Software startup risks & pain points

The journey of a software startup is an unbelievable path with a lot of things to understand. Founders embarking on this path will encounter some risks. The calling of this article is to enhance the proactivity of the startup founders and help them minimize or prevent possible risks.

Developer related risks

Any application or website needs to be developed, consequently, any project sooner or later faces one of the most future-defining challenges related to the executor:

• А.
  The choice of a qualitative software developer or solution

  The skills and experience of the individual or team that would be working on your idea are directly-proportional to its quality, usability, scalability, and work required for the maintenance. We consciously used the word “solution” in this title, because in the modern world a lot of new projects do not require custom development. Instead of coding, it might be more optimal to find a no-code solution, such as MVP Rocket.

• B.
  Conscious understated price

  This approach is very popular among various development companies of all sizes. After the assessment, the developer makes a quote with an amount, that is significantly underrated and this step is done consciously. The goal of this understated price estimation is to get a contract. As a result, during the development process, the client starts receiving some messages and engineering verdicts from the contractor’s team, explaining why specific things will cost more than what was initially expected. In order to avoid such situations, the startup founder is advised to be diligent and careful before signing contracts. Be attentive to what your contractor commits to.

• C.
  Dependency on a specific contractor

  Many developers wish to have as many long terms contracts as possible. Some of the teams may abuse this opportunity and try to persuade the client to commit to the contract with a work scope larger than is needed. From the client's perspective without technical knowledge and understanding of coding principles and procedures, it is impossible to prevent a risk like this. Keeping this in mind, asking the right questions before any commitment is approved, and asking for references before contract signing might be very useful.

Technology selection

The world of engineering has gone through interesting transformations during the recent 7 years and nowadays there are different options for how to develop a project. For mobile projects, the decision needs to be made between engineering with ins native technologies, such as Java for Android and Swift for iOS applications, and ins hybrid technologies, that allow having a single codebase for both. The recommended aspects to consider in this question are:

• A.

  Development speed - affects the overall timeline of the project

• B.

  Simplicity - dictates the cost of development

• C.

  Popularity - defines the variety of potential developers

Failure of the first release

The functionality of the first version of your project that would be delivered to the market is extremely important. Future success strongly depends on what and how is delivered to the project’s target audience.

A very well-known approach is to find the optimal solution between the features set not enough to meet market needs and an over-functional project for the first release. It is called MVP - minimum viable product.

Environment-related risks

Whenever the project is getting closer to the release phase new potential obstacles appear - marketplaces approvals. Despite that, they are seemingly agreeable and strictly following the rules that they have designed, real experience shows there is always some uncertainty in terms of any kind of approval or updates from their side

• A.
  Approval by application markets

  Each environment has its own rules and limitations that any product delivered to this market should follow. If you are working with a product that needs to be distributed through the application market, such as AppStore or GooglePlay for the well-known mobile operational systems, you will be required to get their approval. Most common markets have published their guidelines for the submission.

• B.
  Maintenance work & cost

  Depending on the team, coding language, or solution you choose for your project there definitely will be some maintenance work required. Think about this before you make the decision that may seem optimal during the initial development but may cause significant maintenance work in the future.

Security and legal risks

• A.

  Ensure that you have solid legal rights for your logo, images, and other marketing materials, that your project utilizes

• B.

  Be sure to prepare such important documents as Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions and make them accessible according to the environment’s requirements.

MVP Rocket is one of the solutions that have worked hard to take care of all known risks for your project. Let our estimation impress you! Click the banner below.