Tips for Non-Tech Founders Leading Tech Startups - Part 2

How will we know if this feature is successful?

In the first part of this series on tips for non-tech founders of tech startups, we covered how asking questions and staying curious about the answers are essential when leading technical teams as a non-tech founder.

This week, I'm back with more tips and another question you can add to your toolbelt.

When developing features, it's crucial that the whole team knows why we're developing them, so another favourite question of mine is:

“How will we know if this feature is successful?”

Why it’s Important for Non-Tech Startup Founders

This question helps keep the team focused on the data from the start. Often, data and metrics are an afterthought, or worse, we get as far as releasing the feature and then realise we have no idea if anyone is using it.

This also reinforces the idea that we want measurable outcomes and not to develop features blindly. Features should aim to have a quantifiable impact on metrics or behaviours we care about, e.g. user retention or activation rates. If they don’t, why are we developing them? If we don’t know what impact we expect, how will we know when we’re done? The power of this question is that it makes all of us think about what goal we’re trying to achieve.

What Good Sounds Like

Listen out for specific metrics, specific user types and a numerical value, for example:

• We expect a 20% increase in student signups after launching the feature.

• We aim to increase small business account activation by 10% within 2 weeks of launch.

• We should see a 5% reduction in churn for new high-earner accounts within 3 months of launch.

If you’re not getting enough detail, it’s time to get curious again. Some good follow-up questions might be:

• Which types of users will this affect?

• How much difference do we expect to see?

• How quickly do we expect to see the impact?

What To Watch Out For as a Non-Tech Founder

As well as a lack of detail, you might also see these types of answers:

• “We’re expecting a 1% improvement in churn” - if you’re a new(ish) startup with 10s or 100s of users, rather than tens of thousands, this probably isn’t making a meaningful difference - what else could you do that would have more impact?
  

• “This feature will reduce home page load time by 0.2s”, or other tech-focused metrics. Great, but what’s the impact on the user? Is the slow home page something our customers are complaining about? Is it reducing activation or signups, say?
  

• “We can’t really measure the effect…” - This type of answer suggests that you don’t have enough data or aren’t measuring the right things. You may need to get the team to focus on getting good user metrics in place before you do more feature work.

Unfortunately, the blank stare is often the most common response to this question. However, that’s an excellent opportunity to get everyone focused on the metrics you care about. Use it as a teaching moment and explain to the team how their work can help move the needle on those goals. In my experience, you often end up with loads of ideas coming from the team, some of which you may never have thought about.

Summary

Asking, “How will we know if this feature is successful?” helps align your team around clear, measurable outcomes and ensures you're building with purpose, not guesswork. It encourages thoughtful planning and prioritisation and opens the door to meaningful discussions about user impact. Don’t shy away from blank stares; instead, use them as opportunities to build a stronger, more data-aware culture.

If you’d like a second set of eyes on your tech strategy or team challenges, book a free 30-minute Tech Strategy Session with me.