I get excited when I meet a technical founder that not only understands the technology but also how it express itself to add value to people.
What is my take on technical founders: I don't have a particular preference for them. I actually believe that is more important to know how to run your startup, lead your team and understand your customers than to be a master programmer. If you can't understand your team motivations and what excites them about your vision it doesn't matter how good programmer you are, you will fail. This is a game of people not machines. Its not only about your team but about your customers. Don't forget that users are not from Mars, they are your friends, family and neighbors.
I have no technical skills on programming and even I can see when a founder doesn’t understand how her technology will express. It doesn't matter how good your algorithm is or how good your app looks, if you can't make the technology actually do what it should. I usually encourage a founders team to have at least one technical co-founders so they can balance their skills and get different view of their product. This means understanding your technology and how it will express to your customers.
Product >> Expression of technology >> value >> people
It’s all about adding value to people. It’s the connection you create when the technology improves peoples lives. Get it in your head. It doesn't matter how fast or better your product is if it doesn't deliver value to people. The value is not the “faster” or “better” the product is but the way it expresses into users lives. In some cases faster or better are qualities or characteristics of a product but for sure they are not the only ones (love to point to Craiglist as the best example).It’s the experience of satisfaction and entertainment that someone feels that makes them want your product instead of your competitors. What is the trick on the technology you built and how do I figure out how it expresses to my customers? Well..
I believe technology is not only science but also art.
Here is where the “expression of technology” melts with the value that provides to people. The art of a technology is how it connects with us.
Let’s give an example. A sculpture from Rodin (Le Penseur) is seen by some as beautiful and by some as ugly. We don’t think about the material it was build with, the time it took or even who help desing it.
The sculpture expresses itself to us on how we perceived it. In my eyes is beautiful and enigmatic. In your eyes it could be something else. We attribute to it a different “value”.
The same expression is done by technology when some of our users become customers and some of them just run away from us. The understanding of our product’s technology is as important as the way your customers actually use it. The use of it is the expression, and if it’s adds value then you will have something unique.
Its the art of expressing your way of seeing the world and wanting to change it through the use of technology.
So go ahead. Go change the world. Go create technology. Go make peoples lives better.
PS: If you like it please share it with other founders and hit the recommend button. Also tell me on Twitter , I’m @JDcarlu
