What startup founders need to know about software development

 Agility is a startup’s competitive edge against mature businesses. Startups are generally more responsive to emerging customer demands. They can react faster than established businesses because those established businesses usually have longer decision chains.

However, agility requires intelligent allocation of available resources. Startups pivot many times along the way to a market-fit product. They must be prepared for rapid and cost-effective changes.

Startups should think about how they apply specific practices necessary to create a flexible growth strategy, accurately estimate the time and resources needed, keep effective processes up and running, and maintain enough room for necessary pivots. Let’s keep Otherwise, it is not allowed to create a marketable product. Some decisions (eg, related to product structure) can reduce agility. These decisions are not conducive to the latter view.

In order to move forward effectively, first time startups should keep the following details in their mind.

1. Beware of fixed price terms

A fixed price agreement provides the startup with a sense of cost control. Startups can know in advance how much the idea will cost and plan for the expenses.

However, the fixed price may reduce the flexibility of the team. Once the team has agreed on the scope and cost, changes are possible only on a new agreement. As a result, the conversation restarts every time a startup comes up with an improvement. The team should estimate the new scope taking time and resources. Working on a fixed-price basis can slow down development every time project requirements change – and they change constantly.

The time-and-material model is a better option for startups. The development team can flexibly change to new priorities without needing to agree on new terms.

2. Reduce Where Possible—But Wisely

A dependable team invests efforts in providing accurate estimation of the cost of startup development. However, the estimate may exceed the expected budget as a result of the large project scope and the risks posed by the many unknowns.

Discuss the results and determine what you can reduce without compromising on product quality. The following points are included:

• Cutting all except key product features.

• Using frameworks and ready-made modules.

• Application for basic design.

• Explaining project details with the help of presentations, clickable prototypes, demos or proofs of concept.

Some decisions that can reduce the bottom line include giving up essential activities (eg, DevOps or QA), expanding the scope of a fixed-price project – as opposed to a previous agreement – and including one with fewer project hours. Including offering third-party estimates.

3. Hire an expert team and invest in collaboration

To reduce development time, it makes sense for non-technical startup founders to bet on expertise. This may mean hiring someone with a technical management background as the CTO and then building a team with their help. It may also mean hiring a salesperson team with proven experience in launching startup products, including a project manager and a business analyst.

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, but in any case active participation in software development is necessary. To stay on track, startups must regularly discuss their plans and priorities with the engineering team. In turn, the team of professionals can suggest optimal implementation for what is learned from the marketing study.

The right expert should be able to explain the terms and concepts of software development in simple terms if you ask them to.

4. Focus on Product Architecture

Two factors influence product architecture: the feature list and the number of (future) users.

At first, the initial idea would change several times until the startup found the right formula. You’ll add new features, update existing features, and remove irrelevant ones to test market interest. You need a flexible architecture to manage changes effectively, thus avoiding major changes.

Second, the flexible architecture lets you maintain the best balance between maintenance cost and user experience. On the one hand, spare capacity is expensive. You need to spend less on infrastructure when there are only a few users. On the other hand, when popularity grows rapidly you need to scale rapidly.

Founders will need to ensure that the team has an architecture in place that can enable both keeping costs reasonable today and supporting future growth plans.

5. Build Using a Popular Tech Stack

The popularity of the technology is another concern in software development apart from the experience of the developers working with it. Choose widely popular languages, frameworks and libraries when all other things are equal. Evaluate the following parameters:

• Availability of launched projects similar to yours.

• Regularity of updates.

• A large, vibrant community around the technology.

• Support of a corporation or a foundation.

These parameters can help ensure that the technology is ready for long-term use. It will likely be available, stable and secure in the future.

Another reason for using extensive techniques is ease of replacement. Startups using an unpopular technology face the risks of increased vendor dependency in the case of outsourcing or a higher bus factor in the case of internal development.

6. Take security challenges seriously

Cyber ​​criminals target startups of any size. Potential targets include produced source code, software infrastructure and perimeters, project participants and their equipment, and end users’ accounts.

Startups can only feel secure when they implement strict security policies for internal processes (including software development workflow and data exchange between team members), storage and processing of user data, and compliance with data protection laws.

Designing a secure software architecture is essential. Check source code and infrastructure for vulnerabilities and close them quickly. Make sure team members have relevant permissions and can only access the information needed for the job. Educate users on how to protect against phishing. Freeze suspicious and hacked accounts immediately to prevent large scale attacks.

Final thoughts

Running a digital startup for the first time requires the founder’s concentration on activities they may not have done before. While a seasoned startup can launch faster, a first-time startup can also create a market-fit product within a reasonable amount of time. This is possible when your startup is agile, invests in aspects that enable long-term improvements and incorporates the expertise that engineers bring to your project.

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Article resource: https://biz.crast.net/what-startup-founders-need-to-know-about-software-development/