Feedback on work is a critical aspect, you might be doing something in a completely stupid/inefficient way which works but is far from a good solution, and the only way you'll know it's a bad solution is if someone tells you.

Having a strong technical co-founder would probably be good enough if you're strong enough to learn programming yourself.

I suspect you'll learn a lot more if you put the time and money into making a startup rather than into a masters degree.