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I'm going to offer an alternate point of view from some of the other comments (I'm a programmer and am studying CS in college). Do you think if you gave progra

I'm going to offer an alternate point of view from some of the other comments (I'm a programmer and am studying CS in college). Do you think if you gave programming an honest shot, you'd sincerely like it? If the answer is "no", then forget it... don't learn how to program. Instead, find a programmer who likes your ideas and is willing to implement them for you, as an equal partner. This may be tough to find, but that's what you have to do. Ideas have tons of value. In my opinion, ideas are insanely important. The best-engineered, slickest, cutting-edge application isn't going to make a flipping cent unless the user-facing features add value. And these features can be formed from ideas that ANYONE has - not just programmers. Don't think that you have to be a programmer to have great ideas; that's utter bullshit. That being said, I think you do need to know your way around technology, because as a lot of people say you need to know the options; what is feasible, what is not feasible; what powers and raw functionalities you have at your disposal. Read Wikipedia articles about things like AJAX, server-side computing, search algorithms, social computing, etc. Watch Google Tech Talks about whatever sounds cool to you. Try to figure out what the current state of technology is - in terms of functionality and capabilities - across the CS/software board. You don't need to be a programmer to do this. But don't struggle through concepts that you find boring; read about stuff that seems cool and interesting. The bottom line is, do what you love, period. Yeah it's cliche. But if you take up an activity because you care about the end result, and not about the journey, you're going to end up frustrated and will probably just give up. Whatever you're passionate about, do just that, and find someone else who's passionate about the rest to work with you. But you should give programming an honest shot anyway, to find out if you like it. It's cool stuff.

staunch 19y ago
Nice post. I'd just say that the best way to learn what options are available is probably not studying like a programmer would on Wikipedia or tech talks. The best way for a non-programmer to do this is to find pieces of other technology and say to their hacker founder "Let's do X like that!".
pg 19y ago
> Don't think that you have to be a programmer to have great ideas; that's utter bullshit. While I wouldn't say that you have to be a programmer to have good tech startup ideas, I wouldn't say that it's completely false either. Empirically there's a clear trend: most of the most successful startups were led initially by hackers. (And the most notorious flameouts mostly weren't.) It makes sense that people who understand a medium will have the best ideas for what to do with it.
- Alex3917 19y ago
  "It makes sense that people who understand a medium will have the best ideas for what to do with it." I think it makes sense to differentiate between ideas and style. For example, many of the most famous guitar players / trumpet players / musicians in general were self taught. I heard an interview with James Taylor where he said he doesn't even know how to read music. And Miles Davis only played like he did because he learned on a broken trumpet. (This isn't meant to be a metaphor for hacking, but rather to point out that there is something called style that exists outside of the cognitive layer.) It makes sense that the guys with the most interesting styles were the ones who were mostly self-taught. At the cognitive level, it makes sense that the guys with the best ideas are those are A) most familiar with the medium. B) Familiar with other similar mediums they can draw from. But a lot of people don't make their money through novel ideas so much as taking other people's ideas and adding the sex. Which seems to be more of a style thing than a cognitive thing.
- altay 19y ago
  No way -- plenty of flameouts were led by hackers, too. On top of that, the reason we've heard about the "most notorious" flameouts is because they actually knew something about marketing! I'd bet that the vast majority of successful companies start with a problem, and then ask "how can technology help me solve this problem?" Sure, there are notable exceptions that worked backward, e.g. eBay, Amazon, Viaweb. They saw the inherent potential in a technology and asked "what problem can this technology help me solve?" And, no doubt, if you can pull that off, you're probably more likely to hit one out of the park rather than "merely" build a sustainable business. But most of the stuff that programmers build these days are solutions for non-existent problems. I'd go so far as to say that, often, those who best understand the medium have the worst ideas of what to do with it. The more time they spend on the nuts and bolts of the technology, the less time they spend exploring other domains, where they might find more interesting and mainstream problems.
samson 19y ago
I'll first say, there really is no substitute for an early startup with knowledge programmers working together(simply there is a time and cost advantage to it). That aside, it should not be the limiting factor, that causes you to pack up your bags on an idea you have. I think a co-founder who puts as much effort in learning the industry and what goes on in the scene is still a valuable asset to have in a startup. Friends or people who just through out armchair ideas and can't match their ideas with whats going on in the industry don't add much value. But when a person knows his idea and knows the industry he can continually add value (beyond the technical level), and when your idea starts to change course from the original (which it often does with startups) he'll be able to adjust quickly with it. But like trekker said, enjoying and being passionate about the industry will show to your co-founder programmer that you add value especially when you can continually surprise him by showing your still a step or two ahead of him about whats going on in the industry.
portLAN 19y ago
> Ideas have tons of value. In my opinion, ideas are insanely important. Ideas are also a dime a dozen and everyone has great ideas. Execution is the hard part. And if you don't learn how to do it yourself, you will always have to rely on someone else.

