Things to know before starting a startup
Originally published at HappyChases
Since I have been working with/on startups since the last couple of years, I have noticed that many of the new-comers invest a lot of money before looking for another free or cheap solutions. So here it is “Things to know before starting a startup”.
The Problem
I will share the case study of one of my friend. Due to privacy reasons, I will not be able to share the original name but for the post let’s assume that the name of the startup is Abc. So my friend X, Y, and Z got an idea. So they did a bit of market research like talking to probable customers and clients. And finally, they decided to come up with a web application as a solution.
Everything seems normal right, but the next paragraph may change your mind. So, as they decided to go with a web application, they need web developers. So there are 2 options, first is outsourcing and another option is to hire developers. I personally think both are the good options, and also there are exactly equal risk factors.
So my friend decided to outsource the project to a developer. They priced it around 75000 INR. Which seems pretty normal as it involves making a dashboard for the user, for the shop and an admin panel. But what matters it is, those who are developing are they really worth it. Anyways they developed the portal and my friend launched his startup and told about the same to me.
Being a web developer and a bit tester, I guessed that it might be vulnerable. And within a few minutes, it was confirmed that SQL injection was possible in the application. And, not only me I guess any noob hacker/script kiddie would have guessed it. Well, I told about this to my friend. The developers were so noob that I literally laughed for hours seeing there OTP verification system and password being saved in plain text in DB.
The Analysis
The question is, do they really need to invest 75k INR. Or what were the possible cheap options? The possible options include looking for the developer’s profile before putting this much amount of money. I personally suggest going with freelancers for a long-term contract. You may use Freelancer to find such candidates, also you may see his previous contracts and rating by previous employers.
Alternate Solutions
Talking particularly about the cheap solutions there are many offers for startups, which may boost your startup in the initial days.
Free Solutions
Google Business: It is one of the great platforms to track your business at Google search. You may use it to list your company in Google Search. It offers many insights like what kind of queries resulted in listing your business. You may create an ad for the same. Also, there is a messaging feature which is being rolled out. It also offers 750 INR as free ad credits. Overall it is a great platform.
Facebook Page: Creating a business page for your company is a must. The reason is obvious, who doesn’t use Facebook. Also, you may engage with your customers in a very easy way. You may create posts with actions buttons. So that when they click on the post they may land in your app or website. Also, there are amazing features and benefits of having a Facebook page.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an amazing platform for professionals. And the premium tools are amazing as well. But, today let’s talk about freemium LinkedIn. Also, use your profile to connect with mentors, probable clients and people with similar mindset. You may want to follow me as well 😛
Google Analytics: I personally love Google Analytics, just put a few lines of JS in your website header and it does some amazing job. You may know the real-time traffic, the referrals, origin of traffic, mobiles used by them, OS used by the visitors etc. Overall it is one of the things which you may surely want to use in your website.
Internshala: Internshala is a platform to hire interns, you may hire interns from software developers, digital marketers to anything which you may want for your startup. Also, I assure that you will get internees for less price than another platform as most of the candidates are students and are more focused on learning than money. But I personally believe that there is no loss in praising the right candidate.
DigitalOcean: Digital Ocean is an amazing platform for getting started with any web project. It has some amazing features like load balancers, Dockers, Kubernetes etc. Also, there is an amazing offer for the readers of HappyChases. Click on this link and you will instantly get 100$ credits in your account.
MSG91: Sending SMS are one of the requirements for digital promotion of your product. And MSG91 provides 25000 free SMS to startups. You may want to have a look at this deal.
Zoho: Zoho is one of the best free email services I have ever used. It has only condition that you can not use it for promotional things. But apart from it Zoho is amazing.
WordPress: It is one of the most popular open source CMS (Content Management System). You may create your website with a few clicks. With its amazing features like drag and drop tools, you may design any good looking website or blog in minutes. HappyChases too is powered by WordPress.
and.co: It is one of the best free project management tools available. You may want to try this one for sure.
Freepik: It has the best collections of vectors, graphics. It also provides all of these resources for free with Creative Commons Licence.
Canva: All the graphics which you see on HappyChases are made with Canva. It has amazing templates, icons, tools for some quick graphics designs for website/blog. I have been using it since last 2 years. And I will personally recommend it. You may also create a logo for your brand.
Online Image Editor: It is one of the quick handy tools which I prefer. For example, you have developed an amazing graphics/logo for your brand. But Canva does not support to download it without background for free. So here is the trick. Visit this website upload the image. Now go to the Wizards tab and select Transparency button. Now select the color which you want to remove. And it will erase that color from the picture making it transperent.
Free stock photos: You may use Pexels or Unsplash for getting free stock photos for any purpose for free.
Privacy Policy Generator: Obviously, in the beginning, you don’t have money to spend on content writers. So here is one of the free privacy policy generators which you may want to use in your site. Privacy Policy will be generated butdo remember to go through all the points which you will be listing in youe sites, update it as per your need.
Terms & Conditions Generator: Same as above. You may generate it for your website but it is highly advised to go through all the points which you have listed on your website. Because one wrong thing may spoil your work. Also, remember that it follows GDPR.
Pingendo: What if you just want a simple static website to show your work/portfolio. Pingendo is a drag an drop tool to create websites/web pages with bootstrap. You just need to be able to drag and drop components. And with no coding skills too, you may create stunning web pages.
Also, if you need any technical help for your tech product do visit TechFlexa, we have won some good competitions/hackathons. You will happy for sure. Ping us at hello@techflexa.com or hello@happychases.com
The below option is only for Indian Startups/Students
Startup India: It is an amazing platform for your startup. After registering your company, create an account for your startup. Add the details and you may avail Tax Exemption profit from the Govt of India. Also, the government has amazing programs like if you are a registered startup in Startup India the govt may bear the expenses up to 1 lac INR if you want to attend any conference or similar programs abroad.
Tech4Future: It is one of the programs by govt of India to promote startups in India. If you are selected you will get an opportunity to get incubated at Japan.
If you have got an amazing Idea for your startup and looking for help TechFlexa is the right place for you. We offer IT product development, ping us at hello@happychases.com or hello@techflexa.com to learn more.
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Do share in comments how was this post. If I forget something don let me know, I will be happy to include those things as well.
