It’s easy to lose yourself to the glitz and glamor of starting a new tech company, imagining the possibilities that lie ahead for your new venture. Now that you know what you want to do, how to start a tech company is the next point to tackle. It’s important to not only have an idea but to plot out how to carry it through with a well-formed plan.
To help you begin your new tech company, we’ve put together a list of things you need to consider and do in order to start one right. Let’s look at how to start a tech company and ensure you’re off on the right foot.
Define a Minimum Viable Product
The first step in how to start a tech company is to define your minimum viable product, or MVP. What this means is to know and understand the most basic functional version of your product. It should have all the basic features for the solution you’re offering to customers and the problem you’re trying to solve for them. Don’t get distracted by trying to bundle your MVP into a problem solving superhero, you want to start small. One problem, one solution.
Confirm Your MVP
It bears repeating, don’t overdo your MVP by trying to appeal to multiple audiences and uses, focus on one niche to start. A common mistake a new tech company often makes is focusing on the wrong market segment, so be sure you’re appealing to the right group of people for your product. Another point here to ensure you’re accurately validating your minimum viable product is to know when to pivot. You need to be open enough to recognize if you’re marketing to the wrong customers or that your MVP is missing key features that can persuade people to buy it.
To properly confirm your MVP is valid, consider your competition, that it actually solves the problem you want it to, and it improves your customer’s life. To get that information, it’s important to follow the advice above.
Building the Business Workflow
Now that you have your MVP settled and validated, it’s time to look into how to organize your workflow and manage your new tech startup. To define your workflow is to know the ways you want people to get things done, such as defining tasks and assigning people or roles to carry them out. You may think it’s too early to consider how people that work for you should function within the business, but it’s a good part of planning out your new tech company. After all, you can’t do everything yourself for long and it’s never a solution to cutting costs. Defining your workflow also helps to identify any potential pitfalls, the scope of your business, and the limitations of it.
Funding Your New Tech Company
There are a few ways you can ensure you’ve got the money to keep your new tech company moving while it’s getting sea legs:
- Have the capital yourself
- Acquiring funding, we wrote tips for that here.
- Acquiring customers
Now that you have a model for your business and a validated MVP, you can release your product to a wider segment of your target market. The reason why releasing your product is tied into getting funding is that many startups don’t have the initial budget for a large-scale marketing campaign. If no one knows about you, then how do they know your product can solve their problem? One way to get around an expensive marketing campaign is using small scale marketing tools and/or creating an early buzz in online communities, such as groups or platforms that discuss topics relating to your product’s solution.
Eye on the Ball
The last thing to do when starting a new tech company is to not lose sight of your goal. You’ll want to watch metrics like your retention rate, net promoter score, and active users. The first year of business is incredibly important and all the planning you did initially will help make the first year more successful. Make sure you have the ability to collect this information in your business and you have many options to choose from toolwise to do so.
If you need any help or advice, we at Seedology can make things easier for you. Seedology is a software development company meets venture capital firm and we have extensive experience turning exciting ideas into a profitable business by empowering you with the kind of support you need to thrive. Our guidance is designed to help an early-stage tech company launch their first product and take it to market, as well as acquire additional funding after the MVP is validated.
Remember the tips for how to start a tech company, whether we work together or not, and you’re off on the right track.
