Starting a business is in no way a cakewalk process. This is especially the case for entrepreneurs planning to start a tech product venture. This is because tech-based businesses require expertise in the technical as well as non-technical aspects of operations.

As a result, starting such businesses requires the involvement of multiple people right from the founding stage. Today, most tech startups are started by two cofounders, a technical and a non-technical one. It is of utmost importance for every business that both of these cofounders are on the same page in order to survive in the market in the long run.

A mistake by either of the cofounders can turn out to be grave for the business and can threaten its survival and profitability. Therefore, if you are planning to start a business with similar plans, you must focus on avoiding these mistakes.

This blog will provide an insightful view of some of the most common mistakes that technical and non-technical cofounders make when starting a tech product business. We have also discussed ways in which these cofounders can avoid these mistakes and ensure the business's long-term survival. Let's start the blog by understanding what exactly a tech product startup offers to its customers. This will help us clearly define the role of technical and non-technical cofounders.

Ready-to-use Technology Products: A Revolutionary Business Idea

Readymade digital products are the talk of the town at present. Businesses looking for quick and affordable digital solutions purchase these products and implement them in their operations, therefore facilitating seamless digitalization with comparatively less investment.

Most tech companies offer these readymade solutions as a part of their product line (along with solutions for custom development) and earn revenue from them. Let's find out more about some of the most popular readymade digital products.

SaaS Products

SaaS (Software as a Service) is ready-to-use software that IT companies offer to other companies operating in different industries. There are a plethora of SaaS products in the market for businesses to choose from. Tech companies brand these SaaS products and sell them to businesses on a pay-for-use or time-bound membership basis.

Businesses can easily integrate these products throughout their organization and avoid the cost and time they would otherwise have to incur to develop a software from scratch.

Today, tech companies offer SaaS solutions that are curated to match each industry and process' requirement. Some of the most popular implementations of SaaS products are finance software, inventory management software, and customer relationship management system.

Readymade/ Clone Apps

Readymade apps are unbranded mobile application codes that you can get from IT companies. These apps are essentially a clone of some of the most popular applications. IT companies code these apps once and sell them to different businesses that have demand for such applications.

These IT companies differentiate each mobile application by changing the UI of the app and branding it as per the client’s requirements before selling it to a particular business. This way, every app looks different from the other, despite having a totally similar code base. As a result, even if two businesses are using similar applications provided by one IT company, their UI and UX will be totally different and unique to an extent.

Some of the most popular examples of readymade/ cline mobile apps are Uber clone apps, Amazon clone apps, and Netflix clone apps. Each of these apps is developed to cater to businesses operating in a particular niche and industry (taxi booking marketplace, eCommerce, on-demand video streaming), offering different services.

Readymade Websites

Readymade websites are becoming highly popular in 2023. Today, businesses undertake web development to their offer their services/ products online or create a digital presence.

Regardless of the reason, you can undertake a quick and cost-effective digital transformation of your business with readymade websites. This product is essentially similar to readymade mobile applications, except for the fact that readymade websites are relatively more customizable.

Today, most tech companies offer readymade eCommerce websites where they sell a single codebase to different e-retailers. This enables businesses to create a digital selling channel for their products without investing the time and capital it takes to develop an eCommerce website.

These are some of the most popular readymade products that IT companies sell to businesses as a part of their product line. However, let us tell you that building these products is not a five-finger exercise.

There is a lot that can go wrong on the technical and non-technical side of product development, which is why it is essential for a technical and non-technical cofounder to undertake rigorous product development.

In the upcoming section, we will thoroughly discuss the role of these cofounders for better understanding.

What Does It Take to Start a Tech Product Business?

Technical Cofounder

A technical cofounder is essentially a programmer that undertakes the actual development process of the readymade product. This cofounder's role includes planning the digital product, determining features, undertaking the design and development process, eliminating bugs, adding features, etc.

Technical cofounders usually hold expertise in programming languages, their frameworks, database technologies, DevOps, and numerous other technologies that are involved in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

However, just developing a product is not enough for an IT product company to succeed, due to which a non-technical cofounder’s involvement is essential for the product's success.

