How to Start Your SME Tech Business
Tech is providing unprecedented levels of innovation in all areas of business. AI is helping to develop bots and digital helpers that’ll help enormously in customer services. Meanwhile, blockchain is being applied in everything from financial markets to housing sales and B2B business. With more innovations happening every day, it’s an incredibly exciting time to be immersed in the world of digital start-ups – and if you’re looking to get your product on the market, you’ll be entering this thrilling yet competitive and cut-throat world. This article guides you carefully through the initial tips to make your SME tech business a success.
1 Your Product
Whether you’re creating software for businesses or an app for individuals to download from application stores, your product is the essential ingredient that’s going to help you create a successful business. As such, there is little use pitching a half-baked product to the market as it’ll quickly become irrelevant and criticized and might even cost you a lot of money that could send you into debt.
Conducting Beta tests is one option to ensure that your product is good to sell to a diverse marketplace. UX testing is also an important stage in getting your product into the best-possible format, while you should also consider the background layers of code that you’ll need to access to patch up what might go wrong in subsequent updates. All of these factors must be considered long before you take your wonderful product to the market.
2 Funding
One of the most liberating parts of the tech revolution is that you’ll not need to tie yourself to banks, loans, and investors to make your business grow and thrive. You can, if you wish, remain virtually entirely independent – though this can come with its downsides. By getting funding in one way or another, you’ll be able to rely on some cash reserves while also being in possession of the resources you need to scale and build your company.
One of the best ways to secure funding is to approach investors. There are plenty of tech funds around the world that are on the lookout for the next best thing. You only have to look at the success of Google, Facebook, and Amazon to understand just how exciting tech is for investors/ A start-up can very quickly become a global hit and one of the most powerful corporations in the world. Beef up a pitch, contact investors, and see what lands on your plate.
3 Covering Your Back
There are two fundamental ways in which you can ensure that your company and your IP is protected in the long-term. Of course, the first step is to secure your IP through some form of rights – whether that be copyright or other forms of protection that’ll mean that you have sole control over your idea as you share it with investors, collaborators and, eventually the market itself.
Meanwhile, insurance is also an important addition to your security when it comes to guaranteeing the longevity of your tech business. You can find business insurance at next-insurance.com, with quotes quickly delivered and easily explained so that you’re abreast of exactly what you’re getting yourself in for. Be careful to select the right sort of insurance to cover those areas of your business you feel are most exposed to risk.
4 Onboarding Staff
While you may well be the brainchild behind your tech-based product or service, it can never hurt to get another experienced entrepreneur or coder on board at the outset. You can search for these individuals online, or through colleges and universities, or you can advertise in tech magazines and on coding forums. Ultimately, you want to get the staff who believe in your vision and your product – and you can motivate them by offering a small stake in your business.
Now that you’ve advertised, it’s about who you select. It’s best to onboard someone who’s got a very specific skill set that you feel that you lack. Perhaps you’d like to partner with someone with financial experience, or experience launching start-up. Maybe you’ll need an expert people-person, a salesperson or a marketer. Look out for these skills when you’re reading cover letters and CVs to hire exactly what your business needs without wasting money and time on duplicate skills.
These tips should all be helpful for those who’re in possession of a great product that they want to begin taking to market. You may have to be patient and sensible in the first few months of your operations, but with the right guidance, you’ll soon see your tech-based business grow and turnover a healthy profit.