staunch 19y ago

Nice post. I'd just say that the best way to learn what options are available is probably not studying like a programmer would on Wikipedia or tech talks. The best way for a non-programmer to do this is to find pieces of other technology and say to their hacker founder "Let's do X like that!".

pg 19y ago

> Don't think that you have to be a programmer to have great ideas; that's utter bullshit. While I wouldn't say that you have to be a programmer to have good tech startup ideas, I wouldn't say that it's completely false either. Empirically there's a clear trend: most of the most successful startups were led initially by hackers. (And the most notorious flameouts mostly weren't.) It makes sense that people who understand a medium will have the best ideas for what to do with it.

Alex3917 19y ago
"It makes sense that people who understand a medium will have the best ideas for what to do with it." I think it makes sense to differentiate between ideas and style. For example, many of the most famous guitar players / trumpet players / musicians in general were self taught. I heard an interview with James Taylor where he said he doesn't even know how to read music. And Miles Davis only played like he did because he learned on a broken trumpet. (This isn't meant to be a metaphor for hacking, but rather to point out that there is something called style that exists outside of the cognitive layer.) It makes sense that the guys with the most interesting styles were the ones who were mostly self-taught. At the cognitive level, it makes sense that the guys with the best ideas are those are A) most familiar with the medium. B) Familiar with other similar mediums they can draw from. But a lot of people don't make their money through novel ideas so much as taking other people's ideas and adding the sex. Which seems to be more of a style thing than a cognitive thing.
altay 19y ago
No way -- plenty of flameouts were led by hackers, too. On top of that, the reason we've heard about the "most notorious" flameouts is because they actually knew something about marketing! I'd bet that the vast majority of successful companies start with a problem, and then ask "how can technology help me solve this problem?" Sure, there are notable exceptions that worked backward, e.g. eBay, Amazon, Viaweb. They saw the inherent potential in a technology and asked "what problem can this technology help me solve?" And, no doubt, if you can pull that off, you're probably more likely to hit one out of the park rather than "merely" build a sustainable business. But most of the stuff that programmers build these days are solutions for non-existent problems. I'd go so far as to say that, often, those who best understand the medium have the worst ideas of what to do with it. The more time they spend on the nuts and bolts of the technology, the less time they spend exploring other domains, where they might find more interesting and mainstream problems.

samson 19y ago

I'll first say, there really is no substitute for an early startup with knowledge programmers working together(simply there is a time and cost advantage to it). That aside, it should not be the limiting factor, that causes you to pack up your bags on an idea you have. I think a co-founder who puts as much effort in learning the industry and what goes on in the scene is still a valuable asset to have in a startup. Friends or people who just through out armchair ideas and can't match their ideas with whats going on in the industry don't add much value. But when a person knows his idea and knows the industry he can continually add value (beyond the technical level), and when your idea starts to change course from the original (which it often does with startups) he'll be able to adjust quickly with it. But like trekker said, enjoying and being passionate about the industry will show to your co-founder programmer that you add value especially when you can continually surprise him by showing your still a step or two ahead of him about whats going on in the industry.

portLAN 19y ago

> Ideas have tons of value. In my opinion, ideas are insanely important. Ideas are also a dime a dozen and everyone has great ideas. Execution is the hard part. And if you don't learn how to do it yourself, you will always have to rely on someone else.