Can you really lead a tech company if you’re not technical yourself?

David Windley has done exactly that.

He’s the former CHRO at Yahoo, held senior HR roles at Microsoft, Intuit, and Activision, scaled a startup from <$1M to $50M as CEO, and now leads HootRecruit — a recruiting tech company.

David has spent his career at the intersection of people, technology, and leadership.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• How non-technical founders blow it when hiring their first developers
• Why a startup CTO is nothing like a corporate CTO
• The “Windley Rule” — why engineers must make sure you understand, not the other way around

If you’ve ever felt shut out of the tech conversation because you don’t code, this episode will show you how to step up as a leader.

Resources from this Episode

Tech for Non-Technical Founders course https://www.techfornontechies.co/tech-for-non-technical-founders

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

Follow and Review:

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Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/271-what-big-tech-taught-me-about-leading-without-code

Most people think you need to be a Silicon Valley insider — or have millions in funding — to start a tech venture.

That’s just not true.

In this episode, Sophia Matveeva shares the journeys of four Tech for Non-Techies alumni who built products and startups without writing a single line of code. You’ll learn:

• How a dentist turned lockdown frustration into a healthtech app (and how you can spot opportunities in your own field).
• Why a fund manager realised he didn’t need to code — and the mindset shift that freed him to start building.
• How a CFO uses tech knowledge to make smarter investment decisions (lessons every business leader can apply).
• The simple framework a banker used to launch her startup on the side, while keeping her day job.

You’ll hear directly from Tech for Non-Techies alumni Dr. Marilyn Sandor, Musi Skosana, Gustavo Juarez, and Zahra Almahoozi — and walk away with practical takeaways you can use to move your own idea forward.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking “someone like me couldn’t do that,” this episode is proof that you can.

Resources from this Episode

FREE class: Build a Startup WITHOUT Learning to Code

https://www.techfornontechies.co/freeclass

Tech for Non-Technical Founders course: https://www.techfornontechies.co/tech-for-non-technical-founders

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/270-real-people-real-startups-lessons-from-our-alumni

Most founders think you need to be technical to build a billion-dollar company.

But some of the world’s biggest tech giants were started by people who never wrote a single line of code.

In this episode, Sophia Matveeva unpacks the journeys of four non-technical founders who rewrote the rules of business.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How Steve Jobs proved that design instincts can beat coding skills
• Why Jack Ma’s 30 job rejections became his unfair advantage in building Alibaba
• The broke rent payment that sparked Airbnb’s $80B global empire
• What Katrina Lake’s Stitch Fix IPO teaches about trusting customers over investors

Resources from this Episode

https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/how-companies-really-use-ai

FREE CLASS:

Build a Startup WITHOUT Learning to Code

https://www.techfornontechies.co/freeclass

Growth Through Innovation

If your organisation wants to drive revenue through innovation, book a call with us here.

Our workshops and innovation strategies have helped Constellation Brands, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

Follow and Review:

We’d love for you to follow us if you haven’t yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

For the full transcript, go to https://www.techfornontechies.co/blog/269-4-non-technical-founders-who-built-billion-dollar-tech-empires