a struggle to execute the ideas and achieve success.

Thanks for sharing some ideas on getting Awesome Talent.

Hmm so the bottom line is be sure to GET the Awesomeness in your business. If that is not you then at least get somebody who has enough knowledge to hire the awesomeness for you.

THANK YOU for sharing your perspective and field experience Ankesh

[Ankesh]

Thanks Duane

I can't create the tech I want. That makes me a non-technical founder. Over the years however, I've learnt how to talk with technical folks to get the problems solved. I can bs my way in technical talk

(I've tried learning programming on my own a couple of times before but haven't followed through. Maybe this time, it'll be different with udacity.com and codeyear.com...)

My team... we have an office. But we also have a couple of folks working remotely. (We are a team of 6 people right now.) Given a choice, I would always prefer a single office space. Keeps folks more accountable. But I go where the awesome talent is. And so, we do hire remotely too.

To keep things moving well with remote workers, you need to: have a lot better documentation. Wireframes and screen shots and explanations. With people in the office itself, napkin plans also work. Because the feedback is more constant. But remote workers need more details to avoid communication gaps.

Feedback and communication. This is what is important. I get my remote employees to talk with everyone on the team. And not just talk with me or a project manager. This makes them feel involved. Makes them learn and share with other folks. Will be planning a week long get together for the entire team too - but haven't done that yet.

1. Weekly team conferences. For people who are remote, can join in via skype.

2. Get everyone to talk with everyone. No project manager handles communication stuff.

3. Face time is pretty important. So once a year, getting everyone under one roof would help a lot.

4. Sharing of ideas and knowledge and new stuff. Having a bi-weekly employee email is awesome.

5. Accountability. 6 monthly reviews. Weekly task lists. Daily i-did-this updates.

Hi Ankesh,

Brilliant insights.
I like your take on being a "non-technical" founder lol
And hey BS'ng your way through technical talk is RAMPANT in great entrepreneurs. So you are keeping good company. Even though you did not know how to create the tech you wanted. You "Did it Anyways"

Learning Code:
Thanks for the links on where to learn coding. I think it helps to at least attempt to learn so you can "get the technical lingo down enough to communicate. So those are great resources.

Team Building:
Your step by step team building insights below warrant there own article. Very valuable. I usually look for these Yearly,Quarterly,monthly and daily rhythm when looking at start ups. Most DO NOT have these systems in place and suffer greatly in all areas as a result.

Even if you don't have a team. Every person needs to have this rhythm in their lives. Even if the team is just you/ imaginary

I appreciate the details you shared.

Thanks Ankesh

Originally Posted by Ankesh

Thanks Duane

I can't create the tech I want. That makes me a non-technical founder. Over the years however, I've learnt how to talk with technical folks to get the problems solved. I can bs my way in technical talk

(I've tried learning programming on my own a couple of times before but haven't followed through. Maybe this time, it'll be different with udacity.com and codeyear.com...)

My team... we have an office. But we also have a couple of folks working remotely. (We are a team of 6 people right now.) Given a choice, I would always prefer a single office space. Keeps folks more accountable. But I go where the awesome talent is. And so, we do hire remotely too.

To keep things moving well with remote workers, you need to: have a lot better documentation. Wireframes and screen shots and explanations. With people in the office itself, napkin plans also work. Because the feedback is more constant. But remote workers need more details to avoid communication gaps.

Feedback and communication. This is what is important. I get my remote employees to talk with everyone on the team. And not just talk with me or a project manager. This makes them feel involved. Makes them learn and share with other folks. Will be planning a week long get together for the entire team too - but haven't done that yet.

1. Weekly team conferences. For people who are remote, can join in via skype.

2. Get everyone to talk with everyone. No project manager handles communication stuff.

3. Face time is pretty important. So once a year, getting everyone under one roof would help a lot.

4. Sharing of ideas and knowledge and new stuff. Having a bi-weekly employee email is awesome.

5. Accountability. 6 monthly reviews. Weekly task lists. Daily i-did-this updates.

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Duane Adolph

"Do you need to be an expert in coding to build a successful Startup, or can you employ experts to do the technical work for you?"

