Most non-technical founders dream of building a game-changing tech product—without learning to code.

But bridging the gap between vision and execution? That takes more than just a good idea.

In this episode, Sophia Matveeva breaks down 7 essential lessons from the rise and fall of BlackBerry, a tech company that revolutionized communication, then lost it all.

You’ll learn why great engineers aren’t enough, how clueless sales pitches kill trust, and why falling in love with your invention might be your biggest risk.

Whether you’re planning your first app or scaling your second startup, this episode is packed with real talk and timeless wisdom, straight from a founder who’s been there.

In this episode, you will hear:

• BlackBerry's rise and fall as a case study for tech and business collaboration
• Importance of mutual respect and tech fluency between engineers and non-technical founders
• Lessons from the BlackBerry movie for non-technical founders to avoid past mistakes
• Strategies for non-technical leaders to effectively bridge the tech gap
• Importance of top-tier engineering talent and the value of significant investment in tech expertise
• Need for effective communication between sales and technical teams to prevent crises

Resources from this Episode

Free class: Introduction to Tech for Non-Technical Founders

https://www.techfornontechies.co/freeclass

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Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

Most founders dream of creating a product so good it sells itself.

That’s the promise of product-led growth: customers discover, share, and adopt your product with little to no sales effort.

Sadly that's rarely the reality.

In the early stages, almost every founder has to do the hard, unglamorous work of founder-led growth: building trust, making offers and facing rejection.

In this episode, you will learn from Vijay Rajendran, author of The Funding Framework: Secure Startup Funding With Confidence.

Vijay previously led portfolio value at 500 Global, a venture capital firm with $2.7 billion under management, where he supported startups in more than 80 countries. 

Vijay has helped hundreds of founders grow, scale, and raise capital. 

Listen to learn:

• The difference between founder-led and product-led growth — and when each approach works best.

• How design partnerships and pilots can win your first customers (and even get them to fund product development).

• Why “influence” is a better mindset than “sales” — and how listening to customers creates trust.

• Stories from Airbnb to enterprise startups that reveal what growth really looks like behind the scenes.

Whether you’re launching your first product, leading innovation inside a corporate, or backing founders as an investor, this episode is for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini
• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It, Chris Voss

Chapters

 

05:24 — The seductive dream of product-led growth (and why it rarely works early on)

07:52 — Design partnerships: how customers can fund your product

13:39 — The Airbnb toilet photos story: why every founder must talk to customers

18:55 — Stop pitching, start listening: turning sales into influence

23:23 — Empathy and persuasion: the human skills behind tech success

28:48 — When to move from founder-led growth to a professional sales team

FREE Course: 5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know https://www.techfornontechies.co/freecourse

 

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/266-founder-led-vs-product-led-growth-how-to-pick-the-right-path-for-your-startup

If you’re a non-technical founder building your first product, this episode is for you.

In today’s lesson, Robyn Exton shares the real story of how she went from branding agency employee to founder of a global tech company — without writing a line of code.

She didn’t raise millions on day one. She learned by doing, made all the early-stage mistakes, and got her first users with vodka shots in nightclubs.

Now, her app has millions of users and she’s been through Y Combinator.

Robyn is the founder of HER, the dating app for queer women.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• How to build a tech product without knowing how to code

• What to do when your first version fails

• The difference between product design and graphic design (and why it matters)

• How to work with developers when you don’t speak tech

Whether you’re dreaming up your first MVP or struggling through version two, this is your honest guide to building in the dark — and making it work.

 

Chapters

00:00 — Vodka shots for downloads: the hustle begins

03:10 — From branding job to building a tech product

10:30 — The wake-up call: “You’re doing too many things”

14:00 — Fake research, failed MVP, and what she learned

27:20 — How a non-technical founder led a dev team

33:45 — Hiring a CTO, letting go of ego, and building trust

45:35 — Raising $1M before YC — and why she joined anyway

51:10 — Final audience Q&A: churn, product, and user feedback

 

FREE Course: 5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know https://www.techfornontechies.co/freecourse

 

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

For the full transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/265-from-vodka-shots-to-y-combinator-how-a-non-technical-founder-built-a-global-tech-company

If you’re the kind of leader who is “on” all the time — even on vacation — this episode is for you.

