Being a technical founder sounds awesome, and it is, there's some great upsides to it, however, there are some downsides too, let’s get into it…?
- Technical Expertise: As a technical founder, you possess a deep understanding of the product or service you are delivering. This expertise allows you to make informed decisions, and guide the technical direction effectively.?
- Effective Communication: A technical founder can bridge the communication gap between technical and non-technical team members and customers. This is crucial for ensuring that the entire team and its service users understand the benefits and restrictions of the technical aspects of products and services.?
- Passion: Because I’m genuinely interested in cybersecurity and have experience working in the same sorts of environments our customers exist in, being a technical founder enables me the insights required to solve actual cybersecurity problems, not create problems to sell a hyped-up solution for.?
- Getting lost in the tech: When your job is your passion, it’s easy to get your head lost in the weeds. It’s incredibly important to position people more talented and directed on the technology than you are so that you can concentrate on running the business, not running the tech.?
- Ethics get in the way: When you’re focused on true capabilities, and deliver services based on fact not fiction derived from the latest ‘expo buzz-word bingo’ you may find yourself being the only one of your competitors telling the truth about a subject. For example, explaining why the latest sales term is not the panacea of cyber defence is not what the industry is interested in hearing when they've all just been tasked with worshipping it.?
- Burnout: When what you love is what you do it’s easy to do that thing for work, for pleasure, for a hobby, in place of sleep, in place of breakfast, in place of friends… and when you're the boss it can be challenging to justify time away from this monolith that has become your literal life.?
