Did you ever feel like your team is committing the same mistakes over and over? You feel that they are not moving in the right direction and you need to drive in some change to make the project development process productive.
Whether you are new to software development or you have been working in the software industry for years, you must have come across the term ‘Sprint Retrospective’. Agile development teams have made retrospective meetings quite popular.
Regardless of how good a Scrum team is, there is always some room for improvement. Since the focus of agile development is continuous improvement, a good project team sets aside a brief period at the end of each Sprint to reflect how they are doing and seeks out new ways to improve. This is called a Sprint Retrospective.
What is a Sprint Retrospective?
The term retrospective implies looking back or dealing with past events and situations.
According to the Scrum Guide, developed and sustained by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland “ the Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.”
Well, if you do not know what a Sprint is, a Sprint essentially is a time-boxed period during which a set amount of work is to be completed by the Scrum team. It is at the very heart of Scrum and agile methodologies.
The purpose of a Sprint Retrospective is to identify potential pitfalls and mistakes, evaluate the past working cycle and define actions that may improve things.
It is like a safe space for people to share honest feedback. It is an opportunity to focus on inspection and adaptation. ‘Inspect’ and ‘adapt are the twin mottos of a retrospective and they play a crucial role in making the next Sprint more productive.
Sprint retrospective plays a fundamental role in the scrum framework in agile development. During the sprint retrospective, a team discusses, what went well in the Sprint, what all can be improved and what actions shall be undertaken to improve the next Sprint.
The Value of a Sprint Retrospective
Everything that has an effect on how the Scrum team builds a product such as the practices, processes, tools and communication are open to survey and the retrospective is attended by the product owner, scrum master, development team, and optionally the stakeholders.
Based on the discussions in a retrospective, the team members execute changes and then proceed to the coming sprint with an incrementally improved process.
The best thing about a retrospective is that it happens at the very last when the sprint ends. This way fresh ideas are churned out and teased out by the whole team in the next Sprint.
Afterall, the real purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to bring about a positive change in the project, team, and organization.
What a project team plans to accomplish with a Retrospective is pretty much similar to what a football team plans to accomplish in its Monday morning tape review of the weekend’s game. The review is to evaluate how they could have defended better.
Same is the case with a retrospective, it particularly isn’t about winning the game but altering the strategy and implementations to win the next game.
Afterall, even with the best of teams, there’s always some room for improvement.
While a sprint retrospective is essentially an optimised process for teams working in an agile environment, it can be optimised for any type of team that works on a shared project.
During each Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team devises ways to improve product design & development quality by improving work processes or adapting the definition of “Done” if it is not in conflict with the product or organizational standards.
Why should you run a Sprint Retrospective?
More often than not, crucial ceremonies in agile such as the retrospective appear very mundane to project teams and as a result they do not use it to their full advantage.
There are a raft of benefits of running an agile sprint retrospective:
It creates a safe space for team members to share valuable insights and feedback. Retrospectives foster active participation, allow sharing of views and interests, and encourages the team to collaboratively arrive at a solution.
It provides a platform to document wins, celebrate success and inturn strengthens the team spirit.
The primary importance of a Sprint Retrospective is that it allows the team to identify potential pitfalls at an early stage and resolve conflict areas. With retrospectives, agile teams can continuously improve the processes by evaluating ‘what all can be improved’.
By running a retrospective, teams can easily identify small, incremental changes that can cast a huge impact on the overall product. When members share their views for improvement, they feel a sense of ownership.
Not only team members feel that their opinions are heard and respected, it also cuts through hierarchy and gives equal power to all team members.
There are many benefits of retrospectives but it is of utmost help to Project Managers. Retrospective aligns teams, keep the project on the right track and make each sprint better than the last. The end of the retrospective allows teams to commence the next sprint with a clean slate.
Difference between a Sprint Retrospective and a Sprint Review
Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective are often confused as the same thing. However, they are completely different.
Sprint Review
The idea behind working in Sprints is to produce a potentially shippable product increment.
Sprint Review is a meeting where a project team demonstrates the work that they have accomplished. During a Sprint Review meeting, the Scrum Team presents the deliverables of the current Sprint to the Product Owner. The Product Owner then reviews the product increment against the Acceptance Criteria and either accepts or rejects the User Stories.
Sprint Retrospective
In a Sprint Retrospective Meeting, the last Sprint is analysed in terms of the process followed, the tools employed, collaboration and communication mechanisms, and other aspects relevant to the subject.
The team discusses what went well in the previous Sprint, what did not go so well, with the sole aim to make improvements in the next Sprint.
Simply put, the Sprint Review focuses on the product and maximizes the business value of the previous sprints while the Sprint Retrospective focuses on the process and continuous process improvement.
The Sprint Retrospective takes place after the Sprint Review and before the next Sprint Planning. Mostly, it is a three-hour meeting for one-month Sprints.
The Scrum Master ensures that the event is conducted and the attendees understand its very purpose. Since it is an opportunity for the Scrum team to improve, ideally every participant should be present in a Retrospective.
Sprint Retrospective Process
Sprint retrospective is considered one of the most indispensable meetings in Scrum. A well done agile retrospective offers a number of benefits. Here are the five essential steps and tips to make the sprint retrospective better:
The very first step is to set the stage. Setting the environment, the tone and direction for retrospective is how you start off on the right foot.
The next step is to gather and analyze the data of previous projects to have insights into previously performed actions. It also entails creating a shared pool of information and highlighting pertinent information and events.
The third step is to identify repeated patterns and generate insights. By looking at patterns and themes, and identifying pain points and successes it becomes relatively easy to improve the process for everyone in the next Sprint.
The next stage is deciding a few issues to work on and creating concrete action plans on how to address them.
The retrospective ends with the acknowledgement and appreciation for the contribution of each member.
Conclusion
The Sprint Retrospective is a critical part of our scrum agile methodology. By running a retrospective we practice the Agile “inspect and adapt” principle.
Retrospective is a great opportunity to motivate a team by providing them the opportunity to speak up, share their ideas, and be heard.
The end goal of our Sprint retrospective meetings is to continually improve a development project, sprint by sprint. It not only improves the quality of the approach, but significantly improves the quality of the product.
Slack was not always the messaging platform that we have grown to love and use. The platform, compared to what it is now was born as a very small feature of a Tiny Speck game called Glitch.
After seeing the success and demand for the in-built messaging feature, the founders chose to launch it as a brand new application, while bidding adieu to Glitch.
This route which they took was an example of a lean methodology concept that we call startup pivot. Let’s get you some perspective into what is a pivot in a business model, why should startups consider it, and the best growth hacking strategies for startups to go about pivot business.
Pivot Startup Pyramid: How We Help Founders Make Changes In Different Business Areas
What are the Alternatives to Business Pivot
What Is A Pivot in Business?
A pivot is primarily a shift in the business strategy which is applied for testing out a new approach related to the startup business model after receiving feedback. It is one of the core concepts of the lean startup method – a reason why it is also known as pivot lean startup. When we align lean principles in our software development process, we always consider making a scope for app pivot.
Many times, companies only have one question to address and need only one aspect to be changed (details in our pivot business pyramid below). To delve on it further, here are some examples of pivoting which you would have not considered a “pivot”
Turn one product feature into a new product itself
Turn one product into a feature of a bigger product
Change a platform from app to web app or vice versa
Focus on a different customer set
Use different technology to build a product
Know When Should You Pivot
With a number of hot-shot tech giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Slack, etc. having popularized pivot success, the new-age founders have grown to believe that pivot can be a great success formula for them too. But the truth is that pivoting must only be considered when you have exhausted all the other options. Here are the factors that can help you decide when to absolutely pivot in business model.
Your company is always trying and failing to overrule competition
There is only one aspect of your business/product that is getting the most attention
There is no response for your offering in the market
Your business objective and expectation has changed.
What are the Different Types of Pivots?
1. Pivot In Your Existing Market
It is one of the most common pivot business types. Businesses tend to change the direction in the market they are already in without offering any new market information or creating a new consumer segment. It is also the one of the pivoting business strategy that is most likely to fail. Since, businesses remain in their market in place of finding new areas to expand in.
2. Reposition Your Product
At times, an element of your product might show greater adoption potential compared to your entire application. This is what led to the creation of Slack. What makes it difficult for businesses in this situation is whether or not to let go of their legacy business. There are two approaches to handle the situation when you are looking for pivot in business strategy:
Launch a new branded service or product, keeping the legacy business intact
Launch a new business altogether and shut down the old business.
The choice of it depends on the cash flow situation. If your legacy business is profitable and seeing a constant inflow of customers, you can think of keeping it intact.
3. Do Something Entirely New
This is the last type of pivot business model and the most extreme. In this case, you let go of your idea to explore something new altogether. But if you are married to the idea of bottoms-up start, it would be worth considering shutting the present company and using the money for funding the new business.
Successful Tech Pivot in Business Stories
Instagram
Instagram is one of the most famous pivot software startup stories.
Instagram is today one of the biggest social media platforms. Owned by Facebook, it is estimated to be over $100 Billion. But before becoming a social media behemoth, Instagram was a prototype known as Burbn that was made with check-in features, photo post options, and the capability to gain points, in addition to other capabilities.
The founders, Mike Krieger and Systrom soon realized that the UI was too cluttered and thus they pivoted. They limited their Instagram startup software development to posting, commenting, and liking features – making it one of the most simplistic visual platforms in the market.
Twitter
Twitter was launched as Odeo back in 2005. It used to be a platform for finding and subscribing podcasts. But with iTunes making it a concentrated space, Odeo chose to pivot.
Jack Dorsey, the future co-founder of Twitter then came up with the idea of a microblogging platform wherein the contacts could share and read each other’s updates in the real time.
Today, Twitter has become a more than 355 million users’ brand that is being used to not just share updates but also for citizen journalism, social activism, and live tweets.
YouTube
YouTube as a brand needs zero introductions. With over 2 million users coming on the platform every month, the brand is the ruler of the video sharing platform market.
However, YouTube did not start as your homely video sharing platform where you go to watch DIYs or follow A-listers. It was a dating website which enabled singles to upload their videos – sharing whom they were and what they were looking for in a partner.
