Finding a programmer to work with if you don't already know one will be a challenge. Merely judging if a programmer is exceptional vs. competent will be very hard if you are not one yourself. When you do find someone, work together informally for a while to test your compatibility.

Programmers have not been professionals because they haven't really cared about quality.

Pick a big enough project, something that's really hard, something that over the years you can work on.

People like the idea of innovation in the abstract, but when you present them with any specific innovation, they tend to reject it because it doesn't fit with what they already know.

Investors, most of them, have a herd mentality. They want to invest only if other people are investing

Starting a startup is a process of trial and error. What guided the founders through this process was their empathy for the users. They never lost sight of making things that people would want.

Innovations seem inevitable in retrospect, but at the time it's an uphill battle.