There is an unspoken rule: to launch a startup, you need to build a
product, and to do that you need someone that can write code.
Whether that means chasing down a technical co-founder, learning to
code, or even building that "Lean MVP" - the conventional wisdom is that
without tech abilities you're nothing more than a dude (or dudette)
with a Powerpoint.
A growing number of startups, however, are quietly disproving this assumption.
They're getting their first customers with minimal technology, and
often no code at all. Instead of building fancy technology from the
outset, they're hacking together inexpensive online tools such as online
forms, drag-and-drop site builders, advanced Wordpress plugins, and
eCommerce providers.
They're jumping right in to serve customers in any way possible - heading right for their first paying customers.
Most importantly, unlike the majority of their peers, by the time
they start building a product, they already have a humming business.
How are they doing it?
Focus on Serving Customers Instead of Building a Product
Successful founders all know one thing: it's more important to serve a customer than it is to build a product.
This is the mindset you must get into when you start out. Most
entrepreneurs are narrowly set on building a product that they lose
sight of the real goal - to solve a problem for a customer.
Or, as Ben Yoskovitz eloquently put it,
"Customers don’t care how you get things done – just that you get it done and solve their pain."
Replace Technology with People
Think about the hardest part of the business you want to build. The
part that would require the most complex development - the true
innovation that no one else does.
Can a real person perform these tasks manually?
For many startups, this was the secret to massive success:
David Quail is a super talented software engineer, with one exit
already under his belt. He wanted to solve his ultimate annoyance:
scheduling meetings over email.
David's original idea was to build an artificial intelligence tool
that could read an email chain and automatically schedule the event. But
this would take months if not years.
His shortcut to launching a business ASAP? He simply set up an email
address for his customers to "CC" that forwarded to him, and did the
work manually at first to prove that customers were willing to pay.
Over time he automated more of
the service - but not before he already knew there was clear demand and was making revenues.
Another example - a marketplace:
Tastemaker is a marketplace
connecting interior designers with homeowners for small design gigs.
They started by contacting interior designers and building a physical
list of those interested in extra work.
They then asked their network who needed help with interior design - and made the connection, processing payment themselves.
The Tastemaker founders used pen and paper to solve their customer's
needs and prove the market. They then built their online platform in
parallel (which eventually became their core business).
You've probably heard many famous stories like ZenLike and
Tastemaker. They range all the way from companies like Groupon or Yipit
(raised $7.3M), to Aardvark (acquired by Google) and Diapers.com
(acquired by Amazon).
What did they have in common starting out? At the core of many
businesses, instead of fancy algorithms, you would have found the
founders themselves, like the "man behind the curtain" in the Wizard of
Oz, working hard, acting as the secret sauce.
Use These Off the Shelf Solutions
While your core tech might in fact be a service starting out, you can
wrap it with an online presence, digital interactions, and the
administration of a true technology business.
In short, you can act, look, and smell like a fully automated online
company that employs a posse of software developers and an in-house
graphic designer.
* Use e-commerce services to accept payments and even subscriptions using "hosted payment pages" - requiring zero code.
* Let your customers interact with you through sophisticated online
forms you can publish (and brand) using drag-and-drop editors.
* Build a support knowledge base and community forum with
Zendesk,
Uservoice, or
GetSatisfaction
* Use copy-paste widgets from around the web like contact forms, Skype buttons, live chat, etc.
* Use simple-yet-sophisticated website creators to publish your
central website and glue together all the tools into one presence.
Strikingly and
Unbounce are great for beautifully designed landing pages.
I could go on listing these forever (well,
I did here). As you can see, the web is full of tools that let you conjure entire features with the click of a mouse.
The key is to always search for what you want before reinventing the
wheel. Chances are someone has already thought of how to make your life
easier.
The Hidden Treasures of Wordpress
To most of us, the Wordpress brand connotes a free blog, or a simple way to create a content website for non-technical folks.
But the true magic of Wordpress is the ability to extend its
functionality to create many kinds of web platforms - while keeping your
hands (mostly) free of code.
Wordpress itself is free, and you can purchase inexpensive plugins
that automatically transform your website into a membership site,
ecommerce portal, social network, and even daily deals site.
Instead of spending thousands on a designer, you can buy a high-end
theme for around $40 and customize it to your brand. If you have a bit
more saved up, you can hire a local Wordpress expert for a few hours of
their time for small custom tweaks and a personal tutorial. And, if you
don't want hosting headaches, you can use
WPEngine (hi, Jason!).
Wordpress is one of the most incredible tools on the web for
non-technical entrepreneurs. There's a bit of a learning curve,
depending on how you want to use it, but definitely a faster option than
finding a developer or learning to code.
It puts fate into your own hands.
Put It All Together
Go back to that core customer need, and think of how to satisfy it by
any means. Now how can you make that solution accessible? What would
the process be for finding you and reaching out? How can you charge and
provide support?
Chances are good that you can pull it all off yourself. If not,
consider starting a bit smaller than you originally imagined, if only to
start generating revenues today and fund your development.
Once you have your first few customers, you'll have a very good
picture of where your business is going, and what technology you
absolutely need to build - and very clear motivation.
Does working this way pay off?
Tech companies started this way have sold for between $50-$540
million, or have gone public. They are growing at double digit rates.
And they launched in a matter of weeks or months - not years.
If this approach makes you uncomfortable - that's great. It's a sign
that you're learning to think differently. However, entrepreneurs
presented with this approach often have similar gut feelings:
What Will Investors Think?
They will think you are clever, resourceful, flexible, persistent - and know how to focus on the right things.
To quote one of our investors, Len Brody, on his portfolio: "I call
them the workaround culture... [they] just work around anything - and
you have to."
If for any reason they are put off by your creativity and resourcefulness, then you're not talking to the right investors.
What About Scaling?
This is a very understandable fear. It's a scary situation to think,
"Great, we got our customers, and now we're going to disappoint them."
Don't let that thought paralyze you. Growth is rarely if ever a black
and white, rocket-ship-spike. It's a steady process that leaves you
plenty of time to transition between solutions.
In other words, there's a spectrum between do-it-yourself and
full-robot-revolution. You might hire a few people in the meantime (with
the revenue that their hire would naturally generate) while also
developing a scalable technology.
As most entrepreneurs
will tell you the way you get your first 50 customers certainly won't be the way you get your first 5,000.
For those of you feeling held back by your lack of technical skills -
or deep in development muck - ask yourself, what can you do *today* to
get your first customer.
Give it a shot. In contrast to paying a developer, you don't have a
lot to lose. Do whatever you need to do to get your business going.
Remember: you're not here to build a product - you're here to solve a problem. And you certainly have the skills to do that.
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Want more specifics, examples, and tools? Check out my newest Skillshare course,
How to Launch Your Startup Without Any Code (use code ONSTRTPS for %15 off)
This is a guest post by Tal Raviv. He is the co-founder of
Ecquire.