BONUS: From 0 to 1 where your tech venture will be by February

If you're thinking about joining Tech for Non-Technical Founders, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I walk you through exactly what you'll be doing for the next 6 weeks—and where your app, platform, or marketplace will be by the end of February.

When you listen to this episode, you will learn:

• What "going from 0 to 1" actually means for your tech venture
• The million-dollar skill most founders skip (and why it costs them $100K+)
• Why talking to real users is harder than learning to code — and more important
• How the 1:1 coaching works with me and Rags Vadali (Instagram filters, YouTube Partner Program)
• The ROI math: why $2K now saves you $20K+ later

Enrollment closes Tuesday, January 20 at midnight ET.

Only 10 spots available.

Join Tech for Non-Technical Founders: techfornontechies.co/offer

Or book a call if you have questions.

This January only:

Get 1:1 product coaching from Rags Vadali—the product leader who launched Instagram filters to 600 million people and the YouTube Partner program. 

This is mentorship you'd normally only get at  top accelerators like Techstars (for 6% of your equity) or at a top MBA program like Chicago Booth ($180K tuition).

You get it for $2,000.

If you're ready to stop thinking and start building, this is how you do it.

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Transcript

Sophia Matveeva (00:00.216)
Hello smart people, how are you today? This episode is for you if you are thinking about joining the Tech Fun on Technical Founders program this January, which I highly recommend you do. I want to tell you in this episode what you're going to be doing for the next six weeks when you join the program and where your app, your platform or your marketplace will be by the end of February. Enrollment for the program closes on Tuesday.

the 20th of January at midnight Eastern. So if you want to do this, now is the time. So where will you be by the end of February? By the end of February, you'll have something that you can show people. You'll have a test version of your app. You'll have real insights from your target customers, and you'll have a clear roadmap for what to build next. And this means that you would have gone from zero to one. So let me explain what that means.

Zero is having an idea. So maybe you've been thinking about this for months. Maybe you've done some research. Maybe you even have a business plan, but you don't have the thing itself. You don't have screens. You don't have a test version of your product. You don't have anything that you can put in front of a customer and say, what do you think of this? Would you use this? Would you give me money for this? That's zero. One is different. One is having your first working version.

One is having knowledge of what your users really want and what they're willing to pay for. One is having a development plan, a budget, and maybe even a fundraising strategy. Zero is basically being stuck in your head. One is being out in the world, and this is a completely different identity. And here's what you're actually going to learn in the program. You're going to learn how to use AI to build your first version.

You're going to learn, use the experience design principles. So your product doesn't look like garbage and people actually want to use it. You'll also learn how to hire and work with developers without getting ripped off or drowning in tech jargon. And very important, you're going to learn how to get your first users because we don't want your app to sit there alone in the app store with zero downloads. But this is actually not the hard part. The hardest part is that you're going to have to talk to real people.

Sophia Matveeva (02:19.756)
real humans, about your product, about your invention. So you're going, your invention is going to come to life and then you are going to take it to real people. The rubber is really going to hit the road and you're going to have to sit across from somebody either in person or on a Zoom call and show them your test version, show them what you have created. And then you are going to have to listen while they tear it apart. You're going to have to learn how to ask questions.

that make people tell you the truth, not what they think you want to hear. learning how to ask these questions and learning how to really hear the answers. That is a multi-million dollar skill. Actually, more accurately, it should be a billion dollar skill because Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, he still does this and he is a billionaire and Airbnb is huge and you're going to learn the skill set.

And Brian Chesky does this because this is the only way to build something people actually want. And unfortunately, a lot of founders skip this step because it's so much easier, so much emotionally easier to hide behind your computer, to fiddle with AI, to hire developers and to pray it works out. And that all feels like action and it is action, but you're rowing in the wrong direction if this is what you're doing. Because without

talking to real users, you're just guessing. And guessing costs you 100K in wasted development. And this is why you have to overcome your own ego in this program. And this is uncomfortable, it's vulnerable, and it is absolutely necessary because without it, you don't just waste money, but you never actually become a tech founder because this journey, this skill set, overcoming your own ego and coming back, that's the journey of the tech founder.

So if you don't do this, you stay a business owner with an expensive side project. And this is why in this program, I've included four one-on-one sessions. So one with me and three with Rags Vadali, the product leader who launched Instagram filters to 600 million people. So literally he has made 600 million people look hot. But Rags and I, we're not here to hold your hand. We're here to push you forward.

Sophia Matveeva (04:44.248)
So this is what you're going to do. First, you're going to map out your product strategy with us. Then you're going to build your test version. Then in the second session, we're going to review with you what you have learned from your users. So we're going to help you see what's imported, what's signal versus noise. Then you're going to refine your product. Then in the third session, we're going to work together to decide what's next. Should you hire professionals to build this? Should you fundraise? Should you pivot?

should you run another test. And essentially by the time you get to session four, you are not going to be wondering what to do. You know exactly what you're going to do. You know where you're going to invest your time, your money and your effort. And you know what? When you speak to users, when you're actually out in the market, some of what you learn will not be good news. And this is fine. This is completely normal because that is the job. But here's what matters.

