Web Developer Guide: How to build and operate an Internet start-up project

In spite of the global economic malaise, a new outbreak is emerging in the Internet arena. In the 90 's, with the first outbreak of the Internet, we witnessed the rise of a group of giants: Ebay,yahoo,amazon and so on. The flourishing of social networks and Web apps in the 2000 has MYSPACE,FACEBOOK,FLICKR sites such as the so-called "Web2.0" map.

As time passes, we are now in a new explosion; this time it's smaller, but thanks to easier development tools and cheaper hardware, it makes the outbreak more common. This is the app explosion, which highlights practical, cost-effective, and precision solutions for common problems, from web apps to iOS devices to Android.

Today's web start-ups are leveraging the technological and social advances we've created over the past 20 years, packaging them into useful tools to meet the daily needs of different groups of people.

Why do Web developers become founders of start-up projects?

Today, most apps or services are web-based and can be networked. It's no wonder that many web developers have become the founders of start-ups – with the ability to develop independently, making it easier for founders to create their own high-quality apps.

But a bit more into this connection, I think because Web developers (like myself) naturally love to create things, and we are natural problem-makers. We receive the needs of the boss or customers, using their familiar tools to create a suitable solution for them.

So what do we do when we don't work for the boss or the client's project? People like me will want to use their skills and experience to create tools that are useful to people and to develop them as a cause at the right time. For example, Instapaper, a famous bookmark app, was developed by 1 people.

By putting in some skills, some spare time, and perhaps a startup money from your own bank account, you can start a startup project that is quite appealing to web developers.

In this article, I'll take a few examples of how to start your startup project.

How to choose the right idea?

Now, you may have "brainstorming" out the N-product idea and hoarding a bunch of domain names for your needs. So how do you know which idea is worth doing?

Tickle your itch

Common sense tells us to choose the market that has the biggest profit potential and has been proven to exist. Yes, it's really important because your product needs to be profitable anyway, and you need to find someone who is willing to pay for your product.

But when I was analyzing these product ideas, my fancy was: am I willing to buy and use it?

To put it another way: does it meet the basic needs that I have to face every day? Only "Scratch Your own itch", you can always have passion into it. Since user experience is the first element of product design, if you are the lead user, you will be able to create the best experience.

Use the skills you currently possess

You should choose your skills enough to support the product to do. There was a time when I wanted to be an iphone app, and I was convinced that it would be very successful. Unfortunately, I don't have a Greek for iphone app development. Eventually I gave up the idea and turned to other places where my skills were more competent.

Case Study: WP Bids

Let me give you a personal experience as an example:

clear Demand (scratch your itch)

As a Soho web designer, the writing goal book is an important part of the business, and it is always the final determinant in developing new customers. The tender (also called bid) is usually a document containing the project content, the time node, and the project quotation. I usually write in MS Word or Google Docs, but the writing process is difficult, time-consuming, and the document styles that these tools produce are so bad that I keep brooding. I need a template system to meet my aesthetic style requirements while improving productivity. Perhaps this is equivalent to designing a Web site or wordpress theme? That's right!

solutions based on existing skills

I am proficient in WordPress theme development, also familiar with and like the WordPress interface and operation. So I decided to build my "bidding tool" based on WordPress. Finally, I created a special WordPress theme to meet my needs. Gradually, there are other Soho designers are also beginning to be interested in WP bids (especially those who often use WordPress), but more importantly, my WP bids really help my own business.

looking for the right partner

Although sometimes you can do it alone, it is often more reliable to work with one or two partners to create the initial product.

The amount of work that two people can accomplish is more than one person. What is more important is the value of cooperation. Having a partner with whom you share a common view, can bounce out of new ideas at times, and always make sure you don't do the wrong thing and balance the strengths and weaknesses of the two is self-evident.

But "partner" is not just to find someone to do things so simple, you have to find the right partner. The idea between you and the partner must fit. If you know them, how they work, and how well they are able to do so, they can dispense with the "research" work.

Of course, you may not have a suitable person in your circle. It doesn't matter, here are some suggestions for finding partners outside the circle.

Friend referral and social networking

Use your contacts, use your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks, and use all the relationships around you to help you pry, find, and contact an expert who is interested in your start-up projects.

Do you think that some of the bloggers you read regularly are good for your partner? Email them, maybe they're waiting for an adventure!

job-seekers, forums and catalogues

Go to FreelanceSwitch and Drawar and look at the information and blogs of those users. Go through the list in the category directory, such as programmermeetdesigner,partnerup,staruply and 37Signals Job Board. Be sure to do some background checks on the candidate (such as studying its personal website and Twitter), and then email them and invite them to join.

Industry Party

You can often find like-minded people in industry gatherings of technical types.

find the key point for a reliable partner

Here are some of the important qualities that I think partners must have:

Passion: Their passion must be equal to you, must be from the inner initiative. Take risks: It's risky to start a business. The founders are willing to take on the risk of unpaid work, overtime work, and money investment. Your partner must be in the same boat with you and be with you. Ability to complement: generally you will share some of the same skills. But your partner has to be strong in your weaknesses and help you make up your weakness. Be sure to avoid finding a skill tree with exactly the same partner you are. Be good at communication: You spend a lot of time talking or communicating with your partner, so your partner must have efficient language and verbal communication skills. No one wants to be a partner for a few days without returning emails or answering Skype calls. Develop and manage your time invested

Your biggest investment in a start-up project is your time. A lot of time. Your time management ability plays a key role in the success of your project.

