Starting a Tech Company
Many people have the dream of someday having their own company, but few follow through. Most people never do it for the fear of risking everything on one go. But it is a common practice in the entrepreneur community to found startups as a side gig instead of quitting their day job. In fact, on average entrepreneurs who start on the side are 33% less likely to fail.
Also, because the tech industry hosts an environment of constant change and innovation, it’s normal that tech professionals have their own ideas to develop. So these are the thing everyone should do to start their own tech startup.
Find The Time
One of the keys to starting a tech startup while still holding a full-time job is to dedicate enough time to the project. People generally prefer to spend their free time outside of work relaxing with friends, working out, or watching movies. It’s hard to lose part of that free time, so it’s important to be passionate about the venture to make it work.
Starting a tech startup part-time will probably mean less time for sleep, friends, and family, but it will bring great rewards in the long run. A good option is to start waking up a little earlier or to go to bed later than usual to work on your business. Either way, every entrepreneur should know that the road to success is full of sacrifice and hard work.
Make It Interesting
If your project feels boring, you will always find excuses to not work on it. That’s why when creating a tech startup—whether you’re offering a product or a service—you should make something you really enjoy and are passionate about. Some tech startups were born as silly side projects and became multimillion-dollar companies. Make sure you enjoy what you are doing and transform the project into something fun.
Create a Product That Is Needed
Approximately 42% of startups fail because they offer a product or service for which there is no market demand. So a great part of creating a startup is doing the research first. Entrepreneurs have to research the market to see if their idea is unique and, if not, to find out what the competition is doing. In the case of the idea being unique, then they should make sure that consumers actually have a need for it.
A way to do this is to create the minimum viable product (MVP) which is a less refined version of your product that still has basic functionality. The MVP solves the problem it was designed to solve, but it is developed in the minimum amount of time needed with the most basic designs. That way entrepreneurs can validate the product before doing a full launch with a marketing campaign and other expensive investments.
Learn New Skills
A great way to feel out the industry is to learn tech skills. That way entrepreneurs could develop ideas by themselves instead of having to find a developer to do it for them. There are tech skills that can benefit a startup outside of the final product, like digital marketing and web development. These skills can be learned in a few months at coding bootcamps. Plus, they can be learned part-time while still holding a full-time job.
Hire and Delegate
Every good entrepreneur knows how and when to delegate tasks. When founding a startup, especially while still holding a full-time job, they should hire at least one personal assistant to help with mundane tasks. These days people don’t even need a big budget to hire one, they have the option of hiring a virtual assistant.
Because a leader cannot possibly do everything in a company, it’s important to know which tasks to delegate. While it depends on the company, there are tasks that shouldn’t be delegated, especially at the beginning of startups. These are things like talking with investors, developing strong relationships with clients, hiring the first few employees, and management of the company.
