Why Engineers Struggle With Entrepreneurship

You're a smart engineer, and yet, you work as an employee for a multimillionaire tech entrepreneur who can't code.

Why isn't it the other way around?

Here are three reasons smart engineers struggle to get rich in their own industry:

1. Technology over Emotions

When the Dropbox founder discussed his idea for an online file storage website, many smart engineers insulted him with criticism like:

"I can FTP files to a server. Why would anyone need a website for uploading files?"

Smart engineers evaluate business ideas based on technology.

The problem with this mindset is that customers do not buy technology.

They buy emotions.

An intuitive UI feels better than learning FTP.

2. Evaluating Ideas Based on Originality

Another common criticism of the Dropbox idea was:

"Dozens of file-uploading services already exist. What a dumb idea."

Smart engineers assume that there is no point building something that already exists.

In reality, many successful tech companies copied existing ideas.

Social networking sites existed before Facebook.

Portable MP3 players existed before the iPod.

Dating apps existed before Tinder.

Make a list of all the apps you use, and I guarantee you most of them were not original ideas.

Rich entrepreneurs synthesize existing ideas and make something better for a segment of the market.

As an example, Loom did not invent screen recording software. They simply added a few extra features that made their screen recorder more convenient for a particular audience: corporate employees who need to explain stuff to a coworker.

Loom was recently acquired for over $900M.

3. Lack of Sales and Marketing Skills

If you can't sell, you can build the best product in the world, and no one will care.

Conclusion

Smart engineers focus on technology instead of emotions, evaluate ideas based on originality, and struggle with sales and marketing.

Here's the good news: you can easily fix these issues.

Stop thinking about technology and start thinking about the customers preferences.

How can you give a segment of the market a better emotional experience?

The answer might be as simple as copying an existing app and removing a few buttons.

That's why non-technical people win - they aren't smart enough to overcomplicate things.

You got this.