I think there's often too great a divide between "tech" and "non-tech" and somehow we continue to drive an even bigger wedge between the two "sides." I think that's wrong. There is no "side." If we're talking about a technology startup, guess what? It's technical...And the business co-founder better be on board with that and the sales people better understand what they're selling.
No one expects the "non-tech" co-founder to code...But like Michael said here, insight to just a little bit of the tech process is important. Understanding how the tech works is also important.
I've seen a lot of non-tech people go out and sells clients on something that simply wasn't possible, didn't exist, or was just described all wrong. Did they lose the sale? No! Funny enough...They were good sales people, the client bought the damn thing and then the tech team had to deliver. This is a very common problem. Another common problem is then failing to deliver what was promised. Both preventable.
Likewise though, the technical stakeholders don't typically understand business goals that well. They may want 10 years to build the best program in the most 1337 language and hibernate in some cave. Unfortunately that's dangerous.
This is where we kinda get into your question about "Why does everyone seem to hate PHP?" ... That's a terrible circumstance that's going around the web. Not just PHP, all language "wars" and "haters."
The internet is the wild west. There's really not many rules and if you ever come across a "CTO" who tells you that they only need one language/tool and all others are terrible - then ditch them. IMMEDIATELY. I can't express has fast and how far you must run away from them. A CTO should not "hate" on any language (or database). Dislike? Not be familiar with? Sure...But you MUST be open to using whatever is at your disposal in order to meet your business and product goals. The job must get done and if you use the wrong tool for the job, it could cost you your business. Again, preventable.
The decision on your technology stack, of course, may not come from a CTO either. Want to be a Billy Bad Ass and use some "enterprise" solution because some company sold you on the license and told you there's a 99.99% SLA and it's the jam? Some investor with a ton of money told you "this is how we do things partner" ? Well, you may need to be prepared to budget for the development and time costs. Often using those "enterprise" solutions means you're working at a speed disadvantage. There's far too many startups and noise on the internet to be slow here.
Some other quick food for thought. IF you can safely build a product faster by using a different language, driving down your development costs -- how much more of your company to you get to retain? If you need less funding to build? Just food for thought.
However, we often see people vying for these kind of solutions because we might have someone who's background has always been from a slow corporate machine perspective. Or you have an investor or business co-founder who has bought into the false sense of security that some languages or "enterprise" tools like to push off onto people. Your technical tools should never be sold on you. They must be the right tool for the job and sometimes that requires some research and digging.
Just remember, it's the wild west. It would behoove all parties to understand how shoot a gun, ride a horse, and cook food. Otherwise you're eventually gonna starve out there. Metaphorically speaking of course =)