The founders soon pivoted and allowed people to upload videos of all kinds – something that makes YouTube what it is today.
Slack
Stewart Butterfield’s company Tiny Speck started creating a game known as Glitch. The idea after a brief launch was announced unviable. Its internal communication tool, however, developed to establish communication between Canada and US offices emerged out as a real opportunity.
The messaging platform, named as Slack was founded in 2014 and went on to become a unicorn in the first year itself.
How To Pivot Your Startup: The best strategies
1. Develop a prototype before you pivot
If you are thinking about pivoting startup, develop a prototype first and see if people would use it, find it valuable and give feedback. Feedback at the beginning stages is important for determining where the impact of the product would be the greatest. The prototype would also enable you to identify whether the product is a good fit for the brand.
2. Pick goals which align with your business vision
As an entrepreneur it’s important to know how your vision statement is changing. Gone is the time when there used to be one mission and vision statement. With the changing market, the statements are also frequently changing. It is important to reevaluate what needs to be done and then draw a business model pivot to meet the new objective.
3. Ensure your pivot give out growth opportunities
Pivoting is a useful next step when you have encountered roadblocks. But if you pivot in a completely new direction without giving much attention to the plan, you would fail again. To ensure you don’t hit another roadblock, we would recommend two things – A. not expanding in the current market, since you have already explored it and B. perform an extensive market research. In case you find the market to be too small, the customer base too diverse, and a lot of competition, it won’t be beneficial to pivot. One way to go about this that we recommend is hosting a product discovery workshop.
4. Consider alternative technology
The technology world is not what it used to be a decade ago, even 2 years ago. For a startup to pivot, it is extremely important to be on top of the technology trends. Only when your business is able to incorporate the latest technologies you would be able to pivot with the probability to succeed.
5. Keep the investors in loop
At every pivot stage and when you are taking the decision, make sure the investors are kept in the loop. In case you think the company’s mission and objective is going to change, start talking about it with your internal stakeholders including investors in advance at least six to eight months in advance. Any drastic change without any discussion with the investors can harm the relationship and make pivoting unachievable.
Pivot Startup Pyramid: How We Help Founders Make Changes In Different Business Areas
Over the course of our establishment as a startup app development company, we have held a number of pivot business consulting sessions with our clients looking to make a difference in how they have been conducting business or in their value set.
We make use of a Pivot Pyramid to help our partnered founders evaluate which business area to change in order to drive maximum growth. This is the same pyramid that investors use when measuring up your business.
Layer 5: Customers
The customers are the base of any startup. Everything – from the issue you solve, product you develop, and the technology it is built on, depends on who the customers are. You can change and pivot the customers, but doing this will make you re-evaluate the entire pyramid.
Shopify started out by selling snowboards online before realizing that the tools to develop modern day ecommerce platforms are not enough – thus giving birth to the modern day Shopify that has helped more than 100,000 SMBs sell online.
Layer 4: Problem
There can be instances where the customers’ choice is right but the problem that you are looking to solve does not matter much or is not existing. If you pivot here, you would have to relook at the solution, tech, and growth plan.
Criteo began as a recommendation engine for the online retailers. They then went on to become a successful brand which helped online retailers perform retargeting campaigns.
Layer 3: Solution
If you have identified the problems which your customers are facing, the next step is to develop a product which would resonate with the customers than the ones in the market. The changes made at this stage, like in case of other elements of the pyramid, should be growth focused.
Meerkat achieved growth through this route when they began live streaming videos on Twitter.
Layer 2: Technology
The technology choice is the key to develop your solution – one that we focus heavily on when performing app development for startup, even if the products relate with the customers the technology choice should be hindering your retention and growth.
An example of how technology setbacks can affect a business growth in the Friendster failure. The brand failed becoming a mainstream social network because they were not able to keep their servers up with the demand.
Facebook pivoted this way when they let go of Python language.
Layer 1: Growth
Every change in the pivot pyramid should be growth driven. But a great number of experiments does not call for any change in the technology or product. This is why marketers tend to experiment with the startup growth strategies to avoid the growth channels from becoming saturated or overly expensive.
Airbnb took the growth route for pivoting by posting their listings on Criaglist. This, in turn, boosted visibility and led to higher demand.
What are the Alternatives to Business Pivot
Value Iteration
Sometimes all a business needs is a tweaked product or offering iteration. While Mac and MacBook are one of the hottest commodities now, remember the time when analysts predicted Apple’s demise because of a stale hardware set in the ‘80s and ‘90s? Apple then added newer product lines like iPhone and personal computers.
In instances where you don’t have a product or it matches the market trend, you can think of revisiting your brand message – ensuring that it is aligned with your brand’s value.
Develop a spinoff brand
A spinoff company, by definition, is a division created by a parent company, which even though being an extension of the original brand is treated like an individual entity.
Take an example from Shelter Insurance. It was established in the 1940s – a time when the insurance market used to be extremely relationship-driven. But with the advent of the internet, the consumers could now interact with the insurance companies. However, if Shelter Insurance abandoned the model, it would have lost a massive number of their customers.
What Shelter did is that they created their spinoff company – Say Insurance – for delivering an online-first experience. Both of the brands provide auto insurance, but Say Insurance is completely focused on the Gen Z and Millennial user base.
Their strategy worked quite perfectly. The parent company continued to grow in the established market, while the spinoff brand tapped into the new digital market.
Relook at your mission plan
Trying to grow too fast almost always ends up bad for any startup. It can be a better option to relook at your mission strategy and see where you deviated. Following that, realign your present efforts with your planned stage.
But doing this can get difficult.
To realign with its mission of “the only short haul, low fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier in America,” Southwest Airlines went on to cut down a number of their routes. The decision was taken to free up the planes for the routes that were in greater demand.
Being in the market for over thirty years now, it is indubitable that Python has become the epitome of simplicity with effectiveness. The gradual increase in its popularity is something that raises the question of “why and how Python is becoming the most popular programming language?”.
Upon confronting any developer on this matter, one would come across responses such as – “It is highly readable”, “Building applications with Python is very easy because of the understandable code”, “It makes complex processes easy”, and so on and on.
However, today we will discuss the validity, feasibility, and scope of Python app development from the business front, i.e., from the vantage point of startups and establish why Python is the top programming language for your startup.
What Does a Startup Need from a Language?
To effectively deduce why Python poses as an absolute option for startups to go with, we should first discuss what are the factors that are prominent for a startup business.
High scope of scalability and the ability to add new features
Faster development of Minimum Viable Product
Quick yet efficacious iterations
Integration with other technologies and software
Time and cost-monitored development process
Now, when that is out of the way, we can positively move on to discussing whether Python actually fulfills all these needs of a startup to emerge as an exemplary choice.
Features of Python
1. Smooth integration
Unlike many programming languages out there, Python is pretty mellow when it comes to integration. You can easily integrate with other languages such as C, C++, Java, and so on.
2. Support TDD
Python is very popular for its test-driven development. It is quite easy for developers to create prototypes with it, and they can later convert them into fully-functioning applications by simply refactoring the code and testing it instantly.
3. Wide range of standard libraries
Though the list of why Python is quickly ascending the ladder of fame is tediously long, this is one of the primary reasons why. The easy availability of standard and robust libraries is what attracts developers and startups towards Python.
4. Ideal for ML and Big Data
Machine Learning and Big Data are two of the emerging technologies that have acquired eyeballs of many establishments globally. They both come blessed with tons of locked potential, something we are tapping into slowly. Among other kinds of applications written in Python, you can also develop apps integrated with these technologies, including a wide range of AI technologies as well, as they have many robust libraries to support the development.
Reasons Making Python An Ideal Choice For Startups
Let’s have a look at the reasons for why to choose Python for business and startups.
1. Remarkable choice for MVP
Being a startup, time is of the essence for you. You need to unleash your app in the market, targeting a certain niche before anyone else does it. Moreover, as a startup, you need to convince your investors that your app idea is something that is going to be a huge hit, and for that, you need to show them a working prototype of your soon-to-be-developed Python mobile app, hence an MVP.
Now, one of the best uses of Python is MVP development because of its expeditious nature. Python encourages robust and rapid development by allowing the software developers for startups to do quick iterations after getting the feedback. It is the pre-built modules and packages of Python that render it the ability to expedite the product completion process.
In fact, it has been observed that Python in comparison to languages like Java can provide a fully functioning MVP in weeks as compared to months; it is time-efficient, something that every startup requires.
2. Scalable
Scalability is one inevitable component that any startup cannot afford to overlook. As a business grows, its users grow too. Under such instances, it would become a priority for any business to have an application that has the scope of growth as well. This is what Python is good for. With the help of the Django framework, a series of wired-up and ready-to-go components, Python is able to provide highly scalable apps.
The components in the Django framework are decoupled, i.e., independent from each other so they can be replaced and unplugged as per the demands of the business. Moreover, with a wide range of libraries available for Python, it is a piece of cake to add new features to a product.
3. Versatile
Versatility is another great reason that makes Python an ideal choice for startups. This means if you need a code that works phenomenally across all platforms such as Windows, macOS, or even Linux, then Python should be the language of your choice.
Additionally, if you need to integrate technologies like Machine Learning and Data Science, then you need nothing but Python as the programming language to help you achieve the app you envisioned but better.
4. User-friendly
“Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.”
As you can see in the extract of Zen of Python philosophy, Python language works for of certain principles and guidelines that render it to be the most user-friendly language. This is one of the many reasons why developers love Python and have made it the second most popular language on Github beating even Java.
5. Community support
Community support becomes prominent when the team of developers faces problems during the product development process. Hiccups are unavoidable, but what matters is how active and capable is the community to provide possible solutions to certain issues that Python may face. Thankfully, the Python community is among the best ones out there as it strives towards curing all the issues the language may possess and improve its features and functions from time to time.
6. No need for extra developers
It is always good news for the startup mobile app company whenever they can save a few bucks. In comparison to other languages, Python offers a concise and rather easy code to app developers for startups, thereby eliminating the need for big teams for the same task while delivering the product of impeccable quality. This also helps developers to provide software development services for startups without any hassle. Let’s look at the example of the code in Java and Python which cater to the same function and purpose –
7. Security
Speaking of security, Python is evidently more secure than some other prominent languages, like PHP. It is because of frameworks such as Django that come loaded with built-in security features protecting the application from many security threats lurking on the internet.
