Tech for Non-Techies (Sophia Matveeva)

Learning notes from this episode:

• Always work with designers before hiring developers. 
• Come to UX designers with a problem you want to solve, rather than a feature list
• When you're thinking of target users for your product, think about their behaviour, not just demographics. 

If you want to get more practical advice on how to hire designers and developers to make your idea come to life, get our ebook: How To Hire Your Product Team And Go From Idea To App: a guide for non-technical founders. 

You can learn more about Intergalactic here and about Eventbase here.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Today, start-ups are seen as the hotbed of innovation and corporates are dismissed as laggards.

But, when large companies innovate successfully, they have a huge impact.

They have the resources and the built-in customer base to scale quickly.

In this episode you will learn how corporate innovation differs from what happens in start-ups, and how to get corporate innovation right.

You'll hear from Louis Gump, former head of CNN Mobile and former VP of mobile at The Weather Channel. Louis is the author of author of the book The Inside Innovator: A Practical Guide to Intrapreneurship.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• The character traits you need to have to be a successful intrapreneur vs a founder
• How to approach innovation when times are tough (when revenues are shrinking, should you invest in risky projects?)
• Why companies like Google create so many successful founders

FREE GUIDE: Innovate but how? the pragmatist's guide to growth (in business & in life)

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To discuss a corporate training program for your organisation, book a consultation call here. 

Happy clients include Blackstone x Techstars Launchpad, Oxford University and Constellation Brands.

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Every app and site is made up of lots of different tech tools and languages. Like a house, one part is built on top of another and they need each other to function. If one part of the structure breaks, the rest can fall down too. 

These are called dependencies. To keep a product working, all the dependencies need to work together. This is part of the invisible work that software engineers do.

Learning notes from this episode:

• A tech stack describes all the tools and programming languages used to build an app or a site. Some of those tools are custom made, some are rented as licences and others plug you into a bigger ecosystem.
• Examples of bigger eco-systems that many products depend on are the Apple App Store, Google Play and Amazon Web Services. If one of these ecosystems has a problem, the apps and sites they support will have issues too. An app on the Apple App Store depends on Apple, hence the term dependency.
• Product teams have to update their products to keep up with the changes in the external tools that make up their product. If Apple has an update, all the apps on the Apple App Store have to keep up with the changes.

If you want to learn the system Sophia used to raise $1 million for her tech venture as a non-technical founder, join the Fundraising For Non-Technical Founders Workshop on 19 September. 

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To watch the full session on video and access learning notes, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Does having $2 billion in the bank account and celebrity backing guarantee success for a consumer app? Not necessarily.

Listen to how one company burned through almost $2 billion and had to shut down their app after just 6 months. Learn what Quibi did wrong, so you can avoid their mistakes.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Success in one field does not necessarily translate into another, especially without training. Quibi's founders used lessons from launching Hollywood blockbusters to launching consumer apps. This did not work.
• Follow the product development process, no matter how much money you have. Focus on the user. Do your research. Build in stages. Track user reactions at each stage and pivot if necessary.
• Only invest in large budget marketing after you've proven user need at small scale. Focus on retention metrics first, then on growth. 

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• ALL of our courses (Tech for Non-Technical Founders, How To Speak Tech For Leaders and more)
• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Have you ever wondered why some people find smart innovative solutions to problems, and others stay stuck?

In this episode, you'll learn you a simple technique that innovators use to make new products and solve business challenges.

And you can also use this methodology for any area of your life, so listen up!

You'll learn about the 5 whys process, hear two case studies for how to use it, and get guidelines for how to get started.

Timestamps

Digital transformation and AI are going to continue being a top priority for most CEOs this year. But, 70% of these expensive projects fail to meet their goals, according to McKinsey.

Listen to this episode to learn what will continue hampering digital transformation efforts in 2024, and what you can do to succeed instead, both as a company and as an individual.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Two main reasons why most digital transformations fail 
• How to design your own curriculum to succeed as a Digital Leader
• Three steps to demystify tech for you or your organisation 

This is part 2 of the 2024 tech predictions mini-series.

Join our January program & have your best year yet:

Design for Growth 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

McKinsey: Eight CEO Priorities for 2024

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and succeed in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

The metaverse hasn't yet gone mainstream, but it is already changing changing how we work and play.

For some companies, the metaverse is their digital transformation, which makes understanding it a key Digital Leadership skill today.

Listen to this short episode to hear the most sensible explanation of where the metaverse matters today.

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Watch more FREE LESSONS on the Tech for Non-Techies YouTube channel.

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn & Instagram.

Following us on YouTube and TikTok will make you smarter. 

(Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash)

Do you want to know how one of the world’s largest fintech companies stays on top?

Paypal’s innovation strategy is actually simpler and cheaper than you probably think.

Listen to this episode to learn how this $78 billion dollar business keeps coming up with new ideas, so you can steal their strategies for yourself.

You will learn from Mike Todasco, who led global innovation at Paypal and is now a visiting fellow studying AI at the Sand Diego State University.

Timestamps:

00:00 Innovation on a Budget

02:55 Constraints in Innovation

05:47 Creative Resource Management

08:56 Building a Culture of Innovation

12:14  Measurement of Innovation

15:08 Levels of Innovation

17:49 Defining a Culture of Innovation

20:52 Success Metrics in Innovation

24:01 Current Trends in Innovation

26:50 Resources for Aspiring Innovators

For the transcript, go to - https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/221-how-paypal-innovates

FREE GUIDE: The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

by Sophia Matveeva, supported by researchers from The University of Chicago

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University. 

Companies like Deep Mind fascinate investors and innovators, but what is a deep tech company really and how does it differ from other types of tech firms? Listen to this episode to find out.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Deep Tech is a sub-sector of the technology sector where the emphasis is on tangible engineering innovation or scientific advances and discoveries. It includes artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, advanced material science, photonics and electronics, biotech and quantum computing. 
• Deep Tech is usually B2B: these companies usually sell their innovations to other businesses, rather than directly to consumers.
• Deep Tech companies are usually founded by technical founders, and sometimes have non-technical co-founders who help them commercialise the innovation. A good example is biotech tech start-up Vitro Labs, where a scientist teamed up with a fashion industry expert to create laboratory grown leather.
• The biggest risk to Deep Tech companies is getting over-excited by technological innovation at the cost of seeing whether the new technology is creating any actual value. 
• “The winning company is not always the one with the best technology. Tech can be a differentiator, but usually it’s only temporary. The job of a venture capitalist is not to figure out which company has the best tech. It’s to figure out which company has the best business that can ultimately be the biggest impact,” said Colin Beirne, co-founder of Two Sigma Ventures, a deep tech investor.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 103. How I got into deep tech investing (with Colin Beirne, Two Sigma Ventures)
• Tech Target: Deep Mind

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your goals:

For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies. 

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

If you want to be an innovator in the Digital Age, you must learn from those who came before you.

Here are Sophia Matveeva's top 3 recommendations for what to listen to to get the best innovators lessons.

Timestamps

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

Do you want to succeed in the Digital Age?

Check out the Digital Leadership Coaching Program

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter

Joining the advisory board of a promising tech start-up will teach you vital skills, build your network and transform your professional brand.

It is a great way to reshape your career, while still working in your current role.

Here is how to do it:

1. Remember the difference between boards of directors and advisory boards. The former have fiduciary responsibility and the ability to hire / fire the CEO. The latter do not.
2. Work out what the start-up needs and give it to them, before asking for an advisory board position. For example, if they need introductions to potential customers, make the introductions.
   • Have the conversation about formally joining the advisory board only after you have proven your value to a start-up founder.
3. Be aware of the company’s stage: tech start-ups rarely need in depth financial analysis but do need introductions and help with operations. Don’t offer advice based on your experience. Offer advice based on the start-up needs.
4. Do not view this as a way to get rich via advisory options. Some start-ups have option schemes for advisors, others do not. The aim of being an advisor is for you to learn, network and transform your career, not to strike it rich from their options. (Obviously, if that happens, that is a welcome bonus, but should not be your aim).
5. Once you are on a start-up board, be helpful, be humble and be kind. The start-up founder is likely to be over-worked, underpaid and very stressed. Offer them advice that they can genuinely use, pick up the burden when you can and do not use this as opportunity to show off how smart you are.
6. Update your LinkedIn profile and professional bio. Telling the world that you are actively involved in tech innovation will help you get found for other exciting opportunities.
7. For more, listen to episode 31. How To Transition Into Venture Capital (interview with Nilesh Trivedi)

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• There is a difference between technology enabled businesses and deep tech businesses. Technology enabled businesses use tech to deliver a product or service cheaper or at scale, but their business is not selling the technology itself. Those businesses do not require a technical co-founder from the start.
• Having a technical advisor to help you in the early stages is a much lower barrier to entry than convincing a developer to leave their well-paid job at Google and join your startup.
• This is contrary to what most VCs say, but most VCs do not have experience in building companies or products. Non-technical founders, like those interviewed on this podcast, use this path because it is the cheapest, fastest and lowest risk.

If you want to get access to the TFNT book club, our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.  

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• If you want to transition into Big Tech from a non-technical career, start by working on digital initiatives 
• Use storytelling and public speaking to stand out in front of Big Tech recruiters
• When Bruce led Twitter for EMEA, his job was divided into 3 sections: brand management, user growth and revenue growth. Can you bring one of these specialities to a tech company?

If you want to hear more from Bruce and his take on how to bring more joy to work, sign up to his newsletter.

To hear the full session, join Tech for Non-Techies membership. You'll get access to all the recordings, live events, a mini course and monthly Q&A with Sophia.

To make sure you never miss our free events and webinars, sign up to the Tech for Non-Techies newsletter.

Cybersecurity risk is a business risk. If there is a data leak, customers and investors aren't going to be happy.

But, as more and more of our services are online, cybersecurity problems are now just part of business life.

In this episode, you will hear a pragmatic approach for how to think about cybersecurity, and what you can do to increase it at your organisation today. 

You will learn from Dr. Josiah Dykstra, who spent 19 years at the National Security Agency (NSA). Today, Dr Dykstra is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Trail of Bits.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• What cybersecurity is
• How to think about cybersecurity risk
• Why you don't need to change your password as often as you think
• Easy ways to prevent a data leak

How do you make something completely new? And does the process differ if you’re in a tiny start-up or a tech giant like Google?

Listen to this episode to find out.

You will learn from Maria Fernandez Guajardo, Senior Director of Product Management for Gmail at Google. 

You'll learn the framework behind what makes a good Minimum Viable Product, the process Big Tech companies use to bring new ideas to life and the differences between start-up and corporate innovation.

