One thing everyone planning on launching a tech startup should do is learn to code.  Learning to code will provide you with a much greater chance of success than if you launch a tech startup without knowing how to code.

If you go into a tech startup without any knowledge to program, you are going to lose to a competitor that is run by someone who knows how to program.  They will be able to develop a better product, functionality, customer experience, etc.  They can learn the business skills specific to startups as they go along. 

I'll give you a similar example to drive the point home.  There are two consultants selling property services.  One has one year of experience in property consulting.  The other one has general business knowledge from 15 years experience but has never worked in the property industry before.

Which one has a better chance of selling property consulting?  My experience has been that the person who has in the industry doing it for a year and knows their product or service through and through will have a much greater advantage over the person with no experience.

Tech businesses also seem to do better under tech founders.  Just look at Microsoft's growth rate until Bill Gates resigned compared to growth since?  Apple was the same.  Until Steve Jobs returned, their sales were not growing.

If you want to learn code, you can sign up for free at www.codeyear.com to start learning how to code over the next 12 months.  In 12 months time, you will by no means be an expert, but you will be 12 months ahead of someone without coding experience.  That could be the difference between success and failure.

If you sign up to codeyear.com like I have, let me know how you go throughout the year so we can compare results, learning and frustrations.

I hope 2012 has been off to a good start for you.

A number of people have been asking me why I haven't been blogging for quite a while.

The more I thought about blogging, the more I was running out of things to say.  In truth, I was only coming up with instructional blog advice rather than using my blog to tell my story.  This left me feeling underwhelmed, opting not to post my reflections and keep them locked away.

Today is the start of a change for this blog.

Like the Internet has been evolving, my use of it is going through a process of evolution.

I'm going to be experimenting in the coming period (however long or short that is) with documenting my journey as it happens in real time rather than writing posts giving advice in hindsight. 

In reality, this is how we make decisions and this is how the net works these days.  We listen, learn and make decisions in real time.  Sure, we can learn from hindsight but it is far better to focus on our options and the decisions we make in the moment.

The thought process behind this use of my blog was why I originally moved my blog to posterous in the first place.  Speed to market is far more important than perfection.  And I feel my ideas, however imperfect they are, will be of more benefit to you as they come, rather than after the fact when things might have moved on.

So all the best in 2012.  I hope sharing my story will be of some benefit to you in some way as you progress throughout the year.  I also hope that you will share your thoughts with me, so that I can learn from your stories in real time.

JM