Tech for Non-Techies

Learnings notes from this episode:

Good product managers

• Know the market, the product and the competition
• Take full responsibility for the success of the product
• Marketing counterparts to the engineering manager
• Feel good when they figure out WHAT, i.e. what problem they are solving for the user

Bad product managers

• Have lots of excuses
• Feel good when they figure out HOW, i.e. how to build the product. That's not the PM's job, it's the engineers'

Here are the books Sophia mentions in this episode:

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

• Zero to One by Peter Thiel

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

• Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

• The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter

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

Learning notes from this episode:

• To get into product management, you need to build a product. I doesn't have to be a full mobile app. You can start with something very simple, like a blog or a newsletter.
• Growth hacking is a system of experimentation and incremental improvements to grow a specific metric, e.g. revenue per user or time in app.
• Good product managers and growth hackers both have a laser focus on a key metric and structure their work to achieve it. The key metric changes as the product evolves from early stage to mature.

You can say hi to Stephen on LinkedIn here.

Get your FREE guide on how to go from idea to app.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

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

Learning notes from this episode:

• Asaf Navot does not have a technical co-founder at Home Made. His first technical hire was a Product Manager, not a CTO.
• When you are considering investing your time, money or energy into a new project, Asaf recommends approaching like an investor. Ask yourself: are the market fundamentals good? Is my solution better than the competition? Would a bigger company buy a business like this?
• Use existing technologies to create an MVP if you can and test the market. Asaf's pilot was made up of an online form and a spreadsheet. That helped him prove the model and then get investment to hire an outsourced development firm.

You can check out Home Made here.

If you want to have a one on one session with Sophia, you can see options here. Places are very limited.

Get your FREE guide on how to go from idea to app.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

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

Learning notes from this episode:

• There is a difference between technology enabled businesses and deep tech businesses. Technology enabled businesses use tech to deliver a product or service cheaper or at scale, but their business is not selling the technology itself. Those businesses do not require a technical co-founder from the start.
• Having a technical advisor to help you in the early stages is a much lower barrier to entry than convincing a developer to leave their well-paid job at Google and join your startup.
• This is contrary to what most VCs say, but most VCs do not have experience in building companies or products. Non-technical founders, like those interviewed on this podcast, use this path because it is the cheapest, fastest and lowest risk.

If you want to get access to the TFNT book club, our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

Lessons from this episode:

• These lessons are based on Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.
• "The reason Apple can create products like the iPad is that we've always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts" - said Steve Jobs
• Knowing how to commercialise innovation is as important as inventing something new.
• At Apple, design came first. This is contrary to most tech companies, where engineering dominates.
• A company is an invention as much as a product. Steve Jobs said that Apple was his greatest invention.

In November the TFNT book club will cover The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

If you want to get access to the TFNT book club, our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• There is a difference between deep tech investing, such as bio tech, and investing in commercial and UX innovation. For deep tech, you absolutely must have deep tech domain expertise, but this is not the case for commercial or UX innovations, such as Uber.
• Venture funds often work with technical partners, who help them do due diligence on investments they are interested in.
• To be a successful angel investor, be systematic in your approach, focus on your area of expertise and find experienced investors to co-invest with.

Say hi to Oksana Stowe on Twitter.

If you want to get access to our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Non-technical founders are the interface between the product team and the users. They focus on making the right product, not getting the product right.
• Setting the big vision and working out the steps to get there is another responsibility for non-technical founders.
• Once you've found a real problem to solve and set the vision, you have to hire and lead the team.

To learn more about what non-technical founders need to know to build a successful tech venture, join Tech for Non-Techies. You'll get access to this full masterclass, learning notes, a library of content and a unique professional community. Check out our membership here.

Get your FREE guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The Silicon Valley unicorn model of growth at all costs is not applicable to all tech startups.
• "Camel companies" can survive a drought, i.e. they were created in constrained environments so could not just pump millions into marketing and R&D before they had a proven business model. Camel companies focus on unit economics from the start.
• Unit economics is defined as the "direct revenues and costs associated with a particular business model, and are specifically expressed on a per unit basis". How to measure unit economics differs from company to company, but the aim of the metric is to help you understand whether the business opportunity is worth investing in.

Get Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs - from Delhi to Detroit - Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley.

To get access to live masterclasses, learning materials and a unique community, become a Tech for Non-Techies member.

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The time to transition into tech is now, as lockdowns have moved our lives online. You can do this with a job change, or by investing or starting your own tech venture.
• Learn concepts, not skills. Understand how tech products are made, but don't retrain to be a coder or a data scientist.
• Get involved with digital initiatives to put your new knowledge to the test.
• Build your network with people who could help you make the transition. The Tech for Non-Techies community is a great place to start.

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Check out Tech for Non-Techies membership here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The design process begins with questioning whether a product needs to exist in the first place. Start with research and customer interviews before you build a prototype.
• A good design must be usable, solve a real problem, and buildable within the company's budget. This is why collaboration with developers, product managers and founders is essential for good design.
• The principles of good design are the same as the Lean Startup methodology: build, measure, learn and iterate.

You can say hi to Jane on Twitter here.

To learn about Tech for Non-Techies events and courses and get Sophia's insights into your inbox, sign up to our mailing list

Check out Tech for Non-Techies membership here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.