Do not know the technology, how to start the Internet?

Have you ever thought of developing an app or building a website to realize your entrepreneurial dreams without your own programming background? You are not the only one who thinks so.

Think about it, the founder of Airbnb is not a programmer, but a designer. Today, AirBnB is valued at more than 20 billion. If you dream of building a similar app or website, you have to go through the entrepreneurial process and learn from it yourself. I am currently a co-founder of a programmer's remote working platform technology services company, so I have managed the 300+ project and have a wealth of relevant experience to share with you here.

　　1. Technology outsourcing or internal development? In fact, there is a compromise method!

The first thing to think about is whether you should choose technology outsourcing or build teams for in-house development. My advice is to adopt a hybrid model that uses technology outsourcing in the first version of the product, once the product market positioning is completed, and then into internal development. Of course, there are many benefits of using only in-house development, and you can repeat the testing to improve your product during development, but the long cycle costs are correspondingly higher.

The hybrid model I mentioned above is that you hire development teams from outsourced companies and manage them directly, and you don't have to worry about the payroll benefits of these development teams, and you don't have to face layoffs if your product isn't successful, you just have to pay for a certain amount of money from the outsourcing company.

( Note: There is a similar model in China, outsourcing companies will be outside the programmer to the client company, in addition to the wage and social work relations, working with the customer company employees, no other difference )

　　2. Don't use Google search to find technology outsourcing partners

So where do you go to find a suitable partner to outsource the entire project or just rent out the development team? Most startups will search for Google, but that's not a good way.

That's because the companies that are ranked in front of Google's search results aren't necessarily good technology companies, they're probably just good at using Search engine optimization. And some good companies will be buried in search results.

My advice is to find a partner through a professional friend or through a high-quality crowdsourcing platform.

　　3. Reserve some basic programming knowledge.

In fact, it is very useful to know a little bit about programming knowledge. While this is not a necessary condition, knowing how to program can help you understand some of the technical concepts at the beginning of the product discussion with the development team.

For example, if you want to create a iosapp, you can learn the online course on the udemy.com website that builds the basics of iOS apps. Similarly, if you want to build a website, you can also learn some basic knowledge of programming languages.

( Note: Udemy is a U.S. online vocational education platform that supports a wide range of local languages, including Chinese.) )

　　4. You need to build an internal team

When your company completes the product market positioning, you need to build your own in-house product development team. Especially if you are going to venture capital, investors are likely to require you to develop products in-house for IP security.

　　5.Bootstrapping (capital-independent entrepreneurship) is easier than you think.

Many people pay too much attention to raising the initial capital of the project, but it is easier than you think to start a capital-independent venture.

In the early days of your startup, you can take care of your existing work while developing your product, and use your salary to provide venture capital support. When the size of the company is small, you can focus on the simplest and most straightforward way to solve customer problems. Once the product concept has been validated, it is possible to gradually expand the investment for more product testing.

So if you develop your product using the hybrid model mentioned above, you can plan to divide your monthly payroll into startups.

(Note:bootstrapping does not necessarily mean never to raise funds, more common practice is in the early bootstrap, to the middle and late to seek assistance, this entrepreneurial skill has many other advantages, such as the dilution of property rights less, faster in the early stage of business to enter product testing, It is easier to raise capital after creating value )

　　6. Social media is not very useful for customer acquisition

Many people have worked too hard to design flashy marketing slogans and ignore the most basic marketing strategies. But a good marketing strategy starts with identifying the target customer before identifying the channel to communicate with those potential customers.

While your potential customers will be moving through social media, they are not attracted to brands or products because they are browsing the network.

Dave Kerpen said, "Don't use social media as a necessary way to get customers, but think of social media as a platform for feedback, to learn, listen, and understand what the market needs." "The only thing that social media can attract to early clients is advertising," he says. ”

Finally, if you ask me, what good advice do you have? That's not to be fooled by some gaudy slogan.

(Note: For example, "UI is important", most people equate the UI with an aesthetically pleasing website app.) On the contrary, entrepreneurship in product marketing should be more return and focus on such as product strategy, price strategy and other basic marketing strategies. )

This article is translated by the author, the original Rahul Varshneya

Do not know the technology, how to start the Internet?