WOW, do you ever feel like your great idea has already been taken? It is a common thing these days so I wanted to share the trials and tribulations of lauching software in 2015. It takes time and commitment but is 100% rewarding. I, like most, started as a freelancer – doing clones of Hallmark’s E Cards platform for $415.00. It was gruesome but got me through college. As a freelance stretch into a software company that has help other apps, digital platforms and software product launch this is what I found:
1) As you start your work is under priced:
But that is okay at first, because you are learning. Doing is the best learning method than any of the other methods. In doing tasks you find how to make things work and what makes thing break. Also, you are not entirely at a professional stage to charge the thousands you should because you might not know that php calls only a particular type of framework.
2) The first thing you notice when you do get your product out that taxes are higher than you think:
Remember the Middle Ages where tax was only 10%? Today, for example in Austria, the value is currently at 70% (50% income + social security, and 20% vat). And it’s getting higher, thanks to the politicians and the economic ‘crisis’. In the US, it is more along the lines of 34%. Anyway, you will probably have to pay this, and especially for a startup company, those taxes are incredible high which is not that easy in the beginning (NOT THAT EASY).
3) You or your company is better at something’s but not everything – so learn how to outsource:
You cannot do everything. Because you are good at math and science you might not be good at language arts and writing. Well, outsource this content and be proud to have an overarching amazing end result that is designed to your expertise, functional to your liking and content driven with the use of an expert. It is about the end result and get your clients there always.
4) Track your hours - the main difference from a side project and business:
Seriously, nobody will tell you that you need to work X hours per day and focus on the most important things, and I personally love like the most of us working those all-nighters into the day; waking up at 3pm and doing it over again. Personally, for me this never was my main problem in moving from freelancing to a startup company. It means that your work is started at 7:00 AM and you clock in until 5:00 pm and make a document that can be tracked to pay yourself. It was the hardest thing to get used to writing yourself that check every week. If you aren’t doing this or charging enough – work for someone – it is better pay down the road.
5) Your success comes from teamwork:
Despite creating a great product or implementing a unique feature by yourself, you will by all means not be successful alone. It takes a team. Each project we take on takes a team of amazing designers, developers and most of all idea driven founders. Take a look at the market: In most cases, the most successful software is not the best functionally or best designed software. There are a lot of articles and books about why that’s how it is. But simply, I remind myself this everyday: Not even 10% of all software created is commercially successful. BUT! The ones that do have an amazing team behind them. A team that is maybe be hired on to help, or maybe invited on to take a stake in it or may have a friend acquaintance to move forward the idea all-together. In the 20+ startups founded by friends and people that we have worked with the 16 that have successfully “taken the cake” have been with individuals that have unite in one common drive – and have a relaxing attitude to make the changes necessary to enter their market “beautifully”. Working with people is the essence to make the greatest amount of change.
6) The competition is not sleeping but knowing this competition is not everything either:
I actually enjoy working with ideas that are 100 years old – The ones that are semi crafted but need a helping hand entering into the 21st century. Regardless of what you are doing, there will always be other companies in your sector which do a similar thing but have more money. Way more money. But funding isn’t everything. Out of the 16 successful startup, most of them did it around 5,000 dollars. Bootstrapping your idea comes with great advantages – you have to be crafty, you have to find the right people and you have to deliver JUST what you customers are needing. Good thing that today’s trends are in simplicity. And in simplicity there are cost saving procedures and scripts.
Summarized:
It is easy to launch a startup on line and get a presence but keeping it running is another story because there are a lot of obstacles. Working with people and their ideas, is something you could never replace. And in working with the right people – well, that is the secrete. There are trends that come and go but your team will be there forever. Find a good one.
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