This framework is capable of hiding the site’s source code from direct viewing by dynamically producing web pages and employing templates sending data to web browsers.
8. Helps combat complexity
As Python is very simple in nature and associates simplicity with effectiveness, it is a great medium to handle complexities. It is ideal for web solutions as it can overcome complexities related to the integration of different systems, among others. Qualities such as these are what together make Python ideal for a startup app development company as it is time-efficient, fast, and easy to work with.
9. Ubiquitous in nature
Do you know what makes sense? – Developing a solution that is based on ubiquitous technology. From Youtube to Dropbox to Reddit- all are avid users of Python language. It is something that is unprecedentedly proliferating as of now and will become a standard to which other languages will be assessed. So, if you want to develop an application that is going to perform just as remarkable as it would do in the present, then there is nothing better than Python for you.
Which Startups Use Python?
Look at the list of Python startups that opted for or are using Python as their choice and are now thriving in their particular niche. These use cases of Python are an ideal example of why Python is perfect for startups software development companies.
Ometria
Ometria is one of the perfect examples of startups using Python. This startup gives marketers the ability to create personalized experiences throughout the customer journey. They offer services such as cross-channel marketing, AI-enabled customer intelligence, and others.
Weglot
Weglot seamlessly integrates with your website, adapting to your technology, and delivering it in any language. It has solutions for e-commerce, marketing websites, and web agencies.
Paddle
It is a SaaS commerce platform for payment processing, billing, sales tax management, merchant of record. With Paddle, companies are finally able to transform their revenue delivery infrastructure into a strategic growth lever to respond faster and more precisely to every opportunity.
Stripe
It is a well-known American technology company that offers a platform for startups and big companies to accept payments, send payouts, and manage their businesses online. They also help companies to beat fraud, send invoices and manage business spend.
Virail
It is an online platform that provides the fastest way to choose the cheapest ticket or hotel. They also help to search for all routes and choose the best one for you. The platform works with 200 transportation companies and offers you the best travel solutions across the world.
Final Thoughts
According to many startup app development companies in USA, it is no contest that Python may become the programming language of the future. Every quality, feature, and function that we have discussed above is a clear indication that Python is the best language for startups.
In fact, besides startups, many fully grown organizations such as NASA, IBM, to name a few, are bending towards mobile app development using Python to fulfill their needs. Moreover, because of its ubiquity, it gains a little more edge over the other languages.
Picking the right technology stack can be overwhelming for any founder of the company, especially for someone who does not have a tech background. One can have a hard time finding the right set of tools and frameworks used in software development that can ensure the best performance of the product. Every application has different needs, hence the initial choice is important to ensure that the final product will deliver the best user experience. This article will help anyone with a non-coding background understand how to choose the best tech stack for a startup.
What is the tech stack?
A tech stack is a combination of tools and frameworks used in software development. Simply put, it’s a set of programming languages, frameworks, and tools used in developing web and mobile applications.
The two primary pieces of a technology stack are front-end and back-end software frameworks.;
The front-end runs on the user’s client, which in the case of the web application is a web browser, while the back-end runs on the server that delivers data or web pages to the client. While back-end interacts with the database and creates web pages, front-end provides interactive web pages using JavaScript.
The Front-end
Front-end development incorporates everything a user sees on-screen, a website or a mobile app. There are three vital frontend tech stack components available:
Google’s AngularJS and Facebook’s React.js are the most popular web front-end stacks used by developers.
AngularJS
Google’s AngularJS is an open-source MVC framework majorly used for the development of single-page applications. It is a developing structure that gives better approaches to creating web applications by changing the static HTML to dynamic HTML. Striking attributes like dynamic binding, POJO model, MVC Architecture, and dependency injection wipe out the requirement for code that was initially crucial. AngularJS is growing exponentially with the recent advancements in its latest versions.
There are several reasons to use AngularJS, some of them being:
Can effortlessly create Rich Internet Applications
Open-source
Cross-browser
Enables developers to make front end apps utilizing JavaScript in a clean MVC approach.
Unit-testable code
Reusability of code
Facilitates data-binding in HTML
Dependency Injection (DI)
ReactJS
Facebook’s ReactJS is an efficient, flexible, and declarative JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is a component-based, open-source front-end library responsible for only the view layer of an application. It uses a declarative paradigm and aims at being efficient and flexible. React designs simple views for each state in your application, and will update the right component when the data changes. Additionally, the declarative view makes the code more predictable and more comfortable to debug. ReactJS is a warehouse of features, and there’s no way you cannot like it. Its benefits include:
Simple: ReactJS is simple to learn and build a web or mobile application. React uses a syntax called JSX, which allows developers to mix HTML with JavaScript but this is not a requirement. The developer can write in plain JavaScript also.
Reusability: In React, extensive code reusability is supported. By building components, most of the code repetition can be eliminated.
Mobile Apps: React Native allows the developer to create cross-platform native apps. React native can be easily picked by React developer, and with the use of proper data management tools (like redux), a lot of React website code can be used in Apps.
Testability: ReactJS applications are very easy to test.
The Back-end
The backend, which is likewise called server-side, stays undetectable and not open to clients. It gives a spine to the application. The most widely recognized parts of the backend are programming languages, for example, Ruby and Python; libraries and systems, for example, Ruby on Rails and Django; and a JavaScript runtime env, for example, Node.js. Choosing the right backend technology can be a daunting task, yet it can be simplified by considering the following factors:
1. Size and complexity of the project
Simple applications on tight deadlines, particularly MVPs, require a distinct methodology in comparison to big projects with heaps of capacities. In any case, in the event that you figure you may need to upscale, later on, pick an adaptable stack that permits you to develop.
2. The kind of project
Data-intensive applications, booking frameworks, person to person communication applications, streaming applications, CMS, IoT, FinTech applications, and straightforward MVPs will probably require diverse stacks.
3. The expense
Remember that a few technologies are open-source and free for business use, which is just one point on the endless rundown of the favourable pointers that open-source gives to both the developers and stakeholders. Others are authorized and paid. Likewise, developers’ rates vary according to the technology they specialize in. The stacks that are considered as a speciality can be expensive. Also, remember that the release doesn’t mark the end of work on the application – you have to look after, update, and conceivably upscale it.
The Top Back-End Technologies Available:
It remains a staggeringly hard task to express the contrasts between programming languages since all programming languages have their military of backers who will decline any analysis about their language of decision. Thereby it is vital not just to comprehend the contrasts between programming languages but to know what a wrong decision while choosing a backend technology has on a project. Below listed are the top-performing backend languages which will help you stay within the circle of success.
PHP
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open-source back-end scripting language used by developers to build web apps and sites. It is a cross-platform scripting language that can be utilized to create apps that seamlessly run on all the Operating Systems. It is one of the fastest programming languages and facilitates the creation of websites that load quickly. PHP also has a huge assortment of utilitarian modules and a couple of the modules accessible in PHP incorporate Graphics and PDF, among others. One of the greatest advantages of PHP is that it is very easy to learn and use because of its simple syntax. Anyone who is familiar with C language can easily grasp PHP without any difficulty.
Python
Curated by Guido van Rossum and rolled-out in 1991, Python is an interpreted, cutting-edge, general-purpose programming language. It reduces the need of coding to a very significant level and has high utility because of the presence of third-party modules. Not just that, but the high extensibility of python enables you to write a few pieces of code in other languages like C++ and C#. The ease of use and extensive libraries offer back-end developers more productivity as compared to other programming languages. Not just for building basic applications like desktop apps, Oss, Business Apps, and web frameworks, but Python is also the best fit for AI and ML-based web development.
Ruby
Ruby is the programming language that is utilized accompanied by Rails. Ruby is to Rails as PHP is to Zend, or as Python is to Django. The sheer class and finesse of the language are what attract the back-end developers towards this language and make it a must-have in your tech stack. The most exceptional feature of Ruby is that it prioritizes conventions rather than configuration, which helps the back-end developers as they don’t have to waste their precious development time in configuring the files to start the development process. It comes pre-configured, which saves a lot of time and speeds up the development process.
Java
Java is an object-oriented, platform-independent, general-purpose programming language that is designed to have negligible implementation reliance. As a result of Java’s power, convenience, cross-stage capacities, and security highlights, it has become the most preferred language among developers. y. Java Virtual Machine has a remarkable identifier that distinguishes the bytecode and confirms it before running it. It has the component of the Stack designation framework. It follows LIFO (Last in First Out) which causes the information to be put away and recovered effectively. Java is one of the programming languages that support Multithreading which is the capacity for a program to play out multiple errands at the same time inside a program.
C# / Visual Basic
C# is a platform-independent, Java Based programming language whose syntax is similar to C++. It is an object-oriented language and does not support multiple inheritances, just like Java. It takes great advantage of the design of the .Net. Microsoft has built a pair of flexible business back-end solutions called Asp.Net and Core that are written in C# or Visual Basic.
JavaScript
Node.js is a back-end solution written in JavaScript that has been trending for several years. Being written in JavaScript gives it an edge over others because with this developers can work in the same language for both the front-end and back-end of a project. Moreover, it has also been proven efficient at scaling up applications to handle large user bases.
Factors to consider while choosing the right tech stack
Availability of resources
The accessibility of human resources who can work on your project is one of the most characterizing variables that will impact your organization’s tech stack. Assure if your developers will be able to work efficiently with the tech stack that you have chosen. Assume you select a tech stack that isn’t based on a common programming language. In such a case the process of finding a developer who can work on the language can be a daunting task in itself.
Budget
Budget is undoubtedly a deciding factor for your tech stack. If you choose a technology which does not have abundant specialists in the market, you might have to pay them extra. Moreover, choosing a paid technology over open-source technology can also be a concern while working on your project. Therefore, draft your budget and plan your tech stack accordingly.
Phase
The requirements of the tech stack for your business might change as your business scales up or a new issue arises. Therefore it is vital to comprehend what phase you are at and choose the stack accordingly. If you are a start-up, you would be looking at technology that is open-source and easy to utilize along with easy accessibility of human resources. On the other hand, if you are an established business, you might require enterprise-grade technology which can handle more complex issues.