Hi Duane,

I think that - if you need custom-made software for your start up - you can hire people to create that software, even if you are not a "coder" (i.e. programmer) yourself.

However, it may be easier to communicate with programmers if you are a programmer yourself...

I don't have direct experience in this area. I think Ankesh may, though. (Be sure to check out Ankesh's website, SuccessNexus, for example.)

My brother, Thomas, is not a "professional" coder, but he can program, and has done some programming for his own projects. I think he's found his own programming skills to be an advantage when hiring programmers. (His most extensive project so far, not counting projects still in development, has been the online browser-based game, Dragon Tavern. One of his earlier projects was MyLinkVault.)

Best wishes!

Dien

[Dien Rice]

Hi Duane,

You might also like this...

How technical does a start-up founder have to be?

This is an old discussion from "Hacker News" which seems to be relevant to what you're asking...

Best wishes,

Dien

Woohoo! Thanks for Digging this one up Dien. I had a read through and valuable discussions on there. I REALLY appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Duane,

You might also like this...

How technical does a start-up founder have to be?

This is an old discussion from "Hacker News" which seems to be relevant to what you're asking...

Best wishes,

Dien

Hi Dien,

Thanks. I would agree for a custom solution it would be better to outsource to a specialist. We've done and do this all the time with clients (corporate consulting world)

As you point out, one of the common challenges I'm hearing is in the COMMUNICATION.

Thanks for sharing your brother Thomas's website. The Dragon Tavern project does look quite intricate. Would be curious to hear what "sparked" that idea? How is Thomas doing??

AsK him to ....Wait a minute. I think YOU are the older brother right? TELL him to drop by and say hello

Thanks Dien

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Duane,

I think that - if you need custom-made software for your start up - you can hire people to create that software, even if you are not a "coder" (i.e. programmer) yourself.

However, it may be easier to communicate with programmers if you are a programmer yourself...

I don't have direct experience in this area. I think Ankesh may, though. (Be sure to check out Ankesh's website, SuccessNexus, for example.)

My brother, Thomas, is not a "professional" coder, but he can program, and has done some programming for his own projects. I think he's found his own programming skills to be an advantage when hiring programmers. (His most extensive project so far, not counting projects still in development, has been the online browser-based game, Dragon Tavern. One of his earlier projects was MyLinkVault.)

Best wishes!

Dien

Originally Posted by Duane Adolph

"Do you need to be an expert in coding to build a successful Startup, or can you employ experts to do the technical work for you?"

No...but you have to know what you want and how you expect it to function and be able to communicate this in clear and concise terms....and hope you have made the right choice in a developer.

Ankesh is correct in saying you have to find the good developer.

I am not a coder and the first foray into having software developed resulted in several months of a bad coder wasting time and ended up in us having a successful lawsuit against him. He came with glorious testimonials and was well known on the forums but the fact was that he was nothing but a shyster.

Just a hint (in case you pick an incompetent developer)....when you enter into the contract with a developer make sure that there is a clause that any and all emails, PM's, ICQ messages or other forms of communication are parcel and part of the contract....and keep and store all communications.

Our second developer was great but ran into a personal dilemma and abandoned us (understandably given the circumstances) but he laid the ground work, the basic backbone of the software (incidentally he is back working with us when needed)

Our third and final developers we found in S. America and we have been with them for just about 10 years now.

You need to write a complex blueprint of exactly how you expect it to work (leaving out nothing), how all the functions will interact., etc., before turning it over to a developer. While even a great developer can't read your mind they will advise you what can and can't be done according to the guidelines set out in the blueprint....and a good developer will find or suggest a workaround or alternative for things you have specified but can't be done exactly as you have said in the blueprint.

I did 2 blueprints.....

one an overview for the different developers to look at and use as a basis for giving a bid on the work.

second was comprehensive for the selected developer....took a full week and some 40+ pages laying it all out in black and white.

If you are lucky enough to find a good developer and keep them....after a period of time you will develop a synergy with them...the developer knowing what you expect and you knowing what the developer is capable of doing....more than anything a trust in each other.

Good developers aren't cheap.... they really are worth their weight in gold when you find them.... pay them well and above all treat them well.

Most bargain basement developers will end up giving you mile high headaches.