How to Start a Software Startup Company?

Startup is “the” latest trend. Every year new businesses are opened with the hope that one day they are going to be a successful setup. But before they can meddle into the turmoil of profit and loss and making it big in the market, one has to set up the business. This setup has to be a smooth process for the sake of conservation of both time and effort. Thus to actually have the setup with minimum hassle there are some pointers that might be followed to know how to start a software company.

How To Start a Software Startup Company? (Steps to Start a Software Development Company)

Continuous Revenue

One of the best ways to present your product is by making it a SaaS product or in general terms a subscription product. The positives of subscription models are that there is a continuous flow of revenue.

Continuous revenue also denotes a predictable source of revenue generation. And thus for a business model with a huge amount of profit margin will also have a huge risk of downfall creating unmatchable levels of the stress factor.

The monthly plan

The most popular continuous revenue plans are yearly or annual plans and monthly plans. Although annual plans attracts customers because it usually comes with discounts and gift cards it has some disadvantages:

  • The gross money received is less because of the discounts provided for attracting more customers.
  • The revenue thus generated will also become less predictable thus violating rule number1.

Direct money transfer

For startups it is always advisable to receive payments from customer by direct money transfer methods like credit and debit cards. If there are options like invoice added, the cashflow becomes hefty and difficult to manage.

Outsource billing

Outsourcing the whole billing process is the smartest thing for any startup. Processing the money received at the beginning of the month to calculating and taking care of the sales tax is taken care by the this company. This makes the work for the startup really hassle free because:

  • Every month there is a chunk of money received.
  • If there are issues with billing the customer would not contact the startup.
  • The third party company would take care of everything like: chargebacks, coupons, offers etc.

Today is the key

Dreaming big is good but preparing for today and tomorrow is even better. Putting more focus on short term goals compared to the things that can be done in the future is a better option.

For example when in the initial months if the work load can be handled by lesser employees then a few people should be hired rather than a large number thinking that they would be useful in the future when the workload becomes more.

Or un the initial phase try and take easier assignments to get the hang of the market and work and then gradually go towards bigger and more complicated projects.

Keep it simple, silly

The primary and major goal of a startup should be creating business. Learning new technologies might come in the path of creating new business because of the sheer presence of complications. Of course if this new technology is absolutely needed then it should be adopted.

A multi-vendor platform

It is always wise to have more options. Therefore an app that can be launched in IOS as well as Android play stores can reduce a lot of stress.

In a single vendor platform, there might be benefits like an already made market but the number of people viewing the app would be less compared to a scenario where the app is on multiple platforms.

An already set office

For startups there are already new things on the plate and a whole lot of more things to care of. If amongst all this there are also logistic issues that has to be taken care of like maintenance of electrical appliances or plumbing issues then it creates unnecessary burden.

Hence it is always better to go for office spaces that are already set or are co-working places.

Answering Service and Boring Bank

Answering services help transfer calls, take messages and create tickets. It is very difficult to be in the middle of a code or in the middle of developing a software and answering unnecessary calls. Thus by hiring an answering service lot of the work becomes hassle-free.

Choosing a well established boring bank can be beneficial for a startup because they have ample number of services to cater to such organizations.

In a few smaller banks to there are varied numbers of services designed for startups but the problem is that they cannot be relied upon because more than often the services are shut abruptly.

A corporate structure

If one is not savvy with white-collar works involving lawyers and accountants then while starting a business one should go for a simple and easy corporate structure.

This helps in maintaining proportionality between the size of the company and the corporate work that it involves. When the business is small the work involving lawyers and accountants is also small and it grows along with the growth of the business.

One and Only Accountant

Trying to go for an accountant who will stick around for years is a must. Finding a new accountant in the middle of a business and making him understand how the company works is one of the most tedious jobs.

No investors

When there are investors they automatically gets added to the board. The main agenda of investors is usually to increase the business at any cost which might affect the mental health and work life balance causing a lack of passion and interest in the work.

On the other hand if one gets addicted to this idea of more business and more money there is a fair chance that the value building of the business will go down.

No Grants

Grant money work in a particular way. The path of the project is decided in the initial two years through research and development. If this particular decided path is not followed the grant is discontinued.

This somehow clobbers the creativity of the company. There might be points in the business where the customer needs are different but the initial research doesn’t align with it. Therefore grants can turn out to be a bane.

No partnerships

The different kinds of partnerships can be reseller, channel partner, marketplace or co-promotion. Usually whatever is the type of partnership it takes a lot of time and money.

No patents

If the company is big getting a patent is worth the trouble but for smaller organizations it might be too much of a hassle. If the smaller company hopes to be taken over by a bigger conglomerate then again getting a patent might be fruitful. If the team is small the efforts and money required are comparatively much higher.

