When you have great idea for a tech startup you want to get it off the ground quickly. Here are some tips that will help you launch before your competition.
Early stage startups often move really slowly.
You may have a great idea, but something (or more than one thing) is holding you back. You’ve been working for months and seeing no progress.
Despite your hard work, you can’t get the business off the ground. Meanwhile, your competition is getting their product out there and swooping in on your potential customers. In the time that you delay your product could become obsolete or someone else may do it better.
It’s time to set yourself apart from the many startups that can’t seem to move past the idea stage.
So how to start a tech startup quickly?
Keep reading to find out. If you’ve ever wondered how to move faster, these are seven tfors on launching your tech startup more quickly.
1. Figure Out the Money and Where It’ll Come From
If your tech startup needs financing, now’s the time to find out where you’ll get it from. Most companies spend more than they expect at the beginning of their life cycle.
You may have savings, however, unexpected expenses still need to be accounted for. Think about if you’ll need to keep your day job or if your family or spouse will help.
A great way to speed up the process is by getting your product to start generating revenue ASAP. Resist waiting until it’s absolutely perfect to start selling.
2. Find the Right Cofounder
This tip is especially important if you’re looking for investment. Find a cofounder to inspire you and bolster the skills you lack. A VC firm is highly unlikely to invest in a one-man show.
The right cofounder can take you to the next level in half the amount of time you’d spend solo. Decide early on who will do what and then put that in writing. Disagreeing with your cofounder can stunt your growth and even destroy your company.
3. Find an Expert
Starting a tech startup is going to take more knowledge and skills than you have on your own. When you need advice, find the person who can give it and let them do the work.
The advice you need is going to be in a wide range of areas. You’ll need an attorney to help you figure out your business structure. You’ll need a designer to help you with your logo.
Get these people to work for you instead of wasting time trying to do it all yourself. Find the right person and then hire them immediately.
4. Remember Marketing Is Worth the Money
Marketing is an investment you need to make early on. It serves to get your tech startup idea in front of the people who will buy from you. You can build the best product in the world, but if no one knows about it, you’ll never grow.
The amount you spend on your marketing doesn’t have to be huge, either. Investigate budget-friendly ideas like building strategic partnerships with well-known peer companies.
5. Talent Matters
When you launch a startup there eventually comes a time when you can’t do it all alone. The next step is going to be crucial to the speed of your launch. You’re going to want to find good employees to help you on your journey.
Be flexible with your requirements and consider hiring remote workers. The best talent may not be in your city, state, or even country.
Contract workers are also a great option for a couple of reasons. One, there’s less baggage on your part versus hiring a full-time employee. Two, the workers themselves may not want to take the risk of becoming an employee of an unproven startup.
While you’re building your team, keep in mind the culture you want to promote. A team that’s engaged and happy works better and contributes to a company’s fast growth.
Startups in Silicon Valley like Stripe have the “Sunday test”. This is a great way to make sure that your hires are a good fit in the long run. It increases retention, avoiding the timewasting of having to look for new workers too often.
6. Keep Your Customers at the Heart of What You Do
Customer feedback is going to be vital as you try to launch your startup quickly. It allows you to tailor your product as well as your go-to-market plan and make it better.
Dive deep into why your customers need you, what your competition offers, and how your offering is different. There’s no such thing as knowing too much about your customers. How they feel about your product is going to make or break your company.
Whenever you can, talk to them and use what you learn to pivot faster and serve them better.
7. When All Else Fails, Just Start
Indecision can kill your startup before it even gets off the ground. The time spent on “maybes” and not making decisive moves is time wasted.
Here’s the kicker though. Whatever is currently stopping you from getting your tech startup off the ground, is exactly what you need to tackle. Either that or ignore it completely.
Just. Get. Moving.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a simple task like registering your site’s name, or a bigger one like a prototype that needs to be designed. Just get started on it, today. Do the first thing that you need to do to get that process in gear, and everything will speed up after that.
Get Your Tech Startup off the Ground Today
All startups are races. The big winners are those who can go the fastest. Keep in mind, however, that scaling is a process that happens over time.
By starting fast all your resources go into the important part of your work: getting it up and running. After that, the sky’s the limit.
You don’t have to go through launching your startup alone. I’m here to help you through the process. Check out the free tech startup checklist I’ve created to get started.
