I want to underline this bit:
> they hired a team of developers without having a technical person on staff to vet them
For any non-technical entrepreneurs reading this: please don't do this. If you aren't competent to hire developers, please borrow or rent a few trusted technical experts and use them as a hiring committee. Otherwise you are less likely to hire the best technologist, and more likely to get the most glib and appealing technologist.
Over the years I have met far too many smooth-talking consultants and would-be employees. And I've seen them cause enormous garbage fires when managers hire beyond their ability to evaluate. The size of these garbage fires are a direct result of what got them hired: if someone is good at telling managers what they want to hear, they can go a very long time saying, "Yup, we're building it and it will be great! Just you wait and see!"
And then, no matter who you hire, demand a "ship early and often" schedule. Ship to internal users. Ship to alpha users. Ship to external testers. Heck, ship to just person for just one narrow use case. The earlier you can start seeing real-world success or failure, the earlier you can course correct.
> they hired a team of developers without having a technical person on staff to vet them
For any non-technical entrepreneurs reading this: please don't do this. If you aren't competent to hire developers, please borrow or rent a few trusted technical experts and use them as a hiring committee. Otherwise you are less likely to hire the best technologist, and more likely to get the most glib and appealing technologist.
Over the years I have met far too many smooth-talking consultants and would-be employees. And I've seen them cause enormous garbage fires when managers hire beyond their ability to evaluate. The size of these garbage fires are a direct result of what got them hired: if someone is good at telling managers what they want to hear, they can go a very long time saying, "Yup, we're building it and it will be great! Just you wait and see!"
And then, no matter who you hire, demand a "ship early and often" schedule. Ship to internal users. Ship to alpha users. Ship to external testers. Heck, ship to just person for just one narrow use case. The earlier you can start seeing real-world success or failure, the earlier you can course correct.