Tech for Non-Techies

Storing stuff costs money, this is why it's good to look in the back of the cupboard and decide whether you really need all those spices you bought 5 years ago. This is the same with data stored by tech companies. Companies have to pay to store data on servers. Google pays to keep all of those cat videos on YouTube.  Learning notes from this episode: Storing data costs money and most companies ren...

A robust venture capital industry is one of the pillars of the today's tech boom, because it provides the funding for new companies to grow. But "venture capital is not a job for everyone," says venture investor Dr Itxaso del Palacio in this week's episode. Itxaso is a leading venture capitalist. She launched Microsoft Ventures in Europe and is Partner at  Notion Capital  today. She also teaches E...

Most start-ups fail, but founders and investors can still use this for career success. Learning how tech products get made and how the companies behind them make money, opens so many doors to interesting and lucrative opportunities. Many product managers and venture capitalists have transitioned into their jobs via start-ups. Learning notes from this episode: Almost every company is now a tech com...

"Come to developers with good research and understand your customer. If you don't understand your customer, how can you expect the developer to build features for that customer?"  says developer Ariana Waller, founder of Wally Tech. Ariana works with non-technical founders and helps them bring their visions to life. But, many founders want to hire developers too early or make the wrong hires. List...

"The biggest lie told in tech is that you that you need to be a coder. I think that being able to understand the user experience behind tech, being able to articulate technology, and being able to get other people excited about it, is what you really need to run a good company,"  says Jenny Griffiths MBE, founder of Snap Vision. Jenny is the founder and CEO of Snap Vision, a visual search company...

Making a prototype is a key step in your journey in bringing your tech idea  to life. Begin with UX research, which we covered in last week's episode. With your research done, it's time to move on to making a "fake product," which you will test with real users to see if there is enough demand to invest in creating the real thing. To do this, Sophia takes you through the  Sprint method  developed b...

The prototyping process is the first step in the product development journey. To go from idea to live app, site or algorithm, you need to test it with target users. A good prototype can get you funding, but more importantly, it can show you whether the concept is worth pursuing in the first place. One of the biggest mistakes non-technical founders make is hiring developers before they have a teste...

Learning notes from this episode:   APIs are tiny snippets of code that allow one tech product to be integrated into another tech product. For example, each time you see Login with Facebook in a website or an app, that company is using the Facebook API to allow you to login. Railsbank allows companies to move money around just like a bank would, by giving access to its services via its API To lear...

Learning notes from this episode:   The bit of an app or site you interact with is called a front end. If you can touch it, swipe it or speak to it, it is a front end. The front end is a computer that speaks to humans. The front end is like your sensory organs: eyes, ears and mouth. The back end (the server side) is the bit of the app that you cannot interact with yourself: it is a computer that o...

Learning notes from this episode:   The new breed of tech successes today value people who have a strong understanding of the user, not only engineering.  Many of the technologies underlying the products we use today are not as frontier as they used to be. This means that products compete on their usability, not just on functionality. Learn to think like a designer researching an idea. Study peopl...

Learning notes from this episode: Technical debt is the mess that gets left over from writing code and should be regularly cleaned up in order for the engineering team to work properly.   Alexandre suggests thinking of the tech development process like a restaurant kitchen. Having spillage and potato peels dropping on the floor is a normal part of the cooking process. But if you do not have a regi...

Key learning notes from this episode: A product is a solution to a problem someone is experiencing. The goal of your product is to solve that problem.   Different products focus on different metrics , because they are solving different problems. For example, Airbnb measures the number of nights booked, but Facebook focusses on daily active users.  Product goals are not the same as business goals....

Learning notes from this episode:   Venture capitalists have three main jobs: sourcing deals and investing, raising capital for their own funds and helping the start-ups in their portfolio. Early stage investing, like early stage start-ups, is risky. In the early stages, companies are still finding structure and product market fit. This makes them the right environment for some people, but complet...

Learning notes from this episode:   The no code movement is the idea that you can build a digital product using existing tools , which you assemble together without writing any of your own code. It includes everything from website and app builders like Bubble, to tools that automate e-commerce processes and marketing, like Mailchimp.   Building a simple solution using tools that are already out th...

Learning notes: The tech CEO's job is to work with other people who have different skills to reach a clear business aim . It is not to supervise everything or do everything themselves.  You can use technology and data to answer all sorts of business questions , such as: Where shall we drill for oil? Should we make more lipstick?  How should we price our product?  Who are our most profitable custom...

Learning notes from this episode: Beri's first hire was a designer, not a developer.  He found her through via a recommendation. This is the best way to hire product talent. Beri has never had a technical co-founder,  like most of the successful non-technical founders we've had on TFNT. Many people get put off starting work on their venture because they do not have a technical co-founder. We keep...

Learning notes from this episode: The server is like a brain: it is a processing organ. But, just as a brain needs sensory organs to give and receive information in the form of a mouth, eyes and ears, so does a server. The server's sensory organs are the APIs. APIs are snippets of code that let you borrow another app's functionality or data, like Google Maps within Uber. APIs can help companies gr...

Learning notes from this episode: A product is a solution to a people problem. Before even contacting a product team, take time to investigate the people and the problem. Marketers and designers go through a very similar process  to validate the user problem at the start. This is because both are very user focussed. User research is done in two ways : quantitative and qualitative. For  qualitative...

Learning notes from this episode:   While there are more apps on the Google Play store, Apple apps account for 70% of all revenue generated on Apple and Google combined. Apple users are wealthier than Android users. The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40% more than the median Android phone user. Most apps on Apple monetize via subscriptions and in-app purchases, while Andro...

Learning notes from this episode: An algorithm is just a set of instructions that you put into a computer. JS created a prototype of his algorithm using a spreadsheet.  The aim of his algorithm was to give out loans to customers. He bought lending data from the Lending Club and tested it against a control group. This means one set of loan applications was assessed by the algorithm and the other wa...

Learning notes from this episode:   A product is a solution to a people problem Companies that are successful over a long period of time understand the problem and make new solutions for it A company is also a product, which can be a solution experienced by people at a company. This is important to remember for investing and mergers and acquisitions.   To join our weekly expert masterclasses, acce...

Key learning notes from this episode: Developers write computer code to make the design come alive. The vast majority of apps will need to have a front end and a back end. Front end developers create computers that interact with humans. If you can see it, touch it or speak to it, it is a front end.  Back end developers create computers that interact with other computers. When you are working with...

Learning notes from this episode:   Venture capitalists are investors in startups, but they also have to raise money from investors . Investors that invest into VC funds are called Limited Partners, or LPs. VCs have to spend time growing their brand and network because the competition to invest in good startups is fierce. Getting operational experience in a start-up is invaluable if you want to be...

To get your questions answered, submit them via Direct Message to our Facebook or Instagram .  Here are the resources Sophia mentioned her the answers: FREE training: The Non-Technical Founder's Introduction To Tech TFNT Podcas t: What Investors Really Need To Know About Tech E-Book: How To Hire Your Product Team And Go From Idea To App To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning note...

Learning notes from this episode:   Work with designers first: your first hire should be a user experience designer, not a developer. You don't need a CTO co-founder , but you do need a technical lead or advisor. Work with a product studio, rather than freelance developers or a development shop at the start. If you want to delve deeper, then check out the ebook: How to Hire Your Product Team & Go...