I think not.
It’s counterintuitive to ignore your strengths as a founder (ie: sales, marketing, etc)
The founders I speak with who want to learn to code assume it will help them understand their developers more. This is slightly true, but it’s an opportunity cost against time spent selling/promoting the product.
Products fail more due to poor PMF, not because founders can’t code.
Hiring developers who can communicate is a bigger force multiplier. (a hard requirement for me)
A technical project manager is even more ideal for providing the buffer between the founder and developers.
Curious how non-technical people on the fence of learning to code feel about this topic.
(if it’s a passion you seek, that is a different argument. code away)
It’s also something to be said about “markers time” vs “managers time” (from Paul G.)
Coding takes up 4-5hr blocks of focus. As an owner of the company you need to communicate all day, which is operating in 1hr blocks.
Even the best devs who went to leadership I know struggle trying to balance (we all go through the motions of giving up the IDE 😅) and eventually realize it’s not worth the context shifting and mental strain.