6 misconceptions about building tech

We work with first-time founders every single day, and a lot of you guys have the same misconceptions about technology and building your first app.

Before you launch into building your first piece of technology, do yourself and your product team a favor by recognizing these misconceptions and walking into the process with both eyes open. Fixing these misconceptions before you build with save lots of burst bubbles later on. We promise.

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Misconception #1

Technology and engineering is a commodity that can be bought.

We interact with technology we’ve bought off-the-shelf every day. For the most part, as a consumer, technology is a commodity that can be bought. But that is not the case when you are building something that has never been built before. That’s not the case when you’re a founder. The way you should be thinking about technology is as a research and development process. Sure, you might know that code can be built to do what you want, but once you have that code, is it actually providing the business outcomes you hypothesized it would? As you move through the process of development you are working with your tech team to test your idea, get market feedback, evaluate, adjust, test, get feedback, evaluate, adjust… you get the idea.

Misconception Fixed

Technology and engineering is a research and development process that requires investment.

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Misconception #2

Once you finish your product, that’s it. You’re done. 🎉 

Wow, you just spent 3 months and $40,000 on building your app. Congratulations, what an achievement! It was a lot of work and you crossed a major milestone. Yes, milestone. Believe it or not, the product you launch into the world will be the worst it will ever be its first day on the market. That’s because once you create that little tech-creature, you will always be working on and improving it. One of the main reasons for this is because once users start interacting with your product, you’re going to get feedback about what they like, don’t like, and wish your product could do. If you’re focused on building a tech product, it will always be changing as long as the market and the needs of your consumers are changing. Budget accordingly.

Misconception Fixed

Your product, like your business, will never be finished. Tech is a process.

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Misconception #3

Your technology can be built separately from the rest of your business.

Businesses, like relationships, die without communication. And your product has to communicate with and respond to the business needs of your company. In fact, the two should be about as in-sync as these guys. Your technology should be built as a responsive compliment to your business needs, never built in a silo. Simple as that.

Misconception Fixed

Your technology approach must be integrated with your company’s strategy.

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Misconception #4

You need to be a tech whiz to build an app.

The first company I ever started was building Wordpress websites. That is how a lot of development firms got their start, and that market has all but disappeared because of sites like Wix and Squarespace that allow users to build their own sites with no knowledge of code. The same is happening with tech applications through the “no code” movement. It has never been easier to build an app, and access to resources to put together an MVP are easier to come by every day. We’ve even seen some great apps build in Google Forms. If you’re looking to quickly put together an app to begin testing users, this could be a great way to go. There are some flags when it comes to scalability with the no-code solutions, but if you test and grow your MVP to the point that you need to to scale, you’ll likely have the funding to support that build when the time comes.

Misconception Fixed

It has never been easier to build an app. Save the genius of a tech whiz for the problems you can’t solve alone.

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Misconception #5

Technology is the “hard part” of building a tech business.

Technology might seem like the hard part here, but (unless you’re building a complex tech platform for other techies) nothing is farther from the truth. The hard part of building your business is solving your business problem. The real challenges usually have nothing to do with tech - product/market fit, users who are interested in the thesis of your business, those are the sticky challenges. But once you crack the code on the business challenges, tech is the delivery mechanism that makes things go faster. You just have to solve those other problems first.

Misconception Fixed

Solving the human, business problem is the hard part - tech just makes things go fast.

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Misconception #6

Tech experts can tell you exactly how long something will take to build.

As tech experts, we are always building and learning and growing, and because of that, we know that there is no way to predict exactly how long something will take to build. You wouldn’t be starting your business if what you wanted to build existed, so there is no way your engineer has ever built it before in order to predict every outlying scenario that could arise through the development process. Parts of your business are unfolding, features are reprioritized, and a good engineer will want to react to your changing needs. It’s a part of the research and development of technology. An expert will always provide their best guess within a certain range of fidelity, but be open to change and work with your engineer when that change inevitably comes.

Misconception Fixed

Tech experts who tell you exactly how long something will take to build are probably lying to you.

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Now that wasn’t too bad, was it?

It can be overwhelming to wade through what to expect when you start a new tech project, especially if you’re a non-technical founder. We at ThinkNimble are here to help you navigate your big questions, no matter what part of the journey you’re in. If you’d like to schedule a free consultation with our team, shoot us a note and it’s as good as done.