The most important element of tech entrepreneurial success

It is said, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, and so is the case with tech startups. A successful and sustainable startup isn’t simple and comes with its own challenges. The formula for a profitable startup has some really vital and predominant factors that can either make or break the path to success for any startup.

As a tech entrepreneur, your achievement isn’t dependent upon how new your technology is but, on your capability, to make the best of it. To lead your efforts effectively, entrepreneurial skills are essential. The good news is, entrepreneurship can be learned, and the skills and attributes of a productive entrepreneur can be augmented. Therefore, with these caveats, these are some of the key success factors that drive early entrepreneurial traction:

Vision and goals
Just like your body needs food to fuel and energise, every tech startup should have a core that starts with strong vision and goals. Ask yourself some basic questions – Why do you exist? What is your purpose? What is your true calling? Having clarity around your vision and goals is the basis of having transparency around execution, hiring, fundraising and every other aspect of your company. Vision and goals are the very foundation of the company’s core.

Customer obsession
Always solve customer needs; do what is best for the customer rather than what is easy for the company. Proactively solicit customer feedback. Finding product-market fit is difficult and iterative. Finding a way to launch a product early will provide so many signals to accelerate your understanding of what customers need and how to reach them. It’s okay to be embarrassed with your product. If you’re on to something and it works, customers won’t care. The early feedback creates more confidence that you’re investing your resources in the right direction.

Storytelling
Entrepreneurs have a unique perspective of what the future should look like that is different from the status quo today. In some ways it’s a “secret” about the market that the entrepreneur sees but the rest of the world may not understand. A core job of the entrepreneur is to be able to convince people of this “secret”, that it is obvious that the status quo will change to the entrepreneur’s vision. This need for effective storytelling or salesmanship is continuous – to investors, to customers, to talent, to family. You need people to believe in your vision; some described Steve Jobs ability as a “reality distortion field”, that the impossible was possible. This is especially important at the start when your product may be more vision than reality. Don’t worry, it gets easier with practice and your story refines as you pick up what language resonates with your audience.

Access to right technologies
Remember, you are an entrepreneur. So, your reliance on right technologies is crucial to succeed. Adapt technologies which are agile, scalable, offer speed and elasticity and can help improve the efficiency of your processes. Also depend on automated technologies. This is the future. In fact, WorkMarket’s 2020 In(Sight) report found that 78 percent of business leaders felt that automation could help them save three hours per day — or roughly 360 hours over the course of the year.

Team of supporters
Entrepreneurship can feel like a lonely journey, but no entrepreneurial success is achieved by one person alone. It takes a team of supporters who believe in you and make a bet on you. These supporters are multifaceted – early investors that back you at your earliest maturity, early customers that are willing to try your half-baked products and evangelise them, talent that choose to join you and be a part of building something new, and family who are just as attached to your startup journey as you are. This is the time to call on those who know you best. Don’t be shy that you’re trying something new and it may not be ready for showtime. Find your supporters, share your vision, and lean on them – they are rooting for you to succeed!

In closing, entrepreneurship is not simple, but smart. Fellow entrepreneurs understand the tribulations of the entrepreneurial journey and can be the best sources of experience share and empathy.