Non-technical Cofounder

Non-technical cofounders hold expertise in non-operational aspects of the business, such as product marketing, advertisement, market research, customer relationship management, finance management, etc. This basically includes each and every operation of the business except the programming and technology-related processes.

While it is true that a non-technical cofounder does not contribute anything to the product's development, their expertise is beneficial for making the product sellable in the market and helping the business generate revenue.

Non-technical cofounder also plays an important role in maintaining good terms with the investors and securing capital that is required for the product's development process, therefore proving their great significance in the business.

We are sure that by now, you know that both of these cofounders have different yet crucial roles in the organization. Despite this factor, there are numerous things that can go wrong from either of the cofounder's end, resulting in tremendous business loss. As a result, technical as well as non-technical cofounders should be aware of these factors and avoid them.

Moving further, we will discuss some of the most common mistakes of technical and non-technical cofounders and how they can impact the overall success of the business. Let’s start by discussing common mistakes that technical cofounders make in an IT startup.

4 Common Mistakes of Technical Cofounders

Overvaluing the Product's Concept

While it is commonly understood that developing a digital product is a challenging and labor-intensive task, technical cofounders often tend to overestimate this factor and end up over-valuing the product's concept.

To elaborate, most technical cofounders think that their products have the best features and are superior in quality to other similar products in the market. This mindset often leads to overestimating how much the product is actually worth.

However, this is not in the best interest of the business. This is because present-day customers demand value for money when purchasing digital products. Moreover, the primary reason why businesses go for readymade digital products instead of custom development is to save on costs.

In this case, overestimating the value of your product can decline your sales and reduce the overall profitability of your business. It is in your best interest to set a fair and competitive price for your readymade digital product to gain maximum revenue.

Disregarding Market Paradigms

Market paradigms are an essential factor that determines the digital product's design and development. This is because it is based upon these paradigms that a product's features, functionalities, and UI elements are decided. However, technical cofounders often tend to focus on the theoretical aspects of development and overlook the importance of complying with these market trends.

More than often, this results in the development of a product that is far from what your target customers might consider a trendy or market-focused solution. As a result, by not delivering a solution that aligns with your consumer market's demands, your business is likely to suffer from a loss of revenue and low sales.

Moreover, it is commonly known that such products do not survive for long in the market. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the technical cofounder balances the technical aspect of the digital product with the market demand for the best results.

Not Upgrading the Platform

One of the most common mistakes that every IT company and digitalized business makes is that they consider the product's SDLC has ended as soon as it is launched in the market. However, let us tell you that SDLC is a process that continues even after the product's launch.

To elaborate, once you have launched your readymade digital product in the market, you need to upgrade it from time to time for the best results. Some of the best examples of platform upgradation include adding new features, upgrading UI, removing obsolete features, and eliminating bugs.

Product upgradation ensures that your product is of superior quality and is in alignment with the latest market demand. On the contrary, products that are not upgraded regularly often end up becoming obsolete and face abandonment from customers.

This is because the customers have a huge variety of readymade products to choose from when it comes to readymade IT solutions. As a result, upgradation is one of the most important activities that a technical cofounder has to focus upon.

Neglecting Product Quality

Your digital product's quality largely determines whether or not it will gain market success in the long run. However, many technical cofounders neglect the importance of the product's quality and focus on merely finishing the development process as early as possible and launching the product in the market.

This often results in the development of a bug-filled product that is of substandard quality. Let us tell you that such products are not only bad in terms of sales but also decline your brand’s market value and often get abandoned within a short time after their launch.

Some of the most common ways in which technical cofounders neglect the product's quality is by using obsolete technologies and development practices for the product development process.

It is commonly known that utilizing better and more advanced technologies (programming languages, frameworks, libraries, DevOps, database technologies, etc.) can efficiently increase the overall quality of the platform. Therefore, the technical cofounder should always remain up-to-date and familiar with the latest technologies for the best results.

