Tech for Non-Techies
A podcast about product thinking and building technology ventures as a non-technical founder or leader, with frameworks tested at Oxford, London Business School, and Techstars.
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Recent episodes
Sep 16, 2026 · 17 min321. Why 80% of AI projects fail, and it's not the AI's faultSophia contrasts a failed $600K New York City chatbot with a successful Korean steel plant deployment to explain five reasons AI transformations fail, and why the cause iSep 9, 2026 · 27 min320. Calendly: the $3bn non-technical founder success storyHow Tope Awotona built Calendly to a $3 billion valuation without a technical co-founder or coding skills, through sales-driven execution, outsourced development, and proSep 2, 2026 · 25 min319. Your judgment is your most valuable asset. Are you losing it to AI?Guest Rana Gujral on how AI scoring systems can quietly suppress dissent and independent thinking, and the risk to junior talent and organizational decision-making.Aug 26, 2026 · 23 min318. Why US startups beat Europeans, and lessons from Slack and DropboxSophia debunks the viral growth myth by showing the deliberate marketing spend behind Slack and Dropbox, and why US startups exit at several times European valuations.Aug 19, 2026 · 31 min317. From Excel spreadsheet to AI company: the non-technical CEO's playbookPeter Scott on turning Broker Insights from Excel-based operations into an AI platform while leading technical teams without coding, plus evaluating investors and using cAug 12, 2026 · 15 min316. What makes a great tech product? Product thinking for non-techiesA foundation in product thinking: the difference between a product and a solution, and why focusing on the customer's problem rather than the technology stops founders frAug 5, 2026 · 41 min315. What non-technical founders need to know before building with AIThe number of non-technical founders running billion-dollar companies increased four times between 2013 and 2023. Not because the technology got easier — though it did. BJul 29, 2026 · 20 min314. 4 ways non-technical founders get stuckMany non-technical founders don't lose money in one big mistake — they lose it in four small stuck points that all feel completely reasonable at the time. In this episodeJul 22, 2026 · 15 min313. Nvidia's most valuable asset is not on its balance sheetWhat is Nvidia actually worth? You could look at their factories, their hardware, their staff. But their most valuable assets — the patents, the processes, the institutioJul 15, 2026 · 17 min312. How competitive advantage changed in the age of AIIf building products isn't your competitive advantage anymore, then what is? Listen to this episode to find out. AI means that everyone can now build (and everyone can coJul 8, 2026 · 22 min311. The one metric that tells you if you're really winningYou can hit your financial goal and destroy your business. You can be surrounded by fans, but none of them become customers. This is demoralising, and it happens when youJul 1, 2026 · 24 min310. Product thinking and personal brand: why you need both to winYou can be invisible with brilliant ideas. Or you can be everywhere with nothing worth saying. Neither works. In the age of AI, the barrier to building things has collapsJun 24, 2026 · 18 min309. What successful founders and senior executives have in commonMost corporate leaders say they want innovation. What they actually reward is the opposite. And then one day — usually the moment someone gets promoted to the top — the rJun 17, 2026 · 35 min308. How to innovate without blowing up your business — with Netflix's ex-CFOYour core business is doing well. Maybe it's doing really well. But you also know that if you don't innovate in the next 5-10 years, you'll be irrelevant. So you want to Jun 10, 2026 · 23 min307. How to lead a development team when you're not technicalYou're paying for developer time. But you can't evaluate the work yourself. So you're left wondering — are they actually building, or just going through the motions? MostJun 3, 2026 · 21 min306. From prototype to product: the infrastructure trap non-technical leaders missIf you have a working product - well done. This truly is a major milestone. BUT maintaining commercial control of what you've created might be challenging. In this episodMay 27, 2026 · 32 min305. How to build a company you're proud of — with Eric RiesMost founders start with the best intentions. And then somewhere along the way — without noticing — the company they've built becomes something they're ashamed of. Not beMay 20, 2026 · 32 min304. How one founder went from zero to 6 million users with no ad spendCan you build a B2C app to 6 million users with no advertising? Colin Hodge did it when he co-founded Bang with Friends — a dating app that went viral purely through wordMay 13, 2026 · 38 min303. Before you build with AI: what every non-technical founder needs to knowA security agency tested 5,000 apps built with Lovable, Replit, Base44 and Netlify. Every single one had vulnerabilities — including apps that were live, charging customeMay 6, 2026 · 18 min302. Stop asking which AI tool to use. Ask this instead.The internet is full of people telling non-technical founders which AI tool to use to build their product. Lovable. Claude Code. Cursor. The list grows every week. But thApr 29, 2026 · 27 min301. How to catch the next tech investment waveWhether you're starting a tech venture or investing in one, you need to understand how to spot the next tech investment trend. Why? Because if your venture or your portfoApr 22, 2026 · 23 min300. 6 lessons from 6 years of Tech for Non-TechiesSix years of building a global business teaches you things no business school will. What actually drives revenue. What wastes your time. What you wish someone had told yoApr 15, 2026 · 22 min299. You don't have to know how to code to start a tech company with Sophia MatveevaThis episode comes from Sophia's recent appearance on Scott Ritzheimer's Start, Scale and Succeed podcast — and it's one of the clearest walkthroughs of the Tech for Non-Apr 8, 2026 · 22 min298. Inside the gaming industry: what every business leader should knowThe gaming industry generates more revenue than music and film combined. It is the birthplace of innovations now used across entertainment, advertising, and AI. It is a fApr 1, 2026 · 42 min297. The fundraising mistakes that haunt founders for yearsGiving away 10% of your company before you have a product might seem like a reasonable price for mentorship and introductions. But do the math at exit, and you get a very
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