5 steps that aspiring entrepreneurs should take before starting a startup

You have a business idea, but you lack the technical skills and knowledge to build the product that lays in the heart of it?

Below are 5 tips that should help a beginning entrepreneur to avoid mistakes before committing financially to a startup.

We tied to make them short but comprehensive. Get Ready? 

Intro 

We all start a new enterprise being assured in its further success. Our belief to success moves us towards but often makes us blind to reality. 

At the very beginning we assume that our future product (whether it is a website or a mobile app, or even a complex blockchain based software platform) has great functionalities and will address the existing problems of our customers in one go. Is that always true?

Before developing software application, it is very difficult to make sure that your customers will like it. But we can minimize potential negative outcomes by complying several simple actions.

1. First product testing

“Test your product without having it at all”

A good startup product can solve the existing problem in a completely new approach. 
Try to contact potential customers and ask about:

• How do they see the problem?
• What are they afraid of?
• What frustrates them?
• What do they need?
• How did they find out about the current solution?
• How much they pay for it?
• How much would they be willing to pay for the solution?

You need to keep in mind that the startups that went public (IPO) offered market a disruptive solutions, a completely unexpected way to solve customers problems they even didn’t think about before.

2. Create a model

The mockup doesn’t have to be a complete version of your product and really shouldn’t be. 
What is a mockup? The mockup is simply a visual reflection of what the product is.  

Below are a list of some online tools that will allow you to create a product mock-up of your product:

• Moqups – moqups.com
• Mockingbird – gomockingbird.com
• Gliffy – gliffy.com
• Invision – invisionapp.com

But the best one is 

• Figma – figma.com

If you think that you are not sufficiently efficient and technologically advanced to draw the layout in any of the tools, you are wrong . You can do it by hand. Remember

“Perfect is the enemy of good”

3. Begin presale and get first users

Once you have collected feedback about your application, tested earlier by its first potential users, it’s time for activities related to launching the first sale. Do not wait for the product to come out of the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) phase, start selling it, and in the meantime made the product. This is the nature of startups.

An advance sale is another chance to confirm whether your product will work on the market. Thanks to good sales, it’s easier to convince investors to invest in a startup and find a technological business partner.

How can Omertex help pre-sell your app or another product?

Bet on content marketing and start writing posts and articles and make raw footage about your application and solution. Share the content in social media an on YouTube. In this way, you will start to gather the first followers to whom you will transfer the most necessary knowledge, discuss ideas. You’ll have to establish and build a brand, nobody knows about you and your solution at the beginning.
Talk. Especially on forums and social media channels that you manage. Talk about your vision, share your experiences and build emotions around the product. Users like brands with passion and engaged in communication with them.
You can run a discount program for some time, for the first downloads or purchases in your store, but do not make your sales strategy. One-time promotion is everything. You are building a market product with a specific price strategy. It is better to prepare a simple and low-cost promotional campaign. You can use an easy-to-use landing page generator – (use tools such as: https://unbounce.com/landing-page-templates/) with a simple form that allows you to collect data from users and provide a demo version of the product to testing.

4. Look around for technological support

You collect excellent reviews, because the basic version of your product has been well received and approved? Great. Therefore, it is time for you to develop your product programmatically and further. Searching for a technological business partner is not easy enough, but we will help you make the right choice. A few comments from us regarding this business stage.

CTO

A startup that consists of a founder and a programmer have definitely greater chances for success. Building and developing your application’s software is something that you can’t do by yourself unless you’re a techie. It is good to have a person in your team whom you entrust these duties to, and you, for example, will deal with sales and marketing.
Who can be your CTO? It can be your friend, acquaintance who after hours wants to develop this product with you. Take a look around and make an offer of cooperation only to the best.

Software house

When MVP starts selling well in pre-sales, in most cases, at this stage, you need the support of a specialized development team (front-end and back-end developers, testers, graphic designers, PMs).
At this stage, you should consider hiring an external programming company, which, thanks to your experience and specialization in specific technologies, will support you in further work related to the development of the application.
Try to connect with an experienced development company specializing in services for startups in the field of web application development. Cooperation with software house will provide you with comprehensive service in the following areas: starting from business analysis, consulting, designing and creating architecture, prototypes, UX / UI, front-end, back-end, testing, and after-implementation care, monitoring and profitable development startup. It’s a really comfortable solution.

5. Develop and increase your skills

There is nothing worse than being an entrepreneur, standing still and not developing your own competences. If you want to increase the market value of your application, be an example for the people you will hire and manage, every day you should learn something new, related to business management, technology, sales, HR and marketing.

Take part in conferences and trade fairs related to new technologies and startups. Follow the industry, read, subscribe to industry magazines. Improve your sales techniques, public speaking and offer presentation. Preview companies that are similar to yours and have been successful. Inspire your colleagues, be an example to them. Do not forget that as a person who does not have deep and extensive technological knowledge, you still need to develop your other skills needed for product development, sales and organization.

Summary:
Certainly running a startup is a real challenge, especially when you are just at the beginning of the road and you do not have extensive technological or organizational knowledge. However, if you are serious about your business, you will definitely be open to our tips. Good luck!