What’s The Easiest Way to Grow a Tech Startup in 2023?

It’s an exciting time for new digital ventures in the tech industry. Innovations like AI, mobile technology, and the cloud create many opportunities for organizations with the right mix of tech skills, business acumen, and practical experience. It’s a major reason why professionals with spark and vision form startups to take advantage of this promising environment. 

Creating and building a tech startup in the current economy requires a well-honed approach. Obviously, managerial talent comes into play; either someone with significant project management experience or an executive looking for a chance to build something from scratch. Hiring employees with strong software engineering and design skills also matters if the fledgling organization wants to specialize in crafting digital ventures.

If you want to grow a tech startup in 2023, check out these best practices to optimize your efforts. We’ve developed these insights from a decade of following our digital venture studio playbook for our clients and internally funded ventures. Now go out and create a digital venture to captivate the technology world!

Find a Market Niche That Matches Your Company Vision and Talent

While the modern business world boasts a myriad of intriguing opportunities, your tech startup ultimately benefits from finding its own niche. Choose a market where your management team and senior technical talent boast significant experience. This helps them accurately vet the opportunities suitable for a digital venture. It might be a mobile app that solves a unique problem or a compelling idea for a new website or service.

Also take advantage of any perspectives provided by your team members with little experience in your chosen niche. Their fresh insights just might prove worthwhile when trying to reengineer outdated legacy practices and processes. Even when providing a view similar to that of an end-user or customer, their voice definitely adds value when trying to brainstorm new ideas.  

Ultimately, your target niche needs to match the vision of what you want your startup to become. A digital agency specializing in enthralling mobile apps for the travel market provides one example. Whatever you decide, this critical question needs to be answered as quickly as possibly when forming your startup organization.

Leverage a Software Development Methodology That Fosters Learning 

Your startup needs to use an iterative software methodology that leverages timely feedback from clients and users. An Agile variant like Lean Startup provides the rapid interaction necessary to quickly build apps or websites while learning more about the target market and business problem. Lean Startup uses a concept called the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) which focuses on quickly building an MVP to get the app into the hands of testers and users; starting the valuable feedback process. 

At NineTwoThree, we use a Lean Startup-based loop called Learn-Measure-Build. This approach develops a learning plan at the beginning of the project. After that process is complete, the team then determines the metrics used for measuring the results of user testing. At this point, the development team builds the MVP for this cycle of the project. 

The project team works together to learn the lessons from the feedback out of the testing phase. That information informs another iteration of the Lean Startup loop with new measurables as well as coding and design changes to the app. As these cycles repeat, a captivating app or website gradually gets built. Focusing on this learning-based process leads to a software product that ultimately better meets the needs of the user. 

Building a Team and Procedures 

After determining the market niche and development methodology, your startup needs to begin hiring an engineering team. At nearly the same time, begin crafting the procedures necessary to run your company in an efficient manner. While choosing a methodology related to this latter step, you also need to sharply define the tools used for project management and similar functions. In fact, having some of these procedures already in place helps attract talented tech professionals interested in joining an organization with a forward-looking culture. 

Leverage tools that support your approach for modern project management. We use Monday.com, which our employees and clients both love. It fits with how we manage our digital venture projects. Additionally, have procedures in place to set client expectations as well as to get projects back on track when issues arise. Seamless and open communication between all team members and stakeholders also becomes critical. 

Fostering Growth as Your Startup Emerges

As you successfully craft digital ventures for clients, your fledgling organization obviously begins to grow. Managing this growth ensures you expand at a proper rate. Developing your employees through training and project experience also makes it easier to retain them over time. Never let a technical skills gap hamper your growth potential.

Consider using profits to invest in new digital ventures with the potential to become new startups. In the end, turning your organization into a proactive digital agency offers the best opportunity for significant growth and profits. 

If you are interested in learning more about building a tech startup, check out our Digital Venture Studio Playbook. Leverage the insights within to help you get started. Connect with us if you have any additional questions.