If you don't know anything about programming, I would recommend you "learn python the hard way" ( http://learnpythonthehardway.org/ ) to get yourself familiar with Python, a programming language popular and easy to learn, and then start whatever you are interested in.
One more thing, why are you mentioning that you're a woman? I believe tech is a field where it shouldn't matter (I would matter more that you are a woman if you were asking, say, how to use a body building machine).
Also, I mentioned I was a woman because I always read about agencies which help women learn how to code and provide various resources for women- I'm just not entirely sure what they do.
Python is a programming language, that is used to do lots of things - it is used in production at Google, and you can do pretty much anything with it, from data analysis/machine learning to web development, from game development to shell scripting. It is also quite easy to pick up, so it's a good choice for beginners - although lots of experienced programmers use Python. That's why I recommended you python.
Since you want to help for your startup, I'd recommend to try to pick up whatever they are already using, since there are probably programmers with some experience working with you.
EDIT: by the way, my email is in my profile, so feel free to contact me if you need something, and I'll see what I can do.
For me this is my motivation: if I was doing it only for the sake of learning it I'd give up in a day.
Of course most of my inventions had fairly short shelf life if aby but I learned to program, well enough to get a well paid job. (And: one of these projects went ahead to save hours at a small company and another simplified procedures significantly at a local non-profit : )
Glad to know it's possible to teach yourself to code enough to get a job coding! Gives me hope!
Project Euler (https://projecteuler.net/) is a great resource for learning the basics of a language. Just do some of the top 100 each time you pick a new one up. Also, if you're into math the harder ones are quite interesting.
If you're interested in web development, I'd be happy to talk on Skype and point you in the right direction. I could also do some code reviews every now and then to give you feedback on a project. Hit me up: jtfairbank+hn/at/gmail/dot/com
Computer languages have their strong and weak points. Doing Windows, Apple, Linux, desktop, mobile or web, data, games, audio or art? There are lots of different ways to get things done and selecting the right tool that works for the task and that you like is a good start.
What would you recommend as the best way to go?
