Welcome to the Tech for Non-Techies podcast

No code tools are a great way to build your first product, get it into users' hands and see if there is a business case. Once you've done that, you know what to invest in and why.

But, they are not a long term solution for many products. Listen to this episode what the no code movement is, how you can use no code tools to build your first product and when you have to graduate to building your own tech.

 Learning notes from this episode:

• The no code movement is the idea that you can build a digital product using existing tools, which you assemble together without writing any of your own code. It includes everything from website and app builders like Bubble, to tools that automate e-commerce processes and marketing, like Mailchimp.
• Building a simple solution using tools that are already out there, means that you can get it into users’ hands, get feedback and see if there is a business case. Successful non-technical founders do this before raising...

Whether you’re leading Netflix or a tiny start-up, you're going to develop similar skills. You will need to work with people who have different talents and skills to you, like your CTO or your tech lead.

Your job is to learn to ask the right questions and set clear aims, and then work with your team to help you get there. These are the same skills that great product managers and smart tech investors have mastered too.

Learning notes from this episode:

The tech CEO's job is to work with other people who have different skills to reach a clear business aim. It is not to supervise everything or do everything themselves. 

You can use technology and data to answer all sorts of business questions, such as:

• Where shall we drill for oil?
• Should we make more lipstick? 
• How should we price our product? 
• Who are our most profitable customers? 

In all of these questions, the aim is to make the business better, not to build tech tools for the sake of it.

In a tech...

 In this episode you'll hear from Beri Meric about how he built a global social platform as a non-technical founder. Beri began his career in banking, has an MBA from Harvard, and is drawn to big picture thinking rather than writing code.

IVY, a global content and community platform, attracts celebrity speakers, works with blue chip clients and has investor backing.

Beri shares how he went from idea to product, how he works with developers and the benefits of being a non-technical founder.

Learning notes from this episode:

Beri’s first hire was a designer, not a developer. He found her through via a recommendation. This is the best way to hire product talent.

Beri has never had a technical co-founder, like most of the successful non-technical founders we’ve had on TFNT.

Many people get put off starting work on their venture because they do not have a technical co-founder. We keep seeing that this does not have to get in your way.

Beri has...

In this episode, Sophia Matveeva spoke to serial entrepreneur and NASDAQ company board member Alexandra Charters Zubko. Alexandra co-founded Triptease, a global software as a service company with offices in London, New York and Singapore, which has raised $28 million in venture funding.

This is a great episode for non-technical founders and investors, with practical tips on what you really do need to learn to build a tech venture (clue: it’s not coding).

Learning notes

• As a non-technical founder, you don’t need a technical co-founder, but you do need a web of tech experts to advise you.
• Learning to admit that you don’t have all the answers is a far more useful skill for non-technical founders than learning to code. “Put those engineering books aside and make sure you’ve got the strength to be vulnerable. That’s the most important thing,” says Alexandra.
• Working with an outsourced product team can be a great way to build your...

You can login to Bumble with Facebook and Uber uses Google maps. This happens because Uber's servers are connected to Google via a special widget called the API.

In this podcast episode, Sophia Matveeva teaches what APIs are and how companies can use them to grow users and revenue. This is a great episode if you want to see an example of when tech strategy is also business strategy.

APIs are certainly not a concept that should be left to the techies alone.

Learning notes:

• The server is like a brain: it is a processing organ. But, just as a brain needs sensory organs to give and receive information in the form of a mouth, eyes and ears, so does a server. The server's sensory organs are the APIs.
• APIs are snippets of code that let you borrow another app's functionality or data, like Google Maps within Uber.
• APIs can help companies grow their user base, make more money and collect more data about user behaviour. Deciding what APIs you product should have open is therefore both a ...

It's so tempting to dive into making a product the moment you have an idea. But, this is a sure way to lose time and money.

Before speaking to developers or designers, take a deep dive into the users and the problem you are aiming to solve. This is an ideal opportunity for non-techies to shine: user research and idea validation.

Listen to this episode to learn from Ronan Walsh, founder of Digital Trawler, a digital marketing agency, about how he helps his SaaS clients create better products.

Learning notes from this episode:

• A product is a solution to a people problem. Before even contacting a product team, take time to investigate the people and the problem.
• Marketers and designers go through a very similar process to validate the user problem at the start. This is because both are very user focussed.
• User research is done in two ways: quantitative and qualitative. For qualitative research be careful not to use steering questions to feed answers to the research...

Worldwide spending on Google Play and the Apple App store is projected to reach $171 billion in 2024.

The opportunity in making apps and investing in them is huge, but what exactly is the app economy? Before you get started, you need to know the key differences between the Apple and Android ecosystems.

They cater to different audiences and make money in different ways. Listen to this episode to learn why.

Learning notes from this episode:

• While there are more apps on the Google Play store, Apple apps account for 70% of all revenue generated on Apple and Google combined.
• Apple users are wealthier than Android users. The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40% more than the median Android phone user.
• Most apps on Apple monetize via subscriptions and in-app purchases, while Android apps make money via advertising.

To join Sophia's FREE masterclass on mid March 2021 on Break Into Tech: Masterclass for Non-Technical Founders, register here.

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In this episode, Sophia Matveeva covers how to hire product teams to make your tech idea come to life. As a non-technical founder, you will not be able to supervise developers directly, but it doesn't mean you need to rely on a CTO co-founder either.

If you have an idea for a tech based business and want to know how to hire the right people to build it, this episode is for you.

Learning notes from this episode: 

• Work with designers first: your first hire should be a user experience designer, not a developer.
• You don't need a CTO co-founder, but you do need a technical lead or advisor.
• Work with a product studio, rather than freelance developers or a development shop at the start.

If you want to delve deeper, then check out the ebook: How to Hire Your Product Team & Go From Idea To App: Guide For Non-Technical Founders.

In the e-book you will get:

• A list of product studios recommended by non-technical founders including a firm I’ve worked with
• A...

Sophia Matveeva spoke to Jung Seok Kung (JS) founder of Aizen, a fintech company which uses AI to support decision making and manage risk for banks. JS is a non-technical founder, who now leads a company that processes 10,000+ algorithms in real time.

If you want to learn what AI is in practice and how it's changing business this episode is for you.

We cover how JS went from spotting a market opportunity to creating an algorithm using a spreadsheet, and the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Learning notes from this episode:

• An algorithm is just a set of instructions that you put into a computer.
• JS created a prototype of his algorithm using a spreadsheet. The aim of his algorithm was to give out loans to customers. He bought lending data from the Lending Club and tested it against a control group. This means one set of loan applications was assessed by the algorithm and the other was done manually. By doing this, JS proved that his algorithm was making correct decisions....

When was the last time you said to yourself "today, I really want to use a glass?" Probably, never.

Yet, you've used a glass many times to solve the problem of bringing a liquid to your mouth.

In the context of technology, it’s so easy to think of a product as an app, or a site or an algorithm. But, that’s actually the backwards way of doing it.

Every product is a solution to a problem experienced by a human.

For example, if you want to take a sip of water, or this delicious looking cocktail, you use a glass. You don’t wake up thinking “today is a day I get to use a glass! Yey!”

If you do, then send me whatever you put in your cornflakes!

We can actually take this definition further and see an entire company as a solution to a problem. This is basically why companies get acquired: either because they make a solution or they are the solution.

This is the logic Walmart used when it acquired Jet.com for $3.3bn in 2016 to compete with Amazon.

By expanding the...