Maria's book, Sail to Scale: Steer Your Startup Clear of Mistakes from Launch to Exit, is available now.

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/mvps-milkshakes-innovating-at-google

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

02:52 Understanding Jobs to Be Done

06:00 Psychological Aspect of Product Design

08:56 MVP Features

12:10 Generative AI in Product Development

14:54 Corporate Innovation

18:02 Building Momentum

20:50 Similarities Between Startups and Corporations

24:10 Becoming a Corporate Innovator

27:00 Experience in Entrepreneurship

29:52 Writing a Book for Entrepreneurs

FREE GUIDE: The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

by Sophia Matveeva, supported by researchers from The University of Chicago

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

Every time a founder with a hardware idea comes to me for advice, I tell them they're choosing one of the toughest paths in tech.

But sometimes, that path leads to trillion-dollar success stories.

In this episode you'll learn from three stories of hardware innovation: Apple, Tesla and Nvidia.

Apple had to spend $175 million to fix an iPhone problem that couldn't be solved with a software update. Tesla had to rip robots out of its automated factory.

Meanwhile, Nvidia turned from a gaming company into a $3.3 trillion AI powerhouse.

Why do some hardware companies become global giants while others crash and burn? Listen to this episode to find out.

You will learn:

• Why physical problems need physical solutions (and why that's so expensive)
• How Tesla's 'production hell' reveals the true cost of hardware innovation
• The real reason VCs are scared of hardware startups (and when they're wrong)
• Why combining hardware with AI might be worth the risk

This episode is essential for anyone building, investing in, or curious about hardware innovation.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

01:14 Hardware vs. Software

03:05 Apple's Story

06:00 Tesla's Story

09:00 The Value of Successful Hardware Companies

11:30 Why Nvidia is Important

13:49 Lessons for Founders and Investors in Hardware

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/231-why-hardware-is-hard-and-when-it-s-worth-it-lessons-from-apple-tesla-nvidia

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

FREE GUIDE: The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

by Sophia Matveeva, supported by researchers from The University of Chicago

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action” - Peter Drucker. 

As 2021 comes to a close, it's useful to reflect on what worked, what didn't and how your industry evolved. 

In this episode, you'll hear from Sang Valte, Senior UX Director at international design agency Jellyfish, and Design Standards Board Member at General Assembly, about how he reviews his year and how the UX changed in 2021.

Questions to ask yourself for your end of year review:

• What have you gained in your health & wealth? Where have you lost? Sang thinks of wealth in relationships, friendships and knowledge, and health in terms of financial health, mental health and physical health.
• What have you done to further your skills in your career this year? Good UX designers must work to remove bias from their thinking to truly understand the users they make products for, says Sang. To sharpen critical thinking and dull bias, his recommended reads are Noise by Daniel Kahnemann and Think Again by Adam Grant.
• What have you done to build relationships for your career? Build relationships before you need them. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, Sang had a job offer, which suddenly fell through. He spent 5 months applying for jobs fruitlessly, and landed a dream opportunity when he reached out to someone he met at a design conference. 
• How has your industry changed in 2021? In your end of year review, think beyond your experience and think about how the sector evolved. Reflecting on the trends will help you capitalise on them in future. For example, Sang says that the UX field now has more senior women in it than ever before, and that there is a new interest in diverse thought. 

If you want 2022 to be the year when you take your career to the next level, apply for Sophia’s Break Into Tech Program.

Sophia will teach you what you really need to know about tech to succeed as a non-technical professional, help you come up with a tailored career action plan and support you throughout your journey.

APPLY HERE

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

How do you get to the top of a tech company as a non-technical professional? How can you drive innovation, when you’re not building the technology yourself?

That’s what you’ll learn from this interview with David Wells, ex CFO of Netflix and chair of the board at Wise.

Learning notes from this episode:

• “It’s called tech, or working in tech, but the entire economy is going to be this. So calling it tech is a little bit apocryphal at this stage,” David says.
• “Tech jargon distances people from the actual understanding of the concepts.” Learning core technology concepts is not as hard as the jargon has many believe.
• Learning what data scientists do and how to work with them is the best skill set to develop for business people in tech. “Data science is the analysis of the lifeblood of the company and you have to ask fundamental insight questions against it. You do not have to build the models yourself, but you are at an advantage if you understand how they work.”
• For a company that wants to innovate, there is no choice but to invest in risky projects that may not pay off. ”You have to be disciplined about spending x% on the next income generating thing.”
• “A company doesn’t suddenly go from loss making to profit making elegantly.” Growth company CFOs provide key metrics and steps to make that journey is as smooth as possible.

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your unique challenges:

For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on info@techfornontechies.co

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. If you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

If you have an idea for an app or a tech business, you can now make a test product in just 15 minutes using AI tools.

But, you have to know how to use them wisely, so you don’t make pretty products that nobody wants.

Listen to this episode to learn:

- The sweet spot for using AI in product development (from drafting specs to analysing user feedback)

- Which AI tools to use for prototyping right now

- A step-by-step process to validate your ideas faster using AI

- Common pitfalls to avoid (because AI won't save a half-baked idea!)

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction 

03:13 AI in Product Management

06:05 Creating Prototypes with AI

08:55 Testing Prototypes

12:08 Strategic Thinking Before Using AI

15:03 Practical Homework and Implementation

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/227-how-to-use-ai-in-product-development-a-non-techies-guide

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

FREE GUIDE: The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

by Sophia Matveeva, supported by researchers from The University of Chicago

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

A tech start-up begins its life with a tiny team. The founders are either technical or tech savvy, but as the company scales its team has to change. 

Learn about the three stages of start-up team growth here.

Learning notes from this episode:

• At stage 1, the start-up is focussed on building its first product and getting the first customers. The team is usually tiny, and each team member is either building the technology themselves or is very closely involved in the process. Everyone learns from each other on the job.
• At stage 2, the start-up has raised Series A or Series B and is focussed on scaling. This is when specialists in non-technical fields start getting hired: HR experts, sales people etc. The gap between the techies and the non-techies widens, and this is where opportunities get lost.
• At stage 3, the start-up is a late stage venture and is either preparing for a merger or an IPO. At this point, the original founder is very unlikely to be the CEO. According to analysis by Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman:

“by the time the ventures were three years old, 50% of founders were no longer the CEO; in year four, only 40% were still in the corner office; and fewer than 25% led their companies’ initial public offerings.” 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Harvard Business Review: The Founders' Dilemma by Noam Wasserman

Join the The Non-Technical Founders Introduction to Tech workshop

You will learn:

• The framework for how to go from idea to live product
• Product management fundamentals
• How to work with developers effectively
• How and when to hire a product team

Listen here on Apple Podcasts

Listen here on Spotify

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your goals:

For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies. 

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash)

"The success strategies for individuals and companies are remarkably similar," Reid Hoffman.

You can apply product innovation and start-up principles to your own career. 

This will help you assess where you are, and make a plan for what to do and what to learn next.

If you want 2024 to be your best year yet professionally, listen to this episode.

Timestamps:

As generative AI shakes up industries, those who don't choose to innovate, won't survive.

Let's learn from past disruptions. 

Why did Sears lose their top spot as America's favourite retailer, but Hewlett Packard continue to make new products and grow?

By understanding how corporates navigated technological change before, we can create a plan for the future. 

This is part 2 in this mini series on The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Why corporate leaders choose to ignore new opportunities and what to do about it
• What is reasonable to expect of an innovation unit (and what isn't)
• When tolerating failure is appropriate and when it's unacceptable 

FREE GUIDE:

Innovate but how? the pragmatist's guide to growth (in business & in life) 

The tech sector is massive and is set to get even bigger in 2022. As it matures, the number of non-technical roles increases.

Listen to this episode to prepare for the non-techie jobs boom.

Learning notes from this episode:

• According to research by Glassdoor, 54% of all jobs in tech companies are for non-technical roles.
• As the tech sector matures, it becomes more open to non-techies. When a tech start-up grows into a business, it needs the human infrastructure of a business: marketing departments, legal expertise, procurement help and so on.
• Peloton is a great example of a tech company, whose non-technical component makes it truly special. The bikes and treadmills are great, but the instructors, the community aspect and the branding is what makes consumers buy and love the products.

To learn the core concepts you need to succeed in tech as a non-techie, sign up for:

FREE TRAINING: How To Speak Tech For Leaders   

Live training and Q&A on 26 & 27 January. Places are limited. 

You can get your dream job, your dream client or your ideal investor at a tech event. But, going to a tech conference can also be a spectacular waste of money.

So how do you get the former and avoid the latter? Listen to this episode to find out.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

02:00 Why you should go to conference events

02:59 Conferences are a serious investment 

04:18 Conference ROI rules

08:15 What to do at the conference 

13:18 Conclusion

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/225-how-to-get-roi-from-a-tech-conference

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

FREE GUIDE: The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

by Sophia Matveeva, supported by researchers from The University of Chicago

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

If you want to have a great career today, you simply have to Speak Tech. But, taking courses is not enough. You must combine learning with smart actions to make your investment pay off.

Here are five action steps you can take today to thrive in the Tech Age:

1. Get involved with a tech start-up:
   • if you have specialist expertise, offer to become an advisor to a start-up so you can learn how digital innovation works from the inside.
   • For example, if you are a lawyer, offer your legal expertise in exchange for sitting in product meetings as an observer.
2. Get involved with an accelerator:
   • this is like point one, but instead of offering your expertise to a specific start-up, offer it to an organisation that helps start-ups.
   • angel investment networks are also another useful route to follow here.
3. Create your own tech focussed meet-ups:
   • This is especially useful if you want to learn and build your network in a particular niche. For example, if you work in a real estate investment fund, host events with start-ups and corporate innovators who are inventing new products in this space.
   • By being the moderator of these discussions, you grow your knowledge, build your network and expand your personal brand.
4. Go to the innovation department or the product team and ask them what they are working on.
   • One of my students did this. Juliet Eysenck was a journalist at the Telegraph Media Group in the UK. She built relationships with the digital product team and ended up pivoting her career to become a product leader.
   • Listen episode 11. How to Transition into Product Management for Non-Techies with Juliet Eysenck to hear how she did it.
5. Look at your existing LinkedIn connections, find people who are working in technology innovation and contact them.
   • Remember, this contact does have to work in a tech company. They could be like Juliet, working on the digital side of a traditional business innovation.
   • Ask these contacts to meet up so you can ask them about their work. You might make new friends or rekindle friendships, while building knowledge for your career.

Join our next FREE training

Thrive in the Tech Age!

You will learn:

• The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
• Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
• How to combine tech & business skills to have a great career

Live online: 26 October 2022, 12 pm EDT / 5 pm BST

Join here.

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar.
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

What happens when an acquirer asks to buy a start-up? 

The journey between the offer letter and money in the bank is long, arduous, and can sometimes lead to less money in the bank than the founders expected.

In this episode, you'll hear from serial entrepreneur Sam Oliver, about the hard lessons he learned when selling his last company.

If you're a founder, a corporate innovator, or a start-up investor, this episode is for you.

Timestamps:

00:01:25 - Misconceptions Surrounding Startup Exits

00:02:58 - Creation and Growth of Property Technology Limited

00:04:35 - Challenges of Product-Market Fit

00:07:29 - Importance of Aligning Product with Revenue Generation for Customers

00:08:30 - Adversity Faced During the COVID-19 Pandemic

00:11:11 - Unexpected Boom in the Property Market Post-COVID

00:14:31 - Complex Nature of the Sale Process

00:17:26 - Challenges Encountered During the Earnout Period

00:22:32 - Importance of Thorough Contract Review and Negotiation

00:27:10 - Advice for Founders and Innovators on Approaching Potential Exits

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

Do you want to succeed in the Digital Age?

Check out the Digital Leadership Coaching Program

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/how-to-do-your-mid-year-review

Technology is a tool, not an end in itself. The quickest way to bridge the gap between tech and business teams is to relate business outcomes to technology. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• In every company, you always have two sides: the people who make the product, and the people who sell the product.
  • The aim of both sides is to grow the business, but they solve the same problem using different expertise. (It’s like Oceans 11, but legal)
• As a leader your job is not to know everything, but to set a vision and break it down into goals. You need to learn, but you also need to know when to stop.
  • This is how non-technical founders build tech ventures and how corporate executives transform traditional organisations into digital leaders.
• One of the biggest reasons non-technical leaders struggle to collaborate with their technical counterparts is fear that they will not understand what the technologists are talking about.
  • To solve, this, you need to learn to Speak Tech.
  • A quick hack, even without knowing any tech concepts, is to relate business outcomes to technology.
• Most tech tools help companies achieve these four business aims:
  1. Reach scale
  2. Increase efficiency
  3. Increase customer satisfaction
  4. Improve security

You can start learning how to become a Digital Leader today by asking your tech colleagues how their work impacts these four areas.

Join our next FREE Training on 28 September, 12 pm EDT / 5 pm BST

How To Speak Tech For Leaders

Previous class attendees said:

• “Super helpful content that can be applied to a wider range of professions, presented in a fun, personable way.”
• “Love presenter's extensive knowledge and experience, and use of concrete examples to convey points”
• “Presenter brought energy, humor & clarity.”
• “The inspiration I needed to hear the stories of non-tech people getting involved in tech.”

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your goals:

For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies. 

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Digital Transformation is going to continue being a huge force in business, but the way it’s being done is changing. People, not tech tools, are the new priority.

Listen to this episode to learn how to make the most of this opportunity.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Global digital transformation spending is forecast to reach $3.4 trillion by 2026, from around 1.6 trillion today, according to Statista,
  • This high growth means opportunity for corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and investors.
• When companies first attempted digital transformation efforts, the emphasis was on implementing new tools.
  • These transformation efforts were usually led by the Chief Technology Officer or Chief Innovation Officer, with the rest of the organisation often able to ignore this change.
• While some of these efforts were successful, a lot of money was wasted. McKinsey estimates that 70% of digital transformation programmes fail to meet their goals.
• This is why, digital transformation efforts in 2023 and beyond will focus on putting people first, and tools second.
  • By first educating the entire workforce and updating traditional business thinking to digital mindsets, organisations will be able to reap the benefits of the tools they implement.
• Because Digital Transformation 2.0 is people first, tools second, there is demand for a new type of employee: a person who speaks tech and speaks business.
  • People with this dual business and tech skillset of are the people who are going to lead in the Digital Age.

Apply for the 

Plan your year like a Digital Leader workshop

5 February 2023, 11 am EST / 4 pm GMT

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Episode130. Lessons for Digital Leaders from the London Stock Exchange - Microsoft deal
• Episode 96. How to innovate at a corporate: lessons from Apple and Intel
• McKinsey: Perspectives on transformation
• Statista: Spending on digital transformation technologies and services worldwide 

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

To become SMART MONEY as an investor, founder or corporate innovator, you have to know what questions to ask about a product. This helps you spot signs of early success or early warning. 

Listen to this episode to learn what questions to ask and how to link product innovation to business strategy. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• The questions fall into three buckets:
  1. How do my best customers behave?
  2. What are the characteristics of my best customers?
  3. What has to happen for them to abandon the product?
• For bucket 1, you could ask:
  • What features do my most active users use?
  • What screens do they visit?
  • How often do they open the app?
  • What time of day do they open it and on which days?
• For bucket 2, you could ask:
  • Where did these customers come from?
  • What are their demographics? Are there any patterns?
• For bucket 3, you could ask:
  • What screens tend to be the last screen that people get to before they shut down the app?
  • What prices of other apps they use have?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Tech for Non-Techies podcast: What on Earth is growth hacking?
• Book: How today’s fastest growing companies drive breakout success

Get your FREE guide to the top 10 concepts non-technical leaders need to work with developers, designers and data scientists. 

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your goals:

For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies. 

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

As the tech sector lays off employees, there is still plenty of opportunity to be a Digital Leader. 

Playing the long game is making use of the opportunities you have in front of you today, while keeping your eye on the future. 

Here are three ways to become a digital leader today:

• Work in the digital team of a traditional business:
  • Some traditional businesses also have innovative tech-like environments. E.g. Levi's has a Head of AI, L'Oreal works with data scientists to predict consumer trends and Tesco hired the same UX design team that worked for Google. 
  • Working in these teams can give you the same exposure and skill sets as working in Big Tech.
  • Word of warning: be careful of traditional businesses that have not yet invested in digital transformation or had success with digital teams. This often means that the leadership's mindset isn't up to date and they are unlikely to be good collaborators in the build-measure-learn approach needed in digital.
• Work with tech sector clients in professional services: banking, consulting, law, marketing etc.
  • E.g. investment bankers that make smart suggestions for acquisitions generate big fees and act as strategic advisors to their clients. But, for this they need to speak tech and link product strategy to business strategy. 
• Get involved with tech start-ups.
  • This gives you the opportunity learn, network and transform your personal brand into being seen as a tech leader.
  • Getting involved with start-ups while working in your current role means that when the right opportunity comes, you are ready to grab it. 

Join our next FREE Masterclass on 30 November 2022, 12 pm EST / 5 pm GMT

How to Become a Digital Leader

You will learn:

1. The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
2. Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
3. How to go from traditional business manager to Digital Leader

SIGN UP HERE

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes:

The tech CEO's job is to work with other people who have different skills to reach a clear business aim. It is not to supervise everything or do everything themselves. 

You can use technology and data to answer all sorts of business questions, such as:

• Where shall we drill for oil?
• Should we make more lipstick? 
• How should we price our product? 
• Who are our most profitable customers? 

In all of these questions, the aim is to make the business better, not to build tech tools for the sake of it.

In a tech business or a tech product you do not need to have a clear plan for exactly which features to build or what tools to use. This will become clear as you take steps to reach your aim and get user feedback.

If you're loving what you're learning on the podcast, then come  join us in the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Lots of smart people want to transition into careers in tech, but don’t know how to get started. If that sounds like you, then listen to how Alexandra Soroko went from finance to tech leadership.

Today, Alexandra is Head of Merchant Sales at Visa in France, and connects fintech companies, banks and Visa’s technologies to help some of the world’s largest companies process payments. In her role, she combines tech knowledge, marketing and finance skills. She started her career at JP Morgan, but didn’t let her lack of tech skills stop her.

Learning notes from this episode:

• “You don’t need to be an engineer, but you need a willingness to understand what lies beneath the surface if you want to succeed in a tech business,” says Alexandra
• "If we don't have a vision, life just happens to us," says Alexandra. Before embarking on a transition into tech, think about your values and what you want from your next role. Alexandra’s six desires for her dream job were: market leading brand, growing tech market, a leadership position, balanced work schedule and international company. What do key attributes do you want your dream job to have?
• Learn the language of tech and combine that with building your network with people and companies that recruit for the job you want. 

If you want to transition into a career in tech, then apply for Sophia's How To Break Into A Career In Tech program.

In this program, you will learn you what you really need to know about tech to succeed as a non-technical professional, and work with Sophia to create a tailored career action plan, and get her support throughout your journey. 

APPLY HERE

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

You've probably heard about network effects, but they aren't the only thing you need. Learning effects build the ultimate moat against your competition.

Learning notes from this episode:

• You get better at speaking a language the more you practice and correct your mistakes. It is the same with algorithms: they get better with time and training.
• The more time and data you have to train an algorithm the more accurate the algorithm’s output will be, and also, the more complex the problems it can solve.
• “Learning effects can either capture or add value to existing network effects or generate value in their own right.” – Competing in the Age of AI, by Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani
• Companies that have been training machine learning algorithms for longer are at a competitive advantage. Strong learning effects make it impossible for competitors to catch up.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Sophia Matveeva’s LinkedIn
• Listen to The Business of AI podcast episode with Harvard Business School Prof Marco Iansiti
• Tech for Non-Techies YouTube channel

To attend Tech for Non-Technical Founders in London on May 10 2022 in London, book your ticket here and use PODCAST to get £5 off the price.

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your unique challenges:

For companies:

• If your company is going through digital transformation and you want your non-techie teams to be active participants

Then get in touch with us about bespoke training & consulting on info@techfornontechies.co

For individuals, if you want to:

• Build tech a venture as a non-technical innovator
• Succeed in tech as a non-techie

Then Tech For Non-Techies membership is for you.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Listen to what happened when Apple forgot a key market and how to avoid the same mistake. When product teams consist of entirely white males, they make products for white males. When non-technical professionals learn to Speak Tech, you get better products, happier customers & better profits.

Learning notes from this episode:

• While there are plenty of programs to get minorities into STEM, they will take years to have an effect.
• In the next few decades, most developers will continue to be white males. To prevent baking unconscious bias into products, the simplest, cheapest and fastest way is to teach non-technical teams how to work with the techies. 
• Bringing diverse voices into product development is not a moral issue; it is capitalist self-interest. E.g. if women are not involved in product innovation, companies can lose up to 50% market share. 

To get Sophia's monthly business update, register here. 

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your goals:

For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies. 

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Nasi is one of Sophia's students from London Business School. He took her course three years ago, and used his knowledge, network and resilience to build his platform.

If you have an idea for a tech venture, as a founder or a corporate innovator, or you want to invest in tech businesses, but don't have a tech background, this episode is for you.

Learning notes from this episode:

• "Don't be afraid of the tech and don't let not having a tech person hold you back," says Nasi. "Instead, focus on the customer and the problem you are solving."
• Show traction from the start. This doesn't necessarily mean revenue or explosive user growth. It means doing whatever you can to solve the problem for the customer.
• Outsourcing is a great way to build your product. Your needs will change as you grow, and a good product studio will be able to help you scale up your team. For advice on how to hire great product teams, get Sophia's e-book: How To Hire Your Product Team & Go From Idea To App: The Non-Technical Founder's Guide

To learn the core concepts Nasi learnt from Sophia to build his business, join this FREE class:

Break Into Tech: Masterclass For Non-Technical Founders

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

"I believe business model innovation is more disruptive than technical innovation," - Fred Wilson, Venture Capitalist.

To understand how business models get transformed in the Digital Age, listen to this episode.

You will learn:

• What the four core business models are
• The framework to use if you want to update a business model for the Digital Age
• Why Apple is a prime example of tech & business model innovation

-- 

To discuss a corporate training program for your organisation, book a consultation call here. 

Happy clients include The Royal Bank of Scotland, Oxford University and Constellation Brands.

 --- 

In a recent interview, Jeff Bezos shared that big leaders must "identify the big ideas, enforce tough execution, and grow the next generation of leaders."

In this episode, I'll show you exactly how to apply that CEO-level thinking to your own career in 2025. 

You will learn: 

• The four-step methodology to annual planning that works
• How simple plans get big results
• How develop and manage your relationships to have your best year yet
• Why your mum might want you to get a real job even when you're a successful innovator

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/235-plan-your-2025-like-a-ceo-the-jeff-bezos-approach-2

Timestamps

02:43 – Part 1: Find Your Big Idea

05:07 – Questions to Help Define Your Big Idea

07:26 – Part 2: Turn Your Big Idea into Action

09:50 – Build Your Power Circle

12:10 – Managing Personal and Professional Relationships

14:36 – Part 4: Success Metrics & the Pareto Principle

16:56 – Recap of the Four Phases of Planning

19:15 – Free Course for Digital Leaders

• Apple
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• Stitcher
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FREE COURSE: 5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Prepare to pitch to a technical co-founder as you would to an investor: have a plan, understand your market and know your target customer
• Choices developers make early on about the tech architecture can have a serious impact later on. Non-technical founders should learn some basic tech concepts to ask the right questions from the start.
• Before you look for a technical co-founder, understand what kind of technology you need to build. Then you will be able to target the right people for your venture

Say hi to Andrew on Twitter. 

Learn about Dreamit here.

To participate in TFNT live events, get all of our sessions on demand and get access to office hours with Sophia, join TFNT membership here.

Say hi to host Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Venture capitalists are investors in startups, but they also have to raise money from investors. Investors that invest into VC funds are called Limited Partners, or LPs.
• VCs have to spend time growing their brand and network because the competition to invest in good startups is fierce.
• Getting operational experience in a start-up is invaluable if you want to become a good venture investor, so either work in a start-up or advise several before getting into VC.

Say hi to Nilesh here.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

What kind of doorbell do you use? A buzzer? A door knocker or a Ring smart doorbell system?

Right now, you can see all three inventions in use: one that has been around for millennia, and another that was created just 20 years ago.

This shows the wide gap between tech invention and its wide-scale adaption. While the Ring doorbell system is now well known, some people still prefer to use a door knocker – a system that was developed before Biblical times.

This gap between a product or an idea existing, and its wide scale adaption, is where the biggest opportunities lie. 

Listen to this episode to learn how to capture them, as a corporate leader, founder or investor.

Apply for the 

Plan your year like a Digital Leader workshop

Live online: 5 February 2023, 11 am EST / 4 pm GMT

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn & Instagram.

Following us on YouTube and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Most start-ups fail, but founders and investors can still use this for career success. Learning how tech products get made and how the companies behind them make money, opens so many doors to interesting and lucrative opportunities.

Many product managers and venture capitalists have transitioned into their jobs via start-ups.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Almost every company is now a tech company, so knowing how tech products get built and how they make money is THE most useful transferable skill in today’s economy
• If you’re thinking of launching a venture, you do need to be aware that it might not work out. But, ask yourself what could I do if the venture failed? Would that be better or worse than what I was doing before? I most cases, the answer is yes.
• Learning these skills does not mean getting an MBA or investing thousands as an inexperienced angel investor.

You can learn by listening to this podcast, reading books about the industry, and most importantly, starting to build something simple yourself without any code.

You can learn about community management by building a Facebook group. You can learn about design thinking by doing user interviews. You can learn the basic language of tech literally from this podcast and go to meet-ups with product managers and developers, and see what people are working on.

If you’re working on a tech venture, want to invest in one or just want to get inspired, then come to Sophia’s Non-Technical Founder office hours on Clubhouse every Thursday at 12 pm EST 5 pm BST.

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To go deeper, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

In this episode Sophia Matveeva talks to Rags Vadali about what product management is, what PMs do and what you need to get a job in PM.

Rags Vadali has managed product at Google, Facebook and various start-ups, and like Sophia, has an MBA from Chicago Booth. This interview is an excerpt from a PM masterclass Rags taught on Tech for Non-Techies.

Summary points

• A product manager is like the conductor of an orchestra. Conductors don’t play every single instrument and are not the best player, but it is their job to bring the best out of the players to create something together.
• To get a job in PM, you don’t need to code. You do need to think like a PM: understand who the user is, what problem they are facing and then create solutions.
• Influence is a key skill for PMs, because the engineers, designers and marketers working on the product don’t report to the PM. However, the PM is ultimately held responsible for the success of the product.

To see the rest of the masterclass, as well as sessions with other product makers, entrepreneurs, investors, leading academics and Big Tech executives, join Tech for Non-Techies membership.

If you have ideas for episodes or topics you would like to explore, tell Sophia on Twitter.

Lessons from this episode:

• These lessons are based on Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.
• "The reason Apple can create products like the iPad is that we've always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts" - said Steve Jobs
• Knowing how to commercialise innovation is as important as inventing something new.
• At Apple, design came first. This is contrary to most tech companies, where engineering dominates.
• A company is an invention as much as a product. Steve Jobs said that Apple was his greatest invention.

In November the TFNT book club will cover The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

If you want to get access to the TFNT book club, our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.  

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter. 

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, and Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of VC fund A16Z, both started their careers as Product Managers (PMs).

PMs rise to leadership positions in the tech sector, because the job combines user perspectives, business needs and technological capabilities.  Whatever you want to do in the tech sector, learning how product managers think will help you succeed.

Learning notes:

• A product is a solution to a problem somebody is experiencing. Good product managers always focus on the user and the problem.
• Product Managers lead developers, marketers and designers, but rarely know how to do all those jobs themselves. 
• To lead the team successfully, product managers set product goals. This means telling the team where to go, not how to get there.
• To get into product management, learn a bit, do a bit. Taking courses is useful, but make sure to also participate in making a product.
• You can get involved in product management by volunteering with a start-up, helping a product team with user research or making a simple product using no-code apps.  

To download Sophia's guide on the top resources, books and podcasts on Product Management, click here. 

...

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Photo by Leon on Unsplash

Tech and advertising are intertwined: ads is where Big Tech makes most of its money. Learn about the biggest trends in tech from the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

You'll hear about developments and trends at Twitter, Meta and TikTok, as well as see what overhyped tech is behind us and what is yet to come.

In this episode you will learn:

• Where consumer trends start now and how to spot them
• Which types of AI advertisers, media and brands are most excited about
• Which tech player is shrinking and which one is growing
• Why the ad industry is the world's most tech savvy

To learn about how AI is used in consumer trend forecasting, check out Riviter (full disclosure: Sophia Matveeva is on the Advisory Board).

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Come to Sophia Matveeva's next FREE class:

Power in the Digital Age, 28 June 2023

You will learn

1. How tech changed power dynamics in business
2. What it takes to become & stay powerful in the Digital Age
3. Examples of how people have used these dynamics to succeed  
4. What one key step to take towards a powerful career

--- 

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

According to McKinsey, 70% of digital transformations fail to meet their goals. And yet, these multi-million dollar projects remain a priority for every major CEO. 

In this episode, you'll learn from Matthew Domo about why these projects fail and what to focus on to make them succeed. (Clue: it's not the tech).

Matt is one of the founders of Amazon Web Services and a pioneer in the cloud computing space.
He has created nine cutting-edge cloud products and seven e-commerce website solutions,
generating significant revenue streams for Amazon, Microsoft, and Rackspace. 

Matt was recognized by USA Today as one of theTop 9 Most Exciting Entrepreneurs of 2021. Today, Matt is CEO of FifthVantage, a digital transformation consultancy.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why digital transformations fail and what to focus on to make them succeed
• What cloud computing is and why it's important
• How cloud computing was invented at Amazon 

Key learning points:

• AI is already changing industries and the economy by making simple operations run faster
• A business model is how a company aims to create and capture value
• An operating model is how the company delivers that value to the customer. Prof Iansiti calls this “the hard part”
• AI is already being used by companies like Ant Financial to take humans and cost out of their operating model, by putting an AI factory in the core of their business
• COVID has accelerated the adoption of AI across industries

For more insights, get the book Prof Iansiti co-authored Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World  

To hear the rest of the session and access all Tech for Non-Techies live events, office hours and recordings, sign up to TFNT membership 

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live product for non-techies here

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter

Why do some products go viral and others die a quiet death? The answer lies in growth hacking. 

Growth hacking is a type of marketing that combines working on the product, which is an inside job, and working on promotion, which is an outside job. It is a new discipline born with the tech sector, and growing in popularity today.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The Dropbox growth hacking case study is still seen as the Holy Grail in the sector. The team created a double referral program to grow 3900% in just 15 months.

• A growth hacking effort is always done by a multi-disciplinary team, and will often involve a product manager, a designer, a community manager, engineers, someone with a marketing or PR background, and maybe a data scientist.

• Traditional marketing is outside facing: billboards, TV ads and articles in the press.  Growth hacking is different because it looks at the inside of the product, and adjusts it to grow users and revenue.

• PR and growth hacking spur each other on: if something is going viral, journalists want to write about it. They write about it, which makes it go even more viral.
• Products very rarely go viral by themselves. Viral growth is almost always the result of investment and experimentation by the growth hacking team. 

Get Sophia's Recommended Reading List of technology sector books you will actually understand and enjoy, click here. 

Listen here on Apple Podcasts. 

Listen here on Spotify.

... 

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To go deeper, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Learning notes from this episode:

Beri’s first hire was a designer, not a developer. He found her through via a recommendation. This is the best way to hire product talent.

Beri has never had a technical co-founder, like most of the successful non-technical founders we’ve had on TFNT.

Many people get put off starting work on their venture because they do not have a technical co-founder. We keep seeing that this does not have to get in your way.

Beri has worked with various outsourced developers: again, another pattern we see from our other guests.

Fundraising should not be an aim. It can help to build a business, but it is not the only way to do so. Beri suggests asking yourself "How can I get 10 customers with the minimum amount of investment?"

Learn more about IVY here.

To join our live sessions, get join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

If you want to run a start-up, get to the top of a corporate, get headhunted for board roles or become a Smart Money investor, joining an advisory board is a smart move.

But, for advisors, boards can can also become a time drain and a risk to your reputation. 

For founders, advisory boards can be a source of deals, funding and support, or a costly distraction.

Listen to this episode to learn why joining a start-up advisory board can be one of the smartest career moves you could ever make, and avoid the "dumb advisor" trap.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Advisor compensation: what to expect
• How to use a start-up advisory board position for your career goals
• How to be a great advisor to a start-up
• How smart founders pick advisors and work with them

You will learn from Andi Govindia, CEO & Co-Founder of Riviter, and Sophia Matveeva, who sits on Riviter's advisory board.

Andi previously appeared on this podcast in episode 62. How I used accelerators to build a tech business

Get the FREE course - 5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know

--- 

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and succeed in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• While there are more apps on the Google Play store, Apple apps account for 70% of all revenue generated on Apple and Google combined.
• Apple users are wealthier than Android users. The median iPhone app user earns $85,000 per year, which is 40% more than the median Android phone user.
• Most apps on Apple monetize via subscriptions and in-app purchases, while Android apps make money via advertising.

To join Sophia's free masterclass on mid March 2021 on Break Into Tech: Masterclass for Non-Technical Founders, register here.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

A great product attracts users, grows revenue and whets investor appetite. But what makes a great product?

A good team and a smart process.

Listen to this short episode to see what a good product management process looks like. 

You will learn:

• What specialists need to be involved in a product team
• The biggest reason why the products that get released are different to the product leader's vision
• How to lead developers as a non-technical innovator

If you want a product users love, listen to this episode.

FREE Masterclass

3 Tech Concepts EVERY Business Leader Needs To Know To Have a Great Career

24 October 2023, 12:00 pm EDT

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and succeed in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

The terms coding and programming are ubiquitous, yet many non-technical professionals do not know what they mean in practice. Why are there different coding languages? What do developers actually do?

This is what you'll learn in this episode.

Learning notes:

• Data is information that you can use to do something with. For example, your shopping list is information that you use to remember what food to buy when you go to the supermarket.
• Technology is what you use to create, store or communicate that data. In our shopping list example, it could be pen and paper, or the notes app on your phone. 
• In order to make software, you have to tell a computer what to do. You do this via a programming language. All digital technologies are created by using specific coding languages to turn data into useful outcomes.
• Python Java, C++ and Ruby are the most popular languages  today. But, there are 256 coding languages in use today.
• Binary code, also known as Machine Language, is what computers understand and are made up of 0 and 1, and nothing else. Coding languages like Python turn into binary language, so the computer can turn the commands into action. Most developers do not use binary language when writing code.

Sign up to Sophia's mailing list here to get invited to events and get free learning in your inbox.

Sign up to the mailing list

Many investors view non-technical founders as more risky. Sometimes this is plain silly, but there are legitimate investor concerns that non-techie founders will make costly mistakes that technical founders will not.

The answer is not to learn to build the product with your bare hands, but to know enough about tech to have a product strategy and relate it to business goals. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• “You can be the ripest juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches,” - Dita von Teese. Some investors don't invest in non-technical founders and they never will. There are plenty of those who do. Spend your time on them.
• Learn how to connect product metrics to business metrics, for example how does user engagement relate to revenue or fundraising goals?
• Understand key tech concepts to make the right hires and set the right goals, but you do not have to retrain to become a coder yourself.
• Plenty of non-technical founders have raised millions and built successful tech businesses. You can hear them on this podcast. Learn from Alexandra Zubko, who has built a global SaaS business called Triptease with two other non-technical founders, and raised $28 million to date. Hear from Robyn Exton, a non-technical founder and Y Combinator alumna, who has built HER, a dating community for queer women. 
• Listen to Tech for Non-Techies episodes with non-technical founders who have built AI businesses, content platforms and marketplaces, and have been backed by VCs and angel investors.

If you want to buid a tech business, but don't have a technical background, then join Break Into Tech: Masterclass For Non-Technical Founders here. 

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To watch the full session on video and access learning notes, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

At this time of year, many ambitious professionals sign up to education programmes to take their career to the next level. Here's a guide on how to choose the right course for you and make the most of it once you've signed up.

How to choose the right online course for you:

1. Familiarise yourself with the instructor’s work and point of view
   • Invest your time and energy before you invest your money. If the instructor has a podcast, listen to it. If they have written articles, read them. 
2. See who the instructor’s community of students is and see if they inspire you.
3. Be aware of the pricing: if it seems too good to be true, it often is.
4. Take courses that have case studies because we learn best from stories.

To get the most out of a course:

1. Set aside a regular time in your week as your class time, as if you were going to a real university lecture.
2. When you are taking the course, regularly ask yourself: what insight did I get from this?
   • By doing this, you take responsibility for your own learning and results.
3. Do what the instructor tells you to do. You paid for their expertise, so use it!

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• There is a difference between deep tech investing, such as bio tech, and investing in commercial and UX innovation. For deep tech, you absolutely must have deep tech domain expertise, but this is not the case for commercial or UX innovations, such as Uber.
• Venture funds often work with technical partners, who help them do due diligence on investments they are interested in.
• To be a successful angel investor, be systematic in your approach, focus on your area of expertise and find experienced investors to co-invest with.

Say hi to Oksana Stowe on Twitter.

If you want to get access to our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.  

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter. 

No code tools have opened opportunities up for innovators, and especially for non-technical founders.

But, they have their limits, and not everybody thinks that they’re a great idea.

Listen to this episode to learn what the No Code revolution is and when No code tools are a must have, and when they should be avoided.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why successful wealthy corporates choose to use No Code tools instead of building custom software
• When a start-up founder should use No Code tools, and when to avoid them
• What No Code tools to use to build an app or an e-learning business
• Why investors are wary of No Code tools

Listen here on Apple

Listen here on Spotify

-- 

To discuss a corporate training program for your organisation, book a consultation call here. 

Happy clients include The Royal Bank of Scotland, Oxford University and Constellation Brands.

 --- 

Learning notes from this episode:

• As a non-technical founder, you don’t need a technical co-founder, but you do need a web of tech experts to advise you.
• Learning to admit that you don’t have all the answers is a far more useful skill for non-technical founders than learning to code. “Put those engineering books aside and make sure you’ve got the strength to be vulnerable. That’s the most important thing,” says Alexandra.
• Working with an outsourced product team can be a great way to build your business. Alexandra worked with Goody Labs at Triptease and recommends them.

If you have a brilliant idea for tech venture, but no tech skills to build it, then the What Non-Technical Founders REALLY Need to Know About Tech course is for you.

Join the Tech for Non-Techies mailing list here.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter

You’ve probably heard the term cloud computing, but like most non-techies, you’re not sure what it means. In this episode, you’ll learn what it is and how businesses use it to solve problems.

You’ll learn from DJ Johnson, who works at Microsoft Azure. DJ started his career as an NBA player and transitioned into a career in tech.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Cloud computing allows businesses to rent space to store data. Previously, companies had to store data on their own servers, which was much more expensive.
• The two biggest players in cloud computing are Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
• As a non-techie, first identify business problems and then see if technology can fix them.
• For example, during Covid when suddenly many people ended up working from home, one of DJ’s clients suffered from major time lags in their communications. Their internal messenger service was taking 3 days to deliver a message! This was making customers and employees frustrated and unhappy. The business and user facing side identified the problem, and then the product and technology side fixed it.

Get in touch with DJ Johnson here.

If you want to build a tech business, but don't have a technical background, then join Break Into Tech: Masterclass For Non-Technical Founders here. 

...

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To watch the full session on video and access learning notes, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• The server is like a brain: it is a processing organ. But, just as a brain needs sensory organs to give and receive information in the form of a mouth, eyes and ears, so does a server. The server's sensory organs are the APIs.
• APIs are snippets of code that let you borrow another app's functionality or data, like Google Maps within Uber.
• APIs can help companies grow their user base, make more money and collect more data about user behaviour. Deciding what APIs you product should have open is therefore both a business and a technical decision.

To join Sophia's FREE masterclass on mid March 2021 on Break Into Tech: Masterclass for Non-Technical Founders, register here.

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

95% of new products fail, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. But, usually this isn't because they are badly made, but because they don't solve the right problem.

Before you delve into product development, define the problem you are solving. In this episode, you'll learn from Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, author of What's Your Problem and Innovation As Usual, about how to reframe problem solving in business and in life.

Learning notes:

• Non-techies can play an important role on product teams by being focussed on the problem they are solving, because they are less likely to get stuck in the weeds of building.
• Not all problem solving needs fancy technology. Often, small changes in design can have a big impact, at a much lower cost. 
• Being focussed on the problem is vital at the start of product development, and as your product matures. Keep analysing how people use it to see if you're still solving the right problem.

To learn key technology concepts you need to succeed in the innovation economy, join tomorrow's FREE session, on 28 October 12 pm EST / 5 pm BST:

How To Speak Tech: Masterclass For Leaders

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Consumer facing tech businesses like Uber aren’t just competing with other firms that provide a similar service. They’re competing with everything that vies for your attention.

This is why B2C tech businesses tend to be more innovative, better at design thinking and take inspiration from a wider pool than their enterprise tech counterparts.

Learning notes:

• The Attention Economy refers to products which compete for consumers’ attention, which widens the competitive landscape exponentially. Uber isn’t just competing with Lyft, or your feet. Going out competes with staying in, so sometimes you’re choosing between an Uber to a party or Tindering at home.
• Smart B2B companies are taking inspiration from consumer innovation. The innovation team at Barclays asked if Domino’s Pizza could track customer orders, why couldn’t Barclays could keep borrowers up to date with the progress of their loans?  
• If you’re working on a B2B business, learn from consumer companies. Study the UX design on Bumble. Learn about effective algorithms from TikTok, understand what product managers do at Facebook.

