Startups in the modern world are ordinarily in the tech sector. This is because there are considerable gains to be made by creating an effective tech product – and these gains can be made with relatively little investment. Although some researchers have pointed to the fact that the vast majority of startups fail within their first years of trading, the ones that do go on to make it can rise to collect huge profits within only a few months, with an IPO within a handful of years. What all these firms have in common is a good selection of skills in their core team, and that’s what this guide focuses on for your startup ambitions.
Coding and Software Development
It almost goes without saying that, to produce a tech product, you need engineers who can create that product. So far, so predictable. But this advice isn’t just about getting coders on board to help you produce your product – it’s about getting the very best. You need those coders and software engineers who are most likely to deliver above and beyond the targets, you set for them. To do this, you’ll need to think about how you motivate your staff by moving forwards.
In startups, a typical way to attract raw talent is to offer a small stake in the business at this early stage in its development. If you provide your coding team a little equity in your firm, then they’ll have a vested interest in making your product as best as they can. This offer will also enable you to tempt the best talent from top companies into your startup – helping you poach excellent coders from the industry at large.
Computer Scientists
To complement those whose heads are always in the code, you need those computer scientists who have a more overarching understanding of how your tech will work, how it will plugin to other systems, and how you’ll be able to develop it over time. These individuals are a little less specialized than your coders, but they have the skills to help direct your business’ development into the future.
If you’re interested in getting this overarching understanding of the world of computing power, data, coding, and information technology, you should look to study an online MS in computer science as you develop your startup. This will help you to comprehend what your technical teams are telling you, giving you a good base of understanding in all areas of tech. Meanwhile, if you’re in a rush to bring in computer scientists, you should look out for those who are qualified in degrees such as this to boost your fortunes in the future.
Leadership and Strategy
As a startup leader, you can sometimes feel isolated in your decision-making, as if you lack the support or the information to make smart decisions about the future of your firm. This feeling can leave you feeling all at sea and distressed – and in this situation, it can always help to have a second-in-command to bounce ideas off, and to help you strategize for the future.
One of the ways to find these individuals is through consultancy. Who out there has been a successful consultant, helping businesses assess their ongoing strategies? Who has leadership experience, or who has past experience working within a startup? These are the professionals you should be looking to add to your team to help you with your leadership responsibilities.
Chief Financial Officer
Do you know why most startups fail? It’s a simple case of not having the funds to continue with their project. This tragic set of circumstances is, in a significant way, avoidable if you have a CFO on board to help you understand where you’re spending, where you’re likely to profit in the future, and what investment or loans you should manage to get your business off the ground in the future.
A CFO is most useful in setting your budget and monitoring your cash flow. They’ll also be able to look into your business model, tweaking certain aspects of it for profitability that you might not have been able to spot. A CFO will be an invaluable part of your core leadership team, helping you maintain your growth without putting your firm into jeopardy.
Marketers
When you’re a startup with a tech product, you’re looking forward to sharing with the world, it can be challenging to cut through the noise. After all, these are thousands of different tech products developed and launched each month, and consumers are unable to keep track of which ones will be useful to their lives and which they should ignore, discard, or distrust.
Any tech startup – indeed, any startup in any sector – needs a team of expert marketers to get your product, seen, noticed, and interacted with. It’s no use hiring recent graduates for these roles: you need people who will bring ideas to the table from day one, helping you to expand your reach and get your product seen as soon as you’re ready to bring it to the market.
Dynamism
This is less a skill and more a function of all tech startups: you need to be dynamic. If you fail to adapt to a continually changing world of business, you’ll put your business at risk of becoming obsolete or being crowded out of the market by more competitive products. Within your startup team, you need to develop a culture of always-on dynamism if you’re to succeed in those all-important first months of business operation.
Put another way, you need to lead by example by being able to make snappy, essential decisions on the go, working harder than the rest of your staff, and encouraging your workers to put their all into the project that you’re working on together. Promise rewards and perks to your team to motivate them further – and encourage them to think outside the box – to be dynamic – in all that they do.
These six skills are regarded as crucial for all startup businesses that are looking to bring a tech product to market in 2020 or beyond.
