More generally, any work that a developer does outside of coding will improve their coding. If they learn a bit more about the business side of the company, the

More generally, any work that a developer does outside of coding will improve their coding. If they learn a bit more about the business side of the company, they will have better conversations with the business teams because they speak (some of) the same language, and the developer will be better at prioritizing their tasks because they consider business concerns in addition to technical concerns. The same for Design, hiring, or testing. The most important task at a startup for both business and technical people is actually talking to customers, which should drive both Design, Business and Technical decisions. Most developers avoid talking to their customers, or are prevented from talking to them by other folks at the startup. The author alludes to this approach when talking about Design. You can and should go deeper, creating customer personas and workflows (like one of those Great Designers) to understand your customers better. The more time you spend talking to and watching your customers use your tools, the better!