Starting a Tech Business: A Practical Guide for Anyone Creating or Designing Applications or Software

Checklist

At the end of each chapter, we'll review a checklist. Naturally, you don't need to be able to answer each of these questions to read on, but having thought through these will help you move on to the next chapter.

Can you answer each of the following five questions for your technology-enabled business?

1. What is my product and why does my buyer (user) want it?

2. User Profile: Do you have a detailed, empathic description of your buyers/users? Write as much as you can about your audiences and how you foresee them using your product. Who are they? Where does your product fit into their job? What's important to them? What training/perspective will they have when they sit down to use it? Samples for these items are available on Alexandercowan.com/busplan.

3. What are the key assumptions I need to prove so I know this product is commercially viable? How will I prove it quickly and cheaply?

4. What does my product do versus not do? What are the adjacent products and systems and how does my product fit in with those? How do I need to work with those partners to deliver a comprehensive solution to my target customer?

5. How do I plan to launch this technology-enabled business? Is it a project within my existing company? Will I be building it myself, bootstrapping it, and so forth?

6. If you're using moonlighters, do you have a structured set of deal parameters and expectations?

7. Who are some potential beta customers? Who are the best potential beta customers?

You'll ...