Starting a Tech Business - A Practical Guide for Anyone Creating Or Designing Applications Or

Informationen zum Autor ALEX COWAN is the founder and CTO of Leonid Systems, a software company providing solutions to the world's largest communications providers. He has worked with companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100s, improving their competitive advantage in a fast-changing high-tech landscape. He lives in Aptos, California, and can be reached at www.alexandercowan.com. Klappentext PRAISE FOR STARTING A TECH BUSINESS"Alex's book deploys decades of the best ideas towards a practical, immediately usable recipe for building technology-based businesses. I particularly liked Alex's list of challenges entrepreneurs face across the life of the venture, with playful names like The Lawn Gnome of Indolence, The Hydra of Operational Readiness, and The Whale of Scale, to name a few. I also liked the case study that Alex used throughout the book showing exactly how to use the tools in each chapter. This is a big book. But don't be daunted. It dives into the detail that is missing in most other entrepreneurship books to show you how to do it." -TOM KOSNIK, Professor, Stanford University"Some books on high tech flirt with the details, but this one goes all the way. Alex shows how attention to a highly manageable set of specifics dramatically increases the effectiveness of a tech venture."-JAN LINDNER, former CTO, Sierra Online Games (a division of Vivendi)"Readers of this book will steer clear of many, many bumps on the road to success." -SCOTT HOFFPAUIR, CTO, BroadSoft"Starting a Tech Business is both a primer for first-time entrepreneurs and the book experienced execs should keep handy too." -MARK VOGL, Executive Director, Bay Area Video CoalitionStarting a technology-enabled business is cheaper and easier than ever before. Starting a Tech Business supplies the tools prospective entrepreneurs and managers need to avoid common pitfalls and succeed in the fast-paced world of high-tech business. Get practical checklists and frameworks that business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals can apply to any web-based business idea. You'll learn how to move a product idea to market quickly and inexpensively-and to tap into the stream of wealth that a tech business can provide. Zusammenfassung The non-technical guide to building a booming tech-enabled businessThinking of starting a technology-enabled business? Or maybe you just want to increase your technology mojo so you can do your job better? You do not need to learn programming to participate in the development of today's hottest technologies. But there are a few easy-to-grasp foundation concepts that will help you engage with a technical team. Starting a Tech Business explains in practical! actionable terms how to* formulate and reality test new ideas* package what you learn into frameworks that are highly actionable for engineers* understand key foundation concepts about modern software and systems* participate in an agile/lean development team as the 'voice of the customer'Even if you have a desire to learn to program (and I highly recommend doing whatever unlocks your 'inner tinkerer')! these foundation concepts will help you target what exactly you want to understand about hands-on technology development. While a decade ago the barriers to creating a technology-enabled business required a pole vault! getting started today only requires a determined step in the right direction. Starting a Tech Business supplies the tools prospective entrepreneurs and business enterprises need to avoid common pitfalls and succeed in the fast-paced world of high-tech business. Successful execution requires thoughtful! evidence-based product formulation! well-articulated design! economic use of systems! adaptive management of technical resources! and empathetic deployment to customers. Starting a Tech Business offers practical checklists and frameworks that business owners! entrepreneurs! and professionals can apply to any tech-based business i...

List of contents

Acknowledgments xiIntroduction xiiiWho Should Read This? Why? xiiiWhat Is a Technology System? xvLeveraging Industry Shifts xviiWhat Will I Get out of These Chapters? xviiiWho Is the Author? xxviChapter 1 The Idea: Confront the Lawn Gnome of Indolence 1Conception 1Reality Testing 3Footprint 25Platforms 26Engaging Moonlighters 28Beta Customers 30Checklist 33Specialty Reading by Topic 33Chapter 2 The Strategy: Saddle the Racehorse of Blind Progress 35What Strategy? 35Squaring the Four Ps 36Company Strategy 40More on Catalysts 47Iterative Management 48Bringing It All Together 56Checklist 60Specialty Reading by Topic 61Chapter 3 The Product: Pin the Butterfly of Incoherence 63Thinking Like a Designer 63User Stories 67Using the MVC Framework for a High-Level Design 73The View 76The Model 86The Controller 93Iterative Learning and Design 95Pulling It All Together 96Checklist 97Specialty Reading by Topic 98Chapter 4 The Architecture: Unravel the Python of Monolithic Architecture 99Industrial Revolution 2.0 99Designing an Architecture 100Understanding Integration 102Architecture Piece Parts at Enable Quiz 104Evaluating Piece Parts 115Understanding Open Source 117Understanding Development Tools 119Checklist 128Specialty Reading by Topic 128Chapter 5 The Team: Dodge the Magpie of Discord 129Who Are These Software People? 129Roles and Skill Sets at Enable Quiz 133Evaluating New Hires 142Evaluating Third-Party Firms 148Motivation 151Going Offshore 152Contracting 155Internal Tools 155Checklist 158Specialty Reading by Topic 159Chapter 6 Getting to Beta: Discipline the Chihuahua of Unruly Development 161From Here to There 161Planning at Enable Quiz 166The Reality 176Documentation 180Checklist 191Specialty Reading by Topic 192Chapter 7 Beta! Slaying the Hydra of Operational Readiness 193Process, Process, Process 193Process Example: Enable Quiz 200You Are My Beta 217Checklist 220Specialty Reading by Topic 220Chapter 8 Scaling the Business: Riding the Whale of Scale 221The Launch: Is It Working? 221Partnerships 228Focus, Focus, Focus 233The Chasm and the Hockey Stick 235Managing Feedback at Enable Quiz 240Learning When (and How) to Say No 241Post-Mortems 243Scaling 244What Now? 245Checklist 247Specialty Reading by Topic 248Index 249

Product details

• Authors: A Cowan, A. Cowan, Alex Cowan, Cowan Alex
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.04.2012
• EAN: 9781118205556
• ISBN: 978-1-118-20555-6
• No. of pages: 258
• Subjects: Guides > Law, job, finance; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Business administration; Wirtschaft, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Entrepreneurship, Business & management, Small businesses and self-employment, Wirtschaft u. Management, Small Business & Entrepreneurship, Klein- u. mittelständische Unternehmen u. Existenzgründung, Entrepreneurship / Start-ups