Wait, don’t build that backend just yet!
One of my resolutions for this year is to begin writing, something I have been procrastinating for a while now. To start with, I have decided to write a few posts which I hope will help entrepreneurs, especially first-timers. This post is about ideas to quickly build solutions without too much development.
The over-engineering trap
Entrepreneurs building tech-driven start ups often get carried away with the infinite possibilities that technology offers to deliver value. The more they think, the more features they come up with. The more features they feel are must-haves, the more complicated the product becomes. This is a trap.
I use a simple matrix to decide the development strategy (sorry, MBA habits die hard):
Generally, any product/service has just one core value proposition. Everything else is either good-to-have or outright unnecessary. Only if tech is a core differentiator, invest time in building a solution. An example would be Instagram where the photo filters tech delivers the wow.
Several startups believe themselves to be in quadrant 1 or 4 when, in reality, they are in quadrant 2 or 3, hence wasting precious time. In most businesses, technology is an enabler and evolves into a differentiator only at scale. Example, if you are building a hyperlocal delivery business, the core value proposition is lightning quick delivery. Building fancy delivery tracking, ERP integrations and reporting is avoidable. Most of these tasks can be handled by setting up simple processes which can be quickly adopted and adapted as required.
My guiding mantra is:
“Stretch the process till product becomes unavoidable”
Trimming the product fat
Most tech startups (food tech, e-commerce, etc.) have a substantial service component. While you may not want to compromise a lot on the user facing aspects of the product, there is often a lot of scope to trim the fat in the backend. Setting up servers, finalizing data structures, writing APIs can take up a lot of time for most teams to get started. Here’s an alternate approach you may want to consider.
A service-oriented solution generally has two key components:
- a state engine to manage workflows
- a notification engine to share updates
There are plethora of ready-to-use web services which can be mixed and matched to build workflows and notifications. One of my favourite solutions to build backend solutions is Google Suite. You can also look at Asana which is incredibly useful for team collaboration and internal workflows. I also loved Parse (shuttered by Facebook), especially for mobile backend. The idea is to use what’s readily available and hit the market as fast as possible to validate your idea.
Google Apps as a backend
Apart from offering a reliable mail service and multiple collaboration tools, Google Apps can also be used to build very powerful and versatile solutions with minimal coding effort.
If you are just starting to create your product, I highly recommend using Google Forms as a data input tool, Google Sheets as a data store and GMail as a notification engine.
In my next post, I will delve into a practical implementation of state and notification engines using Google Apps with minimal coding.
I would love to connect with you to hear your thoughts
