Whatever is your core purpose, be it preparation of proof of concept, building product to scale, augmentation of the existing team, iteration of a market to product fit, the tech partner for start-up company’s capabilities should go under the scanner. Analysis of the research findings as well as the skills portfolio of the company should be done carefully. Careful selection is critical as a rushed wrong decision may land your business in considerable loss of clients in the long run. Considering the complexity of selection process, it is advisable that your tech partners have the following:
1. Bootstrapped and debt free tech partner:
Thebest technology partner for start-ups will be with bootstrapped deep tech companies who know the in and out of entrepreneurial journey. The advantage is their owners themselves have gone through the start-up phases so they know what it takes to build a successful business.
2. A good network of investor
Your tech partner should have a good collaboration with investor networks which will lay the foundation stone for your start up endeavour.
3. Product development vs. mere service provider
Select a tech partner who has hands on expertise in building products rather than just a service provider. Even better if the partners themselves own some IPs
4. Data security and compliance
A tech partner who has a highly secured working environment in terms of data security, encryption and compliances is highly recommended so that your IP does not get diluted.
5. Tech partner willing to invest in your idea
A tech partner should be ready to invest in your ideas and not just help in the development process. A partner who is equally ready to invest in their arms and legs, besides the founders and co-founders should be an ideal match.
6. End to end guidance from ideation through go to market strategy
The tech partner for start-ups should work like a consistent support system throughout the entire process of ideation, implementation, start-up product development, and finally go to market strategies.
7. Start-up revenue modelling
Select a tech partner who knows and has worked with the various start-up revenue modelling, so that, they have a thorough insight of a start-up business
8. Acknowledgement of experience and expertise
Going with experienced deep tech companies prove beneficial in many ways, starting from informed decision making to considerable reduction in time to market the product.
9. Conforming to Industry Standards
Why conform to industry standards? Well, the answer lies in the fact that a product’s success greatly relies on whether the technology partner company is adhering to standard industry processes. To play safe, certain critical queries need to be addressed, like, what is the:
- Product development methodology and management process used by the tech partner firm
- Method of proof of concept development and testing in new product development process
- Product development time estimation by sprint-wise timeline
10. Consistency in result delivery in line with business goals
Though domain expertise and technical knowledge are of utmost importance while giving credibility to IT companies’ partnership, however, the importance of aspect regarding their customer handling skills, cannot be ignored. Research on past customer database and how the company has helped customers to realize business goals through well-defined digital strategy should be a critical criteria for selection.
11. User experience based design
It is a well-established fact that the greatness of any application design lies in the user experience and satisfaction. Therefore, product design skills in your tech partner for start-up should address queries like:
- Technology and domain expertise such as start-up product engineering
- Research on user experience and application of the said data analysis on product development
- Translation of complex business logic into simplified wireframes
- Design simplicity
12. Transparent collaboration and communication
We all know that in this competitive world, any partnership would require an effective and workable collaboration to succeed. Open communication will ensure your complex technical and non-technical concerns are well addressed so that expectations and solutions provided thereof can meet at a common ground.
Certainly, that is a lot to think about and sounds daunting too. Well, the fact is though it is hard, the benefits are worth the task. And herein, we at Dreamztech come into the picture. We have worked with several start-ups and ensured they enjoy the taste of success too. Call us today!!!
