Tech for Non-Techies

Would you leave a high flying career in advertising to set up an adult content site? Most people wouldn't, but Cindy Gallop is not most people.

After leading one of the world's top advertising agencies, BBH in the United States. Cindy decided to try her hand at tech entrepreneurship. Her venture, Make Love Not Porn, is in the new category of "social sex" and aims to revolutionise how people talk, share and watch sex.

As a non-technical founder of an adult content business, Cindy had to learn how to work with developers, get users despite being banned by advertisers and create a troll free online environment.

Learning notes from this episode:

• "You don't have to be a tech person to build something absolutely phenomenal in tech," says Cindy. Instead, you need a strong vision, the right team and the determination to keep going.
• "You do not need a technical co-founder from the beginning." In fact, delegating your vision to the tech person simply because they are a coder and you are not, can be very damaging. Instead, get people to help you build your vision, and good CTOs and co-founders will find you.
• "Do interesting things, and interesting things will happen to you."
• "Too many people make the mistake that a job is a safe option. It's not. In a job you are at the complete mercy of management changes, industry downturns and market dynamics. Whose hands would you rather place your future in: those of a large corporate entity, or someone who will always have your best interests at heart, i.e. you?"

If you have a killer idea for an app, but you don't have the tech skills to build it, this class is for you. Register here:

• In person in London, 10 May 2022
• Live on Zoom, 14 May 2022

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For companies:

• We create learning and innovation programmes, to help companies make the most out of digital transformation and help them become more entrepreneurial.
• Happy clients include Techstars x Blackstone Launchpad, Constellation Brands and Oxford University.

Get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

Every company wants to be innovative, but how do you balance the risk of innovation with the need to keep the lights on? Listen to this interview with Kapil Kane, Head of Innovation at Intel China, to find out.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Most tech innovations die because they do not have a solid business case. As much as non-techies need to learn to speak tech, techies need to learn to speak business. "No matter how smart you are, if you are not able to get your idea across in the language of a lay person, you are missing out a lot," says Kapil.
• To structure creativity within an organisation, Kapil advises learning from Apple, where teams often worked on projects that other teams did not know about. This meant that they could focus on their work, while upper management connected the dots.
• The innovation accelerator at Intel China Kapil set up brings in revenue, but that is not the only benefit. It serves as a training ground for ambitious people "If you are able to nurture your innovate talent in your organisation, you will grow them and they will deliver good results for you."

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Innovate, but how? (Abstract): free guide on 6 types of innovation and how to know which one is right for you.
• Innovate, but how? The Pragmatist's Guide To Growth: based on research conducted by Sophia Matveeva and researchers from the University of Chicago on how the world's largest companies approach innovation.

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

For companies:

• We create learning and innovation programmes, to help companies make the most out of digital transformation and help them become more entrepreneurial.
• Happy clients include Techstars x Blackstone Launchpad, Constellation Brands and Oxford University.

Get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

Design is often at the core for why products go viral or flop. But, how can you tell good design from bad right at the start? How do you hire the right people and avoid costly mistakes?

That's what you'll learn on this episode.

Learning notes:

• User experience designers, not developers, should be your first hire in the vast majority of cases.
• Learning how to use design software does not make you into a designer. Learning to use a kitchen knife does not turn you into a chef. This is the same logic.
• Great designers mix human psychology and the design process to make products that people want to use. The best designers are well versed in behavioural economics and human insight, not just tech tools.
• Great designers are partners, who question your assumptions and sometimes tell you that you are wrong. Someone who only agrees with you isn't going to help make your product great.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Introduction to Design for Technology: Listen on Apple & Spotify
• Introduction to UX design for Non-Techies with Sang Valte (video)

To attend Tech for Non-Technical Founders in London on May 10 2022 in London, book your ticket here and use PODCAST to get 20% off the price.

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

You've probably heard about network effects, but they aren't the only thing you need. Learning effects build the ultimate moat against your competition.

Learning notes from this episode:

• You get better at speaking a language the more you practice and correct your mistakes. It is the same with algorithms: they get better with time and training.
• The more time and data you have to train an algorithm the more accurate the algorithm's output will be, and also, the more complex the problems it can solve.
• "Learning effects can either capture or add value to existing network effects or generate value in their own right." – Competing in the Age of AI, by Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani
• Companies that have been training machine learning algorithms for longer are at a competitive advantage. Strong learning effects make it impossible for competitors to catch up.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Sophia Matveeva's LinkedIn
• Listen to The Business of AI podcast episode with Harvard Business School Prof Marco Iansiti
• Tech for Non-Techies YouTube channel

To attend Tech for Non-Technical Founders in London on May 10 2022 in London, book your ticket here and use PODCAST to get £5 off the price.

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

How do you get to the top of a tech company as a non-technical professional? How can you drive innovation, when you're not building the technology yourself?

That's what you'll learn from this interview with David Wells, ex CFO of Netflix and chair of the board at Wise.

Learning notes from this episode:

• "It's called tech, or working in tech, but the entire economy is going to be this. So calling it tech is a little bit apocryphal at this stage," David says.
• "Tech jargon distances people from the actual understanding of the concepts." Learning core technology concepts is not as hard as the jargon has many believe.
• Learning what data scientists do and how to work with them is the best skill set to develop for business people in tech. "Data science is the analysis of the lifeblood of the company and you have to ask fundamental insight questions against it. You do not have to build the models yourself, but you are at an advantage if you understand how they work."
• For a company that wants to innovate, there is no choice but to invest in risky projects that may not pay off. "You have to be disciplined about spending x% on the next income generating thing."
• "A company doesn't suddenly go from loss making to profit making elegantly." Growth company CFOs provide key metrics and steps to make that journey is as smooth as possible.

