- By John Lunn of PayPal’s X developer network.
The environment for tech startups has changed massively just recently. You don’t need much money these days; you don’t even need to be very good technically.
Eight or nine years ago, to have a tech startup you needed expensive computers, office space to put them in, printers, faxes, now you don’t. Everything used to be installed, now there are so many free cloud tools and accelerated coding environments such as AppCellerator. It will become even easier in the future to develop apps, find markets, make a website, host apps and sites for free, or nearly free.
Technology has moved on to the point where you don’t even need to be very good technically. New languages like Ruby and PHP are so easy, they take far less time and dedication to learn and use.
The tech is getting easy, so it’s less and less about having good development skills, and more and more important to have good business skills.
It’s easier to start today, but it also means someone is probably already working on your idea. So if you’ve got an idea, just get it out there for God’s sake. No frills necessary. Launch the buggiest, dirtiest thing that has some functionality and fix bugs later.
And do it when you’re young. You won’t always have the option to stay up till three in the morning coding or writing a business plan, or spend all weekend with a friend at your computer eating pizza and drinking beer.