How to Manage Your Tech Startup as a Non-tech Person

Techie or not, you CAN build your tech startup and manage it with the right team.

YUP! You heard me right!! And some people have shown us how.

Brian Chesky, the co-founder of Airbnb, has a non-technical background but managed to be part of a company that perfected peer-to-peer lodging services.

Do you know how much it’s worth now? 113 billion US dollars, and it’s skyrocketing.

Still rattling your brain on how to manage a tech startup business as a non-tech person.

Well, this blog will show you how to do it right. 

Read on.

How a non-tech founder can contribute to a tech business

Are you wondering how you can contribute to a tech business?

Lines of code are not the only thing that makes up a business. There are a lot of areas where you could be a prominent presence. The excellent management skills you have is just the tip of the iceberg.

• Market research 
• Product delivery
• Investments and partnerships
• Recruiting 
• Marketing and branding
• & more (the iceberg is deeper than you think)

Suggested read: 9 Top Team Management Skills That Make You a Great Leader

What are the unique perspectives you can bring to the table?

“Don’t discount yourself, no matter what you’re doing. Everyone has a unique perspective that they can bring to the world” – Mark Zuckerberg.

1. Design perspective

When the tech team builds a UI/UX, they might feel like it’s the simplest and easiest way to express it, but that might not be true sometimes. Their eyes are so trained to deal with complex scenarios & what’s simple for them might be a maze for the commoners. 

But non-technical people can view this through the eyes of an average Joe/Jane who knows nothing about tech.

2. Managerial perspective 

The real-time problem-solving IQ and the experience of managing a team would differ in tech and non-tech people.

When the tech team is wound up in nasty issues that need urgent attention, a non-tech person can keep the ball rolling on the business end and make sure the resources are being used to their full potential.

3. Seeing the “business” side of things

For a tech founder, tech will always be their first love. 

Things would be a bit different for a non–tech person. They always look for ways to expand their business and how each decision can help them in the long game.

4. Investment perspective

The social contacts of a non-tech person would be more vibrant with people from many spheres who could become potential partners.

5. Team building

You can never be sloppy while building a team; the future of your business depends on it. Being a non-tech person, you can focus on the business aspects of the hiring process.

You can expand your search globally to hire more reasonably priced offshore talents than the others. With ready-made information available online, finding “inexpensive developers around the world” is just a Google search away. 

Finding the diamond among the rough is what you should bring to the table.

Here is a guide on how you could hire the best app developers for your mobile app development project

6. Verifying Talent

Once you’ve onboarded the talent, you need to verify whether they are performing upto your business standards.

But you don’t know what good code looks like?

How will you track it?

That’s when you seek professional help. You can look for consultants or tech experts who can extensively review the work your team is doing.

If you have a tech co-founder, this will fall under his jurisdiction, and that’s one less thing for you to worry about.

7. Managing the team

Even with a group of extraordinary individuals, you need to be the “all-seeing eye” that manages them. 

Don’t relate managing to micro-managing; you should aim to create a positive work atmosphere where the individuals can contribute to collective success. 

But to manage a tech team, you need to know some basics of your industry. Looking from a software development company perspective.  

You need to know three essential details.

1. Source code management: where your code is managed and stored.

2. CICD( Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) pipeline:  To have a detailed understanding of the efficiency of coding by developers.

3. Agile Development: To build a product as efficiently and effectively as possible.

  8. Protecting your Product 

Protecting your product from legal threats and ensuring intellectual property rights is as important as building it. 

Documenting every process and ensuring the credibility of these documents is a major part of managing a business. If situations turn for the worst, you will have all the safety nets to keep the ship afloat.

Takeaway 

Managing a tech startup by a non-technical person is not a cakewalk. You need to know the tips and tricks of the tech industry from afar and manage your team accordingly.

Your bulletproof insights and foolproof approach to problems will always help your business.

Even being a non-tech person is a constant learning process. You should have the basic tech knowledge to manage your team properly.

When stuff gets tricky, you can always hire a consultant like NeoITO to help you out of the gut. Also, we have dedicated developers to help you transform your idea into a scalable product. 

Take a look at our products/services for more details. Or contact us now to get a free consultation.