You've probably worked with startups and companies to build their business solutions and you've read a lot about engineers that built different tools/solutions, some of which later got acquired by bigger tech companies.

A recent example is Nikita Bier whose solution recently got acquired by Discord, his tbh app was also acquired by Facebook 5 years ago.

One of the things that probably comes to your mind after analyzing the entire app/solution/product or whatever it is, is that, this is something that I can do now, it isn't that hard, to be honest😊, even though you appreciate the good work and effort that the creator(s) put into it.

At that point, you are probably very excited like Abdulhakeem Adams that appreciated the feat of Nikita Bier and posted God of ideas and execution 🤲🏽 Abeg

Good news is sweet when you're not looking at it from jealousy perspective and sweeter when it is yours.

Following my talk in December 2022 at the 2nd Annual Conference of Systems Technologies Limited, titled Leveraging Technopreneurial Mindset which Mustapha Abdul-Rasaq (Geekmaros) recommended me for. During the interactive Q&A session. I was asked about the tips for becoming a technopreneur while working as a Software Developer or having a full-time job, so I'm putting them out here, hopefully, they become useful for some people.

In my talk, I quoted this:

Every great ventures started as an idea and every successful idea has a “…preneur” that is crazy enough to seeing it to the end.

While having conversations with some Designers, Senior Developers, and Tech Leads about the need for them to build some tech ideas that may eventually become the next Unicorn on the side, I found a common challenge, the issue that a lot of them have is "Perfection". You guys spend a lot of your time thinking of the best practices, the best language to use to build the backend, frontend saga, and other stuff, before you know it, you get distracted and hope to do it some other time while still juggling up your day job as a developer and family attention.

Sometimes, while you are out scrolling on the internet, boom, your big idea is currently being launched by some people somewhere on planet Earth 🌎.

Whereas, you could simply build out an MVP with the technology that you are most comfortable with at that time, just scaffold something, and leave all the perfection till later when you get funding or the solution has made money enough for you to hire people that will change it to "perfection" for you.

Mark Zuckerberg of Meta said:

'Ideas don't come out fully formed, they only become clearer as you work on them . You just have to get started.'

My understanding of what Yusuf Adeyemo said about Best practice is that There are really no best practices, whatever gets the job done for people is what they mostly regarded as best practices, even if they are well aware that it doesn't necessarily mean there are no better approaches

So, let's get into it

Building a tech startup as a full-time software developer is an ambitious endeavor. It requires a great deal of dedication, hard work, the right resources, and the right team to make it successful. But with the right approach and mindset, you can turn your ideas into reality.

There are a few stages to follow from Ideation to Market that will be beneficial for your journey in building your own tech startup.

Conceptualization Stage

First, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to create.

• What is the end goal?

• What problem are you trying to solve?

Once you have that vision in mind, you can start to think about the technology and tools you will need to build your product.

Please remember, your idea can be either of these 3:

1. A painkiller idea,

2. A vitamin idea, and

3. A better alternative

They're probably self-explanatory but let me briefly explain them with examples

Painkiller Idea: People need it as their livelihood depends on it. Some examples are Uber, Bolt, etc.

Vitamin Idea: People can do without it, but it will be good to have. Some examples are Food Ordering apps, Utility solutions e.t.c

Better Alternative: People are already used to a particular model/software/solution but you are trying to give them a better alternative. For example, Some government institutions and private sectors are used to manual record keeping and file management, as a developer you can give them a better alternative by building a solution for them that will save them money and resources.

As you are thinking about your killer idea, you can easily put it in one of the categories above, this will give you an idea of the kind of adoption that you should expect from your idea.

The next thing to do is, determine your resources.

• Do you have a team of developers to help you?

• How much time can you dedicate to the project?

• Do you need to outsource any of the development work?

All of these questions will help you determine the scope of your project and the resources you need to complete it.

You will also need to consider financing and business planning.

• What is your budget?

• How will you fund the project?

• What is your exit strategy?

All of these questions will help you create a successful business plan that will guide your startup to success.

Picking a Niche

It is also important to understand the category that your idea falls into as a tech startup. Here are some popular EverythingTech that you can pick an idea from

Image Credit: Thaís Jardim Nachbar in EverythingTech Explained: FinTech, InsurTech, and RegTech - Part 1

You can simply pick your niche out of the "EverythingTech" above and pick out of the various problems that need solving.

Finally, as you are building your startup, you will need to stay focused and organized. Set deadlines and goals for yourself and your team(if you have any) and make sure you are tracking progress. This will help you stay on track and ensure that you are making steady progress toward your end goal.

Building a tech startup as a full-time software developer is a challenging endeavor, but with the right approach and resources you can make it happen. Take the time to plan, organize, and focus your efforts, and you can build a successful tech startup.

Are you ready to conceptualize an idea and turn it into a tech startup as a side hustle while you still retain your full-time job? the best time is now, follow along and get some few nuggets needed to take it to the next level.

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You can read my talk on Leveraging Technopreneurial Mindset in the meantime where I orientated companies and individuals to build up the mindset.

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You really can't get much done unless you are intentional and disciplined.

Next, I will be discussing how you can assemble the right team and work on your app idea with ZERO cost without affecting your primary Job with your employer.

Stay Tuned and keep coding 😊😊.. you've got this ✌️, Later then 👋