The Great Divide
Sometimes the communication gulf between technical and non-technical people crushes forward progress, yet too often, both sides throw up their hands, and the gaps remain unbridged. Startup leaders cannot afford to let such chasms persist.
A non-technical potential investor was digging into technical due diligence. Standing over our beta instrument, he looked at the engineer and asked, “So what are you most worried about?” The engineer launched into a detailed explanation of the error code problem he was working on that day. And I spent weeks answering follow-up questions about the error code problem that had been solved in a matter of hours.
This is a classic disconnect between the brilliant technologists who develop innovative products for startups and the often not deeply technical investors who fund them. As a startup CEO, it is first and foremost on me to raise the money we need to build the company. Working with many technologists and many investors over the years, I have developed a few coaching points to help my team support our fundraising goals effectively that I will share in this post. And these ideas apply more broadly than just fundraising.
Communication Chasms
Sometimes when technical and non-technical people need to communicate, both sides can find the process terribly frustrating.
“I have no idea what she is talking about.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“They never understand.”
Technical and non-technical people can approach the conversation from such profoundly different points of view and background that it can seem like the other side is speaking a foreign language. I affectionately call that speaking “dolphin” because dolphins are known to be highly inquisitive and intelligent beings, yet a human being observing their complex system of whistles, clicks, and non-verbal gestures cannot make sense out of it.
This problem often emerges whenever you have someone who has deep technical knowledge in a topic area communicating with someone with less technical expertise. Notably, “technical” in this sense can mean engineering, software development, legal, regulatory, financial, and any number of other specialized fields. The key is that there is a specialized vocabulary, set of understood principles and practices at play that are known to experts in the area but are opaque to non-experts. The consequences of this gap are often that the non-technical expert is confused about what is important and how to interpret the potential impacts. In my experience, this can lead to potential investors walking away for the wrong reasons, fielding endless Board member questions for updates on trivial technical matters, and frustration on all sides.
So, why does it matter if the communication chasm persists? It matters because most high-potential startups are relying on using innovative technologies (the domain of the technical wizards) to address the profound unmet needs of potential customers (aka people) who are often not experts in the technology in a way that brings all the pieces together of a potentially profitable, high-growth business (the domain of the non-technical artists). A startup CEO needs their marketing and salespeople to talk to their product development engineers and scientists to solve significant problems, their technical leaders to talk to non-technical potential investors to successfully navigate fundraising due diligence, and technical support experts to talk to frustrated customers to resolve their problems. The life and success of the startup may well depend on bringing these disparate people together – and the startup CEO has to find a way to successfully foster effective communication to accomplish the startup’s goals and meet the startup team’s needs.
For a startup leader, an excellent place to start is to assume that communication is not happening in a good enough way. Take action by noticing the potential for communication gaps and proactively coach and foster communication from both sides. I have found the following coaching tips helpful in guiding my brilliant technical team members in effectively communicating with non-technical potential investors, colleagues, and customers.
Coaching Point #1: Use Non-Technical Analogies to Illustrate Technical Concepts
To help non-technical people understand, a great strategy for the technical expert is to start with a non-technical analogy for whatever technical concept is on offer. Use plumbing analogies to illustrate the effect of system bottlenecks. Describe the function of various technological components using analogous car components (e.g., steering wheel, dashboard, motor, wheels, etc.) to help the listener relate to the nuances of how electrons flow or what the code is trying to accomplish. Remember, the non-technical listener is more likely to relate to what the technology is supposed to achieve rather than the nuances of how it is working.
Coaching Point #2: Explicitly Provide Clues for How the Listener Should Evaluate the Information
Often, non-technical listeners will lack the background and understanding to interpret the technical details on their own. They will hear “dolphin speak” and be poorly equipped to determine if the information should be considered good or bad. Effective technical communicators will gracefully provide clues to the non-technical expert to let them know how to interpret the information they are being given. For example, I encourage my technologists to casually include statements like “blah blah blah and that is a good thing!” or “The problem is blah blah blah, and we have solved it in this blah blah blah way.” The key is to enable the non-technical listener to discern whether what is being described is good or bad by providing guideposts. Note that this often feels unnatural to the technical expert who is used to communicating with other technical experts, who have the background and understanding to interpret the technical details on their own.
Coaching Point #3: Use an Appropriate Timeframe to Answer Open-Ended Questions
Often technical experts are most accustomed to providing precise and specific answers to questions. Therefore, sometimes the open-ended question like “What keeps you up at night?” or “What worries you most about the technology?” or “What is the most important thing you are working on right now?” can really start people talking past one another. The common mistake that I see happen is that the technical expert answers the literal question asked in the context of the problem they are in the middle of solving at the moment. Often this is one piece of a bigger picture effort, and it is that bigger picture effort that is what the non-technical person is trying to understand.
To avoid this gap, it helps if someone can pause and scope out to help frame the question from the perspective of the bigger picture. Often, reframing the question with a much longer timeframe in mind, such as “What … in the past year?” helps bridge the communication gap so that the answer provided is at the right scale. Similarly, ask about the highest impact design decisions or more critical problems in the previous three to six months.
Coaching Point #4: Explain Context and Impact When Describing Technical Information
Most of the time, the non-technical recipient is more interested in how the technology enables something, blocks something, or otherwise impacts the business. What the impact is should be included as part of the answer. Do not assume that the non-technologist can draw the correct conclusions, so make sure any technical discussion is wrapped up with statements about what it means to the bigger picture. For example, “and once we have tested our new design, we anticipate being able to solve the customer’s problem twice as quickly as before.”
At the end of the day, a startup CEO has to figure out how to build an organization that communicates well both inside and outside. Sometimes a quick coaching session before the potential investors arrive can get everyone in the right mindset for answering questions at the right level. Sometimes it can be providing enough space and time to allow relationships and learning to take place across the boundaries and encouraging everyone to learn about others’ areas of expertise so everyone has greater context to bring to bear on the thorny problems that must be overcome. Sometimes, it can be achieved by actively seeking to hire team members who communicate well across the technical/non-technical boundaries. Regardless, to ignore persistent communication gaps is to risk the startup’s success.
