5 Ways to get your Product Built as a Non-Technical Founder

Hi Everyone! 

Figuring out how to build your product is one of the most crucial decisions you'll face as an early-stage founder. Building a tech product as a non-technical founder is akin to navigating a minefield without a map. The journey is filled with challenges, the wrong steps can be costly, and if you blow a leg off, it’s probably going to stay with you forever. However, understanding these challenges and the pitfalls of common solutions can help you make more informed decisions. Let’s explore the typical routes non-technical founders take and why they might fall short.

Option 1️⃣: Find a Technical Co-Founder

Many first-time founders start by trying to find a technical co-founder and to be fair, this can be rewarding. You can get someone who shares your vision, shares the risk, AND keep costs low because they’re doing all the development.

However, the reality is that finding the right technical co-founder is incredibly challenging and often unrealistic. Experienced technical folks hear sweat-equity pitches every day and pitching a business with no product, profit or revenue is a tough sell. And since you’re not paying them, you’re expecting them to work nights and weekends - this will inevitably lead to burnout, conflicts, and setbacks, potentially derailing your entire project.

Moreover, there are critical roles within your product team that the CTO cannot fill - you need UI/UX designers, product managers, and QA engineers among others to complete your product team, so you will have to employ at least one of the other options on the list.

Option 2️⃣: Hiring a Development Agency

Hiring a development agency can be a double-edged sword. Development agencies can be a massive force multiplier - ideally, they offer a professional and structured approach to building a product so that you, as a founder, can focus on the other critical aspects of the business. They can also be the most damaging and drain your resources if not executed well.

However, not just any agency would be a good fit - traditional development agencies can be prohibitively expensive, with many operating on a billable hours model, incentivizing longer project durations and scope creep and delaying the essential - getting in front of customers as fast as possible. Critically, they tend to focus on building a product rather than building a business, not acting as thinking partners and prioritizing features over finding product market fit and rapid iteration.

There are specialists like Byldd and others who specifically focus on helping aspiring founders launch products and get paying customers as fast as possible. For example, Byldd focuses on helping non-technical domain-expert founders build and launch tech products in under a month, and for less than $10K. This model works by prioritizing customer feedback and rapid iteration above all else, and their portfolio companies have been backed by YCombinator, Google, Cartier, and other top-tier investors.

Option 3️⃣: Outsourcing to Freelancers

Freelancers offer flexibility and potentially lower costs, but the quality and commitment vary widely. Managing freelancers remotely without technical expertise often leads to miscommunication, delays, and subpar results. Their hourly model also encourages longer development time and puts the focus on features rather than validation. Furthermore, securing ongoing support after the initial project ends can be challenging, leaving your product without necessary updates and improvements.

Option 4️⃣: Using No-Code Tools to Do It Yourself

No-code tools are great for prototyping and simple applications due to their simplicity, speed, and affordability. However, they fall short in scalability, customization, and performance. As your product evolves and requires more complex functionalities, these tools become a hindrance. More importantly, as a founder, your time is better spent on tasks like securing early sales and setting the product's direction rather than building the product yourself.

Option 5️⃣: Hiring Interns or Junior Developers

Probably the worst thing you could do. And no, hiring a third-year CS student and giving them the CTO title doesn’t make them a CTO. This option is chosen for its cost-effectiveness and the hope of finding raw talent. However, interns and junior developers lack the experience needed to navigate complex technical issues. This often leads to poorly structured code and an inefficient product requiring complete rewrites later on, negating any initial cost savings.

In conclusion...

While many options are available for non-technical founders to build a product and can appear very tempting, only a few are viable. Hiring interns, junior engineers, or freelancers and trying to project manage them is a disaster waiting to happen. A technical co-founder is probably the best option but it’s incredibly difficult unless you have a pedigree or a proven business model. A development agency focused on building businesses is the best, realistic shot to get your product off the ground, but you have to be careful to avoid the ones trying to maximize billable hours.