If you ask leading tech giants or even major brand owners if starting a business with a friend is a good idea, you’d probably get mixed responses on the topic. Some believe that business and pleasure shouldn’t be put together. More so, familiarity may be an ingredient for disaster for any joint venture. However, many others have discovered that having friends who share the same core values and drive as you could be a major advantage. So, what can you do to ensure the odds are in your favor? Here are five tips to guide you when starting a tech company with friends.
1. Look Professional
In order not to spoil your reputation, it’s vital to dress professionally. How you dress on your job depends not only on the industry but also on your specific role. In some jobs, suits and ties are more suitable, business casual will do just fine for other jobs. For ladies in tech, it might best to opt for a no show bra. Whether it’s for those initial start-up meetings or a casual lunch with friends, you want to look your best. Sites like Soma Boutique offer minimizer bras that could make all the difference.
2. Find the right platforms.
Here’s the truth. Even tech companies need support from reliable internet providers and tech houses to stay afloat. When building a brand, only opt for providers you can trust to take care of your business’ foundational functions. For example, a cloud provider that offers dedicated servers will keep your company connected while you focus on building a reliable brand.
OVH Cloud is a cloud hosting provider that equally provides support for small and large companies alike. They’ve been operating for over two decades and have more than one million dedicated customers to show for it. What’s even more impressive is that they create and design their own data centers that provide reliable coverage and optimal network services to companies worldwide. Being one of the few that does this, their VMware ® based Hosted Private Cloud, and OpenStack-based Public Cloud is the preferred choice for companies that want to enjoy seamless connectivity and performance every day of the week.
3. Take care of the basics.
When it comes to business, creating a reliable brand that people can relate to and trust should be your priority. Friendship takes second place. So, rather than everyone trying to co-manage the business, there should be different roles and departments for each person to head — according to their expertise.
Just in case you need viable bulk USB drives to store the initial plans, project models, and ideas, sites like Everything But Stromboli (EBS) will come in handy. This fast-growing and reliable company provides bulk flash drives at reasonable prices. Their products range from memory cards to flash drives with 1gb, 4gb, 16gb, 32gb, 64gb, and more. They also take single orders and offer free shipping for bulk orders from as low as $99. Their close-knitted team focuses on giving back to the community with a portion of their income and go as far as helping out with child sponsorships.
4. Start getting the word out.
Every business needs good marketing and sales to forge ahead. It may seem too early to start thinking about Public Relations or advertising, but planning ahead is exactly what you need to do at the initial stage. With a little help from these five PR tips, your team can write down and deliberate the vital campaigns that’ll help build brand awareness.
5. Define your minimum valuable product (MVP).
A lot of start-ups ask the question, do I need an MVP? The short answer is yes. Every start-up needs a business model that describes how useful and valuable their product is to the average customer. It’s simple; every product or project seeks to solve a problem. So, even when pitching your ideas to investors, the solution to the problem has to be well-defined. Don’t just stop there; focus on creating minimum valuable traction as well.