Not For Sale

As it happens as soon as the company becomes big and creates a brand for itself there will be buyers who would want to buy the company. Such talks should be ignored for the growth of the organization.

Less is more

As famously said “too many cooks spoil the broth”, if there are too many marketing channels involved then the small team handling them would not be able to give their best.

It is better if a small number of channels are selected and the work is started with them and when good results are obtained then things are thought about taking further with more channels. Therefore start with less and then think about making it more.

No big launches

No big launches would include hosting big launch parties or including prominent personalities in the launches and product hunts. These are usually nothing but major distractions that wastes time in the business.

This also hinders finding the target audience because it almost always happens that the people who come for launches are not the expected users.

No conferences or trade shows

If trade shows or conferences are arranged they turn out to be nothing but too much money spent and even more so a huge distraction for a small team.

From weeks before the actual conference, the team invests time on unnecessary logistics work like buying chairs, ordering food for customers, etc. The leads obtained from the show are unqualified but by the time the team understands that, precious weeks have been lost after the show.

No to unsolicited work

It is extremely common to receive unsolicited phone calls and emails for startups after they appear online. These phone calls are usually for offering services and selling products.

The team lead is advised to ignore such calls because he needs to priorities the team’s time and efforts. These unsolicited calls can be kept for later and hope they can turn into potential providers.

A few considerations can also be made to make the process easier. If a few things can be kept in mind a startup can be created with little or sometimes no help at all.

Software Startup Ideas

Medical Software

Medical Software usually used in hospitals and other medical facilities to record the data of the patients. This has some obvious advantages over manual records which always the risks of errors and mistakes. Therefore it gets easier to sell the products in any medical facility.

Software to download videos from Youtube

As the name suggests this software would allow downloading files from YouTube. According to statistics the previous applications made as downloaders for YouTube files have made a fortune. For someone who wants to get such an application in the market can just hire developers to do the work.

Time Tracking Software

As the name suggests the time tracking software would be keeping a track of time. It is especially used by organizations to help its employees to keep a track of time.

Therefore this software can have a huge target audience. Any company or organization irrespective of its domain or sector can be approached for selling the product.

Customer Relationship Management Software

Relationship Management Software like Time Tracking Software can be sold in different varieties of startups. This becomes a better deal when clubbed with a subscription payment package.

The money can be given by the customers once every year or every six months. This software can be very beneficial for companies and thus high demand. They help in managing the work done.

Food Inventory Software

Food inventory software usually refers software that can help in managing the inventory. These can be used by different grocery stores. Since the food industry is a large sector the software can attract a huge number of customers.

Business Communication Softwares

A communication software which are specially build for business needs can be termed as a business communication software. The software can be shared among the members of the professional group.

Thus like the previous software, this too has a large scope as the number of potential customers is huge. Professional communications can be more interactive and easier with the help of such software.

Ticket Booking and Reservation Software

A software used for booking tickets and managing reservations is a lucrative option. The options which are already present have their own set of errors. An efficient option for ticket booking and reservation which has a good speed and does not take forever to load will have a good market value.

Hotel Booking Software

Like ticket booking, hotel booking software will help in booking rooms in different hotels. The type of room or any particular hotel can be selected for booking by the customer. The customization feature may be an added advantage for the application.

E-Learning Software

With the help of e-learning software, one can build syllabuses and course schedules. Teachers can provide online tests and quizzes or online exams for the students.

Thus this application can be used by schools, colleges, and every other training institute. The best part about such applications is that they can be used by teachers, students as well parents. These applications hold even more important now after the pandemic.

Software to crop

In the age of different social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, etc. people tend to invest a lot of time in clicking and uploading photographs.

The extra portions of the photos need to be cropped which can be done with the help of the cropping application. In other scenarios, taking out one’s own image from a bigger photo can be also done with the help of this application.

FAQ of How to Start a Software Company

Is it possible to build an app?

If an app has to be coded, it can either be done through an app development company, or by setting up a design and development team or by creating on your own.

How do free apps make money?

Even if the application is free it is possible to earn money if the content in the application is updated on a regular basis. The users of the app will have to pay a monthly amount to avail the latest content. It is actually a combination of free and paid stuff in the app.

How expensive is it to have an application on the app store?

Every account has to pay an annual amount of 99 dollars. It does not matter whether or not the application is free or paid.

What amount of money does an application earn with every download?

The most amount of applications downloaded are through Android. But the developer only earns 2 percent of the download. However incase of Apple the developer earns around 5 percent.

What are the types of applications that are on demand?

Some of the applications that are on demand are: Uber, Postmates, Rover, Drizly, Soothe, Handy, TaskRabbit etc.

Is it possible to make money by creating an app?

According to stats, 16 percent of the Android developers make around five thousand dollars per month whereas 25 percent of IOS developers can earn more than five thousand dollars with the help of the app that they have developed.