1539: Don't Learn to Code by Ryan Hoover on Leveraging Other People's Expertise for Business Success

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily.

[00:00:02] Don't Learn to Code by Ryan Hoover of RyanHoover.me

[00:00:08] So, what are you going to do? My friend asked.

[00:00:11] Not sure. I'm exploring opportunities and investing in myself. I replied.

[00:00:15] Have you thought about joining a dev bootcamp to learn to code?

[00:00:19] Since I announced I was leaving my product role at a successful startup, several friends and followers asked me this question.

[00:00:25] I considered joining a dev bootcamp. Yes, I would like to be more technical.

[00:00:30] Yes, it would be great if I could create my own ROR app.

[00:00:33] Yes, I might gain more respect from engineers if I could better speak their language.

[00:00:38] But as with any decision in life and in startups, there's an opportunity cost.

[00:00:42] Learning to code would be valuable, but is it the most valuable use of my time?

[00:00:47] I don't think so. And this is probably true for many others that join the coding bandwagon.

[00:00:52] They too would be better off investing elsewhere.

[00:00:54] The Hype

[00:00:56] There's never been a better time to learn to code.

[00:00:58] It's more accessible than ever thanks to the open source movement, free resources, development frameworks, engineering bootcamps, and the helpful, generous coding community.

[00:01:07] It's more lucrative than ever.

[00:01:09] It seems every tech company is hiring engineers, many of which gladly offer six-figure salaries for entry-level coders.

[00:01:15] It's more glorified than ever as legendary investors like Paul Graham and films like The Social Network celebrate geeks.

[00:01:22] As a result, everyone is learning to code. But should they?

[00:01:26] Of course, companies rely on more than just ones and zeros. Technology by itself isn't enough.

[00:01:32] Much more is involved in crafting a successful product in business.

[00:01:36] Software may be eating the world, but that doesn't mean technical talent is the sole driving force.

[00:01:42] Flour without yeast makes a sh** baguette.

[00:01:45] The two primary ingredients of a baguette are flour and yeast.

[00:01:49] Combining the two converts the fermentable sugars present in the dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol,

[00:01:55] turning the sticky, flat substance into a plump, airy treat.

[00:01:58] Without yeast, the dough will not rise.

[00:02:01] Startups are no different. Most teams have flour.

[00:02:04] They're technically savvy and know-how to GSD.

[00:02:06] But what's often missing is the yeast, the non-technical ingredient to grow their business.

[00:02:12] Products are built with technology, but companies need traction, the metaphorical yeast, to rise.

[00:02:18] Great products fail.

[00:02:20] Metaphors aside, let's take a look at the recent unfortunate downfall of Everpix.

[00:02:26] As described in a post-mortem, the photo storing service was beautiful,

[00:02:30] awarded with over 500 reviews averaging 4.5 stars in the U.S. App Store.

[00:02:34] Its users loved the free service so much that an impressive 12.4% of them paid for premium upgrades.

[00:02:40] But it failed.

[00:02:42] Quote,

[00:02:43] While the team obsessed about perfecting the service,

[00:02:46] the founders paid less attention to the subject investors care about most.

[00:02:50] Growth.

[00:02:51] End quote.

[00:02:52] Everpix built a good product, averaging 55,000 users over the course of two years,

[00:02:57] but its modest traction didn't reach the scale needed for continued VC backing.

[00:03:01] After burning through its cash reserves, the team was unable to raise another round to keep the lights on.

[00:03:07] Although armed with the technical talent to build a solid product, the team lacked growth focus.

[00:03:12] Andrew Chen further described Everpix's situation, commenting on the importance of traction talent.

[00:03:18] Quote,

[00:03:19] The problem with hyper-product-oriented entrepreneurs is that they often have one tool in their pocket,

[00:03:24] making a great product.

[00:03:25] That's both admirable and dangerous.

[00:03:28] Once the initial product is working, the team has to quickly transition into marketing and user growth,

[00:03:34] which requires a different set of skills.

[00:03:36] It has to be more about metrics rather than product design.

[00:03:39] Running experiments, optimizing sign-up flows, arbitraging LTVs and CACs, etc.

[00:03:45] An entrepreneur that's too product-oriented will just continue polishing features,

[00:03:50] or possibly introducing big new ideas that ultimately screw the product up,

[00:03:55] or keep doing the same thing unaware of the milestone cliff in front of them.

[00:03:59] Scary.

[00:04:00] End quote.

[00:04:01] I just want to code.

[00:04:03] It's not that technical people don't recognize the importance of traction.

[00:04:07] Most do.

[00:04:08] But coders want to code.

[00:04:09] That's why they got into startups.

[00:04:10] I recently spoke with a technical solo founder.

[00:04:13] He described the challenges growing his social product.

[00:04:16] Quote,

[00:04:17] I built the product in just a few weeks.

[00:04:19] It wasn't hard.

[00:04:20] But getting users is tough.

[00:04:21] It's been four months and I haven't figured it out yet.

[00:04:24] I don't enjoy marketing.

[00:04:25] I just want to code.

[00:04:26] End quote.

