Custom Web Development for Startups
Scott MorrisSolutions Engineer
Having been with 4mation since inception in 2001 while completing a Computer Science degree at UTS, Scott has played a variety of roles within the business through its almost 20 years of growth.
As a Certified AWS Solutions Architect, Scott has a strong ability to bridge the gap between the technical and business/user world. Scott has a deep understanding of the service we provide our clients having spent years as a Developer, Business Analyst, Team Lead, and Head of Delivery.
His focus now is heading up 4mation’s Internal Operations to make our work and suite of digital tools as efficient and effective as possible.
“The Lean Startup” is a fantastic book by Eric Ries. It provides a fresh approach to innovation and some great tips for web startups and established businesses.
4mation Technologies offer custom PHP development and mobile website development to startups (amongst other services) as well as to established businesses, so the book was immediately of interest!
A few of the key concepts I took from reading it over the past week:
- Build, Measure, Learn loop.
- MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
- Pivot VS Persevere
- Testing ‘leap of faith’ assumptions.
- Test in small batches
- The Five Why’s.
- Engines of growth
The book advocates an approach of continuous measuring, learning and building to test ‘leap of faith’ assumptions (the riskiest elements of a startup’s plan – the parts on which everything else depends) cost effectively, and is well worth a read for any startup, or any business looking for continuous innovation.
It’s an approach we’ll be taking elements of and recommending, particularly to some of our startup web development clients, but it can also be applied to established businesses who are testing new markets and products.
Some web startups in their early days see nothing but blue sky.
An entrepreneur will have a brilliant idea, but invariably there will be some assumptions this brilliant idea is based on. Often this includes things like:
- Customers will be interested in the product
- Customers will be able to find the product
- Customers will be willing to pay for the product
- Customers will tell their friends
With our robust processes and web development experience, the custom web development and implementation side of things is straight forward. But if the plan is flawed to begin with, the startup can fail to generate the critical mass it requires to be a success.
We recommend requirements analysis prior to the commencement of any major project, so we can assist in preparing a robust plan. If the project involves ‘leap of faith’ assumptions, one option is to build a MVP (minimum viable product), that can be put to the market enabling assumptions to be tested, and the product revised if required via our ongoing development and support team.
This increases the likelihood of success substantially, and reduces the risk of executing a plan perfectly only to find out the plan was flawed to begin with.
Put your startup concept to the test! If you’d like to set up an obligation free consultation to discuss your project, please feel free to contact us at any time.
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