Starting a Tech Business E-Book

Alex Cowan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 459

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The non-technical guide to building a booming tech-enabled business Thinking of starting a technology-enabled business? Or maybe you just want to increase your technology mojo so you can do your job better? You do not need to learn programming to participate in the development of today's hottest technologies. But there are a few easy-to-grasp foundation concepts that will help you engage with a technical team. Starting a Tech Business explains in practical, actionable terms how to * formulate and reality test new ideas * package what you learn into frameworks that are highly actionable for engineers * understand key foundation concepts about modern software and systems * participate in an agile/lean development team as the 'voice of the customer' Even if you have a desire to learn to program (and I highly recommend doing whatever unlocks your 'inner tinkerer'), these foundation concepts will help you target what exactly you want to understand about hands-on technology development. While a decade ago the barriers to creating a technology-enabled business required a pole vault, getting started today only requires a determined step in the right direction. Starting a Tech Business supplies the tools prospective entrepreneurs and business enterprises need to avoid common pitfalls and succeed in the fast-paced world of high-tech business. Successful execution requires thoughtful, evidence-based product formulation, well-articulated design, economic use of systems, adaptive management of technical resources, and empathetic deployment to customers. Starting a Tech Business offers practical checklists and frameworks that business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals can apply to any tech-based business idea, whether you're developing software and products or beginning a technology-enabled business. You'll learn: 1. How to apply today's leading management frameworks to a tech business 2. How to package your product idea in a way that's highly actionable for your technical team 3. How to ask the right questions about technology selection and product architecture 4. Strategies to leverage what your technology ecosystem has to offer 5. How to carefully define the roles on your team, and then effectively evaluate candidates 6. The most common disconnects between engineers and business people and how to avoid them 7. How you can apply process design to your tech business without stifling creativity 8. The steps to avoid the most common pitfalls tech founders encounter Now is one of the best times to start a technology-enabled business, and anyone can do it with the right amount and kind of preparation. Starting a Tech Business shows you how to move a product idea to market quickly and inexpensively--and to tap into the stream of wealth that a tech business can provide.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Who Should Read This? Why?

What Is a Technology System?

Leveraging Industry Shifts

What Will I Get out of These Chapters?

Who Is the Author?

Chapter 1: The Idea

Conception

Reality Testing

Footprint

Platforms

Engaging Moonlighters

Beta Customers

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 2: The Strategy

What Strategy?

Squaring the Four Ps

Company Strategy

More on Catalysts

Iterative Management

Bringing It All Together

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 3: The Product

Thinking Like a Designer

User Stories

Using the MVC Framework for a High-Level Design

The View

The Model

The Controller

Iterative Learning and Design

Pulling It All Together

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 4: The Architecture

Industrial Revolution 2.0

Designing an Architecture

Understanding Integration

Architecture Piece Parts at Enable Quiz

Evaluating Piece Parts

Understanding Open Source

Understanding Development Tools

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 5: The Team

Who Are These Software People?

Roles and Skill Sets at Enable Quiz

Evaluating New Hires

Evaluating Third-Party Firms

Motivation

Going Offshore

Contracting

Internal Tools

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 6: Getting to Beta

From Here to There

Planning at Enable Quiz

The Reality

Documentation

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 7: Beta!

Process, Process, Process

Process Example: Enable Quiz

You Are My Beta

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Chapter 8: Scaling the Business

The Launch: Is It Working?

Partnerships

Focus, Focus, Focus

The Chasm and the Hockey Stick

Managing Feedback at Enable Quiz

Learning When (and How) to Say No

Post-Mortems

Scaling

What Now?

Checklist

Specialty Reading by Topic

Index

Copyright © 2012 by Alex Cowan. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Cowan, Alex, 1975–

Starting a tech business : a practical guide for anyone creating or designing applications or software / Alex Cowan.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-20555-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-22853-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-24077-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-26568-0 (ebk)

1. Computer software industry—Management. 2. Computer software—Development. 3. Business—Computer programs. 4. Computer industry—Management. 5. New business enterprises. I. Title.

HD9696.63.A2S73 2012

005.068'1—dc23

2011047545

Acknowledgments

I'd like to thank my reviewers for their help in improving the book: James Brewer, Neil Brewster, Matt Chagan, JoAnn Christiansen, Bruce Cowan, Michael Elisofon, Howard Freidman, Lii Ling Khoo, Jessica Miller, Lee Miller, Madison Mount, Kathleen Hayes Onieal, David Rosenthal, and Nick Vermeer. I'd also like to thank the team at Wiley for their insight, hard work, and patience.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone else who made the book possible. You know who you are.

Introduction

Abdulrahman Al-zanki, a 14-year-old Kuwaiti boy, is on his way to a million downloads of his iPhone application “Doodle Destroy.” Abdulrahman used ready-made game-authoring software and sold his product through the iTunes store to a prequalified audience of millions. His first version took “about two weeks.”1 Though Abdulrahman is not your average 14-year-old, the point is that he didn't need access to vast development and distribution resources to achieve success in a tech business. The opportunities are real, and they are available to you now.

Who Should Read This? Why?

The fact that you've picked up this book means that you likely have an interest in starting a technology-enabled business, which may mean launching a new company or reengineering your existing company. The point is that you have an idea, you wonder whether you should pursue it, and, if you do, how you'll go about it.

This book's premise is the following:

1. Anyone can start a technology-enabled business.

2. Now is one of the best times in recent history to start a technology-enabled business.

3. Succeeding in technology-enabled businesses requires a certain amount and kind of preparation.

This book provides that preparation.

It's been obvious for years that technology is transforming existing businesses and creating new ones. Technology-enabled businesses offer one of the today's best available ways to create wealth, and the ability to apply technology is what separates an industry's winners from its losers. The exciting part is that while a decade ago the barriers to creating a technology-enabled business required a pole vault, they've now lowered to where a determined step in the right direction is enough to get started.

The key for a businessperson is to know what you want and be able to describe it. The technology required for your particular business may be as simple as an iPhone application or as complex as a web of interconnected subsystems. Regardless, successful execution follows a set of established patterns requiring the following:

Rigorous but adaptive business planning

Careful product formulation

Well-articulated design

Economic use of systems

Adaptive management of technical resources

Empathic deployment to customers

Starting a Tech Business provides these tools to any businessperson.

Building a technology system and delivering it to the customer is cheaper and easier than ever. While creating a technology system meant grinding out a massive (and expensive) code base in years past, nowadays it's more about assembling the right components and the most important component is simply a good idea. If you've read this far, you probably have that or know where to get it. Innovations in software delivery have simplified distribution for new technology. Platforms like the iPhone and Salesforce.com2 provide ready access to qualified buyers while eliminating the complexity previously associated with installation of new software components. Where systems development was once the domain of dedicated techies and companies with deep pockets, it has become accessible to the well-prepared entrepreneur with a good idea.

Computer technology has completed a kind of arc over the past 50 years, returning to a place that makes it accessible to the untrained tinkerer. There were many novices in computing's early days; and though experts dealt with the specialized hardware, the lines between user and developer blurred. As a result, many individuals tinkered with these new machines. Over the next few decades, the computer business grew and deep subspecializations emerged. Specialization has been the norm up until recently; however, the underlying power of available computing resources has allowed software/systems developers to operate at increasingly higher levels of abstraction. This means that it's less important to understand the lower-level details of the system. Instead, the casual tinkerer can use fairly intuitive tools to prototype and build new technologies. The chapters that follow provide several examples of this.