One thing people get wrong about running a tech startup is that tech is the easy part. It’s the non-tech things that build or break the business.

I get to listen to ideas at least every week from determined people who believe they have come across an idea that will change things. And for most part they could be right. But the help they request from me is usually techy, and I immediately switch the conversation.

Because in the long run, tech isn’t complicated. Customers are. Teams are. Revenue is. I can build your app in a month and a half and give it to you but you’ll likely land on your head. So I switch the conversation and ask you about the following things (which are more tricky):

1. “What makes you think people will sign up?”. It really matters. This question is there’s anything special you’re offering. If your answer is coming from your personal excitement about the idea, you need to think again.

I’m saying that because, the reason you are selling is not the reason they are buying. You are seeking because you believe in the idea, they’ll buy only because they see its value. Tech won’t show you that. So 80% of the time should be spend understanding people (not the app).

Don’t pitch to them. Don’t ask if they’d like the app. Just ask how they go about doing what your app does. If you do this well, what to build will be clear the moment you’re done talking to the first 100 people.

The second thing is having the right people doing the right things. From what I’ve seen, most of us start with people we know and who are willing to put in work. But this can be a problem when it gets in the way of holding each other to higher standards.

You either justify their underperforming or they justify yours. Warren Buffett said “it’s not the mistakes that show that are a problem. It’s the mistakes that don’t show that are most expensive.” If it’s out there you can fix it. If it’s not, it kills the business.

Lastly (at least for now), paperworks and administration. Most people who run startups in our setting come from the background of the field in that startup. A developer/farmer/real estate agent/business person turned into an entrepreneur. I’ll tell you the challenge with this.

The challenge is, your expertise is limited to only that area. You have to be aware of where you fall short and either learn or hire people who are also good in other areas.

It took me a while to learn that being innovative and being a good manager are two different things. And that while innovating requires getting the products right, management is getting a lot of paperworks right. Performance metrics, KPIs, culture strategy, etc.

In his 1877 book “Anna Karerina “, Tolstoy began with a now famous sentence “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. The idea being, all happy families share common attributes, but broken ones have variety of reasons. Same for companies.

I’ve learned that good companies have key attributes such as products that are informed by user insights; right people doing right things; and good management and strategies.

When these are present, it’s a happy family. And good technology without these, is an unhappy one.