Requirements
While framing a tech stack for your company, it is crucial to comprehend the needs of your project. You must understand what does your audience expect from you and what are their major requirements. If your project requires complex numerical analysis, you might want to go for Python, however, if you are more concerned with the aesthetics of your project and it does not have to do much, you must work with some other technology.
Robustness
New technologies come every day and the old ones perish. Therefore it is very important to choose a technology for your tech stack that is time tested and has a big community that can help you in case you get stuck.
Safety
Ensure that the application is created remembering the prescribed procedures of security. It is vital to run security tests on both customer and server to kill the regular security dangers. Toward the end, settle on a decision that works best for your business. You can pick the innovation to go with, in light of your business objectives, necessities and the assets you can bear.
What are the benefits of choosing the right stack?
The technology utilized in your task can highly affect how it functions and how it will act later on. For instance, some server frameworks are made for high-read activities, however, are less proficient with regards to high-write traffic. That is something essential to know whether you’re changing your application from local file storage to cloud file storage. Your tech stack can likewise impact the versatility of your item. Certain stacks will better serve various activities. Since such a large number of various mixes are feasible for your tech stack, it’s troublesome (if not difficult) to sum up. Be that as it may, getting acquainted with the qualities and shortcomings of your tech stack before you begin assembling your item will assist you with taking advantage of the qualities and moderate the shortcomings.
Once you have settled on the right tech stack, it will ease the whole documentation process and all the future bugs and errors will be easier to rectify for the same reason.
Choosing the right tech stack and working on it for a long time will establish your team’s expertise on it which will amplify your brand image
Settling on the right tech stack has an added benefit that you can work with the same team for multiple projects.
Having the right tech stack minimises errors and increases efficiency.
What are the drawbacks of choosing the wrong stack?
If you end up settling for a wrong tech stack, it can be a huge mistake for your company as well as for your clients:
Choosing a wrong tech stack may lead to incompatible and unnecessary dependencies.
It can result in Dry-schema and Dry-validation misunderstandings
Problems with ROM.rb and Sequel (Database) might occur.
A wrong tech stack might hinder your testing process.
You might face difficulty in hiring the right professionals if the technology chosen by you is not widely used. Your tech stack may become unsustainable or unscalable.
Hence, it is very important that you find a company that knows what they are doing, and Anteelois one such company.;
The services we specialise in:
1. Frontend Development
We provide services for “client-side programming,” i.e., frontend development. We believe in creating user-friendly experiences for all our clients. Our list of tools cover Angular, React, Vue, Jquery, SASS, Bootstrap, HTML 5 and CSS 3. Our team ensures that your customer’s experience is delightful and easy to use.
2. Backend Growth
We prioritize web backend & development services and the services we deliver are comprehensive. The backend tools that we use to make your website proficient and interactive are Laravel, NodeJS, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, AWS, Redis, Firebase and Elasticsearch. Our key quality is our attention to each detail that our clients provide.
The Various Services Anteelo Provides:
1. App Development Services
In this age of digitalization, every business needs to make an online dent. And for you to achieve that we ensure that our team of professional app developers build a mobile app that suits your business needs and demands. For a successful business app it is important that you develop your mobile application for all crucial platforms like iOS and Android and our team can help you with that
2. Web Development Services
We firmly believe that a great website has the potential to convert visitors into customers. A good website can do wonders for your business. Therefore, we help companies create websites and web applications that help them take their business online. We understand that each of our clients has a different business goal so we customize our services accordingly to meet all the expectations.;
3. DevOps Services
At Anteelo our team of AWS experts can manage anything from a new to existing cloud infrastructure for you. We will provide you with the right architecture, organized management and regular optimization and improvements on services. Moreover, with our use of high-quality tools and the latest technology, we promise to deliver the best overall experience to you and your users.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, it is up to you to make a choice that works best for your startup. You should choose the best technology stack after thoroughly analyzing your requirements, business goals, and resources. What suits someone might not always suit you and vice versa. The choice of a technology stack is very personal and varies from organization to organization. Having a clear view of your requirements would ease the entire process of choosing the right tech stack for your company. Discuss your goals and requirements with your team and choose a tech stack that compliments your company and its business procedures.
Regardless of how well paying your job might be, finding the best side business thoughts and in the end turning out to be completely financially independent is significantly important than incredible compensation and strong advantages. Picking the way of being an entrepreneur, and taking a shot at discovering extraordinary business thoughts, is unquestionably more hazardous than being content with holding a 9-5 employment. It requires far more penance. Be that as it may, when you’re receiving the lifestyle rewards of working for yourself and hustling your way into getting fundamentally more cash with your business thoughts than you ever could at your normal everyday job, the difficult work will have all been justified, despite all the trouble. In this way, let’s talk about some trending startup ideas for 2020.
Top Startup Business Ideas
You can now start a business from scratch without investing a lot of money. Following are the best startup ideas for businesses in 2020:
Plastic Recycling or Alternatives
What if you can build a big business and save your environment at the same time. Sounds impossible, right?
But it is possible with the Plastic Recycling business. “Rethinking Plastic” has become a global consumer trend for the year 2019. Businesses that help people in lowering plastic waste find it easy to strike cords in their hearts.
You can recycle any plastic material or offer its alternative at competitive prices so that a consumer prefers to buy your product over the old fashioned plastic one.
For example, you can recycle plastic straws to make a lot of appealing decorative items. Plastic Recycling business requires less investment but will give you good returns.
According to the report from Statista, the value of the recycled plastic market will amount to nearly $57 billion all over the world in 2024.
Buy and Resell Used Goods
If you are someone who loves sales, flea markets or local auctions, then it can be a great startup idea for you.
You can buy antiques, art pieces, collectables, retro clothes, and furniture, etc. at low prices and resell them at higher prices to the respective market at much higher prices.
But if you want to grow your business, then you have to become an expert on the value of goods and the right place to sell them.
According to threadUP, the secondhand economy (a $24 billion market in 2018) is projected to grow to hit a staggering number of $64 billion within the next 10 years.
Senior care services rank as one of the best Startup Ideas for Businesses in 2019. Although seniors are expected to live longer lives as compared to previous generations, unfortunately, it is not valid. They are expected to spend more time in hospitals, daycare or sickness.
Fortunately, they are wealthy and can afford to pay for the services required to maintain their lifestyles. This includes continuing to live at home in their communities. According to research by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), nearly 90% of seniors want to live at home near their friends and family.
Many affluent seniors suffer from various health issues and find it challenging to drive and perform household chores such as cleaning, cooking or caring for their pets.
Therefore, plenty of opportunities exist for entrepreneurs who wish to start their own business from scratch.
Senior Care Services
Not all senior citizens are taken care of by loved ones and a significant number of them could utilize companionship and care-taking services all the time. At this age, senior citizens feel very vulnerable and regularly need to stay at home yet may require help because of handicap or action limitations. In the event that you’re passionate about this, this could be a considerable business idea for you.
Senior care services rank as one of the most trending Startup Ideas in 2020. Although seniors are expected to live longer lives as compared to previous generations, unfortunately, it is not completely true. They are expected to spend more time in hospitals, daycare or sickness. Which would affect their physical as well as mental health?
Home or Office Renovations
If you love construction and enjoy turning people’s dreams into reality, then Home Renovation business will suit you the best.
Almost everyone nowadays wants to renovate their homes or offices, but it is tough to find good contractors. It is a type of business that will do well even in the worst economic conditions.
According to Statista, an average homeowner in the US spends $3000 per year on home improvements. One of the most significant advantages of renovation business is that it requires less capital investment in tools and equipment than new construction. It is a perfect choice for individuals looking for a home-based business.
Virtual Reality
If you are tech-savvy and love to experiment, then Virtual Reality is the perfect start-up idea for you. Hardware and software vendors are working profusely to introduce new VR products in the market, and it is estimated to become a $40 billion market by 2020.
There are unlimited uses of Virtual Reality for either business or personal enjoyment. Real estate market is a great example.
Providing a virtual tour of an advertised house to a potential buyer can help in closing the deal. Hence, it can be a massive market for your Virtual Reality business to target on.
Some other examples include- 3D movies, gaming, social media, training and meditation. Even the trend of VR lounges is also growing on a rapid scale.
Meal Kit and Delivery
How many times have you ordered food online in the past week or month?
Whatever the number is, it must be higher than the number of times you have gone out to eat?
Yes.
Customized Healthy Meals delivery is becoming more popular day by day as people don’t have the time to shop and prepare healthy meals at home. It has already become a billion-dollar industry on its own.
The primary purpose of this start-up business is to make sure people get to eat healthy and fresh food whenever and wherever they want. If you enjoy cooking or love to bring a positive change in others’ lives, then meal kit delivery business will be the best for you.
Digital Detox
In today’s digital world it has become nearly impossible to stay away from modern gadgets. Life has begun revolving around smartphones and taken a toll on people’s health and lifestyle. The initial step towards coming out of this addiction is to accept that we are addicted to digital temptations. Luckily, countless individuals are attempting to detach and decrease their screen time. It has gotten well known to such a degree, that on the off chance that you look for the term Digital Detox on Google, you will get around 101 million outcomes. The year 2020 will be the time of advanced detox, and consequently, there are a lot of chances for new companies/organizations to assist individuals with eliminating screen time. For instance, a few new companies arrange a bunch venture out occasions to remove individuals from gadgets and find new encounters.
Luxury Pet Care
This year we’re seeing extravagance in pet care, which is basically childcare or providing a better and healthy lifestyle for pets. Regardless of whether that is taking pooches for strolls in the open country, offering a rich settlement for felines while individuals leave or throughout the day dog-sitting services in a customized setting, many pet guardians presently need these services for their adored hairy little companions. Owners need the best services and care for their pets, and they couldn’t care less about the amount they need to spend on this. From dog-keeping to premium pet care organizations, there is a huge requirement for growing business people who love furry friends and can fulfil owners high expectations. It is a sort of childcare administration for pets.
