So you have an idea for the next revolutionary product. Perhaps you dream of building the next Facebook, or an empire of income-generating mobile apps. But you only have very basic coding skills. Or you’re yet to even write your first line of code. How do you go from where you are now to being the owner of a thriving software business?
One thing’s for sure, it can be done. Nick D’Aloisio, for instance, sold his iPhone app to Yahoo! for $30m – at the age of 17.
Now, it’s unrealistic to expect that an opportunity like that will come your way. But D’Aloisio’s story is proof that you can make a good living by combining coding and business skills. If he can do it, you can do it. All you need to do is learn coding, develop a great product and support it with some solid marketing and business skills. So here are some tips to get you started.
Define Your Product
First things first. What product are you going to build? Perhaps you have an idea already, but what if you don’t?
One smart option is to go down the mobile app route. That is, develop an app for a platform like iPhone, iPad or Android – and sell it on the App Store or Google Play. You can scale this model too, by enabling your app to run on multiple platforms and by creating more apps. Many people have found success by building up a whole portfolio of apps that they sell. Others focus on just one or two highly profitable ones.
Another option is to build a website – more specifically, a web application. These kinds of products – Facebook, Gmail, Tumblr, GitHub and the like – are called software as a service or SaaS. They can be very successful if you find a good niche. SaaS businesses are also very flexible in terms of monetization. You can monetize them by charging your users for access or membership, by accepting advertisers, or by inventing your own monetization model.
Build Your Product
To build your product, you will first need training. In particular, training companies like Treehouse actively promote the development of tech businesses. Building your product is just like any other coding project, only on a larger scale. But don’t go looking for training just yet. There’s something else you need.
Build Your Business
It’s not enough to just create a product. You will also need some solid business and marketing skills, in order to make the important decisions. For example, will your target market be enterprise or consumer? And how will you promote your product?
Depending on the extent to which you want to grow your new business, you may also need to secure investment and venture capital so that you can afford to hire employees and an office.
There are two sides to starting a business, and coding is just one of them. For this reason, you’ll need business training as well as coding training.
Recommended Training – Treehouse
Treehouse is an online training service that can train you in mobile app development, web development, business and marketing. Needless to say, the reason Code Conquest recommends Treehouse is because it gives you all the training you need to start a business, in one place.
While most training focuses on just coding, Treehouse’s package includes business and marketing training too. And not just any business and marketing – business and marketing in the context of software businesses.
Plus, Treehouse training takes a project-based approach and walks you through how to make a range of hypothetical products. This serves as great practice for when it comes time to build your real product.
So if you dream of becoming the owner of a thriving software business, Treehouse is an ideal place to start. Find out more in this full Treehouse review.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.
