You're in a messaging review with your technical co-founder. You present customer-focused value propositions. They immediately want to add "built on a microservices architecture with Kubernetes orchestration."
You explain that prospects don't care about the tech stack. They care about outcomes.
Your founder insists the technical approach is the differentiator. Competitors can claim the same outcomes, but they can't replicate your architecture.
This tension is the defining challenge for PMMs working with technical founders. Here's how to navigate it.
Understand Why Technical Founders Lead With Tech
Technical founders aren't being difficult. They're operating from a different mental model.
They built something technically impressive. The architecture solves real problems elegantly. The implementation is their competitive advantage. Of course they want to talk about it.
They've also been pitching to investors, who often care about technical moats. "How you built it" matters in fundraising conversations. Your founder has practiced explaining the technology hundreds of times.
And honestly, they're often right that the technical approach matters. The question isn't whether it matters. It's when to talk about it and how.
Your job isn't to eliminate technical messaging. It's to sequence it correctly and translate it for different audiences.
Start With Shared Customer Conversations
The fastest way to align on messaging is putting your founder in front of customers together.
Shadow sales calls as a pair. Afterward, debrief:
"What questions did the prospect ask first?"
"When did they seem most engaged?"
"What made them lean back versus lean in?"
Usually, prospects ask about outcomes first: "Will this reduce our processing time?" "Can this handle our scale?" "What happens to our existing workflow?"
Technical questions come later: "How does the data sync work?" "What's your uptime SLA?" "How do you handle security?"
This sequencing is critical. Customers need to care about the outcome before they care about the implementation.
Your founder needs to see this pattern firsthand. One conversation won't convince them. After 5-7 calls, the pattern becomes undeniable.
Create a Messaging Hierarchy
Technical founders often think in features and architecture. Your job is organizing messaging into layers that serve different purposes.
Layer 1 - Business Outcome (Lead with this): "We help [persona] achieve [outcome] without [pain]."
Example: "We help data teams process real-time events at scale without managing complex infrastructure."
Layer 2 - How It Works (Differentiation): "Unlike approaches that [limitation], we [your approach] so you can [benefit]."
Example: "Unlike batch processing systems that delay insights by hours, we stream and process events in milliseconds so you can act on data in real-time."
Layer 3 - Technical Implementation (Proof of how): "We accomplish this through [technical approach]."
Example: "We accomplish this through a distributed architecture built on Kafka and Flink that automatically scales based on your event volume."
Most marketing needs Layer 1. Sales needs Layers 1 and 2. Technical buyers need all three layers, but only after Layers 1 and 2 establish relevance.
Show your founder this hierarchy. Explain: "We're not eliminating technical messaging. We're sequencing it so people care enough to hear it."
Translate Technical Differentiators to Business Value
Technical founders see technical capabilities as inherently valuable. "We use Rust" or "We're built on a graph database."
Your job is translating technical decisions into business outcomes.
Ask: "Why did we choose [technical approach]? What does it enable that alternatives don't?"
Your founder: "Rust gives us memory safety and performance."
You: "So what does that mean for customers?"
Founder: "Fewer crashes, faster response times, lower infrastructure costs."
You: "Great, that's the messaging."
Technical messaging becomes: "Our Rust-based architecture delivers 10x faster query responses and 99.99% uptime, reducing your infrastructure costs by 40%."
The technical detail is there. But it's in service of business value, not instead of it.
Give Technical Founders Their Moment
Smart compromise: create content where technical depth is appropriate.
Blog posts for technical audiences: Let your CTO write detailed architecture posts. These attract technical evaluators and establish credibility.
Technical documentation: Comprehensive docs showing how things work appeal to developers and technical buyers.
Conference talks: Speaking at technical conferences positions your founder as a thought leader and is great for recruiting.
Sales engineering materials: Deep technical collateral for late-stage technical validation.
Say to your founder: "The homepage needs business value first. But let's create content where you can go deep on the technical approach for audiences who care."
This gives technical founders an outlet for technical messaging without polluting customer-facing value propositions.
Use Competitor Messaging as Proof
When founders insist on leading with technical details, show them competitor messaging.
Pull up your top 3 competitors' homepages. What do they lead with? Usually business outcomes, not technical architecture.
Ask: "If everyone led with technical specs, how would prospects differentiate? They need business context first to understand why technical differences matter."
This reframes the conversation from "business value versus technical specs" to "how do we stand out when everyone could list technical features?"
Leading with distinctive business outcomes is more differentiating than technical specs that prospects can't evaluate.
Create Message Testing Frameworks
Instead of arguing about messaging, test it.
Run A/B tests on landing pages, email subject lines, or ad copy. Technical messaging versus business-value messaging.
Track: click-through rates, demo requests, trial signups, or meeting bookings.
Let data decide.
Usually business-value messaging outperforms technical messaging in early-stage awareness and consideration. Technical messaging performs better with late-stage technical buyers.
This validates the messaging hierarchy: lead with business value, layer in technical proof for the right audiences.
Know When Technical Messaging Wins
Sometimes leading with technical differentiation is correct.
Developer tools: If you're selling to developers, they want to understand the technical approach early. Leading with architecture makes sense.
Deep technical buyers: When selling to infrastructure teams or platform engineers, technical credibility comes first.
Crowded markets with similar outcomes: If everyone claims the same business value, technical implementation becomes the differentiator.
Open source products: Technical community cares about approach, not just outcomes.
In these cases, your founder is right. Technical messaging should come earlier.
Your job is recognizing when technical-first messaging is appropriate versus when it's a blocker.
Build Trust Through Wins
The best way to earn messaging authority with technical founders is showing that customer-centric messaging drives results.
When business-value messaging increases demo requests, show the data.
When simplified homepage messaging improves conversion, share the metrics.
When sales closes deals using outcome-focused pitch decks, highlight the wins.
Technical founders respect results. Prove your approach works, and they'll trust your judgment on future messaging decisions.
Create Review Rituals
Set up a standing monthly messaging review with your technical founder.
Agenda:
- Share customer feedback on current messaging
- Review conversion metrics on key pages or campaigns
- Discuss upcoming launches and messaging approach
- Align on what to test or change
This creates a regular forum for messaging discussions instead of ad-hoc debates.
It also signals that messaging is strategic and iterative, not a one-time decision.
The Fundamental Agreement
Working with technical founders on messaging requires one shared belief:
The best messaging makes prospects care enough about outcomes to want to understand the technical approach.
Technical differentiation matters. But only after you've established that the problem is worth solving and your solution delivers value.
Your founder built something technically impressive. Your job is making sure the right people care enough to learn about it.
That's not dumbing down the message. It's sequencing it for maximum impact.
Business value first. Technical proof second. Deep technical details for audiences who've already decided the outcomes matter.
When you and your founder align on this sequence, messaging conflicts dissolve. You're not fighting about whether technical details matter. You're agreeing on when to introduce them.
That's how founding PMMs successfully work with technical founders on messaging.