Inclusive Beauty
Gone are the days, when the market was flooded with make-up products for mainly 2 types of skin colour-Fair and Dark. Many international brands and models within the beauty industry such as CoverGirl, Missguided and Rihanna, have realised the importance of making beauty or skincare products for people with different gender, age, colour and race.
This type of industry is still quite nascent and hence offer a golden opportunity to aspiring beauty startups and beauty entrepreneurs.
Whether you want to start your make-up brand line for men or women of all colours, you can also begin to your vlogging channel to help women get their make-up perfect.
Internet of Things Security
Various difficulties forestall the verifying of IoT gadgets and guaranteeing start to finish security in an IoT situation. Since systems administration appliances and different objectives are moderately new, security has not generally been viewed as top need during an item’s plan stage. Moreover, on the grounds that IoT is an early market, numerous product designers and makers are progressively keen on getting their items to showcase rapidly, instead of finding a way to assemble security in from the beginning.
Event Planning
One of the primary things you have to do is visit each potential area in which you intend to work. Work with the marketing manager to visit each site and realize what is accessible in every area. Start a database that will permit you to sort settings by differing highlights, for example, the number of individuals each site holds, AV hardware accessible on location, on the off chance that you should organize rental seats, and so on. At that point when you are starting to plan an event with a customer, you can discover what the key parameters are for the occasion and effectively pull up the three or four locales that meet the essential criteria. also, engagement parties, etc.
Vocational Consultant
On the off chance that you are leaving a corporate job with a decent understanding to begin your very own endeavour yet have no clue where to start, this one might be for you. There are a few people out there who need to figure out how to excel at a promotion interview or request for a raise, or just land a lucrative occupation. On the off chance that you have valuable tips for them, you can simply begin your very own consultancy and individuals will pay you great bucks to gain proficiency with the subtle strategies. In the event that you aren’t prepared to fire up your very own site or simply need to try out the waters, you should see joining to platforms such as The Muse or Coach Me where others are searching for individuals like you to guide them.
Web designing
Web designing services have become a key piece of the market and have developed as the need of great importance. The main venture required in this business is a PC, internet connection, and significant aptitudes. An occupation as a website designer includes web organizing and content creation. You can complete this duty all the more easily when you are outfitted with the data, ability, and involvement with this area. You can likewise work from home as a freelance website designer.
So there you have it, 12 startup ideas that can help you get big bucks in your pocket. Most of us don’t have the advantage of having the option to leave our day job to seek after beginning a business idea today, without stressing over how we’re going to meet our money related commitments pushing ahead with no salary. That is the reason were an immense backer of continually beginning a side business while working all day, with the goal that you can test your way into your new product or services, get input, approve the thought, and start creating pay before you quit your day job. On the off chance that you can ace the craft of scaling one of these business thoughts while keeping your normal everyday employment, you’ll experience no difficulty succeeding once you’re completely independently employed. With such an extensive range of choices that span across different market segments, you should hopefully be able to find your next startup idea and transform it into a money-making machine.
CONCLUSION
The market is bursting with opportunities for tailored security solutions. So, gear up for your new and exciting startup journey. You can also go out and meet people and take advice from other entrepreneurs, but ultimately, you have to decide which business idea fits your budget and aspirations. And, if you still find yourself stuck or want to build your business idea, then Anteelo can help.
Do you often look up to other successful startups and wonder how they made it?
Are you constantly pondering over an idea at the back of your mind, waiting for that defining moment to turn it into a reality?
So, if you have stumbled across your eureka moment, and are now faced with multiple challenges as to how to put into action what you have envisioned, you are on the right page.
We will break down the steps that can help you make the cut and are crucial to successfully run a startup in the mobile app industry.
Since the world is going digital, and the most amount of time we spend is hooked to a screen, any successful small business is involved in startup app development solutions.
We netizens are well aware that Playstore and App Store are flooded with innumerable mobile applications – Business, Lifestyle, Educational, On-demand apps, etc. But it is equally essential to realize early on that very few apps get trending.
Studies show that few startups are successful and most appreneurs tend to commit some common mistakes. So the first step in your startup journey should be to look before you leap.
1. Validate Your Idea: Ideate, Pause, Rethink
We understand that it is attractive to let your creative juices flow but it is equally essential to reflect on other possibilities and not dive right in without testing the waters.
Make a list of all your potential ideas. It not only gives you an insight but provides due clarity regarding which idea to pursue.
In case you are confused whether the idea is worth giving a shot, get it validated from leading experts and see if it sparks their interest. An approach that the best mobile app consultants follow when checking the validity of your product is through a product discovery workshop. The 5 days workshop is known to have brought a number of successful startups in life.
Another tip is to never overlook other ideas. Understand that there is always a scope for improvement, and sometimes the whole process of ideation leads to new outcomes.
After finalizing on which idea to pursue, make sure that you have a comprehensive understanding of the pain point and the solution you are offering.
After all, your unique idea, besides making you one of the most successful startups, is also solving a problem. This leads us to the next step.
2. Detail-oriented Market research
No matter how revolutionary your idea is and how likely it is going to transform the mobile application industry, if you do not conduct a thorough market research and are not able to establish a target audience, you are bound to fail.
Understanding the market and finding a product-market fit is a prerequisite to run a successful startup. The key is to ensure you are solving real user problems and even though what you may be doing is not overtly unique, you have to find a place for yourself in the market.
Study the competitive landscape and conduct a competitor audit. Download some apps that work on similar pain points, use them personally and determine the scope for improvement.
Research on apps that failed and explore the reasons for the same.
Why? Because it eliminates the chances of failure and learning from others’ mistakes is a usual practice in the startup ecosystem.
Conducting an in-depth market research can help you find your unique value proposition and ensure that you are way ahead of your competition.
Also, during the preliminary research, one should conduct surveys to understand the user demographic and engagement. Knowing what the target audience likes helps in building a product that they truly want.
Remember, user engagement is the key and at every step of the way keep your niche audience in mind.
3. Choose an Ideal platform
Choosing an ideal platform for your app is the next step in your mobile app development journey.
In order to decide whether your app will cater to Android, iOS, or both, you should take into account a couple of factors. The key is to research which platform is ideal for mobile startups and understand what aligns with your business idea.
According to Statista, as per the third quarter of 2019, Android users were able to choose between 2.47 million apps while Apple’s App Store offered almost 1.8 million available apps for iOS. This makes Google Play, the app store with the biggest number of available applications.
To choose a viable platform you should study factors like market share and revenue for both Android and iOS. Arriving at a conclusion would not be possible if you do not have an in-depth understanding of the respective play stores. So, carefully assess the number of downloads and revenue models for both the app stores.
The choice between native and hybrid apps is another factor to consider. Both come with their set of pros and cons, and factors like technicality, functionality, cost and time play a defining role.
4. Focus on Designing an Impeccable UI/UX
One of the common elements in most successful startups is the impeccable design that the applications are made with. No matter which successful app you pick up – Instagram, Canva, Telegram – you will find intuitive design being a part of them.
The role of UI/UX design doesn’t just lie in the eye-catching appeal. The application should be usable and functional as well. Additionally, it should meet the standards set by Google Material Design and Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.
The UI/UX design guide that we follow at Anteelo is one that not just meets the guidelines but also solves a number of additional areas like – getting visibility, app spend time, and user retention rates.
5. Product Development
The next step is to jumpstart the development process and for that, you would require an app development team.
There are effective ways to choose an app development company and see months of planning and strategizing come into action.
To ensure that your idea materializes into a successful product, you need to give a lot of thought to the people you will partner with.
In that context, you generally get two options:
Hire an in-house team of developers
Partner with a team of remote developers through the mode of outsourcing.
Reflect on the challenges you are currently facing.
Do you want an In-house team or do you plan to Outsource?
Take a decision based on what aligns with your business needs.
While the former ensures a faster level of communication and a deep understanding of your product idea, outsourcing provides you the opportunity to hire highly skilled designers and developers.
The next question you need to ask yourself is whether you will be able to monitor the development process yourself? Accordingly, choose an app development company.
Before hiring an app development company, make a list of potential partners, ask the right set of questions and go through their portfolios and case studies. Not only it documents their work, it gives you due clarity if the company is the right fit for you.
Get feasible options by analyzing the app development cost worldwide.
Hire the best developer but make sure you sign a Non- Disclosure Agreement.
Besides building a scalable app, your focus should lie in delivering a delightful experience to your end-users. Any user first perceives an app through the User experience. To retain your users in the long run, the
User experience should be immersive and the UI should be modern, innovative and intuitive.
Being ambitious is great but we suggest, you do not get lost in a maze of features. First, concentrate on building an MVP for your app, address the core pain points and then gradually shift to improved features after garnering feedback from your users. The emphasis should be on the ‘must-have’ features, the ‘nice to have’ features can always be added later.
Making a wireframe solves a lot of problems. It outlines the layout of an app and plays a fundamental role in structuring the product early on.
It also provides necessary insights on how the users will engage with your app and helps you identify the problem areas.
6. Look for Raising Investment
After spending a considerable amount of time on building your app, you need to consider the problem at hand- How to raise money for your mobile app startup?
Generating a large amount of funds implies greater resource availability and higher chances of success.
There are various ways to generate funds. Decide on ways for fundraising that align with your business model – Seed funding, Bootstrapping, Crowdfunding, ICO, etc.
Craft an Elevator Pitch and be on the lookout for potential Investors. Now is the time to be ambitious. Make sure you have a product that investors chase.
7. Create a Strategic Marketing Plan
How do you make sure your app gets traction quickly and reaches far and wide?
Through strategic marketing.
Marketing is one of the key startup success factors that makes a regional brand a global one.
Through compelling marketing strategies, you can create the buzz around your app and ensure people go gaga over it.
Use Social media and PR to gain market visibility and facilitate rapid user acquisition. Use effective mobile app marketing strategies and leverage the power of App store optimization to make your app go viral.
8. Have a Monetization Plan in Place
One of the ways of creating successful startup companies is to decide the best monetization strategy for your mobile app.
There are a number of options for the industry to choose from: Advertising, Sponsorship, In-app purchases, subscriptions, and pay-per-download are few options to choose from. Read into the pros and cons of each to understand which monetization model can be the best when seeking ways on how to run a startup. You should aim for ways that would guarantee
9. Update and Improve Your Application
If you think your digital journey ends by launching your app and diving into the market, you are wrong.
