According to the conventional wisdom in the world of web 2.0 a software company cannot succeed with a knowledgeable technical co-founder. I don't know if there are a lot of example of companies that have succeeded without one but I suppose it can be done. Check this site out for more information, link text

He is a prolific writer and a lot of people use his essays as a starting point. I can only post one link but check out more essays in the articles tab. You can also check out joelonsoftware dot com for more information on startups. There is also a vibrant forum there.

You have two realistic options - do a lot of the work yourself, or have enough money to pay someone else to. Of course, consider how much time and money it will take to get you good enough to do it yourself, and how much money you could have earned working in that time instead... and you might realise it's still cheaper to hire a professional. Do you want to give up 3 years of your life to learn a trade?

Being a programmer/creator in a startup has the advantages that you can prototype/build up your idea from the beginning without requiring too much of outside help.

Having co-founders is great for developing ideas, identifying/servicing clients, structuring financing, et al.

If you're able to build and deploy it yourself in the beginning, you would probably be able to learn to get your idea out for others to test, try out and use your product/service - this allows you to get initial feedback that would further convince you that the potential is there (or not).

I have worked with startups that have both setups (co-founders who are developers and co-founders who are not developers) - it really depends on your idea at the end of the day. Some startups require a little longer gestation period (due to hardware, legal, research, marketing distribution, etc issues) - while SaaS models can very quickly be built up to test out the idea.

Going back to school for you has the advantage of being able to scout potential co-founders (ability of working with others on projects, to evaluate fit and also having the time to talk through and bounce ideas) - but there's nothing comparable to building up a product/service and getting initial feedback.

The strange thing sometimes is that once you have a demo - you'd probably be able to attract the right set of co-founders (either business, or technical) - it also works great to collaborate with others as you have a reference platform to build upon (rather than just ideas).

All the best!

not necessarily, it really depends on the type of project you're in, if the advantage lies in technology then you may need a co-founder who's technically sound. Whoever clearly contributes to the competitive advantage of the company should be made a co-founder and equity shareholder.

As a programmer I find that a lot of my fellow programmers often have trouble starting up companies. Some run into these issues:

1. They fix things that aren't broken
2. They care more about the beauty of the code than of the product
3. They don't see big picture

Not all programmers are like this.. But non-programmers have the advantage that they don't get caught up on technical details.

The bad programmer might tend to only implant things that are "fun" to implant while a good programmer will choose what to implant based on its value.