I have seen both sides and, at the risk of oversimplifying, I feel the core is the same for both programming and business. For business guys: a good place to s

I have seen both sides and, at the risk of oversimplifying, I feel the core is the same for both programming and business. For business guys: a good place to start is to gain a deep understanding of how the app is built. At the core it is not much different than that financial model you had built. It’s just written in a different 'language'. Start today: have in depth conversations with your developers, understand how each element interacts (more detailed is better). Learn what the developers are struggling with, and try to solve those problems with them. Sometimes, you will pin point the source of the problem before they do. That’s a good feeling. If and when you decide to learn the language, this experience would be massively helpful. For programmers wanting to learn the business aspects: The key lies in developing a good hypothesis, and in constantly refining it based on what you hear from the customers, competitors, market, investors, etc. Approach it like coding; each hypothesis element is an object - it takes in some inputs and throws some output. Check whether all elements are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. The process is not too different from developing that app. Just make sure to not get caught in the details. Question everything constantly - is this the most important thing and how. And yes, you will get by wonderfully well if you ask others, nicely.