Why you should start learning coding, and build your MVP on your own

Note : I will be focusing on ideas based around websites, and web applications. If your MVP is something else, then you will not find this article very helpful.

If you are interested in tech entrepreneurship, chances are that you have faced this problem : you have a great idea with a ton of potential, but, you have no idea how to actually build your product. So, you start looking for the elusive tech co-founder, someone who can make your idea into a reality.

However, as you have probably found out, this is really hard. There are several problems that you have to overcome when it comes to finding the right tech co-founder. Good programmers in general are short in supply, so the first challenge is actually finding a person who has the right skill-set. And even if you do find the perfect person, you have to convince them that they should partner with you. This is also challenging, as the great techies usually get these type of offers a lot.

Now, if you are a seasoned entrepreneur with connections, skills, and money, or you are just someone with great aptitudes for sales, marketing and user acquisitions, then finding a techie to build your idea will be easy. But, if you are a person just starting out, with no experience and no money, as with many young entrepreneurs, then this becomes exponentially harder.

A few months ago, I just knew how to calculate the area of a triangle using Java. About 20 days ago, I built and launched http://professorsreviewbd.com, which is essentially a clone of ratemyprofessors for my country, since the latter isn’t available to us. In this piece, I will try to convince you to take the plunge, and start learning, so that you can build your MVP on your own, and jump-start your business.

Lets begin.

Anyone can do it

Seriously, I am not trying to be all inclusive just for the sake of it. I genuinely mean this. If you are willing to work very hard, be persistent for months, and provided that your idea is moderately simple, then you will be rewarded with the ability to build your MVP. Now, if you are thinking about building a website which calculates the speed of SpaceX rockets in real time, then obviously you are missing the point of this, but you will be able to build most of your simple to moderately complex ideas if you stick with it.

Its hard, but definitely possible

Learning anything new is difficult, especially technical things. Its very easy to feel overwhelmed at the beginning and quit. But here’s the thing, I believe that 90% of people fail because they quit too soon, not because its beyond their capabilities. There are only a few things which are beyond an average person’s capability, and building and launching most websites and apps is not. If you persevere, things will get easier. I can guarantee it.

Realize that learning these things are now easier than ever. There are myriads of tutorials, books, online boot-camps, and videos out there which will make your life a lot easier. Plus, modern frameworks such Rails, Django, and Laravel ensure that you can jump right into building your web application without worrying too much. I will provide a detailed guideline in a follow up article, with links to tutorials and such.

There are many unexpected benefits that you will not see coming

Learning to properly code has been one of the best decisions of my life — I know what I want from the future, and I can actively work to make it happen. There is a huge difference between telling your friends about your amazing idea, and actually building a product that is used by people everyday.

I can bring most of my ideas to life, and that feels amazing. Apart from maintaining my website, and coding for my clients, I can allocate my free time to develop and test new ideas. For instance, we are thinking about building an online marketplace where students can exchange or sell their old books and stationery. Any new idea I have is now possible product or service, not just a thought I will forget.

It will make you a better entrepreneur

Knowing the product you are selling will make you a better entrepreneur. Your vision will be clearer, and you will be able to communicate better with your tech team once you expand. Plus, you will earn a lot more respect from your developers. Understanding the limitations of time, technology and implementation will only make your job easier. Some of the best tech entrepreneurs were themselves programmers at first, before they moved to management positions when the company expanded.

Hopefully, I have been able to convince you to start learning right now and build your idea into a reality. I will be writing a follow-up to this, where I will the parts of web development, and provide a road map and tutorials, which will allow you to get your product up and running within a few months.

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