Five Tips to be a Tech Entrepreneur
If you have ever thought of becoming a tech entrepreneur, 2015 is probably the best year to start. Programming courses are abundant and easier than ever with sites like Codecademy, Coursera, Udemy, Khan Academy, Team Treehouse, and so many others. Servers are either cheap or free, social media marketing is also free or cheap. And colleges are full of kids who want to start out on their own instead of trying to get a job in a flooded market.
So here are the five steps you should take in order to become a tech entrepreneur and eventually quit your day job:
1. Learn how to code.
This is a must, I’m not saying you have to become the next Mark Zuckerberg, I’m just saying you have to learn the basics of programming, how to design a webpage, and how to interact with a database. By doing so, programmers will respect you more, and you might even be able to build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to show people your prototype and get early adopters to try out your platform.
2. Learn how to use social media effectively.
As I posted in one of my how to videos, this means truly engaging with your audience on many different social networks, and learning how to follow trending topics and base content around them occasionally.
3. Learn how to use Google Analytics.
Being an effective tech entrepreneur means being able to analyze your audience, demographics, and use the results in your data to drive your decisions. Get used to working in a spreadsheet, and keep track of your activity on a daily basis so that you know what works and what doesn’t.
4. Network as much as possible.
It goes without saying, but attending tech events, going to talks and discussions, and meeting with people regularly will not only help you find connections and form relationships, but it will also allow you to get people to potentially try out your new platform. It does take time to build up relationships…so be patient.
5. Be a great pitch man.
Even though you should avoid investors at all costs and bootstrap your idea as long as possible, you should still be able to effectively tell your story to a friend, family member, or even a complete stranger who doesn’t understand technology. By being able to really tell everyone what you are doing, it will make it easier for you to eventually gain critical mass and pitch investors.
My how to video series could help you along the way with some of these things, and also if you are curious about the vocabulary that goes along with being a tech entrepreneur, I wrote about it in a previous article here. As always, subscribe to this column to read more great stories, and share this story with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog!