In today’s lesson, Sophia Matveeva shares a practical, honest approach to taking time off without pretending you’ll fully unplug. 

Because when you're in charge, not checking work emails is often a pipe dream.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Why inner peace isn’t realistic for early-stage founders

• How to structure your break without lying to yourself

• The one rule you must follow if you get a great idea mid-vacation

• Why learning to trust your team now will set you up to scale

• How to use downtime to spot blind spots and reset your strategy

Whether you’re heading to the beach or just trying to unplug for a weekend, this is your guide to making rest work for your ambitious brain.

Chapters

00:00 — The founder brain that never stops 01:50 — You don’t need inner peace, you need creativity 04:52 — Structure your vacation like a pro 07:15 — What to do when inspiration strikes on holiday 09:35 — Smart founders use vacations to train their teams 

FREE Course: 5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know https://www.techfornontechies.co/freecourse

 

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/264-the-vacation-strategy-for-people-who-can-t-switch-off

Why do so many software teams feel busy — but deliver so little value?

Fractional tech leader Thanos Diacakis shares why shipping more features doesn’t always mean progress.

Drawing on 25+ years in software — from startups to scaling JUMP Bikes at Uber — he explains how to escape the trap of over-planning, feature overload, and technical debt.

Listen to learn:

• Why planning more often leads to less progress

• What non-technical leaders need to ask their tech teams

• How to find your team’s bottleneck (and why that changes over time)

• The 4 stages of becoming a high-velocity software team

If you’re a founder, product leader, or innovation exec frustrated by slow progress, this episode will give you the mindset and tools to course-correct.

Follow Thanos Diacakis on LinkedIn and on his website. 

 

Chapters

02:01 — Stop planning, start shipping

06:16 — Software isn’t construction: you can’t forecast innovation

09:58 — The 4 stages of high-velocity teams

13:56 — Spot the bottleneck, fix the system

20:11 — How business and tech teams can actually work together

 

FREE Course: 5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know https://www.techfornontechies.co/freecourse

 

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

 

For the full transcript, go here: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/263-the-feature-factory-trap-when-output-doesnt-equal-progress

Most startup CEOs think they’re the visionary.

But in today’s episode, you’ll learn why the CEO is often the single biggest threat to team productivity — and how to avoid becoming one.

Based on a real conversation with a seasoned CTO and a sales leader who’ve scaled startups to exit, this episode dives into the blind spots that trip up even well-meaning founders.

Whether you’re a CEO, part of a startup team, or investing in one — this lesson will help you lead smarter, build better, and waste less time.

Listen to learn: 

• Why startup CEOs are more dangerous than corporate CEOs (and it’s not about ego)

• What “Seagull CEO Syndrome” does to your roadmap and morale

• How developer paralysis destroys velocity — and how to fix it

• What smart founders, teams, and investors can do to keep priorities on track

Lesson mentioned in this episode: 

Why MVPs are Always Late, Why That's Okay, and What to do About It

 

Chapters

00:00 — The Real Threat: Why Startup CEOs Kill Productivity

02:10 — Power Without Process: How CEO Impulses Go Unchecked

04:30 — Seagull Syndrome: How CEOs Derail Roadmaps

09:15 — Nothing to Do? Why Bored CEOs Delay MVPs

14:10 — Bottlenecks in Human Form: When CEOs Bypass Their Own Leaders

  Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/262-why-the-startup-ceo-is-the-biggest-risk-to-their-own-team

Some CEOs are already replacing engineers and junior staff with large language models.

But what if the real risk isn’t that AI replaces your team — it’s that it doesn’t, and you’re left without a talent pipeline?

In this episode, Sophia Matveeva breaks down:

• Why cutting junior hiring today could sabotage your company in 3–5 years

• What IBM’s CEO gets right that others get very wrong

• How the hype around “AI-first” companies is creating poor decision-making

• What the S-curve of innovation tells us about the real pace of AI progress

• And why thinking long-term — not just cutting costs this quarter — is a strategic advantage

Whether you’re a government leader, innovation executive, or non-technical founder, this episode will help you make smarter, more resilient decisions in the age of AI. 

