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“Don’t try and be something that you’re not,” that was the advice I gave to myself when I started my company.
Even though I have a BSEE and a few patents, I’d been on the “dark side”, as my wife calls the business side of a technology company, for years. I wasn’t going to be the technical heart and soul of the company.
So the challenges I had were similar to the unique challenges a completely non-technical CEO would have. You can trace all of the unique challenges back to the concept of “Don’t try and be something that you’re not.”
I think there are three unique challenges that all non-technical CEOs face:
A. You need to hire a great VP Engineering.
“Who’s your VP of Engineering going to be?” That was the question Jack, a VC who was preparing to give us a term sheet, asked me.
The original founding VP Engineering, “John”, quit almost a year before. I was running engineering on an interim basis, so I told Jack the truth. “I’m running engineering for now until we find a replacement.”
“That’s what I thought you would tell me,” Jack said. “However, there’s too much risk for me to invest until you find a full time VP…
