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Starting a Tech Business Alex Cowan

Starting a Tech Business By Alex Cowan

Starting a Tech Business by Alex Cowan


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Summary

The non-technical guide to building a booming tech-enabled business Thinking 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.

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Starting a Tech Business Summary

Starting a Tech Business: A Practical Guide for Anyone Creating or Designing Applications or Software by Alex Cowan

The non-technical guide to building a booming tech-enabled business Thinking 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 idea, whether you re developing software and products or beginning a technology-enabled business. You ll learn: 1. How to apply today s leading management frameworks to a tech business 2. How to package your product idea in a way that s highly actionable for your technical team 3. How to ask the right questions about technology selection and product architecture 4. Strategies to leverage what your technology ecosystem has to offer 5. How to carefully define the roles on your team, and then effectively evaluate candidates 6. The most common disconnects between engineers and business people and how to avoid them 7. How you can apply process design to your tech business without stifling creativity 8. The steps to avoid the most common pitfalls tech founders encounter Now is one of the best times to start a technology-enabled business, and anyone can do it with the right amount and kind of preparation. Starting a Tech Business shows you 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.

About Alex Cowan

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.

Table of Contents

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

Additional information

CIN1118205553G
9781118205556
1118205553
Starting a Tech Business: A Practical Guide for Anyone Creating or Designing Applications or Software by Alex Cowan
Used - Good
Paperback
John Wiley & Sons Inc
20120427
288
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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