GitHub & Git: for non-technical founders
Version control for vibe coders.
If you've ever nodded along when developers mentioned "pushing to main" or "creating a pull request" — while secretly having no idea what they were talking about — you're not alone.
GitHub sits at the centre of nearly every tech project, but remains a mysterious black box for many non-technical founders. And that knowledge gap is costing you.
In this post:
Watch me do it step-by-step in the video below where i walk through everything
The real-world translation of GitHub jargon that developers assume everyone understands
A step-by-step system for going from complete GitHub novice to confidently managing your tech projects
The exact workflow used by successful non-technical founders to deploy their first websites
Critical mistakes that cause communication breakdowns between founders and developers (and how to avoid them)
A practical reference guide with essential GitHub terms and Git commands explained in plain English
What is GitHub
Let's simplify what GitHub actually is.
Think of GitHub as a super-powered Google Docs for code. That's it.
Google Docs lets multiple people edit documents simultaneously and keeps a history of changes. GitHub does the same thing for code, but with extra safeguards to prevent people from breaking things.
Ever restored an old version of a Google Doc after someone made unwanted changes? GitHub does that for code, but with industrial-strength controls that make it nearly impossible to lose your work.
Why GitHub matters for non-technical founders
As a founder building with AI coding tools, GitHub fundamentals let you:
Store and organize AI-generated code securely
Track changes across multiple AI sessions
Experiment freely without breaking what works
Deploy independently without developer assistance
Version control systems like GitHub are essential tools that help transform AI code suggestions into actual products you can deploy and control.
Understanding Git vs. GitHub
Before diving into repositories and branches, let's understand a key distinction that confuses many founders:
Git is a tool that runs on your computer to track changes to files. It works completely offline.
GitHub is an online service that hosts Git repositories in the cloud so teams can collaborate.
Think of it this way:
Git is like the track changes feature in Microsoft Word
GitHub is like OneDrive where you store and share those documents
This means you can make many changes on your computer before deciding to share them online. This distinction will become important when we talk about the command line later.
Decoding developer speak: GitHub terminology translated
GitHub has its own vocabulary that can sound like a foreign language when you're first exposed to it—I’ve put together a handy glossary below. Let's translate some essential terms into plain English:
Repository (or "repo") - A super-powered project folder that stores all your code files and remembers every change ever made.
Pushing to main/master - Sending your latest working code changes to the official version that everyone uses.
Creating a branch - Making a separate copy of your project where you can safely experiment with new features without risking the working product.
Merging a pull request - Reviewing and incorporating proposed changes from a separate branch into your main product.
Forking a repository - Creating your own personal copy of someone else's project that you can freely modify.
Cloning a repository - Downloading a complete copy of a GitHub project to your local computer so you can work on it offline.
The challenge isn't that these concepts are complicated—it's that developers use specialised vocabulary. Once you understand the process, the terminology clicks into place.