6 Technical Skills A Non-Technical Startup Founder Needs to Have
When you set up your business, you do so because you have a great idea that will be a hit in your market, or there’s a problem to fix and you have the solution. But as a non-technical startup founder, with no development skills, making your dream a reality can be a whole lot harder.
For example, if a non-technical startup founder doesn’t have a development team, they can’t make an MVP. The founder won’t be able to add features or fix bugs or make a tangible product at all. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t aid that development.
By learning a small amount of technical skills, you, as a non-technical startup founder, can support your company in smaller ways. Here’s our list of need-to-know technical skills — feel free to ask us questions about this post in the comments.
1. Wireframing
The first vital skill that all non-technical startup founders need to have is wireframing. Wireframing is an essential part of the development process as it gives everybody on the team a general idea of what the end product is supposed to be like.
Typically, wireframes are a really basic sketch or image of what the end product might look or feel like. For example, if your team is going to make a website, then you can draw menus and a picture of what the layout will be like (e.g where are the ad banners, how many columns are there etc.)
Sites like UXPin and Balsamiq can help you put together a wireframe, but a sketch with a pencil and paper will also do. All that matters is that you make the developers and the designers’ lives easier by giving them a clearer image of what you’re looking for.
2. User Stories
In short, a user story is a description of what needs to happen/what a user needs to do in order for an outcome to occur. Therefore, user stories need to include who is doing the action, what are they doing and why they are doing it (e.g what benefit are they trying to achieve). One example is as an accountant, I want to plot my finances on a graph so that I can compare figures more easily.
The reason that user stories are important to you, as a non-technical startup founder, is because it leaves the developer with fewer questions. If they know what you want to achieve with the end product and how you want to achieve it, it allows them to just get on with development. That’s why you’re encouraged to think carefully about user stories, being specific rather than writing out very general ones, quickly.
3. Understand How The Development Team Works
As a startup founder, non-technical or otherwise, it’s your job to make sure that your team stays on track and makes a fantastic end product. But part of that job involves trusting your developers instead of interfering and getting in their way.
In order to avoid disrupting your developers, it’s important that non-technical startup founder understands and respects the work processes that their developers use. Some teams may use agile software development and may appreciate its sprints, while others may use Kanban to prioritise various tasks. The point is that no matter what they use, you should try and learn about it so that you can help instead of hinder their workflow.
4. Appropriate Feedback
Another important skill that non-technical startup founder must have is the ability to give proper feedback. If you’re in a restaurant and you say ‘my meal didn’t taste nice’, that feedback doesn’t help the chef as you aren’t explaining why it tasted bad, but saying ‘my meal was too salty’ gives the chef something to work on.
In terms of development, some examples include the size of images. Instead of saying ‘that photo is too small’ say ‘I want that photo to be 10–20% larger’ and instead of ‘I don’t like that shade of blue’, say ‘I wish that shade of blue was darker’. The more specific you are, the easier it is for the team to work on a fix.
5. HTML Knowledge
Another duty of a non-technical startup founder, is to know what the customers and clients want from the products that you release. Part of that involves gathering feedback and criticism and asking what people want.
Something that can aid that is HTML. While no one expects you to understand all of the ins and outs of HTML, basic knowledge of it can allow you to format text, create lists and link to things too. This can all help you communicate with customers and clients.
6. SEO Knowledge
And finally, a knowledge of SEO (search engine optimization) can also benefit you as a non-technical startup founder. SEO affects how search engines like Google and Bing list your content, so a site with good SEO will rank higher than one with poor SEO.
The reason you need to know this is because it has a huge impact on your marketing strategy. The better your knowledge of SEO, the more people will see your blog posts and the other marketing materials that you release.
