How does a non-hacker get into a start-up?
tracy: Technology startups require very specific knowledge about particular topics. For example, general business marketing is very different from marketing on the internet. You may think you know it, but if you've never done it, you don't know it. So how about starting a website or something online, and trying to gain the specific marketing (and content) knowledge to survive in the internet world? This way, you actually will be able to contribute, you gain a clearer picture of how boring the tasks can be, and you have something you can point at to show that you were successful.Enthusiasm is not helpful. There is little worse than someone who is enthusiastic and thinks he has better ideas on how to design websites than website designers, better ideas on marketing than people who have been doing it for years, and knows exactly how to make money on the net, even though he never made money of it.There is a lot of domain specific business knowledge required by startups. But learn it first before going out to apply in a start up. Actually doing stuff is a lot more difficult than wanting to do it, and if you want to learn it on the job, you'll be deadweight, and there is no guarantee you will ever enjoy the nitty gritty of running a technological business.