Traits of successful non-technical solo founders(quibb.com)
quibb.com
Traits of successful non-technical solo founders
http://quibb.com/links/four-traits-of-successful-non-technical-solo-founders
7 comments
> Marketing gets short shrift in the tech world, probably because tech is one of the major industries in which the marketing function and the product development function are separated to a large degree.
Which is ironic, because every web startup these days seems to be in the advertising industry.
Which is ironic, because every web startup these days seems to be in the advertising industry.
FWIW there are actually 7 P's in marketing:
Product, Price, Promoton, Place, Packaging, Positioning & People.
However, I do agree with you that people often consider promotion = marketing when promotion ≠ marketing; its just one aspect of it and embracing all aspects of the marketing mix is beneficial to any company.
However, I do agree with you that people often consider promotion = marketing when promotion ≠ marketing; its just one aspect of it and embracing all aspects of the marketing mix is beneficial to any company.
The 4 and 7 has been an ongoing debate among marketing academics, it seems. I recall the "right" answer alternating course by course through school, pending the professors interest.
If I recall, the 4 P's are the standard marketing mix, with the 7 P's being called the extended marketing mix. FWIW, the 4 was definitely more central at my school.
If I recall, the 4 P's are the standard marketing mix, with the 7 P's being called the extended marketing mix. FWIW, the 4 was definitely more central at my school.
Is anybody else tired of reading x traits/qualities required to perform y and z? Seems like every other post is highlighting what you need to have to achieve everything you can ever want. It's like a bad collection of extracts from self-help books.
More like it is blog spam to drive traffic to the bloggers startup/blog/etc..
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I wish the title here was the same as the article's title, "Four traits of successful non-technical solo founders". I got half-way through the article before I realised that it was only talking about non-technical solo founders, and it made a lot more sense.
That said, it does sound perfectly reasonable that non-technical solo founders should be product focussed (like somebody in any startup needs to be), have the means and connections to get technical help, and have some understanding of what the people building the product are actually doing.
That said, it does sound perfectly reasonable that non-technical solo founders should be product focussed (like somebody in any startup needs to be), have the means and connections to get technical help, and have some understanding of what the people building the product are actually doing.
What does "non-technical" mean, really?
I always wonder what someone means by it, because I may well (once done with my current project) decide to start a startup as a solo founder. And I'm "aspiringly-technical," let's say. I studied math in college, but only started programming more recently.
This article was reassuring, in a sense, because at the very least I qualify as a "technically-literate non-technical person." But I'd like to be more than just technically literate.
I always wonder what someone means by it, because I may well (once done with my current project) decide to start a startup as a solo founder. And I'm "aspiringly-technical," let's say. I studied math in college, but only started programming more recently.
This article was reassuring, in a sense, because at the very least I qualify as a "technically-literate non-technical person." But I'd like to be more than just technically literate.
If you build the product yourself (write the code yourself), you are a technical founder.
If you don't write the code yourself, you will need to partner with or hire someone who can. That would make you a nontechnical founder.
To use a famous example, Woz was the technical founder, while Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne were nontechnical founders.
If you don't write the code yourself, you will need to partner with or hire someone who can. That would make you a nontechnical founder.
To use a famous example, Woz was the technical founder, while Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne were nontechnical founders.
One other thing I might add is to make sure your product isn't overly technical. Non-technical solo founders can do great if they are building mostly crud based applications.
As soon as the idea advances to include sophisticated technical elements it's nearly impossible for a solo non-technical founder to run the business without a competent technical co-founder.
As soon as the idea advances to include sophisticated technical elements it's nearly impossible for a solo non-technical founder to run the business without a competent technical co-founder.
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I am thinking of comparing this with non-technical big company CEOs, including MBAs.
"Non-technical solo founders need to be extremely product focused. They're not purely business-y or marketing types"
Marketing gets short shrift in the tech world, probably because tech is one of the major industries in which the marketing function and the product development function are separated to a large degree. But true marketing, as a discipline, is very much product focused.
In fact, the discipline is often said to encompass "Four P's": product, price, place, and promotion. Many people -- not just in the tech world, to be fair -- tend to conflate the "promotion" function (advertising, communications, messaging) with marketing in general. In fact, promotion is just a subset of marketing. It's an important subset, but it's a subset nonetheless.
The best marketers are well grounded in, and can draw upon, the full-spectrum marketing skill set. Finding one of these marketers can actually be very valuable to your company. Having this full skill set can be very valuable to you, whether you're a technical or non-technical founder.
[A (hopefully) interesting side note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix]