There have been countless posts and discussions around the topic of “If I don’t know how to code/am not technical, how do I launch my website/startup?”, and I know many of my classmates/non-technical friends (myself included) have encountered this challenge. I wasn’t going to pile on top of great posts that were already written (such as here, here, here, and here), but an in-depth discussion in class the other day prompted me to share a summary of insights and actionable suggestions that I thought would be valuable to others.  

Last Tuesday, instead of the usual case discussion, we had an interesting group of guest panelists (Brandon Liu, Anna Palmer, Jim Psota, and Hugo Van Vuuren) in our Online Economy class to discuss the very topic of “Hiring Tech Talent” (translation: How do I find a tech cofounder/coder???), and the discussion kicked off with a glance of the infamous tumblog MBA Seeks Code Monkey. Because of the right mix of technical and non-technical panelists and their understanding of their audience (HBS students), I thought the discussions were even more relevant and actionable to business/non-technical people in general. 

The biggest takeaway, surprisingly, is that finding a (tech) cofounder is VERY similar to dating (a panelist plugged OkCupid’s blog as a resource with nuggets of wisdom that are as applicable to dating as to startups/cofounder relationships). 

Below is a summary of tidbits from the discussion that resonated most with me:

How to attract/find tech talent: 

• Present yourself as resources, and know how to frame your skill set as an MBA (see more below)
• Develop personal relationships 
• Be a magnet - attract, not attack (especially at networking events)
• Get yourself a few technical advisors
• Plug yourself into the UX/UI/design community - they would know good technical people whom they’ve worked with
• Have a conversation on what they (engineers) are looking for, and how you can contribute - “What matters to you?”

How to identify top tech talent:

• Best programmers work on side projects - they keep themselves abreast of the latest technical trends and learn from these side projects
• Leverage your technical advisors to help vet candidates and ask the right questions
• Best quality to look for (in the context of startups) - smart, tenacious, cultural fit, and can just “figure things out" 

Sources for top tech talent that you can realistically attract:

• Develop undergraduate students (especially at the inflection point - when they are about to graduate) - they are looking for "personal growth” (you can’t compete on cash/equity comp with Google/Facebook anyways) 
• Poach top talent who are working at good tech companies - especially when startups get acquired and/or they are at the end of their vesting period
• Talented folks who do NOT live in prime cities/startup hubs - e.g. SF/Silicon Valley, NYC, Boston

What technical people value in a potential non-technical cofounder:

• Tenacity, not getting stalled by not having a tech cofounder - e.g. testing hypotheses and validating the concept via MVP/customer feedbacks
• Charisma
• Network - leverage your network to recruit respected advisors, and offer your tech team the opportunity to work with these advisors
• Leadership - have a vision and lead by example
• Understanding in distribution/sales - how to get USERS (not a task engineers want to spend time thinking about)
• Time is the most valuable thing in startups - skill in managing “time” and keeping people accountable