Each successful company has its own unique story, but most entrepreneurs still go through common steps on the way to the prosperity of their offspring. IT startups are no exception.

In this article, we will consider why people order design and development services for startups.

The path to starting a startup

Any company starts with an idea, which the startup will later improve and turn into its own product. To do this, every product needs a team. Therefore, we have to look for employees. If at the first stage two co-founders can cope with the work, then the further the company expands, the more desperately it will become in need of personnel.

When the team is assembled and work is underway on the first iterations, it is already necessary to look for prospective customers who could not only help the company with money at the pre-order stage but also give the entrepreneur feedback on the product.

Then you need to polish the idea and create a minimum viable prototype, or MVP, that can be shown to potential partners. Let’s learn more about each stage of startup development.

How to find an idea?

Many aspiring entrepreneurs faced the problem of where to find an idea for a business. It seems that all successful business solutions are already used by other companies. However, it is not.

To be convinced of this, it is enough to turn around and pay attention to the world around us and its problems. In almost every field there is something that needs to be improved or optimized, in particular with the help of IT. Applications that help people with disabilities to be creative, a platform for teaching physics to applicants – the list of examples can be long. The more important the problem and the more people who face it, the bigger the business can be built around it.

If looking around, a novice entrepreneur does not see such a problem, this is not the time to despair. It is worth reading magazines and specialized websites, looking for information about what startups are being launched now in the world. Perhaps this will give you an idea of ​​your own. 

It is also necessary to constantly communicate with people, and find out what problems they have. Maybe the person who is going to start a startup has an illustrator friend who has long dreamed of “smart” glasses that will allow him to make virtual sketches using his voice. 

Finally, the future entrepreneur himself may specialize in some area – logistics, finance, advertising – and he himself has a problem that needs to be solved. This is the time to act.

Where to look for people?

The idea is only half the battle. As some professionals say, a great team with a good idea is more likely to succeed than a good team with a great idea.

In the first stage, it is important who will become the co-founder of the company. Ideally, people should complement each other. So, one specialist can be well versed in business, and the second – in the technical part. This will increase your chances of success.

However, the further the startup moves forward, the more important it is to attract new specialists. Indeed, at the start, any sudden business trip or illness of one of the co-founders can cross out all undertakings.

Company philosophy

When a team is created, it is necessary to build relationships within it – the internal philosophy of the future company. This can help to avoid a lot of problems and misunderstandings in the future.

Some people prefer to create a strict hierarchy from the very beginning. Some startup founders look too tough, guru leaders who demand the best of themselves and others. In this case, you need to be prepared for the fact that not everyone wants to work in such a startup.

Some companies, on the contrary, build the most horizontal system, where programmers can know how things are going with potential customers, and salespeople receive information about all technical difficulties and a roadmap for solving them.

From prototype to product

An IT startup can move faster than manufacturing-related companies. Although in each case the situation is different. Sometimes people make a product whose time has not yet come.

Turning an idea into a prototype should not be a closed process. You should not become perfectionists and try to present the finished product to the public right away. Most likely, there will be problems that the team simply does not take into account.

On the contrary, it is necessary to constantly show each new iteration of the future product to potential users and customers. At first, it can be friends and acquaintances of startups. Then a wider circle of people. When the main principle is tested, it is necessary to move on to creating an MVP.  It should contain all the main parts of the future product:

• buttons;
• forms;
• color palette.

However, it does not have to be the actual final product.

Once the MVP is ready, it also needs to be shown to potential clients. You may need more than one prototype, but several different ones. There is nothing wrong. Many mistakes can be avoided if you conduct high-quality communication with customers and deeply understand the issues by conducting many problematic interviews with potential consumers of the product.

Final thoughts

A startup is a business project that is usually at the idea or development stage of an MVP – a minimally viable product that can satisfy some market needs. Startups are often created based on the needs of people that no one has yet managed to satisfy, while small businesses reproduce current consumption patterns. If you are thinking about establishing a startup, but don’t have an idea, a team, or knowledge of how to manage it, cooperate with specialists