Techtalk for fashtech - 10 tech tips for software startups
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The document outlines ten essential tech tips for software startups in the fashion technology sector, emphasizing the importance of starting small and validating business cases with minimal coding. It advocates for leveraging existing platforms and tools, using agile development processes, and prioritizing a positive company culture. Key suggestions include automating only when necessary, hiring adaptable team members, and maintaining a focus on experimentation and innovation.
Techtalk for fashtech - 10 tech tips for software startups
- 1. Techtalk for fashtech - 10 tech tips for software startups
- 2. Timo Tuominen @tehmou FABUTEC CTO 10 years in software Fashion Crowdfunding Social media platforms Banking Apps
- 3. 1. Code is difficult It’s not just you
- 4. • Software is expensive • Good developers are difficult to find • … and difficult to keep • Endless updates, maintenance, bug fixes
- 5. But I want to make fashtec, what to do?
- 6. Starting small Validate business case with as little code as possible (pre-MVP)
- 7. 2.The best code is no code
- 8. • Need a way to track orders? Google docs • Getting the latest prices from another website? Open your web browser every morning • Delivery service? Do you have a driver’s license? • Email notifications? Send emails
- 9. 3.The second best code is someone else’s code
- 10. • Shopify / Wix / Squarespace / Wordpress • Contentful / Prismic CMS • Indiegogo / Kickstarter • At this stage investors are usually more interested in metrics than how much of code generated!
- 12. 4. Automate only when needed Wait for positive problems
- 13. • Don’t be ashamed to do things manually behind the scenes • Too many customers to handle things manually? That’s great, now is the time to make it easier! • The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is always less than you would think • You will have to make unreasonable compromises
- 14. Growing bigger Establish processes, start hiring people
- 15. 5. Use Agile processes Read a book about Scrum
- 16. • Develop in one or two week sprints • Stop after every sprint to reflect what could be improved • Keep a backlog of concrete things to do and estimate their relative sizes
- 17. 6. Use analytics Measure your success
- 18. • Think carefully what your success is in numbers • Set up funnels of what you want the users to do • Google Tag Manager, Crazy egg, Flurry, etc.
- 20. 6. Hire people who can learn No beard necessary
- 21. • Ask them to explain (hobby) projects in detail • Do not worry if they do not have experience in the exact technology you were thinking about • You will to have spend a lot of time with the first people you hire! • Barista degree is a bonus
- 22. Scaling up State of art of software
- 23. 8. Establish roles and positive culture
- 24. • People working for you want to grow, help them do it • Draw weekly smileys of how every feels • Give responsibility and freedom of decision - even if you disagree • Maintain accountability across organisation
- 25. 9. Nine developers do not make a baby in one month
- 26. • Even if you have money it’s still really slow and hard • The difference between a £5k and £50k app might be only nice animations and good UX • The more people the more needed interactions, focus on getting the best of the best • Software is ideally created by a tightly focused team
- 27. 10. Experiment and have fun
- 28. • Stagnation and “playing it safe” are the worst enemies of technology companies • Amazon used to be a book seller with a cool cloud infrastructure • Samsung started as a noodle company • When you stop doing crazy stuff the best people get bored and leave