Did you know that back in 1982 the high-tech entrepreneurship rate was 60 percent in the U.S.?
You would think that with the advancements that have been made in technology during recent years that rate would have increased — or at least remained at a high level. That hasn’t exactly been the case.
By 2011, the rate of high-tech entrepreneurship fell to 38 percent. Even more disparaging is the fact that most tech startups fail within 20 months after receiving funding.
Does this mean that the tech industry is doomed? Of course not.
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of tech-industry jobs has risen from around 2.2 million to 4 million jobs from 1997 to 2012. Furthermore, according to the Kauffman Foundation, tech entrepreneurship can still pack an economic punch.
The wearable technology field, for example, is a $700 million industry. And, with both the economy and entrepreneurship on the rise, there’s still plenty of opportunities for a tech business to survive.
Defining apps in the beginning is crucial for many reasons, especially as you grow as a business. If apps are not defined, employees may turn to their own apps for computer and mobile usage, leading to Shadow IT issues that you may have to clean up later, which can be expensive to clean up in the future.
If you want to make the commitment to launching your own tech business, here are some tips for setting up a tech business from Scratch.
Mention
Before starting any business, it’s imperative that you conduct market research. Mention can be used to see what people are saying about your industry, since it aggregates user generated content from social media platforms, forums, blogs and websites in real-time. In short, you can use Mention to see if there is a buzz surrounding your particular industry.
If you notice that there is an interest in your tech product, you can continue to use Mention to discover what the online world is saying about your product and business. Mention also has the ability to share these findings with team members so that you can collaborate accordingly.
Pricing starts at $29 per month and comes with a single interface that can be used on your desktop or mobile device.
GitHub
If you’re an entrepreneur, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard of , or even used, GitHub. After all, it’s a powerful Git repository hosting service that has helped developers collaborate, review code and manage tasks with their open source projects. For example, Sam Lavigne used GitHub to create a pretty handy program that converts any text into a patent application.
With more than 20 million repositories, GitHub has more than tools to help young businesses grow. For the times that you’re on the go, GitHub does have an app so that you’ll be able to keep tabs on your project.
Wrike
When launching a business managing a project is an absolute necessity. That’s why a tool like Wrike comes in handy. With Wrike, you can collaborate with team members to assign tasks and keep track on the progress of a project. With this software you can plan product management with either Agile or Waterfall planning. And, when it’s time to market your product, you can use Wrike to establish your marketing campaign.
Another huge benefit with Wrike is that it integrates with tools like Gmail, Dropbox, Salesforce, HubSpot, GitHub, WordPress, HipChat, LinkedIn and Quickbooks, to name a few.
Wrike is free to use if your team is under five members. For larger businesses plans start at $49 per month.
Evernote
Evernote is probably one of the most useful tools for any business owner. Not only can you create shopping or to-do-lists, you can also use it to review prototypes, draw up concept sketches and collect everything from handwritten notes, and business cards to news articles and images. The Evernote Business features include a workstation for team members during brainstorming sessions or product launching. You can even convert your ideas into presentations without taking the time to create slides.
Yet another perk of Evernote is that it’s able to connect with business apps like Feedly, CloudMagic and Zapier, to name a few. The Evernote app is free to download, however, Evernote Business starts at $10 per month per user.
WeVideo
Instead of trying to explain how your product works, why not create a video that actually demonstrates it in action? With the WeVideo app, you can easily edit and share your videos with everyone from co-workers to investors to potential customers. Best of all? All of your hard work is stored on the WeVideo Cloud, so you don’t have to be concerned with eating up your mobile device’s memory. And, you even have access to reports that show you important data like how many times your video has been viewed.
The WeVideo app is free to download, but if you need something more powerful you may want to consider a Business plan that starts at $15 per month.
Image: Evernote
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
