We live in the world of easy money and countless technology startups which are popping up like wild mushrooms with no end in sight. It seems that everybody’s starting a company nowadays, from teenagers to adults and even senior citizens on some occasions have taken a stab at it.
While some of these startups prove to be truly amazing and go on to become a big hits worth billions of dollars, most are really crap and make no sense whatsoever. Nonetheless, in the world of easy money, even the most crappy startups manage to raise funds to get their app, platform or whatever is they are building off the ground. The difference between the heroes – startups of substance – and zeros – startups of nonsense – is the former grow and prosper while the latter crash and burn into oblivion.
Bottom line is, if you’ve got an idea and are willing to truly follow through on it until the very end – prosperity or oblivion – you too can launch your technology startup. Here are basic steps.
Idea Conception: While ideas are worth a dime a dozen, it is still a basic prerequisite in stating up a company. Therefore, take some time to come up with a meaningful idea that is primarily going to solve some problem, right the wrong or simply make people’s life easier – also, an idea which you believe in and are excited about.
While it may seem very tempting to think about all the millions you’re going to make once you launch your new business venture, do yourself a favor and don’t entertain the thoughts of money at this point in time. Focus on creating and giving rather than receiving.
Idea Conceptualization: So now that you’ve got your winning idea and have resolved to turn it into reality no matter what obstacles you encounter along the way, it’s time to conceptualize it and really think broadly about it. You’ve got to figure out how to convert your idea from your mind or a paper into reality. This process is known as idea conceptualization and is very exciting because you’re the creator and are free to do with it what you please.
Have a lot of fun but do not take it lightly and make sure you do your due diligence for if your fail to it, you’ll most likely face the consequences later on which could be detrimental to your business venture.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Assuming you are starting up a technology company – as that’s really what everyone’s into nowadays – and are building either a mobile app or a platform of sorts, you’ve got to test your idea and concept you’ve created thus far by putting it to the test. That moment of truth when you take your baby out into the open for others to see, touch and try it out has arrived.
As building a full-fledged mobile app or a social media platform requires a lot of time, money, skills and effort, you’re going to build an MVP or the bare bones prototype with very basic functionality, not worrying about the esthetics or usability. The objective of an MVP is really to see it in the real world and get people’s opinion on it before you’re fully committed to building a full-fledged version.
Given that an MVP is far from finished product and is usually unattractive, you’ll have it tested by your family, friends and close acquaintances, not the general public. This way you’ll be able to gather much important feedback quickly and without having to expose potential flaws, weaknesses or idea to the public until you’re truly ready.
Seed Funding: Now that you’ve come this far and have built an MVP which is well received by your family, friends and acquaintances, you’ll probably need to attract some external funding to help you build a full-fledged version of your mobile app or a social media platform.
Clearly, there’s no rule as to when the entrepreneur should raise the seed round but essentially if it’s sooner than an MVP the chance of success would be much smaller as investors would have very little if anything to go by, other than idea and a concept. With an MVP the chance of raising the funds is considerably higher but far from where it would be if the business was already making money. More on funding in subsequent posts.
Version v1.0: With seed money in the bank and valuable feedback from family, friends and acquaintances obtained during the release of MVP, you can now focus solely on building a winning product, the version v1.0. Needless to say, version v1.0 should be truly amazing for once you launch it, it’s going to be seen and used by your target audience which you can’t afford to disappoint, if you are to make it that is. Clearly, by now you should have already developed and mapped out your social media presence which you’ll use to promote your product and raise awareness accordingly.
The Launch: Fast-forward a few months and you’re finally ready to put your baby to the real test and see whether it will be well received by your target audience. All the time, effort and money you’ve invested into your mobile app or a social media platform come down to this very moment, the moment of truth – you either float or you drown.
While the foregoing steps of launching a startup are overly simplified and lack details, starting up a business venture has never been easier than it is in this day and age. Of course, you still ought to have the necessary skills, winning personal traits and sufficient funding to have a shot at making it, let alone making it big. The bottom line is, it’s doable.
Speak your mind, don’t be indifferent. How did this post make you feel?