By Sharon Jones
There are a lot of people who want to get into software but who don’t have much hard experience in the field. Trying to start a software business in these conditions can seem impossible! This article will help you assess that goal and explore what approaches you could take.
The get-rich-quick myth
You may think that there is an abundance of success stories in this field. And there is an abundance of success stories, but it might not be as widespread as you think. When we hear about app designers or web developers making it big, it tends to linger long in our minds. It seems to have been such an easy road to success, right? Especially when you consider how young a lot of these people are. But none of these guys got rich “overnight”. What they developed took years of work. And besides, the huge successes make up a tiny minority. Getting into software isn’t going to get you rich any faster than other entrepreneurial pursuits.
Assessing your abilities
So you want to start a software business. What exactly do you want to be doing there? A lot of people want to start a software business purely because software workers seem to be this generation’s rock stars. (Which is an image they purposefully convey, by the way, to attract young people to the industry!) Do you want to design the software? Well, do you know anything about professional software design? Do you want to develop the software? Well, how many programming languages do you know?
Getting managerial
If you’re only looking to hire others to actually do the app building, then you need to be careful. Someone without intimate knowledge of the software industry may end up making some bad employment choices. Without certain expertise, you might end up hiring the wrong people. The best software companies have very experienced developers, designers, and testers. If you’re looking to start from the ground up, it’s best if you work with a 10x developer. You’ll have to work on the business development side of things while the coder works on building prototypes for the company. You’ll have to make sure they have best software testing tools so they can create as good a prototype as possible.
Experience or investment
Don’t know anyone with software experience? Then it’s best to start looking at getting some experience in the industry yourself. And if you don’t know how to build or test software, then that might be okay. Software companies need promoters, HR employees, accountants... Any job you could perform within the industry will give you some essential and relevant experience. Of course, what you could do is look into investing. If you have some capital, then you should hunt around for some budding entrepreneurs who have a good piece of software under their belt. Software conferences can be great for this. Crowdfunding sites are also good locations to hunt in.
Do it yourself
Of course, if you do have an idea for some software, then it might be best to get started on it yourself. Learn some coding, as well as how software is built and sold. It will take some time - but that time is going to pass anyway!
