{"id":19918,"date":"2023-06-09T14:12:20","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T14:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finoit.com\/?p=19918"},"modified":"2023-09-15T10:50:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T10:50:06","slug":"building-software-startups-faster-reducing-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finoit.com\/blog\/building-software-startups-faster-reducing-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Fueling Software Startup Success: 9 Proven Ways to Build Fast, Cut Costs, and Maximize Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s say you have 3 developers and a pile of backlog in the product roadmap. You know time is of the essence and time to market will be very critical for gaining that traction you need to survive.<\/p>\n

But how do you do it with 3 developers?<\/p>\n

If somehow, you happen to build, you know the quality will get messed up and technical debt will come back to haunt you later.<\/p>\n

Having been part of 100+ startups’ development efforts and built a couple of my own, I thought to list out some of the most critical aspects that I have seen playing an important role in building fast, reducing the cost, and driving scale.<\/p>\n

Niche down<\/h3>\n

This is a mistake most founders starting up are aware of and yet happen to make!<\/p>\n

Except when software founders come from a specific vertical or sector, they struggle to identify the focus area when building the envisioned product. The best way is always to niche down and build a targeted product rather than building a serve-all, it-has-everything product.<\/p>\n

Indeed, entrepreneurs are inspired by the idea that may have a broad application for a targeted industry, so, they do not tend to niche down. But to ensure a sustainable presence in the competitive scenario, niching down and riveting focus on core offerings can prove highly valuable.<\/p>\n

Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of IBI Spikes Fund while in this context remarks, \u201cDo you want to go make a CRM that anyone could use, or do you want to make a CRM for dentists?\u201d He further adds \u201cToday you definitely want to make a CRM for dentists and the niche-is the better. If you focus on solving particular problems that dentists have, you won\u2019t face competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

These words nicely capture the entire essence of building products for a niche, which is essential to register steady growth. Focusing on a niche may not necessarily make you a unicorn, but then you can never ever imagine becoming a unicorn without narrowing it down to a niche.<\/p>\n

Build in pieces<\/h3>\n

Startups that build a prototype turn out to be much more successful. No matter how clear your idea and vision may be, building a prototype is the quickest and easiest way to identify and fill missing gaps. This applies equally well to both scenarios – when you are developing a disruptive product or a repurposed solution.<\/p>\n

We all know the benefits of MVP development for startups<\/a> and while no entrepreneur is immune to making mistakes, prototyping allows you to do so at a lower cost before making more time and financial commitments.<\/p>\n

Father of Visual Basic, Alan Cooper has famously quoted \u201cThe value of a prototype is in the education it gives you, not in the code itself.\u201d By education, Cooper refers to the value that gets added to every process linked to product development, surpassing the traditional value that it adds to product features.<\/p>\n

For instance, prototyping helps in creating a positive impression in front of investors, as you can demonstrate your value proposition through the proposed solution. Hence, your prototype doesn\u2019t just help refine and validate ideas, but it helps you sell your vision.<\/p>\n

The project scope conondrum<\/h3>\n

\u201cIt is the uncontrolled expansion to product or project scope without adjustments to time, cost, and resources,\u201d says Oliver Yarborough, a speaker, author, and trainer on project management, when talking in the context of project scope creep.<\/p>\n

A solid understanding of project scope and technical know-how of managing it is what entrepreneurs need to possess. Not being clear about the project scope can mean that you are vulnerable to distractions that the competition or prospecting happens to cause.<\/p>\n

How?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simple, getting overwhelmed, you incorporate features that sound or feel like a need but are just bells and whistles and hardly add any value or offer any competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

With clear project scope, iterations take place in a systematic manner, and there are no last-minute changes. You follow the project timelines and your budget doesn\u2019t overshoot.<\/p>\n

Choose the development approach wisely<\/h3>\n

When the question of choosing a development methodology arises, most people would shout out loud- GO AGILE.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s because the benefits of using agile development for startups<\/a> are widely known. But is it really always a good fit for startups of all types?<\/p>\n

As a startup, you need to consider several aspects to judge the fitment of a development approach to your project idea. As such, the all-encompassing capabilities of agile do not always hold answers.<\/p>\n

As startups operate under tight constraints of time and budget, the waterfall can provide an advantage, whereas Agile is more suitable to scenarios where businesses are ready to participate in the continuous loop of offering feedback and rendering changes to the product.<\/p>\n

In other words, as startups turn into mature enterprises, they can consider shifting their development strategy, moving from waterfall to agile. In its nascent years, Microsoft relied on Waterfall, as the model provided a linear structure for organizing and controlling the project. It was useful for stable requirements where development teams went on adding incremental changes to the core functionality. The information system providers of the U.S. Department of Defense, too, followed a precise Waterfall process.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, projects with inevitable uncertainties and changes in design, propelled the move towards Agile principle, involving methodologies such as Scrum, Lean, and RAD.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, both Waterfall and Agile are viable methodologies, depending on the stage of the enterprise life cycle (ELC) that a startup reaches.<\/p>\n

The Code<\/h3>\n

Code optimization is one crucial element of the entire coding value chain that is vital to speeding up code delivery. Let\u2019s see how Airbnb, today\u2019s famous online marketplace, as a startup, optimized its code to build a stable, scalable, and reliable platform.<\/p>\n

As Airbnb\u2019s user base continued growing, it realized the need to achieve faster page load times and achieve scalability. The solution lay in the codebase.<\/p>\n

To optimize the code, Airbnb carried out a series of actions. The first step was focused on improving developer efficiency. Next, efforts were concentrated on optimizing the debugging time and streamlining critical code paths.<\/p>\n

In general, following certain best practices can help in meticulously handling the code optimization process. These practices include:<\/p>\n

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  • Reviewing code in small batches<\/li>\n
  • Using automation for review<\/li>\n
  • Conducting multiple checks before submitting code for review<\/li>\n
  • Having a code review checklist<\/li>\n
  • Having metrics to measure code effectiveness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    With a standard process set for code review and optimization, you expedite the production of clean code, reduce the need for rework, and synchronize code well with the documentation.<\/p>\n

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    Need Help With Your Code Optimization?<\/h2>\r\n\t\t\t
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    • Proven<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t
    • Transparent<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t
    • Dependable<\/li> \r\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\r\n\t\t\t