The mobile app development lifecycle does not end by launching the application. Regular updates improve app visibility and ensure you are providing value to the user at every iteration.
So, for lasting success, keep improving your app by taking user feedback into consideration. Maintenance, updates, new functionality, is an ongoing process. Ensure maximum user retention along with a steady revenue model in place. Another element that you need to consider well in advance before execution is pivoting your startup.
10. Have an App Retention Strategy
The reasons behind app uninstallation are numerous – and so are the instances of app uninstallations. Keeping users interested in your application, in the presence of 50s of similar apps.
Here are the different ways you can retain your customers –
Plan your notifications timing properly
Be transparent about the permissions and how you’re going to use their data. Being transparent continues to be one of the secrets of successful tech startups
Although your partnered startup app development company must take care of it. But, update the application only when necessary.
So here are the different ways you can ensure that the business model of app development for startups works for you.
Working in the field of communications and PR, we have come across and have had the chance to look closely at how designers work. Designs have always had something about them which is extremely fascinating. Whilst observing various design departments, we found out why designers are the happiest and at their utmost satisfied state in a dedicated design studio.
INEVITABLE GROWTH-
Although the industry is still in its early stage, but, it is growing at a sheerly high pace. Professionally designed digital experiences are now considered the base layer for a business’ success and hence they are becoming even more crucial. The better part of it is that, designing is not limited to a specific field rather it is required by all kinds of domains that are entering and exploring the digital world. And in today’s world, there is no business without an online profile, so ultimately, every business needs the designing service. And so, UX/UI designer’s job is one of the highest requirements in demand now.
TRADITIONS OF A START-UP-
Majority of the design studios have just started out, in their early stages. And so they have cool new traditions. Generally they have small close-knit groups and they work crazy hours accompanied by frequent parties and celebrations. The bonus about working in the renowned design studios is that you get to work with different industries in the design department, therefore, you gain lots of experience.
E²: EXPOSURE AND EXPERIENCE-
Design studios make you learn and help you grow simultaneously and you indeed would do so as well, that’s a ‘for sure’. If you are working in an IT company or for a product, you would be adding value to one or two parts of the designing process. While on the other hand, if you work in a dedicated design studio, then you get to work in various projects from several industries. This way you’d keep on adding value to your profile, whilst learning and growing. What more to ask for than a priceless portfolio, that leaves companies with no choice but to work with you and get you on board.
SHAPING PERSONALITY-
Working in dedicated design studios requires for you to come face-to-face with clients. Where you converse with them, understand their needs and justify your design to them with a clear perspective. This does nothing but shape your personality and develop your communications. Having a great personality does leave an indistinctive mark on the client.
LEARN AS A TRAINEE TO WORK AS A BOSS-
As it is said, “with great power comes great responsibility”. It is really important for you to realise that when you choose to learn and work, you must also learn to work towards ownership. When you work on a project that is under your responsibility, you automatically learn to meet deadlines, expectations and to put up a great show. In all of this, you significantly learn discipline. Now because you are trying to produce substantial and efficient results, you will keep learning and updating your skills, because time doesn’t wait for anyone
ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND APPRECIATION-
Appreciation makes innovation easier. Designers get acknowledgement for their work, thus, leading them into creating new styles and setting new benchmarks. Being appreciated only fuels your brain to imagine and create. Now what more to ask for than a versatile pace in innovation. It’s definitely a plus, innit!
Before wrapping this up with the final thoughts, let’s answer one last question, that is likely to pop in your head while you read this piece. Money. To be fair, such studios do pay you really well. Although it does not pay an insanely high amount, like an IT company or a product would do. But the designing field needs passion and innovation the most and dedicated design studios present that with grace.
Now all you need to do is, reflect, think and decide.
We netizens have truly embraced the digital revolution. It is established that this is the era of tech startups. The global technology landscape is progressing towards more and more disruption and on an unprecedented note. But the looming question is, how is it going to transform business operations and what’s the next move?
In this fast-paced world, being ahead of time comes as an added benefit. But what about when the same applies to your breakthrough idea?
We all come across bold startup business ideas. And sometimes they are way ahead of their time. I have one in mind. You must have envisioned one too.
Sometimes it is the unavailability of the right technology that could have transitioned your innovative startup ideas into a reality, sometimes it is the determination to execute it and other times it’s the lack of funds.
The right thing to do when you’re stuck in such a situation is to pivot your solution.
To run any successful Startup, the ideation and discovery phase are extremely crucial.
A decade earlier the landscape was entirely different and we have witnessed exponential advancement over the years.
So, take a leap of faith, dig deep and understand the pain points you are trying to solve.
Don’t just give up on an idea because it lacks the technology or is way ahead of its time. You should look for alternative and accessible ways to solve the problem and make the most out of your entrepreneur idea.
What to do with a startup idea?
Think about it
What really is Innovation?
Isn’t it a breakthrough idea, something that’s not been done before? Something new, challenging, and meaningful.
An Innovator envisions a future. That future may not be in touch with the underlying reality but you must be determined and passionate enough to bring that change.
Innovation depends on a lot of things. While some factors may be completely out of your control, there are still certain things that you can control and influence.
This brings us to
1. User Analysis
It is important to know who your target audience is and what’s going on with them. Conducting an in-depth user analysis is important. The data that you generate from users and their invaluable insights can help you build a better product.
Whether it is creating personas to identify user characteristics and behaviour, or user journey mapping that examines how a user will interact with your product, detailed analysis helps in finding the right product-market fit.
It is only after finding your niche audience and a market fit, that you can scale your business by identifying new customers in the target market.
2. Outthink the Competition
Studying the competitive landscape is as important. Identifying the competition and evaluating their strategies to determine strengths and weaknesses provides a strategic context and helps in figuring out new opportunities. When you understand the competitive landscape, outthinking the competition and characterizing your unique value proposition becomes all the easier.
Don’t spend too much time on a business plan
Laying out a business plan is a long process- one that involves a lot of time, effort, visualizing and strategizing on how to run and scale a successful business.
The key is to have a vision in mind, be clear with your end goals, but do not spend too much time on a perfect business plan. Rather, just begin.
3. Build an MVP
How do you make sure that your brilliant idea stands a chance in the market? Developing a full-fledged product that no one seems to care about is a waste of time, money and effort.
Validated learning is always the answer to build a successful product. Building a basic first product that focuses exclusively on ‘need to have’ features and leaves the ‘nice to have’ for later is an ideal practice.
A Minimum Viable Product is a smart approach to building products. Your emphasis should lay on offering maximum value in minimum functionality and garnering maximum validation in minimum efforts.
4. Validate with real users
It is essential to have at least five customers at the very start. If your idea is brilliant and sparks user interest getting the first five customers will be a cakewalk. However, if you can’t seem to find five users that find your idea interesting, it’s time to reconsider the idea.
Validating with real users will help you determine whether you are on the right track. Listen to what your customers have to say, observe what they do and how they interact with your product.
Knowing what the user wants can help you build a robust and scalable product.
5. Pivot
According to the Startup Genome Compass of San Francisco which studies more than 13,000 Internet start-ups, “founders who change products and markets between one and three times raise more money than those who don’t.
Sometimes what you think is a great idea won’t necessarily work. Many big brands and successful businesses started with a certain idea but transitioned into something wholly different once they found their niche.
So, if your idea doesn’t work, don’t stick to it for far too long. Instead, explore and pivot your startup. A willingness to embrace change helps us in identifying opportunities where others see nothing but a wasteland. Recognize the potential to tweak certain parts of your business – pivot, test, and learn.
If you see the potential for wholly new concepts or ideas, try to make the most out of those opportunities.
There are many examples of companies that pivoted and witnessed massive success as a result
1. Twitter
In the world of social media, the most talked-about pivot is the transformation of Odeo into Twitter. Odeo began as a network where people could browse and listen to podcasts. After iTunes began taking over the podcast market, the company decided to shift the direction. After two weeks of coming up with new ideas, they decide to make a drastic change. They ran with the idea of a status updating micro-blogging platform which today we know as Twitter.
2. Pinterest
The famous ‘pinning’ social network Pinterest pivoted from “Tote”, a platform where people could shop and browse from their favorite retailers and were notified when the items went on sale.
Tote was losing on the shopping front since mobile app payments weren’t as easy back then. The creators tapped on a new-found opportunity, they realized Tote users were primarily interested in building ‘collections’ of their favorite items and sharing them with their friends.
Pinterest today has more than 291 million monthly active users worldwide and this pivot has been a huge success. The Tote-to-Pinterest transformation has been described as an “iterative” one, a direct outgrowth of what’s learned from the first business, “an unmet need, and obviously a huge opportunity.”
3. Instagram
Today Instagram is one of the most widely used Social media platforms. This image and video sharing app boasts 1 billion users. But Instagram began as Burbn, a check-in app that included photo posting options, some gaming elements and allowed users to earn points.
Burbn was too cluttered so the creators pivoted, stripped all functionalities, and focussed on just one- photo-sharing that allowed users to post, comment, and like.
Making Instagram a visual platform that is clean and simple made it stand out.
So, what’s the big idea?
According to a report by KPMG on the Indian Startup Ecosystem released in the second month of 2019, the number of Startups in the country grew from 7000 in 2008 to 50,000 in 2018. As per the report, this seven-fold increase has motivated people to look for innovation, especially in sectors like IT, AI, AR/VR, IoT, Food Tech, and Healthcare.
In the last decade, the Startup ecosystem witnessed massive growth and the digital landscape saw exponential advancement. New-age technologies like Blockchain, AI, AR/VR are not only disrupting the landscape, they are also changing how we interact and go about our everyday lives.
The big idea is to START, Stay lean, build agile. Pivot Early and Iterate often.
An idea that is 10 years too early can be a great thing. It gives you the chance to be a disruptor.
And when you start something and things don’t really work out, leveraging other aspects, some tweaking here and there, and some pivoting can take you a long way.