These were some of the most common mistakes that technical cofounders make. Moving further, let's discuss common mistakes from the non-technical cofounder's end.

4 Common Mistakes of Non-technical Cofounders

Changing Product Ideas

Planning a digital product is a time and cost-intensive process. A lot of research goes into the product's planning phase, where the technical cofounder determines the product's features, tech stack, design prospects, development processes, etc. In this case, a minor change in the plan can cause the technical cofounder to start the entire planning process from scratch.

Some of the most common examples of changing product ideas are changing the UI design, eliminating or adding features, modifying the tech stack, etc. This is usually done by non-technical cofounders to align the product with the investor's expectations or cut down on the development time and cost requirement.

However, let us tell you that changing the product idea at the last moment or after the design phase can have a negative impact on the time and capital investment it takes to develop a digital product. This is because the technical cofounder has to go back and forth again and again in the development lifecycle to implement new ideas given by the non-technical cofounder.

We suggest that before commencing the development process, the technical cofounder should communicate the final product ideas with the non-technical cofounder and investors. This way, you will be able to save time that would otherwise be wasted in changing ideas after the product's development.

Settling for Low-quality Development Technologies

More than often, it is the technical cofounder that makes major decisions regarding the product. These decisions significantly impact the final quality of the product and determine how successful the idea will be; once launched in the market.

To elaborate, technical cofounders look at the product from a 360-degree view and understand the impact that each decision can have on the final product's quality. This includes decisions regarding development technologies, development lifecycle, processes, etc.

However, non-technical cofounders have a very limited understanding of these technical aspects and their impact on the product's quality. As a result, their intervention in technical decision-making can often result in the development of a low-quality product. This is because most non-technical cofounders merely cost on time and cost saving and prefer using technologies that meet these criteria.

This results in the development of a low-quality codebase, which has a high chance of market failure and can result in tremendous business losses. Therefore, we recommend that the non-technical cofounder should consult the technical cofounder and collaborate with them for the development of high-quality products.

Overestimating Technical Cofounder's Requirement

One of the most common mistakes that every non-technical cofounder makes is overestimating the requirement of a technical cofounder to develop a digital product for the business. While having a technical cofounder can be beneficial in some cases, it is not at all important to have one for the product development process.

You can easily outsource your design and development requirements to an agency and get a white-label solution from an experienced IT company. Today, most IT companies offer solutions for outsourcing website development, app development, and even software development.

One of the most popular examples in this context is white-label SaaS products. You can purchase these products from an agency, brand them as per your strategies, and sell them to your customers. Moreover, most IT companies also offer services for post-launch maintenance services, a highly essential factor for a product's success.

This way, you can eliminate the requirement of a technical cofounder within your organization. All that you need to do is efficiently overlook the non-technical aspects of operation, and you are ready to start your business.

Neglecting User Feedback

User feedback is one of the most important factors of every digital product. This feedback helps IT companies improvise their products and make them fit for the market's requirements. Products that are not upgraded or modified to meet the consumer's requirements have a high chance of market abandonment.

In many cases, customer feedbacks come handy for IT companies to realize the bugs and errors that are usually skipped in the QA testing process. Moreover, different customers use the product in different environments (devices, internet speed, etc.), therefore providing critical information on the product's performance.

Therefore, every tech company needs to thoroughly consider customer feedback and improvise its product with the changing market demands. Non-technical cofounder plays a vital role in this aspect. This is because it is the non-technical cofounder that is in direct contact with the consumers. This makes it easy for them to collect customer feedback and share it with the technical cofounder, guaranteeing optimal product quality at all times.

These were some of the most common mistakes that non-technical cofounders make when starting a digital product business.

Summing It Up

Both technical and non-technical cofounders play an essential role in determining the product's success. It is through collaborative efforts and mutual decision-making that these cofounders can develop a success-generating product and sell it to the market.

By avoiding the common technical and non-technical mistakes mentioned in this blog, you are likely to develop a successful product development and selling strategy and gain market success.