Future Females is building the FIRST community-based learning experience for women who want to invest in themselves and their future dream businesses. In the lead-up to this milestone launch, we’ve learned a thing or two about what it takes to build a tech product!
Here are our 5 top tips for building a successful tech product…
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1. Be clear about the problem you are solving
The clearer you can articulate a problem or set of problems you are trying to solve, the easier it will be to solve it, as clarity equals less ambiguity. Try explaining the problem and proposed solution to potential users in as few words as possible. It is surprising what a goldmine a simple exercise like this tends to yield.
2. Know your competitors
It is not uncommon to hear founders say, “We do not have any competitors.” But the reality is, there is usually at least one way to solve existing problems, including the good-old manual solution. Building a competitor matrix is a helpful exercise to capture the language competitors use to describe solutions to their pain points. They have spent a lot of time agreeing on terminology, so why reinvent the wheel? It is also a great way to get a leadership team to do a hands-on exercise and report back on their findings, as a way to level-set. The matrix can then be evolved to include a heatmap by version/release that prioritise what you are going after first versus second, etc.
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3. Wireframe extensively before you start building
Nine out of ten start-ups tend to dive into building a solution, skipping important steps like wireframing. It is quick and cheap to move pixels around, but expensive to make major changes once something is built. The crisper you can be about who your user is and what their user journeys are, the easier it is to validate/invalidate with potential customers. The feedback can be incorporated quickly and cheaply in revised wireframes, even by testing out A/B scenarios. The more refined the outcome, the clearer the picture will be of what the developers need to build. This means quicker time to market, and a solution customers actually want.
4. Get customer feedback early and often
We often hear founders say, “We do not have any customers.” But that shouldn’t stop one from finding potential customers. Building a solution without customer input is very dangerous, as more often than not the first version gets completely rewritten when customer feedback has not been captured, and this ends up being costly and time-consuming – that is assuming there is any runway left for the rebuild, which usually there is not.
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5. Hire an experienced technical founder (if you are non-technical)
If you are wanting to build software or a physical product, hire someone who has done it before. You would not hire someone to design a house who does not have an architectural degree or any experience designing houses. This should be no different when thinking about your team. Outsourcing is an option, but the motivation of an outsourcer is very different from having someone on your team that is accountable for both the short-term and longer term technical decisions and approaches.
The new Future Females Platform will be a fundamentally different way for women to connect – digitally, physically, and emotionally – to level up in their businesses, and in their lives. This is a platform designed for a community of women who don’t compete but collaborate. It is a space where members can access all the Courses, Events, Discussions, and support structures they need to succeed – without overwhelm, procrastination, or second-guessing. A space where we will all rise together.
Want to know more? Be the first to access the platform HERE!
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