The difference between a startup and every other new business is innovation. Not all new businesses are startups. Most operate within an established market, use a known business model, sell known products or provide established services.
A startup is different. A startup aims to solve a problem in a new or novel way. A startup will attempt to disrupt an industry through innovation, coupling high risk with high reward.
Increasingly the de-facto way to deliver this innovation (be it product, business model or service) is through technology. Hence, if you want to build an innovative, disruptive company, you probably need to embed technology into the core of your business.
So, do you need to be a computer scientist? No! But you definitely do need to understand technology.
In this course we will cover the fundamental principles of tech, and the core knowledge required to run a technology startup. We will answer questions such as "how do web apps work?" and "what is a technology stack?" and plenty of jargon busting.
Starting with no assumed knowledge we will rapidly travel from idea generation, requirements, design, UI and UX, architecture and coding. We will cover skills and roles, how to estimate cost, plan projects and how to manage a technical team. We will also look at monetisation.
Additionally, we will deep dive into the most exciting areas of technology currently utilised by startups across the globe including AI, robotics and the internet of things.
In this course we will cover:
• Types and styles of tech businesses
• Common challenges facing a tech business
• The software development lifecycle
• Requirements gathering
• Designing apps
• Technical architecture
• Coding and tech stacks
• Operations and organisation in a tech business
• Monetisation and gamification
• AI, robotics and the internet of things
• How to find and recruit techs
Along the way you will also learn some very useful techniques for running and growing a tech business and ways to avoid the most common pitfalls.
The course is designed for non-technical entrepreneurs (but is also useful for techs) and you will get a full and real-world exposure to many of the elements of a tech business so that you better understand the world of tech and can converse knowledgeably with tech teams and organisations.