You don’t need to be technical! Focus on your strengths. I want to start by saying that while it feels like I’ve learned 10 years in under one while working at my first startup, in comparison to my (brilliant) team’s understanding of computer science, I am literally a caveman. (and that’s ok!!) Coming from a strictly financial/mathematical background and having never taken a single computer science course (the coolest thing I’ve “coded” was a text-based adventure game in Python. I can already hear the actual developers laughing!) you may wonder how I’m a co-founder of an actually cool and pretty complex startup that specializes in building artificial intelligence systems for financial markets. Good question! As much as I naturally want to defend my ego and explain that I was extremely blessed to have a grandfather who got me started with paper trading on Investopedia when I was in the 6th grade which immediately sparked my interest/love for financial markets, the reality of the situation is that Peter, our CIO who has been building (profitable) trading systems since before I was born, makes me look & feel like a novice all the time! He’s an amazing mentor and absolute wizard when it comes to financial markets and building automated investing systems. The reality of the situation is that if it was just me on the team, Surmount would probably be emailing investment strategies out. So then where the hell do I fit in? I like talking to people! Not that the rest of my team doesn’t, but I focus on two things: One — lining up potential networking & partnership opportunities Two — finding people much smarter than myself who can work together efficiently Think of it kind of like an orchestra conductor. I just flail my arms around in an attempt to organize the people actually playing the music. Ultimately, everyone’s got to have their role and focus on their strengths. I know some people say you should focus on your weaknesses and make them strengths, but I personally don’t think that makes a lot of sense. Do you think Kobe Bryant was putting in hours of practice trying to perfect his footwork for soccer? Chances are no. Just like if I was to dedicate all my time towards being the best developer I could be right now, it would be more of a detriment to Surmount than it would be a catalyst for success. Find people who already have the skills your company needs and share the same passion(s) you do and balance each other out to build something amazing together.