How To Build A Successful IT Company

Ever since the term IT was first introduced as an acronym for Information Technology which comprised of mostly computers and the Internet, the information explosion that has been happening all over the world has been unstoppable. Ever since then, IT has been expanding radically and the meaning of IT spread to every dimensions and people have been starting IT start-ups to make the best use of this expanding technology. If you are an IT expert, but don’t have any ideas on how to start a business in IT, then this article would help you have it.
First of all, you must understand that there is now IT in everything we do, so basically you can start any business and connect it with IT. Some of the hottest IT sectors are

  • Network Administration
  • VOIP
  • Software design/development
  • Testing/quality assurance
  • Web Development
  • Information Security
  • Transport orders wireless messaging and communication field
  • Engineering and Construction
  • Education
  • Bank

This is only a tiny part of the pyramid; there are plenty more.

The few essentials that you must have before starting an IT company

  • Capital
  • A game plan
  • Risk-proof, or at least ready for the challenges
  • Insurance

Capital

Procuring the funds for your start-up is the most important thing. The moment you have a seed of an idea, you must get it developed, but you must also think about the funds and how you are going to get it. Would it be from your savings (this is almost like bootstrapping and not advisable at all), venture capitalists, commercial lenders or angel investors? The more capital you are able to procure, the better it is going to be.

Game plan

You must have a goal to start your business right? This is where you outline your goals and establish the main points of what all you want to accomplish within your business. You must also have a good plan on how you are planning to achieve your goals.

Ready to accept and face challenges

Starting an IT company is no cakewalk, so depending on how prepared you are, you can face the challenges and overcome them. If there is a hit, face it, adopt Plan B and go ahead. All the hits that you take will help you become more successful than ever, i.e. if you don’t give up.

General Liability Insurance

You must have a general liability insurance because it would protect you in case, something happens to someone as a result of your business operations. The aim is to free you of all liabilities.

The steps involved in starting an IT company

Step One

Analyzing your market

Once you have decided to start a company in a particular niche, you must collect all the relevant details regarding it. What was the motivation behind starting such a company? The end result is of course centered around profit, but to gain profit, you want the product to be successful and to ensure the product is successful you need to analyze the market. Is there a vacuum that you are trying to fulfill ? Perhaps you are thinking of starting in a particular niche that doesn’t have many service providers. If so you can get a good market by educating people what the vacuum is and how you can combat it.

Step two

How skilled are you at your niche service

You need to be technologically adept if you want to remain at the top of your specialization. Always keep yourself updated of the latest market trends, so you can deliver according to customer demand. For starting an IT company, you need to have considerable experience, so it is always better to work for someone in your field before setting up shop and starting your work. Gaining valuable connections and experience is quite important in starting a business.

Step three

Your business plan

Have a solid business plan. The size of the business plan could vary, depending on the content you want included in it. However, you must specify your purpose, mission and vision, and even details about financing. The aim of the business plan would be to attract partners and sales people into your fold.

Step four

The funding

The funding is the most crucial aspect of business. Here is where your business idea and plan are going to come to fruition. It is not that money is not there, but you have to tap the right people at the right time. You have to be really good at networking to get the best out of the different funding sources. There are many sources and they would all give you both long-term and short-term costs and benefits. Some of the common funding options were earlier mentioned in the article. A few additional ones include: Small business grants, loans and forming new partnerships.

Step five

The legal framework

The process of starting an IT company or any company for that matter includes a registration process through which companies must register with the Agency for Business Registers. Once the registration is complete, the business would get tax identification number (TIN), registration / identification number and health insurance beneficiary, general liability insurance number. It would also limit your liability and protect your personal assets.
These are just the basic tips on how to get your IT company started. You still have to do a lot of research to get your start-up to go well.

Interesting links about the topic:
How to build a successful business
How to build a successful startup

Pictures: Flickr.com/ Hills/ MacEntee/ GotCredit


The author: Reema Oamkumar is engaged as a thought leader at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.

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