Can non-technical founders start a successful tech business?

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Updated: October 3rd, 2022

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8 non-technical founders running successful tech businesses

For some reason, there is a longstanding perception that to start a tech business you need to have technical skills.

But that’s just simply not true. Throw in a name like Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and I’ll mention Brian Chesky, the co-founder of Airbnb, who was a designer.

So if you’re thinking about starting a tech business but feel intimidated by your lack of tech knowledge, here are some reasons why you shouldn’t:

#1. Having deep knowledge of a market or experience in a certain industry is incredibly valuable. What’s worth knowing how to code if you can’t find a problem worth solving?

Firsthand domain expertise and a niche understanding of the problems found can provide a great advantage to a company.

#2. Great founders will be able to develop solutions with very few resources. So you can’t build a tool that does this or that, ok. But if you can hack a solution using a bunch of no-code tools; that’s probably 99% good enough to validate the idea and start making money.

#3. Different perspectives. By not being so focused on the product itself and how’s actually being built, you can concentrate on how features are going to impact your business and the customers.

#4. There’s so much you can bring to the table that is key for a business to succeed: unlocking growth opportunities, defining the product’s value proposition, raising capital expertise, or doing market research. A business has plenty of areas where you can have a positive impact.

So the question is:

Do you need a technical co-founder?

Most probably not to start working on something.

These non-technical founders raised $2M with an MVP.

But, how?

They worked a lot: identified a problem, validated it by doing 100+ interviews with potential customers, and even got contracts signed. With all that positive signaling, they were confident about spending some money on building an MVP that eventually helped them to raise money from investors.

By the way, if you’re looking to raise money from investors, these guys openly share how they did it. Pure gold.

Do you still want to find a tech co-founder?

There are a number of valid reasons to want a co-founder from the very beginning (start building culture, support, higher chances of success), but sometimes you just don’t know anyone who matches what you’re looking for.

What do people do in these cases? See below how some founders found their (business) significant others:

These co-founders who never met in person built a $5K/month billing SaaS

A mutual friend realized they both were working on something similar, so it only made sense to make an e-intro to see if they were interested in joining forces.

Key takeaway: Tell everyone what you’re working on. If you do, these magic moments can happen. If you keep quiet because you’re afraid that your idea is going to be stolen or copied, nobody will know and they won’t be able to help you.

Another example:

These co-founders met on Reddit and started a $4K/month business

There are hundreds of online communities for entrepreneurs. If you want to start working on a business, hanging out in a bunch of them is a great idea. You can get so much out of these: inspiration, help, feedback, networking,... and even a co-founder!

Still not convinced that you can start a tech business without technical knowledge?

Here are a bunch of examples that I’m sure will inspire you:

This side hustle became a $6K/month business -> The founder helps companies automate repetitive tasks using no-code tools.

This niche e-commerce generates $12M/year -> Thanks to all the knowledge and expertise from years of working on a similar company.

This non-technical founder bootstrapped a webinar platform to $50K/month -> And guess what? This is her third SaaS business. The previous one was acquired by a bigger company.

This marketing expert bootstrapped a $180K/year online greeting card business -> A frustrating personal experience revealed a very specific problem: what happens with greeting cards when a team in a company is distributed?

This security expert makes $25K/month with a YouTube channel -> He reviews tech products and has been able to hit 100K subscribers.

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Quick hitters

(1) This former nanny started a $940K/month childcare service. Having been both a customer as a mom and a nanny, she perfectly knew the pains that both sides experienced.

But, how did the business become so big? She started franchising in other cities.

Once you’ve validated a business idea in a market, expanding to other markets by franchising can be very profitable. This cleaning company generated $10M in sales with this strategy.

Bonus: This franchisor's consultant makes $100K/month.

(2) This guy left his job to start a $25K/month e-commerce SEO agency. Again, one of the key elements to success was focusing on one niche. Even though by doing so you’re limiting your market, at the same time you’re increasing your chances of success.

More examples of founders who found a profitable niche:

Business consultant -> Vending machine owners = $120K/year
Coworking space -> E-commerce companies = $180K/year
SEO agency -> Link building = $300K/year

Thanks for reading!

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meet the author

David Bustos

Hey there! 👋 I'm David, and if you ever got an email from Starter Story, I probably wrote it. With a background in working with startups and writing, being part of this team is kind of a perfect fit for me.

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