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StartupPro: How to set up and grow a tech business
StartupPro: How to set up and grow a tech business

StartupPro: How to set up and grow a tech business: Practical guidance on how to turn your passion, idea, and technical skills into a successful business

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StartupPro: How to set up and grow a tech business

Chapter 2. Does Your Dream Idea Have the Potential to be a Business?

Now that you understand the mindset and best attributes of a technical entrepreneur, you need to look just as hard at the attributes of your technical product or service before you assume it's a great entrepreneurial opportunity. In other words, just because you love it and can build it, that doesn't mean that everyone will love it and buy it.

It's better to take a hard look at the idea before you have spent your life savings (and the hard-earned money of others), rather than later. These "reality checks" may seem like common sense, and they are, but I've seen too many technical entrepreneurs suffer the painful consequences of following their passion and ignoring reality.

Of course, passion is what real technical entrepreneurs live for, and they sometimes assume it can take them anywhere they want to go. However, those who continually temper their passion with reality principles and adjust their course are much more likely...

How to perform a reality check of your opportunity


For example, I have a certain technical friend who called me a while back, all excited about his latest vision to solve a pet peeve of every computer and Internet user. "What if you could enter your sign-on password just once when powering on your system, and it was able to remember and supply that password to all your applications without user intervention? I'm going to write the software to offer this service!"

I'm sure you all realize that there could be quite a distance between a great idea and a great implementation, and an even greater distance to a great startup. However, many people don't have a clue on how to bridge the gap. So, trying carefully not to rain on his parade, I suggested that my friend complete the following analysis as due diligence on the idea before quitting his day job to create and roll out the solution:

  • Are you ready for the startup lifestyle? We covered this in Chapter 1, Do You Have What It Takes to be an Entrepreneur...

Recognize the entrepreneur passion trap


Jumping into the technical entrepreneur role with just a dream and a prayer, and without the reality checks discussed in the preceding section, is called a passion trap. Most experts agree that entrepreneurial success has a lot to do with your level of passion, determination, and innovation, but these have to be tempered with some strong business principles to keep the focus on reality.

According to Small Business Association figures, about six million Americans a year make the bold leap onto the startup path, with many more worldwide, and many have no corporate safety net to fall back on. Unfortunately, less than half of these new ventures survive beyond a few years. The passion trap is just one of the downfalls.

I'm sure we have all seen entrepreneurs with high levels of passion and confidence touting an idea that seems to make very little sense to us. Of course, we never see ourselves in this mode, yet we need to recognize that all humans see reality...

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What you will learn

  • Differentiate between a -dream idea and a -potential business. Develop confident social media skills and learn best practices to positively affect brand building, lead generation, and customer satisfaction Discover the key to good marketing Create and manage intellectual property such as patents, trademarks and copyrights Develop and practice team building, communication and leadership skills Understand different types of company organization and what type fits you best
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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Dec 01, 2014
Length: 238 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783001422

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Publication date : Dec 01, 2014
Length: 238 pages
Edition :
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783001422

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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Do You Have What It Takes to be an Entrepreneur? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Does Your Dream Idea Have the Potential to be a Business? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
When, Where, and How Do You Formalize a Technical Business? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Does a Technical Entrepreneur Really Need a Business Plan? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
When and How Do You Find Funding for a Technical Business? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
After the Funding, How Do You Survive the Execution Risks? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Are You Ready for All the Leadership and Team Challenges? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Do You Understand How Social Media is Changing the Business Landscape? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
If You Build It, Will They Find You, and Will They Use It? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Can You Build the Relationships Needed to Succeed in Business? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(3 Ratings)
5 star 33.3%
4 star 33.3%
3 star 33.3%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
CJ Cornell Dec 07, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The title of this book is a little misleading, and you might think it's another "how to" cookbook for entrepreneurs. It is really much more than this. The most successful entrepreneurs and though leaders have already been publishing their wisdom and techniques,for many years. But for a new entrepreneur the sheer volume can be confusing and incomprehensible, without a filter and a guide. Over the past 10 years, Martin Zwilling has been habitually summarizing the "best of the best" in his daily blog posts - the best books, articles, blogs and interviews about entrepreneurship - and condensing them into the most actionable advice for new entrepreneurs. But even pouring through hundreds of Zwillings thoughtful posts is daunting, so now you can read "Startup Pro" - where he has organized the Best of the Best into a progressive series of chapters - each page is a nugget of valuable and actionable advice. For new entrepreneurs getting ready to make the leap, I recommend you buy a hardcopy of the book so you can carry it with you, dog-ear chapters, highlight sections and pepper it with post-it notes and refer it often during your startup journey.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
M speller Jan 11, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
very informative, neatly written and lots of good nuggets of info. You can use this book once you have a fairly good idea of a business and you are a little way towards really thinking about setting something up and have it as a reference book as well. It can be a little bit like a list of things to do at times, covering the most simple and basic to things that are a bit more food for thought. For in-depth knowledge on any topics it mentions you'll probably need a more substantial book as this tends to skim over topics but gives a healthy overview of things to think about. Nicely written.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Matteo Feb 05, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
This book will provide valid insight on how to get started and proceed through the first steps of a startup. Unfortunately the book gets clogged down on bulletpoint lists, citations from other books/articles and factual examples(sometimes repeated multiple time through the book) making it uneasy to proceed through it all(several chapters are pretty much made from #citationfromotherbook+#bulletlist or #factualexample+#bulletlist until the end). Making the examples and hints be done in a more fluid way would immensely improve the book. The social media part shows a bit of age but given the ease on which social networks thrive and fade this is sort of expected.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

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