Are you confident in your technical skill and knowledge but need some help from the business side of things? Here are 7 key tips for building a tech startup.
You’re a tech genius in your own right, but that doesn’t mean you know the first thing about business.
And that’s okay — well, as long as you’re willing to learn.
If you want to maximize your tech skills to boost your income and contribute to society on a whole new level, then launching a tech startup is a smart move in 2018. Here’s a rundown of seven key tips for building a tech startup.
Let’s get started!
1. Invest Wisely in Your Tech Startup
First and foremost, be careful about where you put your money.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is among the most common pitfalls of overseeing a brand-new company.
Let’s say that you initially plan to fund your company with your own savings and with the assistance of a tiny angel investor group. You eventually learn that you have secured a multi-million-dollar private equity investment.
Congratulations!
This capital raise is certainly good news, but do not be so quick to spend it. If you do, you may end up spending ahead of your need.
In other words, you might develop overly optimistic expansion timelines and then burn a lot of your valuable resources to meet these timelines. Your tiny enterprise simply may not be prepared to comfortably afford the expansion you have in mind.
You definitely need to invest in talent to grow your tech startup but concentrate on those A-players — the ones who don several hats. Quality should come before quantity during your search for the right business personnel.
2. Develop Revenue-Generating Solutions
Technologies that directly and easily demonstrate a return on your investment should be the focus of our startup.
Ideally, the solution that your startup provides should solve a top-of-mind problem in the industry, thus creating value for your clients in the form of increased savings or the generation of additional revenue.
Then, once you have a unique solution in mind, think about who your audience is. Identify your company’s ideal clients, and come up with fictional buyer personas.
This requires market research, but if you complete it, you’ll have a good idea of what your prospective customer base is. As a result, you can develop marketing campaigns that speak to your fictional buyer personas via the various channels they utilize the most. And as consumer demand changes, you can make the necessary adjustments.
3. Reach out to the Media
This is something you need to do as soon as you’re ready to launch your startup. Here’s why.
Securing a placement in a reputable publication early on will give you targeted exposure, which typically drives leads. In addition, an article about your entrepreneurial efforts in an industry publication will enhance buy-in.
In other words, your clients may be able to use the piece to convince their managers to try out your new technology process or tool. Press pieces can effectively shorten your sales cycle.
4. Safeguard Your Assets
This is a particularly critical part of building a tech startup, and it starts with seeking legal guidance.
When you are inventing something, your intellectual property is extremely valuable. So, hire an attorney who can assist you in protecting your assets.
Also, note that a client contract that is poorly worded may end up costing you in the long run. Therefore, allocating your resources to make sure that your client contract is ironclad is essential.
5. Embrace Disruption
Understanding the timeline of technology disruption is a major requirement if you’re going to launch a tech business. After all, transformative technology is oftentimes disruptive.
This means technology users often have to adjust their processes and systems to reap the best results. Of course, this is challenging since people naturally resist change. In fact, some clients won’t experience returns right away for this very reason.
In light of this, as you proceed with developing a disruptive technology, be sure to establish expectations for the clients’ possibly reluctant transition to your new solution. Also, establish reasonable expectations with clients about their delayed returns. These aren’t the easiest conversations to hold, but they are important ones to have when your business is burning capital each month.
6. Network, Network, Network
Develop relationships with others who’ll vouch for you and offer ongoing value for your business and technology.
For instance, maybe you could work with experts who can peer-review models of your solution. This will stress your credibility to possible clients long term. It’ll even help you to land extra press because you’re not the only person tooting your company’s horn.
However, keep in mind that networking isn’t something you’ll try to do once and then move on with your life. No — networking is a constant requirement if you want to continue to expand.
Specifically, build connections with influencers and tech companies that are already established, as this will help you to get your company’s name out in the public eye. Not only will you score major contracts but also you’ll gain useful insight from those who are already thriving in your business’s industry.
7. Be Patient
Realize that experiencing success overnight is an unrealistic expectation. Achieving success could easily take an entire decade in today’s competitive and dynamic tech world.
Anything of value takes time. So, enjoy the journey rather than being focused solely on the destination.
Your journey should start with ensuring that nobody already has the name you want for your business. You can discover more on this by consulting a company that provides advanced business name searchers.
Then, you can move forward with formally establishing your business, which includes registering it and get started with hiring and marketing, for example.
In everything you do, stay flexible and resilient. Learn from your failures, utilizing the knowledge you have gained to accomplish that next win.
How We Can Help
We offer a wide range of tips, news, and information about all things related to business and entrepreneurship.
We also offer a forum where the owners of small businesses can discuss ideas and share advice. In addition, we offer templates, forms and pre-written letters that you may find handy as an entrepreneur. For instance, on our website, you can find a non-disclosure agreement, employee evaluation form and even a promissory note for loaning money.
Get in touch with us to find out more about how we can help you to launch a tech startup that will thrive in 2018 and survive for many years to come.
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