It is consistently been observed that we always choose the latest technologies, whatever is the latest buzz in town, we want to develop our product in that technology. This is especially true if we are coming from a technology background. Having worked with big companies, reading, understanding and delivering the latest technologies to clients while on the job, we tend to bring in the same mentality in our entrepreneurial journey.
But is it right? after all, if we are paying top dollars then why should we settle for something less. Now, let us understand what may go wrong with this approach
At a very high level, there are 2 types of businesses
Technology-Based
Here the entire business sits on top of technology i.e When we search in google the keyword hits the algorithm to get the most relevant information in the most optimum way in the shortest possible time. This algorithm is the heart of the entire google search business. Similarly, we have Uber where technology is the heart of the entire business model. If you remove technology from this business there is no business case hence there is no business at all.
Technology-Enabled
Here the business itself is independent of technology. Take any manufacturing based business i.e Medicines, Soap, Biscuits etc, technology can be introduced to reduce cost, optimize resources, scale operations, reach more markets etc. but the business can still run without technology. Here if you remove technology the business is still alive and kicking.
Startups
Here there are either zero or very few customers, the business model is not mature, and the business is adapted based on the needs and inputs of the customers and hence is very dynamic in nature. Business processes are not set and it is mostly run by a few individuals.
Enterprise
Here most of the processes are in place with a very good customer base and sturdy cashflows and profits. There is a clear cut definition of roles and responsibilities with clearly defined departments.
Now, why am I sharing all this information?
Choose the technology based on the size of your organization and whether technology is the heart of your business i.e Technology-Based.
I have personally met so many startups who try to bring enterprise-level software to startups. With not even serving a single customer, they talk about Blockchain, AI, ML, Segments, NoSQL, Load balancers, Clustering and whatnot. They literally bring a tank where a gun is required. No wonder they will never ever make a killing.
Technology-Enabled businesses should only focus on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to get into the market first and try to acquire customers. Acquiring customers should be their top priority.
Minimum Viable Product
Start with whatever you have, people, skill, knowledge, money, and time and try to develop an MVP, which you can share with your initial close customers and develop and scale iteratively by the constant and continuous feedback loop. This will ensure the product is serving the right purpose and addressing the right pain points. It also helps in gaining the confidence and conviction of all the stake holders including customers who are going to be the final users of the product.
Right Technology, not Latest Technology
We have to bring in the “Right Technology” that our business and budget demand and the fact is latest technology might not be the right technology for our business. Most startups have a budget constraint unless it is funded by PEs. Even in PE funded startups, there are so many instances where they have blown out all the money in a very short period of time and have gone bankrupt.
Technology Obsolescence
It takes time for any technology to mature and be widely accepted by the industry. Unless and until the technology is widely accepted and has a thriving community, going with the latest technology is vulnerable, risky and prone to failure.
Cost
Working with the latest technology is not only costly in terms of initial development cost but the resources are also scarce. They are mostly untrained, inexperienced or cross-trained in that technology. There may be frequent changes to the codebase due to changes in functionality and maintaining the code where finding resources is difficult will add one more risk to an already long list of risks in startups.
Cash Flows
We should only focus on acquiring the first customer and many more subsequently generating a positive cash flow. If the business survives the initial days and starts generating cashflows we will have enough time to think about how to scale up things and make big moves. Making big investments out of pocket is not so satisfying, convincing and wise as using cashflows from business to reinvest, deploy and scale up operations, think about it.
Solve Real Problems, not Imaginary
Don’t think about load balancers and clustering when you are not even serving a single customer. It is a solution for a given problem, the question is are we facing that problem now. Having a high available system from day one is like solving a problem that never ever existed, additionally unnecessary costs and recurring payments have to be incurred to solve nothing. This is just one example to show how we try to solve problems that never existed or we are going to face in future.
Try to identify the real problems that we are facing now which are crucial to moving forward and are real show stoppers or blocking in nature. We may think about hundreds of things daily but not all are critical and of high priority. Our one and only focus should be to get into the market at the shortest and earliest possible time and start acquiring customers. We will have enough time to fix things, scale-up, and improvise if we keep our focus on real problems faced by our customers and our business now.