Comments on: Friday Q&A: How To Start A Software Business If You Don’t Know How To Code

By: Cory Bray

Cory Bray — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 21:46:30 +0000

We were recently faced with this same exact question. The main thing I learned was there are LOTS of steps you can take toward a MVP without writing code. Here’s what we did:

1) Design the product and iterate with users (we use ProtoShare)
2) Design the entity-relationship diagram (no code required, but lots of logic)
3) Describe in detail how the user will interact with each page
4) Outsource the creation of HTML/CSS. You can send Sketch files + ~$15 / hour and get great results.
5) Build out the “plumbing” of your app by following Michael Hartl’s Ruby on Rails tutorial

THEN…hire a developer. Steps 1-3 force you to really think through the problem you’re solving and give clarity to the developer. Step 4 eliminates a low-value task. Step 5 is obviously optional, but we decided to focus all development time on delivering business value, not setting up password reset logic.

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 08:21:51 +0000

Nice recommendations. However I would like to give Vaibhav the additional advice to get a technical co-founder before approaching an angel investor. Angel investors usually do not bet their money on an idea, but rather on the team. So without a team that can make this idea a reality, you most probably won’t be able to get money from an investor.

By: Madi

Madi — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 17:37:37 +0000

Great post Alex. I gave Vaibhav some advice, but you brought up a bunch of things I hadn’t considered. I also have a question for you unrelated to this. It’s really hard to tell if a company lives their values before you get the job and work for them. Do you have any advice for job seekers who are looking for a transparent company who lives what they say they do?

By: Matthew Wall

Matthew Wall — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 17:30:47 +0000

I would even recommend a number 5 option, and that is: Learn to code! There is a huge amount of resources out there and whipping up prototypes can probably take you a solid couple of months of learning.

You’ll find that it’s much easier to learn to code especially when you have the motivation of an idea you want to build. Most training tools will help you build something personal so you can use your idea as practice.

Check out tools like Code Academy, Lynda, Udemy, Udacity. My personal favourite is Team Treehouse. Don’t be discouraged if you try one and it doesn’t work, it will take you a few tries to find a learning style that suits you as they are all different.

Even if you don’t build your prototype with the skills you learn you’ll gain a good understanding of the development process and have a better idea of what a good developer looks like that you may hire in the future.