#2: Podia’s (previously Carbonmade’s) founder, Spencer Fry, in this decade-old post, expands on the many early-stage things that kept him busy as a non-programmer. (Source)
Product Development & Road Map
As the business guy, you’ve got to look at everything with a big picture mentality. Think macro, not micro. I’ve got to think about what we can do today that will bring us to where we want to be in six months, one year, two years, maybe further along. You don’t want to spend all your time thinking too far in advance (dreaming, in other words), but you definitely need to have some sort of road map.
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Managing Cash Flow & Budgeting Bills
I’ve told a lot of entrepreneurs that I think managing cash flow is one of the most important challenges. Sadly, this is something you learn over time and with experience. It’s really instinct — knowing whether $500 is better spent, for example, on marketing or development. It can’t really be taught.
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Customer Service
Providing excellent customer service singlehandedly transformed Carbonmade from a side project into a profitable company. I can confidently say that, as pro-active customer response is the most significant “update” to our product we’ve released to date. When Carbonmade began, we were still a full-time consulting company, and we didn’t have time to respond to our customers. As the company began to grow, I stepped in and made it my initiative to handle all incoming e-mails right away and add a human touch.
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Investors
Probably because we are a self-funded company that’s never taken financing, we get a lot of investors reaching out to us. While we’re not opposed to taking financing at some point, we’re in the unique position of not needing it right away, if ever. And that’s really attractive to outside investors!
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Marketing (AdWords, Text Links, Banners, etc.)
Marketing has definitely taken over my life the past few weeks and will continue to do so…
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Legal
Working with lawyers is not an inborn talent. If you don’t know what your needs are in advance, you can spend a lot of money needlessly. If you don’t do your preparation and carefully outline everything you think you need before going into a meeting, you’ll lose time, which is in turn billable hours.