Fortune: IBM’s CEO says ‘the first thing you can automate is a repetitive, white-collar job,’ but he’s not cutting workers: ‘I’ll get more’

Chapters

00:00 — The Real Risk Isn’t AI — It’s What Happens When It Doesn’t Work

02:45 — What CEOs Are Saying: Duolingo, Klarna… and IBM’s Contrarian View

06:30 — The Junior Job Crunch: Accountancy’s Mistake Repeats in Tech

09:15 — The S-Curve Explained: Why AI Progress Is Slowing

14:10 — Your Strategic Takeaways: What Smart Leaders Are Doing Now

  Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

 

For the full transcript, go here: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/AI-wont-kill-jobs-but-short-term-thinking-will

What does it really take to lead in tech without a technical degree?

In this episode, Jennifer Byrne, former CTO of Microsoft US, shares how she built a top-tier tech career starting with a psychology degree — and why understanding context, not code, is your key to success.

You’ll learn:

• How Jennifer transitioned from nonprofit work to tech leadership

• The difference between digital fluency and context (and why it matters)

• What cloud computing really is — minus the jargon

• How Microsoft handled global trust issues post-Snowden

• What CTOs actually do at big companies (hint: it’s not coding)

Whether you’re a founder, investor, or business leader, this episode will help you think more strategically about tech — and your role in it.

Chapters

00:00 – Why this episode still matters

02:30 – Jennifer’s path from psychology to tech

08:55 – Cybersecurity and the WikiLeaks era

14:40 – What cloud computing really is

25:25 – Digital context vs. fluency explained

35:45 – What a CTO actually does in big tech

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/260-how-non-techies-succeed-in-tech-lessons-from-microsoft-s-cto

Think advertising is just TikTok, Instagram, or TV? Think again.

At Cannes Lions, a major industry summit, Big Tech set the agenda for what’s next in AI, branding, and attention. This is your insider's summary.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How offline spaces are powering smart digital brands 

• What AI personas are, and how to use them to test product and brand ideas faster (and cheaper)

• Why most agencies are missing half the audience — and what that means if you’re building a mass-market product

If you’re building or marketing a tech product — whether you’re in a startup or a large org — this episode gives you a real-world edge, minus the fluff.

Chapters

FREE COURSE:

5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know

  Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

 

For the full transcript go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/259-big-tech-ai-and-the-future-of-attention-what-you-missed-in-cannes

Most founders dive straight into building — features, user flows, no-code tools — before they’ve nailed the strategy that actually drives traction: brand.

In this episode, Sophia Matveeva shares why brand must come before product, especially for non-technical founders building tech-enabled businesses.

You’ll learn the four brand foundations every founder needs — whether you’re launching a new venture or scaling an existing one:

1. Clarity — Who you serve and why you exist

2. Story — What problem you solve and what’s at stake

3. Trust Signals — How to build credibility before or beyond your user base

4. Voice — How to speak to your market without jargon

Sophia also shares examples from Uber, Goldman Sachs, and her own company, Tech for Non-Techies, which is trusted by governments and Fortune 500s to teach non-technical leaders how to succeed in the digital economy.

If you want customers, talent, and investors to take your venture seriously — and you’re not building brand strategically — this episode is for you.

Chapters

00:00 – Code vs Brand 01:11 – Logos Are Not Brands 02:37 – Why Trust Matters More Than Features 04:37 – Non-Technical Founders’ Common Mistake: Features Before Brand 09:38 – Investors Back Missions, Not Apps 11:40 – Think Like an Investor 12:30 – 4 Brand Foundations Before Product 18:13 – What’s Next: Cannes Lions Insights

Episodes to help you build your personal brand:

• 170. Advisory Boards: why join them & why have them
• 146. How to get headhunted

 

For the full transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/258-why-you-need-a-brand-before-you-need-an-app

 

FREE COURSE:

5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know

  Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.