What Problem are We Solving for the User?

Tips for Non-Tech Founders Leading Tech Startups - Part 1

You don’t have to be able to code to lead a tech-focused startup. Leading technical teams is all about asking the right questions and staying curious about the answers.

Empowering non-tech founders: Essential tips for managing tech teams and successfully navigating the tech landscape.

One of the ways I recommend for non-technical founders is to ask powerful questions in your 1:1s or catch-ups with your technical team.

One of my favourite questions is:

“What problem are we solving for the user this week?”

Why it’s important 

This question reminds everyone that the reason we’re here is to solve problems for our users. Staying focused on the user isn’t just for product people. When the tech team understands the user, the designs and trade-offs they make will align with your business goals and everyone benefits.

It’s also a good opportunity to check the tech team’s understanding of who the user is and what their problems are. If the team is struggling to articulate these points, it’s a good time to remind them and share your vision for how the current project or feature helps users achieve their goals. Don’t get frustrated if you need to remind the team a few times - not everyone will remember all the details the first time around, and reinforcing the message helps it stick.

What Good Sounds Like

Listen out for specifics about particular types of user and their challenges. For example:

• We’re making it easier for students to upload documents

• We’re making the lab pages quicker to load, so patients don’t have to wait for results

• We’re introducing a new setting that allows event attendees to disable event follow-up reminders, following feedback that there were too many notifications.

If you’re getting lists of features as a response, it’s time to get curious. These are some good follow-up questions:

• Which users will benefit most from this change?

• What problem does that solve for [particular user]?

• What data led us to decide on this solution?

Remember, this isn’t just about getting the information yourself. It’s about helping your tech team to understand the user and the meaning behind what they’re doing. This has been demonstrated to increase engagement within teams, resulting in improved product outcomes.

What To Watch Out For

As well as just getting a list of features as we discussed above, other things to watch out for are:

• “We’re just building out the backlog”. This can suggest a lack of urgency or prioritisation in the features being considered.

• “There’s no specific user problem; we’re working on the architecture.” This could be a sign of premature optimisation. Most of the time, architecture changes should be driven by user or business needs.

• “We’re improving things behind the scenes; users probably won't notice.” Another sign of premature optimisation. Especially in the early stages, the vast majority of the work should have a noticeable impact on users.

If you get this type of response across successive weeks, then it's time to dig a bit deeper and perhaps refocus on solving user problems.

Some good questions to ask:

• Why is it important to do this work now?

• What happens if we delay this until next month or next quarter?

• Does this work have hidden benefits for the user?

  
  

You might receive a lot of technical jargon in response, but don’t be afraid to ask the team to explain. A good tech team or development partner will be happy to guide you through the technical aspects in clear language, so keep digging until you understand why the work is necessary or agree it can be postponed.

Summary

Aligning the technical team with the user's problem is crucial in early-stage startups, so get in the habit of asking, “What problem are we solving for the user?”. List for clear, user-centred language and follow up with questions designed to reveal the understanding of the problem if you’re not hearing it.

You don't need to know all the technical details to lead a technical team at a startup. You do need to create a culture of accountability, outcomes, and ownership to ensure you get the best out of your team.

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