If you’ve watched television shows like Silicon Valley or are a huge fan of Shark Tank, you’ve likely seen just how thrilling starting up your own business can be. If you’ve got a great idea and the gumption to turn that idea into reality, the sky’s the limit on how much success you can find. After all, if you believe movies like The Social Network, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg created the booming company more by accident than out of pure intent.
All that being said, just being a killer software developer isn’t enough if you really want to find success with your startup. There are a variety of other steps and tasks you should be doing each quarter as you get on your feet if you really want to thrive. While challenging, the work of running a startup isn’t impossible. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind as you build out your business and work to survive your first few years in the cutthroat world of business.
Find a mentor to get you through the tough times.
Many times, new startups remain so focused on staying competitive that they forget that larger companies or other entrepreneurs who might be seen as rivals could be just as strong as allies. Whether you’re the chief executive officer or the chief technology officer of your startup, it can be helpful to find someone who’s gone through the process of starting their own business or working in a similar position as you to help mentor you.
A simple LinkedIn search can often help you find a solid match, whether that’s someone like Julie Iskow, who’s recently been promoted to the board of directors at Workiva after serving as the chief technology officer and executive vice president of Medidata Solutions, or another option. There’s a lot of wisdom that can only be gained through experience, and finding the right person to offer you guidance on your startup journey can give you the peace of mind and business intelligence you may not get as quickly otherwise.
Leverage the top technological platforms to make informed decisions.
While there’s something to be said for experience, sometimes you need to make decisions a bit more agilely and you can’t wait for a reply to your text or email. In these situations, data can be your guide, offering you measurable, actionable insights in real-time. Best of all, you don’t need to be a data scientist in order to understand an analytics platform. With a predictive analytics platform on your side, you’ll be able to harness historical data to make powerful predictions about the future using deep learning and artificial intelligence. There are a variety of use-cases for machine-learning technology, so it’s definitely worth considering your business process and where these sorts of big data tools can play a role in your overall operations.
Don’t be afraid of deferring to experts with more years of experience than you.
When starting your own business, even if you have strong opinions about how different aspects of your company should be managed, it’s impossible to think that you can do it all yourself. This is why it may make sense to bring in an outsourced team of software engineers, data scientists, or project managers in order to ensure you adhere to best practices in your sector when handling product development or software development. Outsourced software development or advertisers can go a long way in extending the capabilities of your in-house team, too, so don’t think that having an internal and external department is necessarily a bad thing. Especially if it’s going to maximize your time and resources to extend beyond your in-house developer, outsourcing software development can be a major boon for your overall productivity.