And your biggest challenge here is to find a balance between regular jobs (which can make money, private bills) and personal projects (not making money, at least at first). You're bound to have financial concerns, and once you get into your start-up projects, you have to be prepared for a fall in income. Perhaps this means that you need to save up a sum of money before you start, or recruit assistants to help you with your existing work (Ven: This road does not exist for non-Soho people!). ）。

Equally important is how much time you plan to invest in your start-up projects. No matter what you do, the actual time spent is twice times the plan. Creating a Web Startup Project can be much more than a regular Web project development event.

time consuming things

Here are some things to consider when planning your schedule:

concept-It may take weeks, and there will be iterations, and you may be able to push back and forth many times. Discuss ideas with friends, and get feedback to plan business models develop marketing plan wireframes, prototypes, designs, redesign, and more redesign and test blog marketing, requiring continued investment in time and energy legal issues and partnership issues

There is more to consider than that, and these things are repeated many times before your project is released, even after it has been released.

Design Your product: Avoid functional redundancy

Do you think that only stupid customers should be responsible for functional redundancy? Think again. When you design your own brain that product, along with each brainstorming, you will also often feel that this function is great, I must add that the function of real cow than must have ...

You have to focus on the core features and project vision of the product like lasers. Keep track of ideas you've already thought of, but don't implement them in the first edition of your product. If you continue to add functionality, your product will never be released!

It also has the benefit of being a partner. Not only do they offer ideas you can't think of, but they can also help check whether the current ideas are taking you away from the core of your product.

Whenever you think of new features, ask yourself: Is your product really inseparable from this function? Depending on the answer to this question, your function can be divided into two categories:

"First" function

These features must be designed and implemented at the outset. You should spend more time on these features before the product is released.

"Have a better" function

The icing on the cake, some words will get better, but not the essential function of the product. You can choose to add these features in the continuous iteration phase, and after the product is released, they can also become "primary" functionality, based on the user feedback collected.

Your short-term goal should be to achieve all the first features as quickly as we often hear it: publish early, collect feedback, and continue iterating.

If you ignore the "first" feature list, your product will never take off and ultimately waste valuable time.

Make marketing Strategy

When you start planning your product, you should start making marketing strategies. Because it is the first time to do a start-up project, marketing will cost you and your partner a lot of time.

Blog Marketing

Blog marketing is the most important web start-up projects to promote the means. Use blogs to build your audience ahead of time, and when the product is released, you immediately have a large number of first users.

But many of us don't have the same blog traffic. If that's the case, I suggest you build relationships with other, more famous blogs to elevate your reputation. I wrote guest posts for Mashable, FreelanceSwitch, and other blogs for several years, which helped me build a reputation in the blogosphere.

Writing guest posts for other blogs not only helps you gain exposure, but also helps you get some "internal relationships" in the release and promotion of your products. WP bids Template Theme was Netsetter author commented, and was as frelanceswitch a certain activity of the prize (equal to help me to advertise), all this is because I and their editorial relationship is good.

Traditional Internet Marketing

There are also more traditional marketing strategies that can be used, such as CPC ads, banner ads. The level of marketing effectiveness depends on the nature of your product, brand strategy, and how much money you invest. Paid advertising is worth considering. But before creating an ad account, you and your partner must be clear about how much each person needs to put into it to avoid conflict.

Social Networking

As for setting up an active Twitter account (do not make Automatic Updates to machines) so that you can keep an eye on your progress in the early days of the product, I won't say much more. Create a Facebook page and keep a certain amount of content updated.

release, collect feedback, iterate, create community (coherent)

Your goal is to release the product as soon as possible, although it may not be perfect. To know that perfection is impossible, perfectionism can only be a hindrance to your way forward.

With the arrival of the user, you will receive new and constructive feedback. And as the product continues to progress, the problem will follow. You need to embrace change and continue to meet the needs of users through iterative development.

Publishing, collecting feedback, iterating, and creating and maintaining communities are all ongoing transactions. You need to think about your plan in your head,

concept: Is your idea locked in one area? Think about all the branches of your business that can be done to pave the road for future business. Product Name: Is the name too specific? Using Zappos.com instead of shoesite.com (Zappos's original name) allows their start-up projects to enter any field in the future, rather than just shoes. Business model: Is there another source of profit you would like to explore? What impact will the introduction of this source have on your customers and business? Design style: Is the product's design style limited to a specific concept? Can it adapt to business transformation? Code: Your code changes constantly. Is it clean, malleable, templated, modular, and easy to edit? The possible features are not important now, but what about later? Marketing: Continuously track and quantify your marketing campaigns and the effects of social media. And, can your budget keep up with the changing marketing situation?

Web Developer ' s Guide to getting-a Startup up and Running

Translator: Ven

Web Developer's Guide: How to build and operate an Internet start-up project