[00:04:27] I hear this often.

[00:04:29] Coders tend to gravitate toward their craft because it's what they enjoy doing.

[00:04:32] That's what fuels late-night commits and bug squashing.

[00:04:36] The passion to code often pulls them away from doing the important shitty work,

[00:04:40] the essential things they don't want to do.

[00:04:42] Paul Graham describes this common mistake.

[00:04:45] Quote,

[00:04:46] Most programmers wish they could start a startup by just writing some brilliant code,

[00:04:50] pushing it to a server, and having users pay them lots of money.

[00:04:53] They'd prefer not to deal with tedious problems or get involved in messy ways with the real world.

[00:04:58] End quote.

[00:04:59] We want to work on our craft, the things we love and are good at,

[00:05:03] at the cost of ignoring more important things.

[00:05:05] We fool ourselves into thinking we're making progress with each code commit.

[00:05:09] In reality, we're spinning.

[00:05:11] It's fake progress.

[00:05:12] Of course, this isn't a characteristic of just technical folks.

[00:05:16] We all succumb to this, myself included.

[00:05:19] Technology Startups vs. Tech-Enabled Startups

[00:05:22] Technology startup is often a misnomer.

[00:05:25] Many startups might be better described as technology-enabled.

[00:05:29] Several of today's most prominent startups, like Airbnb, Groupon, Birchbox, and Fab,

[00:05:34] reach their consumers through the web or mobile apps,

[00:05:37] but innovate in business and logistics more so than technology.

[00:05:41] For these startups and many others,

[00:05:43] traction risk, ability to acquire and retain users,

[00:05:46] far outweighs technical risks, especially early on.

[00:05:49] Traction talent that can meaningfully contribute to the former

[00:05:52] are in high demand as much as a coveted engineer.

[00:05:55] Traction is talent underserved.

[00:05:58] Technology risk has been heavily de-risked because of the technical community.

[00:06:02] They got their s*** together.

[00:06:04] But you can't build a successful tech company without technology and traction.

[00:06:08] Most of today's startups don't fail because they can't build the product.

[00:06:12] They fail because they can't get traction for their product.

[00:06:15] Founders continue to trust in the build-it-and-they-will-come fallacy,

[00:06:19] launching with little thought in go-to-market strategy.

[00:06:21] They ignore the importance of sales, data-driven iterative design, and distribution.

[00:06:26] These are non-technical responsibilities.

[00:06:29] If it's the technical community's responsibility to build the product

[00:06:32] and the non-technical community's responsibility to get traction,

[00:06:36] why aren't more people in the latter investing in their craft

[00:06:39] to solve startups' biggest weakness?

[00:06:41] Don't take my advice.

[00:06:44] I'm in no position to judge other people's decisions.

[00:06:47] I don't know your background, context, or motivations.

[00:06:49] Joining a dev bootcamp to improve your technical skills may be the best thing for you,

[00:06:54] or it might not.

[00:06:55] Before jumping on the coding bandwagon, ask yourself,

[00:06:58] 1. What do I want to do?

[00:07:00] 2. What am I good at?

[00:07:02] 3. What does my company need?

[00:07:04] If coding fits all three checkboxes, do it.

[00:07:07] If not, reconsider where you invest your time.

[00:07:10] So what are you going to do?

[00:07:12] Back to my friend's question.

[00:07:14] As you might have guessed, I'm not joining a dev bootcamp.

[00:07:17] I'm incredibly excited to be working with the team at Tradecraft,

[00:07:20] a San Francisco-based incubator for traction talent,

[00:07:23] teaching kick-ass people the art of UX, growth, and sales BD

[00:07:27] with top Silicon Valley practitioners and startups.

[00:07:30] Tradecraft is a fantastic opportunity to work with bright people

[00:07:33] to hone my traction skills and become a better marketer, leader, and product person.

[00:07:38] And teaching is one of the best ways to learn.

[00:07:44] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:07:46] Don't Learn to Code by Ryan Hoover of ryanhoover.me.

[00:07:51] And thank you to Ryan.

[00:07:52] He helped write the book, Hooked, by Nir Eyal.

[00:07:55] Ryan is the founder of Product Hunt, but also an investor at Weekend Fund.

[00:07:59] The website is weekend.fund.

[00:08:02] And over there, he and his partner write checks from $75,000 to $200,000

[00:08:07] for early-stage startups around the world and across consumer

[00:08:10] and business-to-business products and services.

[00:08:13] They help founders with product, community building, and more.

[00:08:17] So if you're building something ambitious, they're the guys to talk to.

[00:08:20] Again, you can check that out at weekend.fund, F-U-N-D.

[00:08:25] And Ryan is actually featured across a couple of our shows.

[00:08:27] So if you like his style,

[00:08:28] and if you like this idea of blogs being narrated to you for free,

[00:08:32] check out those other shows of ours by searching for Optimal Living Daily

[00:08:36] wherever you're hearing this.

[00:08:38] But I think that does it for today.

[00:08:39] I thank you for being a subscriber to our show.

[00:08:42] Have a great rest of your day,

[00:08:44] and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.