One of the best sources of information on startups is the obscenely talented Paul Graham who has written a wealth of essays on the subject. If you read a lot of these though you start wondering if the only route into the world of web startups is to be a developer or computer engineer of some kind. When I think of top web entrepeneurs, people like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Page & Brin of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Evan WIlliams of Twitter & Blogger all spring to mind. Even less-obvious founders like the internet media personality and Digg founder Kevin Rose actually began in computer science. So it all begs the question, if you’re not from a tech background do you even have a shot at starting a web startup?
Non-Technology Driven Startups
The first question to ask is, is your startup idea technology driven? Are you inventing new technical solutions to a problem? In the cases of all the founders I just mentioned the answer was yes. Facebook was a new way to manage social interaction, Google was a new way to search, Amazon was a new way to purchase, both Twitter and Blogger were new ways to communicate, and Digg was a new way to determine the relevance of news. They were all completely new technologies or applications of technologies.
But it would be a mistake to think that that is the only kind of web startup there is! Read More
