What Are The Two Traps You Can’t Fall Into As A Technical Startup CEO?
I’ll never forget my cofounder and VP Engineering, “John”, telling me (and I’m paraphrasing here), “I don’t see what value you bring to the company.”
I was focused on the marketing, strategy, and building the company. None of that mattered to John because he saw me as someone that wasn’t technical.
But where is it written that you have to be technical to run a tech startup?
I am technical. I have a BSEE degree. And I even have a few patents to my name. However, my involvement in the technology development for my company was minimal.
It wasn’t the expertise that I brought to the party. My expertise was in strategy, marketing, and knowing how to build and run a company.
And, as long as I didn’t try and pretend to be a technical genius, then I would be fine. That’s where non-technologists blow it (more on this later).
The idea for the company was mine. The original product strategy, go to market strategy, and business plan was mine, but John just didn’t see any value I had.
So John quit, stole the company’s IP, and started up another company with the exact same plan and strategy. In fact, John used my original slide deck to try and raise money.
