How much technical background is required to start your own business?

In: Education By: Brian Armstrong

20 Jun 2007

I’ll be reposting some articles from my newsletter over the next few weeks, starting with this one:

Today I’d like to talk about the skillset required to start a business. Specifically, do you need to have a background in engineering?

I hear this used most frequently as an excuse.

“It’s just too technical for me to understand.”

“I was never good with numbers.”

“Things have changed so much since I was in school.”

But at the end of the day, these are just that: excuses. I’m here to tell you that engineering is not only NOT required to start a successful business, it could actually hurt your chances! And this is coming from someone who has their degree in engineering!

Engineers are preoccupied with what is possible and what isn’t. Entrepreneurs don’t care what others consider possible, and frequently attempt the impossible.
Engineers are focused on the present. They have a problem in front of them and they solve it. Entrepreneurs are focused on the future. They see the problem in front of them as a minor distraction on the way toward a larger goal.
Engineers feel that if they can make the best product, the company will be successful. Entrepreneurs realize that it is often the company with the best marketing and financial statements that wins, not necessarily the best product (sad but true).

I’ve never seen an official study done, but historically speaking, pure engineers who start companies don’t do too well. Nikola Tesla, the inventor of AC electricity and the radio, Charles Goodyear, who made the first rubber that could be used year round, and Johannes Gutenberg, who created the printing press, all died without a cent to their name.

If you happen to be clueless when it comes to technical subjects, don’t despair. You can always pay someone to do the things you don’t know how to do. And it’s getting cheaper everyday. (check out www.elance.com or www.guru.com)

If you are a brilliant engineer who is interested in becoming an entrepreneur, then there is also hope for you. Simply realize that technical work has very little to do with running a successful company, and devote yourself to learning the skills of business: marketing, communication, and cash flow, to name a few. Your engineering background will still serve you as an advantage, but it won’t be a key to your success.

Most entrepreneurs realize at some point that their time is much too valuable to be spent on the everyday technical problems. Don’t let your educational background (or lack thereof) hold you back from starting a business!

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8 Responses

Sam Purtill

June 21st, 2007 at 5:28 am

Your points are completely voided by the fact that some of the most successful companies of all time were started by technical people. Just because you’re technical doesn’t mean that you aren’t a “visionary”. Here are three successful companies started by very technical people:

Microsoft – Bill Gates
Google – Larry Page & Sergey Brin
Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg

Need I say more??

Brian Armstrong

June 21st, 2007 at 2:41 pm

Hi Sam,

You’re right, being an engineer does not prevent you from being successful in business. I was trained as an engineer just as in your examples.

I also had to had to ‘unlearn’ much of my engineering way of thinking to be successful in business. Larry and Sergey had to bring in ‘adult supervision’ in the form of a CEO to run Google. Gates and Zuckerberg do zero technical work day to day like programming. They made the transition.

Hopefully the article will inspire those without a technical background to stop using it as an excuse, and those with a technical background to realize a different skill set is required. I certainly don’t want to say that engineers can’t be successful in business. Thanks for keeping me on track!
Brian

Sam Purtill

June 21st, 2007 at 4:10 pm

Ok, just making sure you weren’t trashing engineers or anything ;)

Thanks for the response

Sam

Edgar Rodriguez

June 23rd, 2007 at 11:46 am

Reading your article about the requirement of an engineering degree to be succesfull in a business, I couldn´t agree more with you in the issue that sometimes being an engineer (as in my case) sometimes plays in the contrary, cause engineers forget frequently to keep it simple, and the degree is a dead weight on times when you have to roll your sleves and start working on the building of your future business.
I found a Video on You tube, with a speech from Steve Jobs that you might find useful for the purpose of this article and the entrepreneurial soul in general.
watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

Regards,
Edgar Rodriguez

Brian Armstrong

June 23rd, 2007 at 2:54 pm

I love that speech, thanks Edgar!
Brian