We make things work.
Startup Consulting, Software Development and IoT Hardware Design.
re:source design is a software engineering company that focuses on startup development and other creative ideas. If you are looking for a technical partner, please contact us as info@resourcedesign.io
We make things work.
Startup Consulting, Software Development and IoT Hardware Design.
re:source design is a software engineering company that focuses on startup development and other creative ideas. If you are looking for a technical partner, please contact us as info@resourcedesign.io
Startups Are Hard, especially in South Africa.
That’s why I will be writing a series of posts to discuss some of the most common challenges you will face while building your startup business.
The following concepts can help bring success in many industries beyond tech. But we’ll keep the focus on tech startups, software platforms and apps. The South African context means you need to consider factors that don’t exist in other markets. Most of the population here don’t have large disposable incomes. Furthermore, people often must pay exorbitant fees for services that should come from the government or municipalities.
So you have a great idea?
Launching your startup can prove tricky, especially in South Africa. Perhaps that’s why nearly every day entrepreneurs come to re:source design for help with their tech ideas. These range from simple solutions to grand plans for competing with Google and Facebook. Here, we always try to find ways to make an idea work rather than picking holes in it. Because you never know if something brilliant could come out of it. Also, we believe a world with people dreaming big is a far better place.
That said, if we had a bitcoin for every time someone came to us wanting to add an app chat or insert a random feature that most users don’t need, or talking about achieving social media integration, we could be very rich. These features can be great and can always be added later. But, initially, if they are not a core part of your solution, they add a lot of time, complexity and cost. This hinders you from progressing through the development cycle to the best product or market fit.
Don’t be too attached to your solution.
Rethinking potential solutions speedily while getting early feedback is key to building a solution people want. The final result could look very different to the solution you envisioned initially. We’ve seen founders so attached to their solution that they believe it’s the user’s behaviour that should change rather than the solution. This usually proves a slow and agonising path to failure but can be easily avoided by considering usage data or user feedback. True, it’s not wise to listen to every user suggestion or try to solve every user need. But it’s usually advantageous to study usage trends and statistics to identify where bottlenecks or drop-offs occur.
Many factors will influence things along the way. Luck is crucial. Any successful startup or entrepreneur who denies that luck, fate, providence, or whatever you want to call it, played some role in their success, is probably not being honest. Unfortunately, there isn’t a reliable way to influence luck. But you can control many other factors that will best place you to take advantage of luck if it comes along. Start by deciding which concept or idea to work on.
