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Anonymous ex-startup founder who cashed out explains why most who want to do startups don't

One of the biggest reasons people don't do startups is because they are scared - they like to sit around and talk about them at the watercooler, or circlejerk on startup blogs, but ultimately, for whatever reason, they don't actually sit down and make a plan - perfect it through careful, honest introspection and analysis, and then do it.
via Ask Me Anything: Entrepreneur edition at reddit.com

Amen.

Also enjoyed the quote: "Founding a tech startup is the most fun you never want to have again. But then a few years later...you do it again because something is wrong with you..."

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I have had some startup ideas for some time...scared yes, but the thing really holding me back is not knowing how to program. By the time I ramp up my programming skills, I feel the moment will have passed. We need an avenue where business-centric types can partner with program-centric types. Any suggestions Garry?
— Paul Pereira
Take the long view, Paul. If it takes 2 years to code, then do it. If it takes 10, still do it. The best thing a nontechnical founder can do is become technical. The next best thing is to have friends who are rich, technical, or want to buy whatever you're selling. =)
— Garry Tan
I'm technical in a sense that I can spit out jargon like couchDB, Redis, jRuby, etc.... but I don't program. Read two Java books cover to cover when the language was first introduced, but was never able to fully pick it up. Recently moved to Basel, Switzerland from NJ and now I have to learn German. Learning languages is like learning programming languages, it requires a certain mindset/skill-set. My wife can pick up a language relatively easily, but not everyone is like that.
Thanks for feedback.
— Paul Pereira
The truth is there are a lot of people who are business-types who are looking for engineers. If you want to build technology without an engineering background yourself, you have to supply the funding and connections. Think of the flip side-- how do you convince a truly great engineer to join you? You have to supply something to the equation, and the idea isn't enough. Ideas are dime a dozen (generally speaking, there are exceptions of course) but execution matters.

It just goes back to self-reliance. The less you depend on others, the more successful you'll be. Because nobody wants to join something that will fail without them, but everyone will sign on to something that looks like its going to take off.

— Garry Tan
Absolutely correct that ideas are a dime a dozen, execution and timing are equally important. But framing and strategy are also VERY important, a business strategist can bring that into the equation. Simple example, there are many people who want to make computers, but there is only ONE Apple. Their user experience, framing, and strategy are not solely based on technical skill sets.
— Paul Pereira
Let's see how business strategy and framing effect the success of Google Buzz? Technology alone won't win this one.
— Paul Pereira
Reading this reminded me of this post.
http://blog.inklingmarkets.com/2010/02/how-old-were-you-when-you-decided-to.html
— Jon Xu
I totally agree with the sentiment of your post, Jon. Given enough time I'm certain that I could master Ruby. However doing so in time for the business idea to still have relevance is the tricky part. I didn't say that I wasn't learning to program, I have butchered enough PHP scripts in my day, but my programming skills won't be mature in time for this business idea.
As for the married couple reference in the post, i would say, sometimes opposites attract. My wife was an art history major, and although I was a philosophy major, I'm much more analytic minded. Sometimes, again only sometimes, the paring of a technical person and a business person works out well :-)
— Paul Pereira
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