Tech Startup Founders: What Not to Do
Starting your own tech company happens because you have a passion for your industry, you’re a natural innovator, and you want to see your products or services make a real impact in the world. Sadly, there’s no handy manual that tells you the right way to start your company — or what you should avoid. Running a business day-to-day is not the same as conceiving it, and without a great team around you, your company could start hemorrhaging capital and losing interest from stakeholders. However, with the right advice and expertise, you can find out what pitfalls to avoid. Here are three things you shouldn’t do as a tech startup founder.
1. Second-Guess Your Decisions
Once you start engaging with the wider business world of your chosen industry, you’ll be influenced by so many factors. You’ll see great marketing campaigns by your competitors. You’ll have some people saying they love your offering, while others don’t get it — or worse, ignore it completely. With so much conflicting input, it can be easy to start second-guessing your decisions on where to take your tech offering next. Our advice? Don’t.
You are the person with the vision for your product or service, and you know exactly how you want it to progress. By all means, take advice on how to get there, and never ignore the opinions of your trusted team members and partners. However, as a founder, your decisions will be respected. Approach business decisions with confidence. Make sure you have good data and good advice. Then have faith in your decision-making process — you got this far, after all!
2. Wait to Be Perfect
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a perfectionist — unless it prevents you from taking action. Failing to engage with stakeholders, potential clients, or even investors because you’re worried your product is not quite right could mean you never take the steps forward necessary for business growth.
Whichever tech industry you excel in, you know that the market is always changing, growing, and adapting to emerging technologies. That means that no single offering is ever going to be perfect for everyone. That’s why we update, upgrade, and change in line with business and buyer requirements and the needs of the market.
Instead of waiting for everything to be perfect, consider practical and proven ways to set goals, such as the MBO framework. This means Management by Objectives and ensures your business decisions and management style are always in line with your business goals and vision.
If you’re always waiting for your venture to be “just right” before you go to market, you won’t ever go to market. Take that leap and trust that the features and benefits of your products or services will speak for themselves.
3. Do It All by Yourself
As you bring your amazing tech offerings to life, it’s natural to have more questions than answers about how you progress in terms of marketing, attracting investors, and even branding. The important thing is to realize that you don’t have to answer those questions by yourself. Even if you don’t have a full executive team, as many entrepreneurial ventures tend not to, you can hire in fractional executive officers like CMOs to grant your team the expertise it needs to move forward. A marketing expert can help you create your brand, giving you more opportunities for pitching to investors and gaining visibility in ever-more crowded markets.
Final Word
The most successful tech startup founders recognize when they need help — they don’t try to do everything themselves, and they excel at creating meaningful partnerships with those who can bring their business vision to life. Here at Arch Collective, we’re excited to talk to tech startups about:
Creating B2B marketing strategies that organically increase your revenues and boost your brand recognition.
Building a full tech startup marketing plan that meets your unique budget requirements.
Establishing a definitive timeline for when your marketing materials get released.
Consulting other marketing professionals to access niche expertise for more successful campaigns.
Thinking critically about your business and business goals to determine what marketing strategies will work best for your particular products and services.
If you’ve made the smart decision to onboard the right experts to help grow your tech startup, book a 15-minute introductory call with a member of the team at Arch Collective who can connect you with the right freelancer for your requirements.
Need more tech startup up advice and inspiration? Follow us on Instagram and subscribe to Arch Collective's newsletter.