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For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. If you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

On Airbnb, people stay at strangers' homes. On Twitter, people get trolled. Both are global tech platforms, but why do people treat strangers well on one, and badly on the other?

The answer lies in platform governance: the rules you make to encourage good interactions and punish the bad stuff. Learn how to set up platforms where people are nice to strangers with this week's podcast episode.

Learning notes from this episode.

• Platform governance touches product development, engineering and marketing. It isn't just a corporate mission statement nobody reads.
• The logic we apply to creating good offline environments also apply to platforms, but just on a bigger scale. Ask yourself: how do I want people to feel when they get here? What do I want them to do?
• The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker is an excellent book on how to create offline environments. You can apply these lessons to the online world you are creating.
• Community leaders and opinion formers are key to good platform governance. If the most popular people at a party are friendly, everyone else will be friendly too. If they are mean, everyone else will take their cue from that. This is the same in your online platform.
• To create positive platform governance, begin defining what good interactions and bad interactions are for your users, not for you. If users have good interactions, they will keep coming back.

Get the full notes for this platform mini series here: https://www.techfornontechies.co/platform–notes

You will get the definitions, book and podcast recommendations Sophia shared in the last three episodes.

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For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants
• If you want to grow revenue via innovation

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want any of the following results:

• Build tech ventures as non-technical innovators
• Become smart tech investors as VCs or angels
• Succeed in a company going through digital transformation
• Transition career from a tired old business to a fast-growing tech company

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

How do you launch a dating app, if you have no men and no women on it? Or, how do you launch a market place with niether buyers nor sellers?

This is the chicken and egg problem that all platforms have to solve to succeed.

In this week's episode, you'll learn 6 methods for how to launch a platform when you have no users. Some are sneaky, some are fun and all are very clever.

To get the full notes and examples, go to

https://www.techfornontechies.co/chicken

To attend Tech for Non-Technical Founders on May 10 2022 in London, book your ticket here:

https://www.techfornontechies.co/founders-class-may-22

and use PODCAST to get £5 off the price.

For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants
• If you want to grow revenue via innovation

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want any of the following results:

• Build tech ventures as non-technical innovators
• Become smart tech investors as VCs or angels
• Succeed in a company going through digital transformation
• Transition career from a tired old business to a fast-growing tech company

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

Facebook disrupted the media market forever. The Apple App Store created the app economy, valued at $6.3 trillion today. What makes platforms like these SO successful?

In this episode, you will learn the core concepts behind platform businesses, so you can identify platforms in the making or build them yourself.

This is the beginning of a mini-series on platform fundamentals at Tech for Non-Techies.

For the full learning notes, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/platforms-episode

Learning notes summary:

• Platform businesses have been around for millennia. Technology just allowed these businesses to reach more scale and make more money than ever before.
• Most traditional businesses are pipeline businesses.
• Platforms dominate if they have Demand Economies of Scale - this is another term for network effects.
• Some businesses combine pipeline and platform fundamentals in their business models. Apple is a good example of this.

For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants
• If you want to grow revenue via innovation

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on [email protected]

For individuals, if you want any of the following results:

• Build tech ventures as non-technical innovators
• Become smart tech investors as VCs or angels
• Succeed in a company going through digital transformation
• Move from a tired old business to a fast-growing tech company

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

Does having $2 billion in the bank account and celebrity backing guarantee success for a consumer app? Not necessarily.

Listen to how one company burned through almost $2 billion and had to shut down their app after just 6 months. Learn what Quibi did wrong, so you can avoid their mistakes.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Success in one field does not necessarily translate into another, especially without training. Quibi's founders used lessons from launching Hollywood blockbusters to launching consumer apps. This did not work.
• Follow the product development process, no matter how much money you have. Focus on the user. Do your research. Build in stages. Track user reactions at each stage and pivot if necessary.
• Only invest in large budget marketing after you've proven user need at small scale. Focus on retention metrics first, then on growth.

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• ALL of our courses (Tech for Non-Technical Founders, How To Speak Tech For Leaders and more)
• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

Developers don't work in the same ways as non-technical professionals. If you don't know how to work with developers, you can waste thousands of dollars and get very frustrated, as you'll see from the story Sophia shares on this week's episode.

Learning notes from this episode:

• A feature cannot be released when it is not ready. It is either ready to release, or it is not. There is no half way line. A feature can't be half ready, just like you can't be half pregnant.
• Developers usually work in two-week cycles, when they are focussed on a specific set of tasks. For example, in a two week period, developers may be working on a specific feature for an app. Then they release it, and start on another feature.
• Since what developers do affects the rest of what the product team does, this lesson is relevant if you want to work with other people in the product team, like designers, community managers and data scientists.
• Corporate accelerators for technology start-ups, which are ran by people who have never worked in a tech start-up are a very risky use of your time.

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• ALL of our courses (Tech for Non-Technical Founders, How To Speak Tech For Leaders and more)
• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter.

(Image by Photo by Mario Gogh on Unsplash)