8 Ways for Non Techies to Succeed as Tech Entrepreneurs (7 Mins Read)

If you are a non techie and aspiring to be a Tech entrepreneur, then you simply need not worry about it. Just follow the strategies and the planning mentioned here to lead a successful tech start up.

1. Need to Have a Good Business Plan

If you are sure enough that you have a great idea which can solve a big problem, still you need to convert it into a concrete business plan. Even if you don’t get into a lot of detailing, still it will help immensely to have a good business plan in place which lays down your costs and potential revenues, you just have to ensure that you clearly outline your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This plan will go a long way in ironing out the idea for you and also help you to express your vision to the team that you subsequently hire for the business. You have to remember that many tech startups have succeeded on account of not just its technological superiority but also for its competitive pricing, good branding, right promotions and more. For example, think of the Intel Inside campaign or the Microsoft’s Licensing Model.

2. Form a good team

While a lot of tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, IBM were launched by a techie, the fact is that the success of a startup is determined by not the efforts of the founder only but by the combined efforts of a qualified and dedicated team of professionals. The founder just has to be connected with the right network of people in order to ensure that the startup has a range of competencies available to itself.  The first goal should be to find a talented programmer who can convert your dream and vision to a reality.

3. Need to Learn the Basics

It will be a good idea for you to start learning the coding yourself. It will help you to actually build upon your great idea. Even the non techie co-founder also needs to have the basic coding skills in order to communicate effectively with the techies of the team. You need to realize the importance of learning how to code is unavoidable and your product will only be better if you do that.

4. Should Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

With a good development team in place, what you need is a minimum version of the product to start with that helps to validate your assumptions and gain the key market insights. There is absolutely no need to spend tons of money and valuable time in developing the perfect version of the product to simply validate your idea. Developing a Minimum Viable Product will help you not just in testing your idea, but it will also ensure that you do not spend time and money offering the wrong solution or trying to solve a non existing problem. An MVP in place, you can then apply the market learning to modify your product and subsequently get into a full blown product launch ahead.

5. Seek proper guidance and knowledge

Entrepreneurs benefit from reading voraciously to keep themselves ahead of others. Be it reading business books or the experiences of the fellow entrepreneurs. It infuses both inspiration and ideas as you gradually follow your own path. It’s not always the core technology which is responsible for the success of the business. It’s the execution of the other business aspects which we often take for granted. You can also benefit from networking actively with your fellow entrepreneurs as by developing a community of enthusiasts an organization can learn and grow.

6. Be flexible to Ideas

Irrespective of whether you are a tech or a non-tech entrepreneur it is needless to mention that the other necessary skills required is to always keep the team inspired and lead them to achieve the desired goals. Having a open mindset towards ideas go a long way in remaining nimble and flexible all the time. The goal of a leader is to paint the picture of the final destination, but to let the people draw the map for how to reach there.

7. Proper marketing & selling

Most important part is the proper marketing and selling of the product. You have to prove yourself by standing on the frontlines, chasing down the new business and driving the revenue. In a startup, you would not gain your team’s trust by barking orders from the sidelines. You need to get your hands dirty and lead from the front. From thereon, find a scalable business model and you’ll be smoothly on your way.

8. Don’t get deterred by failure

There is one major area of opportunity that no entrepreneur whether tech or non-tech, should shy away from i.e. the ability to withstand failure. “The sooner the failure sets in, the faster the success comes in” is most relevant when it comes to entrepreneurship. Remember that the large companies spent many years in developing before they took off. So, it’s okay to commit a few mistakes on your pathway towards success.

SUMMARY:

While a tech degree can definitely come in handy in putting together a tech start up, but it really doesn’t matter even if you are a non techie, as the more important skills required are:

• A great idea or vision
• A flexible mindset of churning ideas
• Never say die attitude and a lot of passion and creativity
• Ability to execute the ideas properly
• To fail and learn from the mistakes and eventually succeed by learning from the failures

By putting together a good business plan which helps in developing your vision and having a reliable team which can develop a MVP, you can put your non tech skills to greater use in building a great tech business. These skills when developed well, will help you to build the enterprise that you are looking forward to and take your business towards success in the long run.