How to Avoid Issues of Software Product Development for Startups?

Launching your startup is a rather complicated process that is associated with a large number of risks. Even the most potent idea can fail if you make mistakes in software development. Today we want to look at developers’ most common problems when creating startups and how they can be solved.

Bad market analysis

Before developing any software, you must carefully study the market to understand your product’s value. It often takes time, effort, and money to complete this task, so some startups refuse this stage.

As a result, a considerable number of applications of the same type appear on the market that cannot solve the real needs of users.

Solution

Before starting work, we advise you to do comprehensive market research. To begin with, you need to study what applications with similar topics already exist and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.

It will also be good to conduct small surveys among potential customers about which features they find most useful and which are not. You can also make an open entry where users can write what improvements they want to see in existing programs.

It’s also a good idea to create a Minimum Viable Product to understand how users like your product and its usefulness. Also, users who try out MVP can tell you what points you should pay attention to in the first place.

Ignoring UX/UI Design

Your product must be not only helpful but also easy to use. A UX/UI designer is a person who knows exactly how to make a product as convenient and enjoyable to use as possible. Depending on the project, this specialist’s services can be quite expensive, so some startups refuse this service. As a result, we get an application with a bad interface that is inconvenient for the client.

Solution

Thinking over the user interface at the first stage of startup product development is necessary. In this case, it will be much easier for you to get a high-quality product. User-friendly apps tend to be more popular and thus generate more revenue. This is even more true for startups. If you have little experience in design and development, and your ideas are so large that you cannot present them in a single product, just click this link to contact QArea company – your best startup development partner – it the best professionals who can bring any ideas to life.

Choosing the wrong technology

Today, there are a considerable number of technologies that speed up and simplify the software development process. It includes various programming languages, frameworks, off-the-shelf libraries, and more. Choosing the most suitable one for novice users can be pretty tricky.
Some startups either use the cheapest technology to cut costs, or vice versa, use the most innovative tools that have not yet proven their effectiveness. In both cases, the developers get a pretty bad result.

Solution

To choose the right technology, I advise you to consider the following points:
What problem is your product supposed to solve;
Intended functions;
Developer experience level;
Estimated terms and speed of development;

Financial opportunities.

The easiest solution, in this case, is to seek help from qualified professionals with extensive experience in your field. They will tell you the best tools to achieve your goals.

Hire the wrong developers

This error is closely related to the previous one. So, many specialists today choose technology for themselves (framework, programming language, or library) and work only based on this. It will allow them to become better specialists in their field, but at the same time, they are practically blind in another.
So, if you have identified the technology incorrectly, you will most likely hire the wrong specialists.
Another common mistake is to give the whole project to students or developers with little experience. Of course, you can delegate the writing of individual modules to them, but in this case, an experienced specialist must supervise their work. But in no case should you give the development to amateurs.

Solution

You should carefully study the portfolio of several specialists. Make sure they specialize in the technology that specializes in the most optimal technology. In addition, it is worth checking whether the team has enough skills and qualifications to solve the tasks.

Customizing an existing product instead of building it from scratch

Instead of creating a high-quality, unique product, some startups take ready-made solutions and adapt them to their needs instead of creating a fantastic product. It allows you to minimize the cost and development time. Usually, this is done in cases where the specialist is not interested in building industry and creating something worthwhile, but only for profit.
When you choose this path, you need to be prepared because such a product may not be scalable, and fault tolerance will be greatly reduced. In addition, it will be harder for you to increase productivity and implement new useful features when / if the product becomes popular.

Solution

Nobody says that you have to create all the software from scratch. It is the same as reinventing the wheel. It will take a lot of time, effort, and money. We recommend using frameworks and libraries with ready-made solutions for modules related to payment systems, security, and performance parameters. However, those parts of the code related to the user interface and functionality are best written separately. It will take longer, but you will know that yours is exciting and valuable.
If you wish, you can take the MVP and improve it to suit your needs, but you need to understand that this is a temporary phenomenon and think through the interface well so that it is as unlike the original as possible. Next, you must work hard to make your product as unique and high-quality as possible.

Dive headfirst into full-fledged product development without prototyping first

Some startups focus on creating the finished product, skipping the prototyping stage. Such a strategy can only be profitable if you have carefully studied the market and ensured that the outcome would be helpful for all users.
But, the problem is that most startups generally skip the stage of market research or do it in bad faith. Creating a prototype will allow you to make sure that your product will be helpful.

Solution

First, make sure you study the market carefully. Even if you are confident that you have done it well, do not give up on creating an MVP, as this will help you attract new investors. People in business are more likely to invest in projects they understand. No matter how good your business plan is, they will invest in your project faster if you provide them with a prototype.