Get the FREE GUIDE to how the most successful companies approach innovation (and how that applies to your business and life here:

The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
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Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Andi Govindia has gone through three accelerators on her start-up journey. This helped her build a business model, find co-founders and get her first major clients.

Andi leads Riviter, a visual search company that uses AI to predict fashion and beauty trends, and counts L'Oreal amongst its clients.  

If you’re interested in entrepreneurship and how non-technical founders can succeed in tech, this one is for you.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Use Effectual Logic: ask yourself what the simplest and laziest way is for you to solve a problem. The simplest way is often imperfect, but results matter more than perfection.
• If you are applying for accelerators, link their speciality to your current needs. Andi participated in Chicago Booth's New Venture Challenge, Plug & Play and Founders Factory. Each accelerator has different strengths, and Andi used them for different purposes.
• Andi collaborated with her co-founders for a year before they made their agreement official. It is important to really get to know the people you are going to have a long term business partnership with. 

If you want to learn the system Sophia used to raise $1 million for her tech venture as a non-technical founder, join the Fundraising For Non-Technical Founders Workshop on 19 September. 

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To watch the full session on video and access learning notes, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

A product is a solution to a people problem. Before even contacting a product team, take time to investigate the people and the problem.

Marketers and designers go through a very similar process to validate the user problem at the start. This is because both are very user focussed.

User research is done in two ways: quantitative and qualitative. For qualitative research be careful not to use steering questions to feed answers to the research participants. Ronan recommends reading The Mom Test to learn how to survey users.

Check out Digital Trawler here. 

To join Sophia's FREE masterclass on mid March 2021 on Break Into Tech: Masterclass for Non-Technical Founders, register here.

To watch the full session on video and access learning notes, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• Asaf Navot does not have a technical co-founder at Home Made. His first technical hire was a Product Manager, not a CTO.
• When you are considering investing your time, money or energy into a new project, Asaf recommends approaching like an investor. Ask yourself: are the market fundamentals good? Is my solution better than the competition? Would a bigger company buy a business like this?
• Use existing technologies to create an MVP if you can and test the market. Asaf’s pilot was made up of an online form and a spreadsheet. That helped him prove the model and then get investment to hire an outsourced development firm.

You can check out Home Made here.

If you want to have a one on one session with Sophia, you can see options here. Places are very limited. 

Get your FREE guide on how to go from idea to app.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Do you think year-end reviews are just about listing what you did?

Think again.

In this episode, you'll learn how to assess your year like a CEO - because whether you're a founder, innovator or investor, you're running the company of YOU.

Most people focus on activities - meetings attended, features shipped, deals analysed. But real leaders focus on impact and power dynamics.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• How to evaluate what you actually transformed in 2024
• Why being busy with innovation initiatives isn't the same as real change
• How to tell if you're hiding in product development instead of facing the market
• How to shift power dynamics in your favour
• Why your team is bigger than you think (even if you work alone)

Part 1 of a special 2-part series on becoming the CEO your career deserves.

Resource mentioned in this episode:

• Tech for Non-Techies: 221. How Paypal innovates

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/2024-reflections-are-you-the-ceo-your-career-deserves

Timestamps

01:58 Reflecting on the Year as the CEO of Your Life

04:20 Question 1: What Have You Transformed This Year?

06:42 Founders: Did You Focus on Customer Traction or Product Development?

09:09 Question 2: Have You Used AI to Solve Real Problems?

11:30 Question 3: Have You Shifted the Power Dynamic in Your Favour?

13:51 Question 4: Who Was on Your Team This Year?

16:00 Recap of the Four Questions

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

FREE GUIDE: The Pragmatist’s Guide To Innovation (in business & in life)

by Sophia Matveeva, supported by researchers from The University of Chicago

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

No code apps and outsourced product studios mean that there is more opportunity than ever for non-technical founders and traditional businesses to get into tech and succeed.

But, as more companies enter the market, they’ll be competing for a finite resource: our attention.

Listen to this episode how to make the most of this opportunity and avoid costly mistakes.

Learning notes:

• The prevalence of No Code apps and outsourced product studios is driving down the cost of building apps, sites and algorithms.
• As more tech products enter the market, marketing costs will increase. This means a boon for Facebook and Google, and also for professionals who know how to attract and engage new users.
• Jobs that will benefit from this boom include User Experience designers, who know how to make habit forming products, Community Managers and Strategic Partnerships experts. None of these roles require coding, but they all require an understanding of how tech products get built and who does what on a tech team.

To learn the core concepts you need to succeed in tech as a non-techie, sign up for:

FREE TRAINING: How To Speak Tech For Leaders  

Live training and Q&A on 26 & 27 January. Places are limited. 

....

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• Technical debt is the mess that gets left over from writing code and should be regularly cleaned up in order for the engineering team to work properly.

• Alexandre suggests thinking of the tech development process like a restaurant kitchen. Having spillage and potato peels dropping on the floor is a normal part of the cooking process. But if you do not have a regimen to clean up, you will end up with a filthy kitchen that will affect your food (i.e. your product) and your customers will get sick.

• Non-techies need to know that technical debt exists and that time needs to be buffered in to the development team’s work to run this clean-up effort regularly. This has an implication on cost because product development cost isn’t just about releasing new features, it is also cleaning up technical debt.

Learn more about Stepsize here and say hi to Alexandre on Twitter.

If you want to transition into tech, but you are not sure how, join Sophia's FREE masterclass on How To Transition Into A Career In Tech on 26 April 2021.

You will see five different case studies of successful career transitions and get the chance to ask your questions live. 

To go deeper, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

To have a successful business career today, you need to be data literate. This doesn't mean learning to code.

Thank God!

In this episode, you will hear from JeAnna Abbott, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Analytics at Texas A&M Mays College of Business.

In this episode you will learn:

• What data science is
• How a baseball team used data science to grow revenues
• What synthetic data is and why some people love it, while others hate it
• How this professor uses ChatGPT and her advice for MBAs
• What skills business leaders need in the digital age
• The discussion about how AI is used in healthcare today, with Dr Marilyn Sandor (guest on episode 146: From Dentist to Tech Founder)

Professor Abbott is an executive coaching client at Tech for Non-Techies.

Prof Abbott began her career as a Law professor at the University of Houston, where she still teaches. She transitioned career into the digital space, after completing an advanced degree on data science and analytics.

This makes Prof Abbott one of the world's most educated experts on how AI can and should be regulated. She holds degrees from the University of Houston, Texas A&M University, University of Chicago, Wharton, and Harvard University.

To join the Digital Leadership Executive Coaching program, apply here. 

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We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

If you are not a developer or a data scientist, you don’t know what you don’t know about  tech.

This is a very uncomfortable feeling, especially for high achievers, who were trained to believe that success meant knowing everything.

Listen to this episode for five tips on how to make the right decisions about tech as a business leader in a world of digital unknown unknowns.

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn & Instagram.

Following us on YouTube and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• The time to transition into tech is now, as lockdowns have moved our lives online. You can do this with a job change, or by investing or starting your own tech venture. 
• Learn concepts, not skills. Understand how tech products are made, but don't retrain to be a coder or a data scientist.
• Get involved with digital initiatives to put your new knowledge to the test.
• Build your network with people who could help you make the transition. The Tech for Non-Techies community is a great place to start.

To learn about Tech for Non-Techies events and courses and get Sophia's insights into your inbox, sign up to our mailing list

Check out Tech for Non-Techies membership here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

“The biggest lie told in tech is that you that you need to be a coder. I think that being able to understand the user experience behind tech, being able to articulate technology, and being able to get other people excited about it, is what you really need to run a good company,” says Jenny Griffiths MBE, founder of Snap Vision.

Jenny is the founder and CEO of Snap Vision, a visual search company that works with the biggest names in fashion and publishing. Jenny

She has been featured on the World's Top 50 Women in Tech by Forbes lists. She was appointed MBE for Services to Innovation in 2015, and in 2019 was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering's Silver Medal for contributions to UK engineering.

• The grass is always greener on the other side. Investors tell technical founders that they’re missing business skills, and non-technical founders that they need tech skills.
• Snap Vision began as a consumer product, and while the Snap Vision app remains active, the company’s main business is B2B. Entrepreneurs often start consumer products, but pivot to servicing businesses, because digital marketing costs are so high.
• Jenny took a course in management from London Business School, to help her grow as a leader. Unlike employees, entrepreneurs need to invest in their own learning, because they do not benefit from an employer’s training program.

Check out Snap Vision here and say hi to Jenny on Twitter

To sign up to The 4 Biggest Mistakes Non-Technical Founders Make & How To Avoid Them register here.

How is generative AI different from standard AI? How can you tell lasting innovation from the hype? 

Listen to this episode to find out. You will learn from Jamie Cattell, Global Managing Partner, Enterprise Strategy at IBM Consulting. Before joining IMB, Jamie was a partner at McKinsey where he led McKinsey Digital.

If you work in a corporate, sell to corporates or invest in public equities, this episode is for you.

Listen to learn:

• The framework to differentiate between tech hype and lasting change
• Why smaller companies are more likely to be tech disruptors
• Which bank has made the largest AI investments and what it means for them
• What business leaders need to learn about AI to be effective

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and succeed in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• The design process begins with questioning whether a product needs to exist in the first place. Start with research and customer interviews before you build a prototype.
• A good design must be usable, solve a real problem, and buildable within the company's budget. This is why collaboration with developers, product managers and founders is essential for good design.
• The principles of good design are the same as the Lean Startup methodology: build, measure, learn and iterate.

You can say hi to Jane on Twitter here.

To learn about Tech for Non-Techies events and courses and get Sophia's insights into your inbox, sign up to our mailing list

Check out Tech for Non-Techies membership here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter.

When investing in Deep Tech, remember that technology is just a tool, not an end in itself. Understanding who will use it and why is key to becoming smart money.

Learning notes from this episode:

• When investing in any business, you must consider these questions:
  • What problem are you solving?
  • Who are you solving it for?
  • Are they willing and able to pay for it?

• Understand what stage of the innovation cycle the start-up is in. This will help you evaluate risk properly.
  • For example, the first lab grown burgers were unaffordable for most people. The risk at that stage was not whether the product can be made, but whether it can be made at a cost that would allow wide scale sales.

• Get a technical expert to evaluate the start-up’s invention and help you understand their risk. Take note if no other deep tech investor is involved.
  • This is what happened with Theranos. Prominent biotech VCs passed on the round because they had the expertise to know that what Elizabeth Holmes was promising could not be built.

