Building a sustainable tech business in a world of start-ups requires developing multiple new products, services and processes constantly, to keep pace and grow in a fast-paced market.
Technology, and by extension the businesses operating within this space, have been revolutionised over the last decade. You only need to compare Apple’s latest iPhone with 2013’s 5S model to confirm that the pace of development has accelerated.
While it’s been a turbulent 12 months for the tech industry locally and globally, the pace at which things are evolving has only continued to speed up. This can be daunting for businesses of any size, but particularly so for those just starting out or looking to take their growth to the next level.
Today’s start-ups and SMEs exist in a world where the business cycle – or the natural rise and fall of economic growth that occurs within a business over time – is much shorter than ever before.
The popular S-curve framework for business growth – which visualises a company’s latest innovation as assisting with business growth slowly upon release, before accelerating to a ceiling, at which point a new innovation will need to be released – has also been redefined in recent years.
“Having a strong understanding of how technology moves and keeping abreast of trends can help drive a competitive edge for your business.”
The implementation of new technologies is no longer the decade-long process it was when Charles Handy first applied the framework in the mid-1990s. As a result, businesses need to be preparing multiple S-curve horizons in parallel. With a shift in time, practice and process, the burden is now on companies to innovate continuously, maintain a competitive edge and sustain their growth over the long term. The ability to prepare multiple S-curve horizons has become a critical success factor for businesses in today’s modern economy and marketplaces.
But what does this mean for start-ups and SMEs in the tech space? Well, put simply, it signals the dire need for innovation – and fast.
Fostering a culture of innovation
With the market moving faster than ever, and a vast number of new tech businesses emerging each year, a culture of continual innovation, evolution and execution needs to be fostered if a business is to keep pace with its competitors and secure a successful future.
If they aren’t doing so already, start-ups and more mature businesses need to plan and develop a pipeline of products and services that can be released steadily over time. This continual approach to innovation will enable the business to both cater to the appetites of its customers and keep pushing business growth. From here, the next priority should be regularly reviewing and improving any existing innovations to ensure they stay up to date and relevant.
While this might sound like a lot of work, the truth is, running a successful tech business is often just that. Building a business from the ground up can be a journey of ups, downs and everything in between – and it can often take everything you’re willing to give just to achieve the desired results. That’s why, now more than ever, it’s important for businesses to focus on developing innovations that can keep them on the pathway to growth.
Having a strong understanding of how technology moves and keeping abreast of trends can help drive a competitive edge for your business. While there is no single formula for success in the tech industry, a strong drive and a willingness to take calculated pivots can go a long way, especially when markets are in flux. Keeping your goals focused is important when it comes to driving success across the business, from product through to company culture. In the early days of hipages Group, we made a decision to spin off ancillary businesses and focus solely on the home-improvement sector. Narrowing our focus in this way has driven more innovation and a unified culture. Overall, it has been key to our success through challenges and adversity.
Sustainable business building
It’s essential for start-ups and SMEs to invest their limited time, money and resources into innovation, and evolution of the right products and services, without biting off more than they can chew.
To ensure that things remain manageable, my advice is for businesses to focus on doing what they do best, and innovate to build on or complement their existing products or services. After all, there’s no point in churning out a series of innovations that are mediocre or offer no added benefit to key stakeholders, because no one will want to buy them.
A major advantage of playing to your strengths and ‘owning’ a certain space comes into play slightly further down the line – when it comes to scaling up. Investors want tech businesses to prove that they can operate successfully in this fast-paced environment, so it’s important that they develop a healthy pipeline of quality products and services now, so that the business can unlock additional funds in the future.
While some may think it’s premature for a business in its infancy or early stages to be actively considering opportunities to scale up and secure investors, the truth is that it’s never too early to get started with growth. And it’s important for businesses to have a solid plan in place to ensure they can handle additional resources and responsibilities. Growth should be sustainable, not a compromise of the quality of products and services offered to customers or stakeholders.
Proof is in the planning
Forward planning and future proofing are key disciplines when building any business, and having a one-, three- or five-year plan in place can help with plotting new innovations or milestones, tracking progress, and anticipating or managing any potential challenges that may arise.
It’s important to remember, however, that this plan should be able to flex and change according to the market. While an element of going against the grain and being a challenger brand should be encouraged, small businesses will still need to focus on products and services that consumers are actually spending their money on if they’re to remain profitable.
Having a plan in place also presents a significant advantage during times of unprecedented challenges. At hipages Group, we’re currently emerging from a challenging 12 months in the home-improvement market, and our team has continued to innovate to keep us moving forward, evolving and executing our strategy to transform hipages from a pure marketplace business into a platform business that can offer multiple services. This is encapsulated in the way we’ve transformed the business, transitioning all of our customers onto a subscription model, and now working toward the next iteration of hipages Group, including launching our SaaS product Tradiecore and offering a holistic suite of tools designed to help tradies streamline and grow their businesses.
It’s only through continuous planning and execution that the business has been able to grow during this challenging period, and as a result, we’re now in a position where we can move towards profitability.
When it comes to the tech industry, the age-old proverb is true. Necessity really is the mother of invention.
This article first appeared in issue 40 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
