Conquering the tech startup world can seem daunting and although the tech industry is booming, it is a fiercely competitive space. This makes building a successful tech startup a challenging activity.
With the technology industry bustling with innovation, new products that are boasting of emerging technologies like IoT and AI, especially ones that solve real market needs, are the ones that are taking over the market.
The market too is ripe with opportunities galore.
While established tech organizations are struggling to keep up with the fast pace of innovation, there are magnanimous opportunities for tech startups and tech-savvy entrepreneurs to execute some truly brilliant ideas.
The global startup ecosystem is also supportive of enabling new tech startups to find success.
Seasoned businesses and serial investors are directly pumping money into lucrative tech ventures.
However, despite the highly supportive nature of the tech industry, the cut-throat competition and the inability of entrepreneurs often hamper the possibility of creating a successful tech startup.
In fact, studies have shown that almost 75% of venture-backed startups fail and the failure rate of most U.S. companies after 5 years was 50% and over 70% after 10 years.
While you do need that certain “X factor” to thrive, there are steps that entrepreneurs can take to increase their chances of building a successful tech startup.
We’ve listed down 6 realistic tips that tech entrepreneurs can follow in order to build a successful tech startup.
6 Realistic Tips To Build A Successful Tech Startup
1. Define Your Startup’s Purpose
The very foundation of creating a successful tech startup lies in the entrepreneur’s absolute passion for the core idea.
To build a successful tech startup, you not only need to be hungry for success, but you need to be hungry for excellence.
One of the major reasons why tech startups go through make-or-break moments is because there is a lack of clarity.
Startups that survive do so because of their undying commitment to the core purpose that helps them outweigh all other hurdles.
Having a clear vision of why you are building something is far more important than how you’re building, and this clarity will help you in times of uncertainty.
2. Make Innovation Your Top Priority
Innovation is at the heart of every tech startup. It is one of the key elements that tech startups bring to the table.
A deep understanding of the customer and their pain points is necessary to drive innovation. And these pain points aren’t discovered in a swanky conference room.
This requires a wealth of real-life experiences with people.
Some of the most powerful innovations are a result of connecting dots across different aspects such as passion and life experiences which can lead to market-defining innovation.
Apart from this, a sharp tech and product knowledge built on the foundation of engineering expertise can help you turn your passion and experiences into something that drives your tech startup to success.
3. Be Brave
Steve Jobs, former Apple Inc. CEO, said, “Those who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world, are the ones who actually do so.”
The only way tech entrepreneurs can break through the noise with their product is to think like a maverick and take big bets.
Being brave in business is not a choice; it’s the need of the hour.
Larger organizations may have the same idea, but their lengthy process can slow them down.
This gives you the chance to identify more innovative approaches and tread ahead.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Jack Ma are entrepreneurs who took risks and it’s no secret to where that audacity took their startup.
4. Work Hard But Practice Patience
Your tech entrepreneurial journey will most likely not be an easy one and may include the possibility of failure.
When the path gets tough, you must have the patience and resilience to stick to the process and play the long game.
Starting with a bold vision, in the beginning, can be very motivating but after a few years of not much success, the strongest of wills may consider giving up.
The trick here is to weather the storm and stay committed to your foundation, your core purpose.
And in five years’ time, even those with the most audacious goals are often able to surprise themselves.
5. Build & Work With A Balanced Team
You may have the idea, but you will most definitely not have all the possible skills needed to build a successful tech startup on your own.
When looking for people, try to avoid seeking out leaders in your image and look for those that come with complementary skills.
The success of your tech startup, to a large extent, depends on building a balanced team of professionals with a diverse set of backgrounds and skills.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page are the perfect examples of one of the most notable partnerships built on this premise.
6. Work Within A Budget and Be Timebound
Realistic deadlines and a fixed budget are like two sides of a coin.
However, it’s important to maintain a little room for flexibility on both the factors especially when they are nestled on solid market research.
If you must change anything, let it be the scope of the project.
Knowing how much you can spend on a project in a given time limit will also help you estimate manpower allocation.
if you have an in-house team, you will know if they are enough to handle larger-scale projects when you decide to expand in the future.
Final Thoughts
Part of building a successful tech startup is learning from both, yours and others’ mistakes.
You get the opportunity to see what differentiates the companies that ended up having success compared to those who didn’t.
You can spot the lessons and be careful before making similar blunders. Most importantly, make sure you have fun along the way.
All this work will eventually be pointless if you’re miserable at your job.
When you are optimistic, you exude optimism and that makes the whole ride a fun adventure.
