“What is your advice for non-technical people who want to succeed in the online world?”
Fred Wilson, venture capitalist, early stage Twitter investor and blogger offers the following advice:
Get Technical.
There’s an easy way to ‘get technical’ this year, and it’s free.
Code Year is a service that delivers interactive programming lessons via email each week. You enroll by submitting your email address. That’s it. Dead simple.
Learning to Code is the New MBA
Ten years ago, entrepreneurs who wanted to learn all about running a business did one of two things: Start a company and/or get an MBA. The Masters of Business Administration was important because it provided a platform for discovering the processes that professional firms use to compete, and most important, networking with successful businesspeople.
Now you can test your ideas without major funding or capital investment. But it helps to learn how to code, because you’re going to need someone to build the website and/or technology that powers your business plan.
Yes, you can hire a freelancer — but how trustworthy are they? Wouldn’t it be so much cooler to partner with a friend and, if not create the entire platform, at least know how to explain your idea to an engineer in a way that makes sense and shortens the time between conception and completion?
Building a website or prototype is also a killer way to succeed on social funding sites like KickStarter…