I have to disagree with all the hackers in this discussion. Code is super important, but a startup is still a business. Business is a team sport that requires many different talents. If you can't code move out to San Francisco or someplace where startup congregate and find a startup that needs your talents whatever they may be. Learn the ropes and meet people. Repeat. Thats what I did. There are lots of non-technical people who have done well this way. Read Mark Cuban's posts on motivations. He was non-technical and kicked ass.
I moved out to SF as a non-technical biz guy two years ago and now I run a VC backed startup. It can be done.
There are so many reasons to give up, and "I can't program" is one of them. "I'm too old", "I'm too inexperienced" seem to be a couple of popular ones.
There are advantages and disadvantages, and I admire every person who decides to put everything he/she has into it.
That said, we don't have to work this one out through logic - we can look out into the world and observe. Think of the top ten start-ups that IPO'd or were bought last year, and take a look at the bio's who founded them. The numbers don't look good for founders who can't program.
Thing is, hacking is something you can learn to do. You can't make yourself younger, or taller, but there's nothing stopping you from downloading ruby (or, if you have a mac, opening a console) and get to it.
It does take a while to learn to program - but if it didn't, then it wouldn't be much of an advantage.
If you really don't want to go through it, there are certainly some notable successes for non-programmers. If you can add a lot of value as a founder and help make a lot of people successful, then go for it.
I moved out to SF as a non-technical biz guy two years ago and now I run a VC backed startup. It can be done.