Entrepreneur With no skills

Ok want to start my business which involves software etc. I Do IT at school so I do know a few things about programming but not a lot.

Now my Question is can I start a business like this, with me being a programmer myself, but go out and hire programmer to build my Apps? I realise all successful business men all started by developing their creation themselves then only after that did they get funding to make it big.

I want to just straight to the make it big part. Will this work?
AS for my skills I am an ok programmer but I do admit i still have A LOT to learn, so should I invest my time into learning how to be a better programmer or getting my business of the ground? Another thing is I am not at all good at marketing etc so i was planning on hiring people for that to. which leaves me wondering what will I be doing, is there anything left for me, are there any onther business people who outsource almost all their work?

Any advice will be appreciated thank you

You don't have to start building it youself and if you don't know how to program then its going to take you a good few years to get up to speed ... if you have the mindset for coding.

What you do need is a strong product drive and understanding. Understand your customers, what they need and why and be able to translate this to your developers. This skill is far more important than basic programming skill.

So to answer your question focus on getting the business off the ground, there is far more for you to worry about than that like:

• Marketing and sales. People need to find out about your service and it takes a lot of effort to get them to notice you.
• Product design and strategy... most entrepures are actually good at this bit rather than the raw coding ... learn how to define the product well so that a team of developers are constantly getting clear direction.
• Business partnerships. Working through the deals and contracts to make sure they are doing what you need them to takes a lot of time.
• Promotions, writing blogs, attending events.
• HR stuff as you employ more people. Get this right and you can grow the company well.
• Paying bills and doing accounts. I hate this bit, I outsourced it first.
• Financ

So if your not a strong developer then I would suggest finding someone who is. You can do that through either

• hiring someone. This is good long term if you can pay them and keep them interested.
• partnering with someone. This option is probably the best for both sides as they are driven by the same motivators as you and are in it with you for say 10-20% of the company.
• contracting indiiduals in. This works for small targeted projects where you don't have a huge amount of money. I have seen several software products get developed on contract and continue to make a good lncome long term, problem comes when its time to update the system.
• going to an external company. This is usually a bit more expensive but if they are good should be a better result.
• Partnering with an external company. If its a big idea and going to take a lot of effort you should consider working with a company long term. They already have tooling, procedures, design patterns and a million other things you will have to learn/create along the way on your own. They will get you to market fast and help advise you along the way. (this is what my company does). Problem with it from your point of view is your sharing some of your shareholding plus it will cost a bit ... normally people have Angel or VC backing but we have taken on a few promising ones.

The most important thing for you currently sounds like you need to interact with people with an entrepreneurial mindset and are ahead of the curve than you. And by posting at this place you are already on your way! Congratulations!

If you like programming, coding, thinking, are passionate about technology, eager to know what stuff happens around the tech industry and have a zeal about new technologies and are a quick learner and are in your 20's I guess you should first try to be good in technology. You need not be a hardcore hacker, you need to have a balanced understanding of technologies with good hands on experience with a couple of them. This will remove your dilemma of 'heck, what will I do!!?'

Meet people! Only participating in such forums would not be enough. Meet people, make some contacts, get lessons in networking, fail, rise up, meet people, exhange your thoughts with others, have opinions and last but the most important of all ~ Dare!

You pretty much would need cash on hand to pay someone for a year.

There are businesses that contract out many of the roles in product development and marketing. You have to be good a business though, so take some classes, talk with others, give it a try and learn.

I recommend you to dedicate your efforts in understanding your business and your customers and not in learning how to make your product.

I don't know anything about your product but I think you can have a working prototype with a small investment.

You might visit some outsourcing websites:

http://www.rent-acoder.com/ http://www.elance.com/