One of the most common problems raised on startup forums by founders is this feeling that other co-founders are not pulling their weight in the company. It is a bad situation to be in, and way worse if you are at the receiving end of this accusation.
But it goes with the territory, especially if you have a business background, with no technical skills. Going into business with a bunch of coders and other tech specialists, it is normal to feel like the joker in the pack.
This often happens when the other cofounders have zero background in business, sales, or marketing. But you have an MVP to build and no time to school your partners on the importance of the business side of the equation. So what do you do?
A working product is part of the solution
There is no escaping this reality – workloads are not equitably distributed during the various stages of a startup. Coders and tech guys are often the ones doing the heavy lifting during the early product development stage.
According to retail tech entrepreneur Sophia Matveeva writing on Forbes, “it gets easier with time.” She quotes Andi Hadisujipto, CEO of Riviter – “Once you have a working product, the objection of worrying about your tech skills is eliminated. Once the product exists, then it’s about sales or marketing.”
The takeaway here is this – look at the current stage of your startup. Things do get better for non-tech founders once you have a product to work with. But that does not mean that you should sit idly by, twiddling your thumbs! That will only make things worse!
Explore the various aspects of your role in the startup
When someone asked on Quora what you should do as a non-tech co-founder in a startup, while your partner is busy coding, Nikos Moraitakis, CEO of Workable, had this to say – “Everything else.”
In his opinion, your role at this stage is to take as many non-technical responsibilities away from your co-founders as possible. There is no shortage of such tasks in a startup, says Nikos, citing his role in sales/marketing strategies, investor relations, CRM, admin duties, and more.
Such meaningful contributions will surely minimize the chances of your partners questioning your role and contributions to the startup. Plus, by helping them code faster, you stand a chance to get working on your product earlier.
Learning some code can make life easier
Coding is not for everyone, we get that. But communication is important in a startup among co-founders, especially during the early stages. As a non-technical founder, you have an important perspective to contribute to the development of the product.
But to communicate that clearly to the coders, it helps if you have a working understanding of the basics. It will help yourself in the loop with your tech co-founders. Sophia recommends online resources like the Stanford CS 101 course to get you up to speed.
Understand that not all relationships are workable
All generalizations about tech vs business aside, the startup sector has been buzzing around for a fair few decades now. Even rank beginners in the scene should know the importance of non-tech aspects like marketing and investor relations.
If despite your best efforts, the tech side continues to question your commitment, John Currie commenting on this thread at cofounderslab.com has this stark piece of advice – “If the tech side doesn’t VALUE business skills – run.”
In his Inc.com piece, Rahul Varshenea, the co-founder of Arkenea.com, likens a co-founder relationship to marriage, “spending huge amounts of time together, through the ups and downs of your startup.” Not all relations are meant to be – nearly 65% of startups fail due to lack of harmony among co-founders, according to Alexandra Isenegger, CEO of Linkilaw.
Try and try again to communicate with your tech cofounders, explaining and demonstrating your contributions as best as possible. If things still don’t improve after multiple attempts, it might be time to call it quits.