Every founder in generative AI — and most tech founders generally — should know how to code. Without this fundamental skill, you’re building on shaky ground. I’ve found this to be true through my journey from product leadership roles at Coinbase and Google to building an AI company, Ema, from the ground up.
During my time as chief product officer at Coinbase and at my role as VP of product at Google, I observed a clear pattern: Those with coding experience consistently made better product decisions. The ability to understand what's happening under the hood isn't just useful — it’s essential for making informed strategic choices.
When you can’t tinker with your technology directly, you’re operating at a disadvantage. You can’t understand what your team is creating if you can’t interact with it at a basic level. This isn’t about becoming the best engineer on your team; it’s about gaining the insights that only come from hands-on experience.
Why Does an AI Founder Need to Know How to Code?
Even though a founder and CEO probably won’t spend much time in the weeds with a product, they have to know how the technical aspects work. Without coding knowledge, you’ll always be at a disadvantage.
How to Dive Into Coding
I practice what I preach. Every weekend, I carve out time for coding, often exploring new concepts or techniques I’m curious about. Last month, I spent a Saturday working on making an agent that can operate on a custom client application directly through the UI, something we’re refining right now. I’m not going to solve it on my own, but I learned more than I would from reading documentation or updates from my team.
What surprises many non-technical founders is how accessible coding has become. Today’s tools has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry. AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot and Claude can write substantial portions of code based on natural language instructions. I often describe what I want to build, and these tools generate a working foundation that I can then modify and learn from.
No-code and low-code platforms provide visual interfaces for building applications, serving as excellent on-ramps for those intimidated by traditional programming. I’ve used tools like Lovable to quickly prototype full applications. From there, I can dive into the actual code and make changes.
They can give you feedback on code, too, allowing you to see results immediately and iterate rapidly. For instance, if I write incorrect syntax or use an inefficient algorithm, it highlights the issue instantly, explains the problem and suggests improvements. This assistance allows me to iterate rapidly on my ideas, rather than getting bogged down in the minutiae. The immediate feedback loop accelerates the learning process tremendously.
A Visionary and an Engineer
The most respected founders in our space aren’t just visionaries. They’re builders who understand their technology from the inside out. Not every founder starts as an engineer, and you don’t need to be writing production code, but you should be able to prototype ideas, understand technical discussions, and evaluate engineering trade-offs firsthand.
For example, if your team proposes using a closed-source generative AI model for personalized recommendations, you might face trade-offs between speed to market and long-term scalability. Knowing the basics of AI infrastructure — like the computational demands of large language models (LLMs) — helps you evaluate whether investing in proprietary models aligns with your budget or if open-source alternatives would better suit your needs.
Let’s be clear: For most founders, your technical team will always know more than you do. That’s fine — it’s their job to know these things. But without the ability to code, you’ll always be one step removed from your product’s reality and relying on translations and interpretations rather than direct experience.
If you’re running an AI company but can’t code, start learning today. Begin with small projects that interest you. Use AI assistants to accelerate your progress. Join communities where beginners are welcome. The investment will pay dividends in your ability to lead, make decisions, and ultimately build products that truly matter. Your company’s future may depend on it.