So as to scale a business, it’s indispensable to advertise the products viably. There are numerous difficulties along the path; in any case, adaptability is conceivable with these best development hacking methodologies.
To connect with an enormous crowd, companies need to embrace distinctive development hacking procedures. Although some among these procedures have just been around for a couple of years, in any case, they demonstrate to assume a crucial job in the growth of cutting edge organisations. Numerous business visionaries have made them a necessary piece of scaling their business since they saw productive outcomes, and it’s about time you do so as well.
Entrepreneurs look for different growth hacks and need to develop rapidly by collecting as many clients as possible to expand their income. Growth Hacking has been proven as a practical and trusted approach for a sure shot success of budding startups. Yet, only a few businesses are able to execute these growth hacks in an ideal manner. This article gives you an insight into the 12 best growth hacking strategies which have been proven successful for various ventures. Let’s take a look:
A/B Testing draws its way wherever there is traffic. No matter what it is; a blog title, email headline, popup CTA, or a million different things. There’s an A/B test that can assist you with streamlining that crusade. Regardless of whether it’s A/B testing your landing page content or seeing which email headlines resound with perusers, experimentation can reveal handy solutions that lead to tremendous outcomes.
2. Add hidden form fields to your lead-generation forms
The more you think about your leads, the better you can cater and support them in your promoting down the line. One technique used to catch much more data about your leads is to pass a parameter in a URL which can be acknowledged by a hidden field on one of your forms. Utilising this technique, you can catch much more data about your leads without frustrating them out with various forms that you as of now gathering data from. Regular employments of this can incorporate area, crusade, and intrigue classification.
3. Conduct Giveaways
Free giveaways can be a significant approach to promote your business. By showcasing your product to customers, you can rapidly and effectively create familiarity with your image, and it may spur them to return for more. The second time a client appears, their buy won’t be free. A giveaway is much similar to other advertising activities – it’s a method to create more exposure for your merchandise and ventures. Like it or not, all promoting costs money. Regardless of whether it’s an announcement on the interstate or a flag promotion on a site, you should be ready to spend on the off chance that you need to draw attention to your brand. In view of that, a giveaway can really be a less expensive approach to promote than other marketing strategies.
4. Create a referral program
Referral advertising permits your users to turn into your organisation’s pioneers by referring your business to their loved ones. While referral advertising requires marketing endeavours and the motivation of remunerations to get users to participate, there are numerous advantages of referral programs, and you ought to undoubtedly be utilising this technique to grow your audience base.
5. Go Freemium
In the event that you own an application or software business, you should seriously mull over building up a freemium model. This works incredible for applications of numerous sorts. Offer something for nothing. It probably won’t do a lot; however, it’ll give people a taste of your product. When they see that they can profit by your product, they’ll need a greater amount of it. A few people will never change over into paid clients. However, you need to concentrate on the onboarding procedure. It’s simpler to hold clients than to acquire them. That is the reason the freemium model works so well. You, as of now, have leads on the line. You simply need to persuade them that they need the paid adaptation of your product.
6. Guest Posting
Guest Posting administrations help to create new links. There are various guest posting services accessible on the web. Practically each one of them has their own sites going. These specialist organisations make it simpler to get abundant natural leads through the content by giving a connect to your site, which eventually helps in boosting up your SERP rankings. Visitor/Guest blogging is an incredible growth development hack which bloggers will in general use to increase natural site traffic and connecting with various crowds by improving their SEO rankings.
7. Collaborate with other brands
Talking about the customer base, brand collaborations are the uncelebrated protagonists of the growth hacking world. In the event that you have a user base of around 100,000 individuals and another brand in the related field has about 80,000 users, you can cooperate to contact 180,000 customers. You’re not searching for an immediate contender. Rather, center around finding a business that supplements your own. For example, possibly you sell handcrafted soaps. You could join forces with a business that sells body scrubs or shampoos. Contact forthcoming accomplices with an email or call. Come prepared with thoughts for approaches to mixing your users in natural manners, for example, by tagging each other via Instagram or Facebook, offering product packages that consolidate your products, or in any event, something as simple as cross-posting on each others’ websites.
8. Host and Attend Events
A genuine Growth Hacker doesn’t dispose of any potential roads that may lead them towards an objective. This incorporates going offline to energise development. On the off chance that you have niche-related events in your vicinity — or even away — think about visiting. You can go as a visitor or save a corner for your business. Meeting individuals up close and personal, shaking their hands, and getting some information about their needs can make you a more alluring arrangement than a nondescript organisation. Proceed, gain from the best, create associations, find out about your industry, and get some motivation. You don’t have anything to lose. Uncovering your business on pertinent business occasions and meetings will permit you to make connections with minimum exertion.
9. Start a Blog
Clients can’t cherish you on the off chance that they can’t discover you. If you haven’t started with a blog yet, get started with it ASAP! Blogging is one of the most economical, least complicated approaches to get before a group of people and connect with influencers. The present shopper goes directly to the Internet for information before beginning the purchasing procedure before they ever think about conversing with a human. Don’t dispatch an excellent blog with half a month’s worths of awesome content and afterwards disregard to compose another word.
10. Use Urgency and FOMO
Urgency and FOMO which is the abbreviation for the “Fear Of Missing Out” are two great psychological tools for amplifying your growth. FOMO exploits an individuals’ mental idea of not being deprived of something great. What’s more, it’s a conceivable piece of the reasons why utilising an invite-only framework for your organisation or new element discharges is so successful.
Identified with that is Urgency, which is likewise attached to human brain science. Essentially, we feel constrained to act if a circumstance is dire. So in case you’re opening beta access to your new help temporarily, it turns out to be all the more engaging potential clients. Rolling out offers like a limited-time deal or rapidly expiring discounts make people want to act fast and shop thinking they might miss a great deal. Utilise Email Marketing:
11. Hire a growth hacker
This is by far the best and one of the most straightforward growth hacking strategy: Hire a Growth Hacker. A growth hacker knows exactly what techniques to utilise to take your company to the top. Employing a professional implies you’ll get somebody proficient at showcasing your organisation as well as deciphering the information that outcomes from those endeavours. Regardless of whether you have an advertising plan set up, you could profit by employing a growth hacker.
CONCLUSION
Growth Hacking is, in any case, more effective than traditional marketing. In today’s cut-throat competition, Growth hacking is the only way through which a new business can ride on the high tide and grow exponentially. Revolve all your strategies around taking care of issues, developing your audience and improving your image. Incredible products and services positively help sell themselves; however, you have to get that growth plan in motion. Enlist client evangelists, join forces with similar organisations, make content with wild relinquish, set yourself apart with world-class client assistance. With such vast numbers of basic approaches to dispatch growth, there has never been a more energising time to perceive what your business can genuinely do.
Blockchain – the concept/technology as powerful as the Internet itself has moved from the time when it was deemed to be overhyped to now when it has become an important part of a number of industries, banks, and government.
While the technology has made a prominent place in a number of processes on a very high-level and have found associations among a number of big brands like –
A general assumption has been formed that the disruptive technology is only practical for big names of the world and has, as a result, made itself very unapproachable for mass usage, unintentionally.
Our intent today is to remove the assumption and make Blockchain Startups a technology occurence that can be implemented on mass scales by businesses and industries of all size and across all categories. While, there have already been several use cases of Blockchain in Enterprise setup, it is the startups that need to reform with the power of Blockchain at the back of them.
Something we are going to attend to in this article.
This article is for you to get acquainted with the abilities of Blockchain for startups and how it can be used to not just make your business efficient but also mark it as a brand that is highly innovative. We will help you identify the ways Blockchain Startup can impact and make your processes a lot easier. And in case you wish to dive deep in the technology’s ABC, head on to our handbook on Entrepreneur’s Guide to Blockchain.
Now without further delay, let us get on to what can Blockchain do for YOU.
What can Blockchain do For Your Startups?
Can make you early adopters
Just like the starting days of the Internet, the Blockchain world is underdeveloped to a huge extent. There are a number of critical elements that will have to be addressed before Blockchain becomes a mass phenomenon.
For startups that are willing to act as fast movers and follow the plant the flag strategy, there is a golden opportunity to conceive and grow a community before space becomes too overly crowded with Blockchain business applications.
By investing time and resources to develop a business model with Blockchain at the center of the processes or even a major part of the working mechanism, will automatically give startups an edge over others working in the same domain – something that all startups need in a time where there are thousands of businesses working in the same category, fighting for the same piece of market.
Can Replace Antiquated Processes With Digital Systems
A number of startups operate on some or the other form of the legacy software or outdated infrastructure, which not just increases the cost of conducting business but also make them inefficient and inconsistent to a great extent. Plus, a great number of vital processes are manual in nature, meaning they are subject to the risk of human error to a massive extent.
With Blockchain for small businesses, startups will be able to solve a great amount of these issues. The technology is known to decentralize the pool of data segregated among a great number of different processes – something that solves the startups’ needs to rely on manual labor to collect and process data.
Can Secure Their Data
Cybersecurity is a point of concern for companies of all sizes across industries. The global spending on cybersecurity based services and products like automation and IoT is estimated to increase by $1 Trillion by the coming five years.
Noting the incredible security proof that Blockchain systems come with, they are poised to soon become the de-facto mode of gathering and organizing the enterprise data – and a primary answer behind the question on why do companies use Blockchain.
All the data gathered in the ledger gets automatically encrypted with the newest and greatest of the cryptographic methods, the warehouses are only accessible through a key-value mechanism which validates and authorizes the identification before granting access.
Moreover, the decentralized mechanism of Blockchain for small business reduces the security risk to a great extent. As the distributed system cannot get manipulated by any single entity, it is impossible for hackers to change the data without notifying everyone in the network – something that protects against corruption and give the control back to the actual users.
Now that you have seen how Blockchain can make your startup more efficient, let us look at the ways you can employ the technology in your startup to make your business more efficient, transparent, and decentralized. The answer which is same as one to Why do Companies use Blockchain.
Ways Blockchain for Startups Business can be Employed for Better Processes
Here are some of the top-most applications for Blockchain in your business –
1. Payment and money transfer
One of the most common applications of Blockchain in a startup is seen in use of technology in the payment and money transfer domain.