• One of the best ways to learn about Deep Tech investing is to attend accelerator demo days. Listen to start-up pitches and take note of what experienced deep tech investors are asking about.
  • For example, you could start with the Duality accelerator ran by the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center, which focusses on quantum computing start-ups.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 4. What Non-Technical Founders Need to Know About Tech (interview with David Segura)
• Episode 31. How To Transition Into Venture Capital
• Episode 114. What is Deep Tech?  

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There are 2 ways to apply this work to your goals:

For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies. 

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Today, I’m doing something a bit different. As our smart community grows, I know that some of you might not know much about me, my story or how I got into this tech thing.

That’s why today, I’m sharing a little bit about me.

I’m sharing this with you so that you can see that the confusion you feel about tech, or the fear that your lack of tech knowledge will be discovered, does not have to be your permanent reality. I want you to see that there are many more opportunities for you than you probably think.

You will also learn what not to wear when riding a camel.

Summary notes from this episode:

• I always wanted to have a great career, but when I graduated in 2005, tech wasn't what it is today. I started my career in the media, then worked in private equity and became a non-technical founder after my MBA.
• I planned to use my MBA to transition into a career in tech, but this was harder than I thought. Business school gave me business skills and a network, but taught me very little about tech.
• Writing for Forbes gave me access to people who succeeded in tech without technical backgrounds. Interviewing non-technical founders, investors and Big Tech executives was a better use of my time than a coding bootcamp.
• To have a great career in today's economy, you need to learn how to work with tech and product teams. This doesn't mean becoming a developer, but it does mean learning how to work with one. 

Robyn is the CEO & Founder of HER, the world’s largest brand for LGBTQ women & queer people. Their app is home to 5 million people across the world, with dating and community connections, and their events run in 15 cities, hosting 50,000 people per year.

Robyn is an alumna of Y Combinator, the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator, and has raised $2.5 million from investors. Despite Robyn's Silicon Valley successes, she is not a technical founder. Her background is in branding.

Listen to hear how Robyn:

• built a global technology company without a tech background
• made her first technical hires & hear her advice for non
• technical founders and non-techies working in tech

For the full interview, join techfornontechies.co

About Tech for Non-Techies: Tech for Non-Techies is your guide in the jargon-filled world of tech. TFNT is open to anyone who wants to learn about how technology companies and their products work.

TFNT courses have been taught at London Business School, presented at Chicago Booth and featured in Forbes. We host regular events online and offline on how tech products are made, and introductory sessions on topics including product management, user experience design, analytics and machine learning.

There are plenty of articles about digital transformation.

But big change can only be successful if the individuals in the organisation are also enthusiastic and knowledgeable about it.

Structural change without individual change does not work.

In this episode, you will learn how asset management CEO Musi Skosana approached digital transformation at his fund and what he did to hone his own digital mindset.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why the fund management industry needs digitisation
• The biggest difference between the fund management mindset and the digital one
• Why Musi Skosana became a Tech for Non-Techies client

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Despite the many press releases touting Silicon Valley's diversity efforts, the majority of funding from this innovation will still go to white males in 2023. 

While this reality is not what many of us want, it is an opportunity for investors and innovators to capture overlooked user markets.

 Learning notes from this episode:

• A product is a solution to a problem a human is experiencing. Innovators make solutions for problems they are familiar with, which means that homogeneity in founders means homogeneity in products.
  • This means there is more competition amongst products that solve problems experienced by male founders, such as laundry services and food delivery apps, than in other niches, such as female healthcare. 
  • While funding will be harder to get for products not aimed at the white male market, competition in these sectors will also often be lower. Ultimately, this means big untapped opportunities.
• Companies ran by founders who are not white males are often undervalued.
  • This is an opportunity for investors to get lower risk for higher return, as angels, VCs and corporate investors.
• These are not market dynamics that we want, however it is the world we live in today. By focussing on finding opportunities, Digital Leaders are more likely to win in the long run.

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Hype about generative AI is everywhere, but much simpler AI models have already changed entire industries. 

By learning about how AI has already changed business, we can make predictions about what's next.

In this episode you will learn key lessons from Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World.

You will learn:

• The two sides of any successful enterprise
• The difference between weak AI vs strong AI
• What an AI factory is 
• How AI has already changed companies from the inside, with examples from Ant Financial (fintech) and Ocado (supermarket)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Tech for Non-Techies podcast episode 9. The Business of AI with Harvard Business School Prof Marco Iansiti
• Tech for Non-Techies podcast episode 170. Advisory Boards: why join them & why have them

FREE training

Get Tech Clients! Introduction to Tech for Lawyers

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We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

If you have an idea for an app or a tech business, but no tech skills to build it, this episode is for you.

You will hear from Natalie Kaminski, founder of Jet Rockets, whose development company works specifically with non-technical founders.

In this episode, you will learn:

• what insights non-technical founders have that tech founders often don't
• how a travel agent built a tech company when Covid shut her business down
• how to get the best ROI from working with outsourced development firms
• how to show traction to investors even at the early stages when you have no marketing budget

If you want to dive deeper, get Sophia's ebook:  The Non-Technical Founder's Guide To Hiring: How To Hire Your Product Team And Go from Idea To App

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and lead in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn & Instagram.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• To get into product management, you need to build a product. I doesn’t have to be a full mobile app. You can start with something very simple, like a blog or a newsletter.
• Growth hacking is a system of experimentation and incremental improvements to grow a specific metric, e.g. revenue per user or time in app.
• Good product managers and growth hackers both have a laser focus on a key metric and structure their work to achieve it. The key metric changes as the product evolves from early stage to mature.

You can say hi to Stephen on LinkedIn here.

Get your FREE guide on how to go from idea to app.

To join our weekly expert masterclasses, access learning notes and our unique professional community, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Listen to this episode to get Sophia Matveeva's recommendations to hone your digital mindset.

In this episode, you'll hear the top lessons from each book and why they matter.

• The beginners' guide: Swipe to Unlock: The Insider’s Guide to Tech and Business Strategy
  • Listen to this TFNT podcast interview with co-author Parth Detroja: 12 Introduction to Product Strategy

• To learn Design Thinking: Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
  • Join Design Q4 to Finish Strong! to attend the Design Thinking workshop on Sunday 10 September 2023.

• Understand AI and how it changes business models: Competing in the Age of AI Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World
  • Listen to Listen to this TFNT podcast interview with co-author Marco Iansiti: 9. The Business of AI with Harvard Business School Prof Marco Iansiti

• For founders & investors: The hard thing about hard things
  • Watch this book summary on the TFNT YouTube channel: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: TFNT summary

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and succeed in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Some companies waste millions on AI initiatives while others use it to gain serious market advantage.

In this episode, you'll learn the seven insights Sophia Matveeva, our CEO, got from The Economist's Business Innovation Summit and what they mean for your AI strategy.

This episode is for you if you:

• Are a leader considering AI investments but want to avoid chasing vanity metrics
• Need to justify AI projects to your CFO or board with realistic ROI expectations (!!!)
• Want to address "shadow IT" -  when employees use unauthorised AI tools with company data
• Are responsible for upskilling your team in the age of AI

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/249-ai-hype-vs-reality-what-smart-business-leaders-are-actually-doing

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to AI and Market Dynamics

03:11 Key Insights from the Economist Business Innovation Summit

05:58 The Importance of Speed in AI Implementation

08:51 Understanding Shadow IT and Its Implications

12:12 The Role of Boards in AI Adoption

14:58 Training and Upskilling for the AI Age

16:24 The Impact of DeepSeek on Global Innovation

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

FREE COURSE:

5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University. 

Why did successful companies like Kodak and Blockbuster miss the digital revolution?

Listen to this episode to learn why corporates ignore threats posed by start-ups until its too late.

In this episode, you will learn key lessons from  The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen.

Christensen coined the term "disruptive innovation" and The Innovator's Dilemma is seen as the "a holy book for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley," according to Business Week.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Why the same skills that companies use to become successful can ultimately destroy them
• Why listening to your customers isn't always a good idea
• Why start-ups with low quality products and no money beat large rich corporates

This is part 1 in this mini series on The Innovator's Dilemma.

Tune in next week to cover part 2: how corporates can succeed in the face of technological change (and how not get sucker-punched by a start-up).

FREE GUIDE:

Innovate but how? the pragmatist's guide to growth (in business & in life) 

Why do you keep checking your phone, even when you’re trying not to? It's because the apps on your phone use the Hook Model. described by Nir Eyal in his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

To learn how apps like Instagram, LinkedIn and Vivino keep us coming back to our screens, listen to this episode.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Habits are behaviours done with little or no conscious thought
• If your product becomes a habit, people will use it more. You will spend less on advertising and make more money.
• The greatest return on investment generally comes from increasing the product's ease of use.
  • If you want to improve a product, first look at the design: where you can make it more simple to use. E.g. can you require less information from users when they first sign up?
• The Hook model consists of 4 steps 
  1. Trigger: you get a notification that someone commented on your post
  2. Action: you open LinkedIn / Instagram to see the comment
  3. Variable Reward: you find out what the comment was and by whom. Depending on these factors, you might feel happy, sad, excited, disappointed
  4. Investment: you make another post – this is an investment of your time and energy, and you keep coming back for more.

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Join our next FREE Masterclass on 30 November 2022, 12 pm EST / 5 pm GMT

How to Become a Digital Leader

You will learn:

1. The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
2. Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
3. How to go from traditional business manager to Digital Leader

SIGN UP HERE

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Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

David Segura is a perfect example of how non-techies can thrive in technology. His first venture, Giant Media, was a native video advertising exchange which David sold for millions to an ad tech company backed by TPG & JMI in 2014. Since then David has invested in almost 50 startups, many of which have technology at their core. 

I met David in the early Naughties, when we studied together at the University of Chicago College. At the time, it is fair to say we both had little knowledge of or interest in technology. Yet, after studying Political Science, David made a successful career in tech entrepreneurship and investing. He has never learnt to code. 

In this interview, David talks about:

• How he worked with his CTO at Giant Media to scale and sell an ad tech platform
• That you don’t actually need a CTO to get started if you are a non-technical founder
• Knowing how to work with the tech team being more important than coding
• Leading a syndicate to invest in a Y Combinator startup
• How to invest in tech and biotech without having technical or scientific training
• Why non-technical founders are usually more successful entrepreneurs

If you want to get access to the TFNT book club, our masterclasses, community and monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, join us as a Tech for Non-Techies member.  

Get your free guide on how to go from idea to live app here.

Say hi to Sophia Matveeva on Twitter. 

