Ask HN: Who are the most successful non-technical founders of tech companies?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3304474

by regnum • 15 years ago

3 5 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

After learning that Dennis Crowley started both Foursquare and Dodgeball as a non-technical founder, I am curious to know if there are any others.

timmm2• 15 years ago

Reddit's founder Alexis Ohanian was not technical at all, he just took care of PR/marketing.

Incidentally I graduated from the same high school as Dennis Crowley, from what I've gathered he was pseudo technical - he had the domain knowledge and had built products but hired others to build those particular products you named.

timmm2• 15 years ago

I also think some of the most successful iphone app companies are founded by non-technical people who outsource their software development.

dholowiski• 15 years ago

Steve Jobs?

mrkmcknz• 15 years ago

I would go as far to say in today's meaning of technical Steve wasn't.

I agree.

freshfey• 15 years ago

Mark Cuban wasn't very technical (although self-taught programmer) and had a multi-million and billion dollar exit before 2000.

The AirBnb founders are designers AFAIK. Jason Fried is non-technical (strong design and writing skills though), as well.

Ask HN: Who are the most successful non-technical founders of tech companies?

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