The present day story is that Blockchain is ready to transform transactions and startups are known to deal with a number of vendors across the world, for availing low-cost, high quality services. Blockchain with its cryptocurrency element comes in handy for making cross-border payments easier and a lot more cost effective than the traditional mode of payments, which are crippled by high transfer charges.
2. Contracts Creation and Abiding
As you are just starting, there are a number of contracts that you will have to get binded into – with your interior designers, your food and beverage vendor, your offshore software development company and a number of other third-party stakeholders.
With so many contracts to be made and ensured to be followed, use of Blockchain in business can come in very handy, through the Smart Contract route. Since we have already talked about the concept in our Smart Contract guide before, we won’t get too much into the depth into the mechanism here, but what we can tell you with respect to Contracts and Blockchain is that it is impossible for any of the involved party to break the Smart Contract.
3. Distributed cloud storage
A distributed cloud-storage comprises solutions around peer-to-peer decentralized cloud storage. By using the combination of cryptography and Blockchain to protect the files on both – transmission and in nodes – decentralized cloud storage makes your files unhackable and Blockchain a useful element of your startup.
In layman terms, distributed cloud storage system comes into existence when every element of the cloud storage, like processing, transport, and storage of data is put into the blockchain ecosystem. Once that happens, every data – how it moved, who accessed it, and how it was governed can be seen by everyone who has the access to the Blockchain. A system of this type help in offering full accountability, traceability, and transparency for cloud, and entities which are either using or managing the cloud.
4. Protection of Digital Identity
Another crucial application of Blockchain in businesses is Identity Management.
Identity management is something that the world suffers from. No matter what business or team size you belong to, you are never truly safe from your identity being leaked on the internet and in worst case scenario, in the hands of the hackers.
In the case of startups, what happens is that they – in an ode to seek growth and efficient performance – sign up and subscribe to a number of websites that in some cases can be malicious.
Blockchain, in this case, can be used as a platform to protect identities from fraudulent activities. The technology can help businesses handle the problems of reconciliation and authentication faced by a number of industries. Moreover, it allows businesses the freedom to develop encrypted digital identities that replace usernames and pin codes with comprehensive security elements that are capable of saving the institutions and their customers’ valuable resources and time.
5. Supply Chain Management
There are a number of different ways Blockchain can be used in business when it comes to the Supply Chain Management process, to make it more real-time, accessible, transparent, and efficient. Here are the different applications of Blockchain in SCM –
Provenance Tracking
In the blockchain-powered supply chain management process, provenance tracking and record keeping become very easy for the product information can be easily accessed through RFID tags and embedded sensors. Everything about the product, straight from origination to its present status can be tracked via Blockchain. Along with this, the provenance tracking can also be used for detection of frauds in any part of supply chain.
Cost Reduction
When Blockchain is used in supply chain for speeding up the administrative processes, the additional costs occurring in the system gets automatically reduced with the transactions’ security guaranteed. Secondly, elimination of intermediaries and middlemen in the supply chain lowers the chances of product duplicacy, frauds, while saving them a lot of money. The payments made can even be processed by the suppliers and customers in supply chain with cryptocurrencies rather than them relying on the EDI.
Establishing Trust
Having trust in complex supply chains with many participants is necessary for smooth operations. For example, when a manufacturer shares his products with suppliers, he/she should be able to depend on them for following factory safety standards. Also, when it comes to regulatory compliances such as custom enforcers, trust plays a vital role. The immutable nature of blockchain in the supply chain is well-designed to prevent tampering and establishing trust, marking trust as the primal application of Blockchain in business.
6. Quality Customer Support
There are two ways through which Blockchain is used in Business for increasing the quality of customer support.
Data Cleansing Whether it’s due to inept data import tools or human negligence, CRM users all over the world have to deal with inaccurate or duplicate data at some level. With blockchain in place, a customer can have their very own personal block that presents companies with a unified and accurate picture of their personal information, past transactions, subscriptions, etc. Hence, blockchain helps these companies circumvent the issue of inaccurate, obsolete and duplicate data records altogether. This consequently yields better insights into customers and helps businesses engage them more effectively.
Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs aim to drive profits by adding value to the customer experience. However, due to their variable mileage, volatile value and associated privacy concerns, they prove to be cumbersome for customers and yield a low ROI. However, in a manner very similar to cryptocurrencies, brands can make use of blockchain to reimagine and reinvigorate their loyalty programs. With blockchain, consumers would have a single decentralized wallet that is compatible with all brands. They would not be bound by the rules and limitations of individual brands and point redemption would be greatly simplified. The consumer will have far greater control over the whole experience and brands will complete for their wallet by offering them better deals.
7. Advertisement and Promotion
The need for promotion while necessary for businesses of all size is something that is unignorable for startups who are just starting up and are in need of awareness in the market. Even after being one of the most important elements of a business, advertisement industry is filled with a number of loopholes that makes it unnecessarily expensive and opaque for the startups.
When Blockchain is introduced to the mix, there are a number of things that get sorted and streamlined on the promotion front.
Let us look at the benefits of using Blockchain in your business in terms of decentralized advertising.
Better Audience Targeting
Earlier, as marketers, we used to rely on more than one sources to get information on users’ buying habits. But now with blockchain, advertisers will get the freedom of creating buyers’ demographics by getting the necessary information straight from the buyer themselves. The technology will gather all the information that the users wish to share their buying pattern and get them to the advertisers.
Reliable Ad Buys
The problem with online advertising is the lack of knowledge related to the fact that it is absolutely difficult to know whether the people who clicked on the ads were genuine buyers or paid clickers. However, since blockchain is transparent, advertisers can easily make out if the clicks that they are getting, even coming from the population they are targeting or not. This way, the ad buys would prove itself to be of value to money.
Ad Verification
Many times, it so happens that you see a banner advertisement on Facebook listing price of the product as N, but when you visit the site, the number is shown as X. The identification and rectification of issues such as these are the tasks done by the Ad verifiers, whom the networks pay heavily to. However, blockchain helps ensure that the actual information is exactly same as what shown in an advertisement. It reduces the heavy cost that is associated with the ad auditing process.
Management of Advertisement Inventory
Ad inventory, as we all know is the space that advertisers have for ad selling. It can be calculated on the monthly basis. The information that goes into the whole ad inventory management cycle – number of space, length of the advertisement, maintaining records of which day is assigned to which brand, the amount that has to be charged space placement wise etc. – are way too much to handle manually. By using smart contracts and blockchain, brands can not just manage the inventory better but also get payments from advertisers on time.
8. To Generate Funds
One of the biggest sign of success for any startup and also the one which helps them grow to their maximum ability is the amount of investments that they receive. The moment your startup gets backed by investors, you don’t just become an establishment to look out for but also get sufficient funds to support your growth and expansion needs.
Now, when we talk about generating funds or raising investments, there are quite a few options available to the startups and entrepreneurs – Crowdfunding, Angel Investments, Venture Capitalist, Bank Loans, Small Business Administration Loans, etc. While out of all of these modes of generating funds, Venture Capitalist has established itself as the most preferred form of raising fund as entrepreneurs get not just funds but also the experience of VC investors, ICO (a Blockchain powered mode of raising fund) is soon replacing the VC model.
There are a number of reasons that have not just brought the demand for VC and ICO at an equal stage but have also increased the fund investment count for ICO fund model. But, the ones that make ICO ideal for you are:
Easier:
Compared to the VC fund model that asks for entrepreneurs to come prepared with validating market and financial response that proves how your startup or idea is a success, ICOs have a lot fewer benchmarks to follow, making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise funds through the ICO route.
Global:
While VC funding operates within a set geographical boundary, ICO can be raised from investors in the UAE while you are in Australia.
Speedy:
As opposed to the VC funding timeline to raise funds, ICO lasts for around 30 days, only. Making it a lot speedy for entrepreneurs to raise money.
So, here were the several benefits that come tagged with the integration of Blockchain in a startup. But, these benefits like all the genuine, validated benefits, don’t come without their set of challenges.
Specially when the technology is as disruptive and less explored as Blockchain, the instances of businesses facing a challenge in its implementation is very obvious.
Let us look at what challenges Startups face and the probable solutions there can be to overcome and adopt the technology in the business process.
Challenges Startups have to overcome
Complexity in Regulations
The biggest obstacle facing enterprise blockchain adoption is the lack of regulations safeguarding entrepreneurs if something goes wrong. While, there are a number of regulations coming up aimed at bettering the Blockchain adoption rate, the time when you will have a legal regulation in place is still far away.
Presence of Legacy Systems
Startups that wish to actually benefit from Blockchain will have to have a DLT based infrastructure, something that requires technical know-how and capital. The solution to this is investing in skilled Blockchain developers who know how to integrate the technology in the existing system and then integrate on a small scale rather than going all in.
High Hack Incidents
For something anointed to be highly secure, Blockchain doesn’t come sans hack and security breach instances. The internet is filled with Blockchain hack events causing people a loss of millions and millions of money, making safety the biggest factor keeping Blockchain receive full Enterprise adoption.
The solution to this challenge is employing Private or Permissioned Blockchain ecosystem instead of Permissionless or Open Blockchain. By making Blockchain permissioned, you add another security level to the mechanism, making it completely unhackable. Also, since the number of stakeholders, in this case, lowers, the throughput time increases by manifold, making it easier to handle multiple transactions at one time.
Now that we have seen how Blockchain can make Startups more efficient and the probable challenges along with the ways you can conquer them, it is time to look into the Blockchain platforms that you will have to work around to employ the technology in your startup.
Enterprise Blockchain System Platforms
Here are the platforms that we have been trusting for the development of enterprise grade Blockchain system for your Startups –
Hyperledger Fabric
Quorum
VechainThor
R3 Corda
Hedera Hashgraph
As you could see, the enterprise blockchain systems usually have a lot more throughput, lesser latency, and a lot less complex consensus protocols compared to the standard public blockchains such as Ethereum or Bitcoin.
With this, you not just know why to invest in Blockchain for bettering your startup efficiency and the various applications of Blockchain in your business but also how to establish yourself as an innovative company but also what platforms to use to make it possible. What is left now is to get in touch with our Blockchain app developers and get started with the bettering of your startup.
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