What matters is who you become in the process. You become someone who can look at data and make decisions. You become someone who doesn't need permission to move forward because you already have the information in front of you and you know what makes sense. You become somebody who knows how to lead a tech venture. Not just think about one, not just talk about one, but somebody who actually knows how to be a tech founder, somebody who really is a tech founder.

And that is the real prize. What do you actually get in the program? You get four one-on-one sessions. So you have lots of individual attention from literally one of the world's top product leaders. You also get my flagship course, Tech for Non-Technical Founders. You also get a bonus mini course on fundraising for Non-Technical Founders. So if you want to raise capital, that's where I teach you literally what I did to raise a million dollars.

And you also get a masterclass on how to hire and work with developers. So all of this means that you're going to learn how to go from idea to scale, to get your first users and to build and lead a tech team. And you're not just going to be researching. This is not a theoretical exercise. You are going to be creating something. You're going to be out of the marketplace. You are going to be moving things forward. And founders that you have heard on this podcast.

Sophia Matveeva (07:08.002)
have used this program to launch product, raise funding and completely transform their careers and expand their opportunities exponentially. And only this January, you have access to an absolutely remarkable product coach who not only launched Instagram filters to 600 million people, he also founded the YouTube Partner Program, which paid out $100 billion to creators. And he's also led

product management at six startups. So he knows how to work at massive scale and also how to work with tiny budgets. And this kind of mentorship is normally very difficult to access. So you can get this kind of mentorship at some of the top business schools and you know, just for reference, I paid $180,000 for my MBA at Chicago Booth. So you can either do that, so 180 grand and two years of your life, or you can get this kind of mentorship

at a top accelerator like Techstars, actually where I've taught. And an accelerator like Techstars, they're going to take about 6 % of your equity. And so let's say, let's just take a really low valuation, like a $7 million valuation, which is quite normal for an early stage startup. And so basically you're paying about $420,000 to be in an accelerator like Techstars to get access to people like Rags. Or you could join Techfund on technical founders.

and get it for $2,000. So let's talk about the $2,000. You might be worried about spending $2,000. I also approach my investments in a sensible way. So let's think about this in a sensible way and let's think about essentially what your alternatives are. The thing is, if you genuinely are going to become a tech founder, like if this is what you want to do, you're going to spend way more than the investment in this program, whatever you do.

Because if you want to build a tech venture, you essentially have three options. So option one, spend 2K now and learn how to do it right. Option two, skip this program and spend years of your life and between 80 to $150,000 creating an MVP with developers who build the wrong thing because you don't know how to work with them. You don't know whom to hire. You don't really know what to ask for. So that's option two. Option three is do nothing. Stay stuck, which means that you have no risk.

Sophia Matveeva (09:30.656)
no cost and no progress. And honestly, most people pick option three. That's why most people are listening and watching, but not actually doing very, very exciting things. There are some people who are going to choose option two and waste six figures and years of their life. And there are smart people who are going to pick option one. So let's do the math.

For every dollar spent on design and testing, you save $10 on development rework. And this is not my opinion. This is industry standard. So basically $2,000 now saves you $20,000 later. But let's say you're skeptical, which is normal. I'm skeptical too. Let's say this program only saves you $10,000 in mistakes. That's still a 5X return. That's really good.

And what if this program helps you raise funding, as it has done for lots of founders, or launch faster, or avoid giving away 50 % of your equity to a stranger just because they can code? If that happened, the ROI on this program is exponentially higher. And this is how you can make 2026 the year that you remember for the rest of your life. So here's an example from one of our alumni.

Musi Skosana, he is a fund manager. He invested $2,000 when he wanted to build a fintech app for his asset management firm. So he runs this asset management firm in Johannesburg in South Africa, and he saw that most of his biggest clients, they were going to retire soon. And so Musi decided, okay, we need to reach millennials and the Gen Z market so they can trade and invest through us. But as you know,

Millennials in Gen Z are people who expect to trade via an app. So he joined the Tech Fun and Technical Founders program. He learned how to create a test version, how to get insight from his target market, how to hire the right people, how to set them the right tasks. And nine months later, he had a live product and paying clients. And this

Sophia Matveeva (11:46.284)
could be you literally by September this year. So here's what Moisi said. He said, I never thought I'd be at the stage so quickly. I thought I'd have to learn to code and that it would take years. But in less than nine months, we've built and tested an app for our asset management firm and we already have clients using it. This could literally be you in September. You're going to get the same thing that he did. So you could have exactly the same results or even faster results.

So here's what you need to ask yourself. Where will you be in six weeks if you don't do this program? Would you be still thinking about it? Still planning to start? Or will you have a tested, validated product with real user insight and a clear plan for what's next? Will you have clarity on how to go from idea to scale, work with developers and speak to investors? That's the difference between $2,000 and zero.

One moves you forward, one keeps you stuck. So for those of you who want to move forward, enrollment closes on Tuesday at midnight Eastern time. So if you want to make 2026 the year that you actually become a tech founder, go to techfornontechies.co forward slash offer. That's techfornontechies.co forward slash offer. And the link to that is also in the show notes.

And if you're wondering if this program is the right fit for you, the best thing to do is literally book a call and we'll talk through your options. And if it's not the right fit for you, I'll tell you. The link to book a call is also in the show notes. So make sure you do that by the end of Tuesday. On that note, thank you very much for listening. And now go join the program and let's start building.