If you're a non-technical founder or corporate innovator, you've likely heard the myth: venture capital is exclusively for bankers or coders.

Promise Phelon shatters this misconception completely.

In this episode, Promise shares how she used her experience as a non-technical founder to become a successful venture capitalist - without writing a single line of code or spending years in investment banking.

Listen to learn:

• Why business acumen and customer understanding are more valuable than technical skills
• How "product CEOs" often have advantages over purely technical founders
• Practical paths into venture capital for non-technical professionals
• Why more founders are specifically seeking investors with operational experience
• How to use your industry expertise to find investment opportunities others miss

If you're curious about a career in venture, this episode is for you.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

01:02 Harnessing Technology for Leadership

03:00 Journey from Operator to Investor

05:52 Debunking VC Myths 

09:13 Technical vs. Product CEOs

11:59 The Path to Venture Capital

14:52 Relationships in VC

18:07 Building a Unique Investment Perspective

20:58 The Ethics of Startup Experience for VC

23:52 Empowering Non-Technical Founders

26:46 The Value of Operator VCs

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/244-the-non-techie-s-path-to-vc

Learn more from Promise Phelon at the Growth Warrior YouTube channel.

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

FREE COURSE:

5 Tech Concepts Every Business Leader Needs To Know

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

In this episode, you will get four suggestions for shows about Big Tech, AI,  billionaire founders and white collar criminals.

Sophia Matveeva's top entertainment suggestions that will teach you:

• How Facebook was created
• What happens to founding teams when companies get successful
• How to convince powerful investors to fund you when you have nothing
• How social media companies work from the inside
• What happens when a robot develops consciousness

Join our January program & get Early Bird pricing:

Design for Growth 

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and succeed in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter. 

To have a thriving career in the Digital Age, traditional business skills are not enough. But taking tech course after tech course isn’t helpful either.

Follow this three step framework to transform your career:

1. Learn to speak tech
2. Get involved with the right projects
3. Tell the world about whom you have become

Get the Speak Tech Guide - FREE guide to the top 10 concepts all business leaders need to know.

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----  

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other. 
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don’t.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn & Instagram.

Following us on YouTube and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Product managers combine user perspectives, business needs and technology capabilities in one job. But, what they do day to day varies widely. In this episode, you’ll hear how what PMs do differs between Apple and Amazon from Souvik Bhattacharya, who has worked at both.

This episode is for product managers, founders, investors and those who want to understand tech companies from the inside. 

Learning notes from this episode:

• Founders play the product management role in their start-ups, and venture capital funds often employ former PMs as investors.
• What Product Managers do day to day depends on the life cycle of the product. For example, in the launch phase the PM role also includes product marketing.
• Software vs. Hardware Product Management is incredibly different.  Hardware products, like those at Apple, take years to develop and incremental updates are typically not an easy option Software Product Management is much faster as changes can be made virtually and to certain groups of customers for A/B testing versus all at once as with hardware.
• Engineers often work on problems set by the product managers.

Get in touch with Souvik here.

If you want to buid a tech business, but don't have a technical background, then join Break Into Tech: Masterclass For Non-Technical Founders here. 

...

Do you have a brilliant app idea and no tech knowledge to build it? Get your FREE guide here.

To watch the full session on video and access learning notes, join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Weekly live masterclasses with global experts
• Mini-course on how to go from idea to live app
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Monthly live coaching with Sophia Matveeva, tech entrepreneur & Chicago Booth MBA
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

In this episode Sophia Matveeva covers the top five mistakes non-technical founders make, most of which she made herself. 

The main five mistakes to avoid are:

• Don’t make developers your first hires. Your first hire should be a User Experience designer
• Don’t confuse product metrics with business metrics
• Set your team tangible product aims with metrics and time frames
• Co-create with your users, rather than being rigid in your thinking
• At the start focus on product improvement, not on growth

If you want to understand the cyclical production process of how apps, sites and algorithms get made, listen to Episode 3: The Most Important Thing About Tech

If you want to learn more, then check out the Tech for Non-Technical Founders Course. You can also get access to more expert resources, interviews and join the Tech for Non-Techies community with TFNT membership.

If you have suggestions for future episodes, tell Sophia on Twitter

This is not how it works in tech companies. When the likes of Airbnb and Slack bring new apps or features to market, they use the Sprint Method. It is a methodology developed by Google Ventures to bring new ideas to life and test them quickly and cheaply.

Learn how this works in this podcast.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The aim of a sprint is to test an idea for a new product to find out whether it is worth investing more money in. For example, you can use a sprint to test an idea for an app by creating a prototype. If users like what you’ve made, only then should you hire developers.
• Each sprint should focus on one idea to test. Do not try to test multiple ideas in one sprint.
• To figure out where the biggest risks in a new idea lie, ask yourself: if this time in a year, this project failed, why would it have done so?
• A sprint team contains 5 – 7 people with different backgrounds. Only one should be an engineer, the rest should come from marketing, finance, design and more. This is because the sprint is about testing whether the product needs to exist, not how to build it.
• Get the Google Ventures book Sprint: How To Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days  

To learn the core concepts you need to succeed in tech as a non-techie, sign up for:

FREE TRAINING: How To Speak Tech For Leaders   

Live training and Q&A on 26 & 27 January. Places are limited. 

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Today, less than 10% of Fortune 500 companies are considered to be tech companies.

We are still at the beginning of the tech opportunity.

You don’t have to be a technologist to benefit from this rising tide.

If you work in professional services and wondering which client niche to pick, the tech sector is a very good bet.

There will be new companies being formed and bought, stock market IPOs and licensing deals to be made.

As the tech sector grows, innovators and their investors will need to work with lawyers, bankers and accountants.

They will chose those who understand the industry.

If you want that to be you, listen to this episode and come to our free class for lawyers. 

In this episode, you will learn from Daniel Glazer, Managing Partner of Wilson Sonsini's London office.

Wilson Sonsini specialises in advising tech companies and venture capitalists, and has its origins in Silicon Valley.

In this episode you will learn:

• The difference between a lawyer and a strategic advisor 
• What lawyers need to know about tech to advise tech clients
• What kind of help lawyers offer start-ups as they grow
• Differences between the US and UK legal systems

FREE Class:

Get Tech Clients! Introduction to Tech for Lawyers

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To discuss a corporate training program for your organisation, book a consultation call here. 

Happy clients include Blackstone x Techstars Launchpad, Oxford University and Constellation Brands.

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Learning notes from this episode:

• Outsourcing can be done in 3 ways: with an agency (focus on design), a development shop (focus on engineering) or a product studio (holistic approach to the entire product).
• Make sure whoever you hire uses agile methodology and adapts the product specifications as you learn.
• An MVP should take no more than 6 - 8 weeks to develop. Knowing this can help you plan your costs.

Say hi to Igor Moliver on LinkedIn.

To join future Tech for Non-Techies events, sign up to our newsletter.

To join the free live training on The Non-Technical Founder's Introduction to Tech on 21 September 2020, click here.

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

10,000 flight cancellations, disruptions in the UK National Health Service, and the banking sector cast into turmoil.

The CrowdStrike outage sent the entire world into disarray.

In this episode of the Tech For Non-Techies podcast, host Sophia Matveeva imparts crucial knowledge on how to prevent IT crises and emphasizes the importance of understanding tech for business leaders.

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:21 Severity of the CrowdStrike outage

00:03:22 Overview of the CrowdStrike Incident

00:04:23 Implications of Software Malfunctions

00:06:30 Importance of IT Risk Management

00:08:34 Software Testing and Quality Assurance

00:11:27 Aligning Engineering and Business Objectives

00:13:23 Relationship-Building between Tech and Business Teams

To learn about the Post Office disaster, 

https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/lessons-from-the-post-office-scandal

For the transcript, go to: https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/business-leaders-lessons-from-the-global-it-outage

For more career & tech lessons, subscribe to Tech for Non-Techies on:

• Apple
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Amazon Podcasts
• Stitcher
• Pandora

Do you want to succeed in the Digital Age?

Check out the Digital Leadership Coaching Program

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter

Creating a successful business is a huge feat, but even founders with profitable exits struggle when they first break into tech. Bryan Clayton co-founded Greenpal, the Airbnb for lawn mowing, after he sold his first business. But, his first business was a landscaping company, which meant that even as an experienced entrepreneur, he was a newbie in tech.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Non-technical founders need to know enough to be dangerous before hiring developers. Understand how your business strategy connects to product aims and know how to estimate your development budget.
• Even badly made first products can show you’re on the right track, as long as you have interest from users. If people want to use your product, but your product sucks, you can improve the product and then scale. If you have a great product and nobody wants to use it, then you have a real problem.
• The perfect scenario of a tech founder + business savvy founder rarely happens in real life. As long as you and your team is willing to learn on the job, you don’t have to put your plans on hold while looking for a technical co-founder.

If you want to be part of the tech boom, as a founder, investor or corporate innovator, then apply for Sophia’s Break Into Tech program.

APPLY HERE

Sophia will teach you what you really need to know about tech to succeed as a non-technical professional, help you come up with a tailored career action plan and support you throughout your journey.

Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership community. As a community member, you'll get:

• Monthly coaching with Sophia Matveeva
• Live masterclasses with global experts
• Supportive Online Community
• Library of masterclasses
• Exclusive Resources & Perks

Learn more and sign up at https://www.techfornontechies.co/membership

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter.

Following us on Facebook and Instagram will make you smarter. 

Some technologies lose businesses money and put off their customers. So why do businesses use them?

The technical term is shiny object syndrome!

We waste money and make bad decisions when we forget that technology is a tool, not an end in itself.

The role of a true Digital Leader is to discern when tech creates value and when it doesn't.

This podcast episode will help you do that. 

You will learn:

• A key question to ask when considering a new technology
• A case study of when tech loses bars and restaurants money

Demystify Digital - tech masterclass for business leaders

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Join the Tech for Non-Techies membership and lead in the Digital Age. 

Tech for Non-Techies clients 

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on info@techfornontechies.co

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn & Instagram.

Following us on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok will make you smarter. 

Did you know that 90% of the internet depends on free licenses from open source software?

But what happens when those licenses stop being free?

Listen to this episode to find out.

You will learn from Paula Paul, Founder and Distinguished Engineer at Greyshore, who also serves also serves on the board of the OpenJS Foundation

Key takeaways:

• Open source refers to software distribution with a specific kind of license that allows others to view and use the code.
• 90% of commercial software products are built on open source software.
• Open source projects are motivated by building community and creating differentiation.
• Understanding open source and its dependencies is crucial for business leaders and investors.