There are better ways to invest your time than getting an MBA: A programmer Guide to start a Tech Company

I'll spare you the time of earning an MBA (please keep in mind that this is only applicable if you are starting a B2B product company; consumer is far more difficult to validate):

Before you start your new business, decide what your product will be and who will buy it (I mean, who is the specific person in an organization that would need to make a purchase decision). Then go speak with two or three of those persons.

Photo by LYCS Architecture on Unsplash

If you can't figure out who those folks are at this point, you have an issue that won't go away even after you've spent a year constructing your product. If you don't have a market, try something else.

If you can't get a meeting with those folks, you've got a problem that won't go away once you've produced your product. If you can't break into your market, try something else.

When you meet with them, don't try to sell them on your idea. Tell them you're researching a market potential and would like to describe a product and ask whether they'd buy it. Make it plain to them that they are free to say "no, I'm not buying that." In fact, you should try to persuade them that they will not buy it. If they say they won't buy it, your market isn't interested in it, therefore try something new.

If they say they'll buy it, ask them to sign a non-binding statement of intent stating that they will buy it if you develop the product and it performs what you say it will do. This does not bind them to anything, but these letters of intent are priceless if you ever need to pitch investors. 

They're also a strong indicator that they're not just telling you what you want to hear. If customers won't sign Letters of Intent, it means they weren't serious when they stated they'd buy your goods, your market doesn't want it, and you should try something different.

Once you have two or three letters of intent in hand, you are ready to quit your job and launch your business.

I suppose the essential concept here that most entrepreneurs overlook is that you must thoroughly vet your own ideas. Many aspiring entrepreneurs come up with an idea and then cling to it tenaciously, either because it is the only idea they have or because it is technically intriguing. 

They don't want to find out it's not going to work, therefore they don't try to figure it out! This is analogous to writing code and then not testing it because you don't want to discover that it's buggy.

The business world is teeming with selfish amateurs. The tech industry is especially awful because we had a major bubble approximately ten years ago, and the field is still filled of get-rich-quick knuckleheads. Do not pay attention to these people.

How do you find them? They're quick talkers, make a lot of promises, pad their credentials, name drop like crazy, and if you dig a little further, you'll discover that they actually don't know what they're talking about.

The majority of them market themselves as "middlemen" who will "get you funded" or "enterprise accelerators." Some appear to be entrepreneurs, but what they really want is to get someone involved with them so they can ride. They nearly never agree to undertake any serious labor. (Yet another red flag.) They are known as "wantrepreneurs" in the valley.

Initially, you want programmers, preferably ones with some business knowledge. Then you need sales contacts who will sell for you in exchange for a commission. The latter should be acquainted with your intended market. You'll probably run into these while following the recommendations in the parent post.

Remember: finding someone to sell for you is simple. Simply give them a cut. They don't even have to be a "salesman" in the traditional sense. They only need to have access to a market. It's all benefit for them, with very little downside. People will buy your product if you structure the sale this way (if it has value to anyone that is).

Finally, there is a lot of nonsense floating around regarding business. In a nutshell, this is business:

To be successful in business, you must have two things: 

• a product or service that people want and are willing to pay for.

• a method of providing that product or service that allows you to make more money than it costs to supply it.

One trick for consumer apps is to develop a web page featuring a few screenshots and mockups of the app. Have a "Buy" link with the price clearly marked, but redirect it to a page that indicates the product isn't quite available yet and invites them to give an e-mail address if they want to be notified when it ships. They can also provide feedback and feature requests on that page.

Consider it from the consumer's perspective: either they aren't interested in purchasing, in which case they will never click on the link and discover that the goods does not exist, or they really want the product, in which case they will be ready to wait for it. 

I suppose there's a middle ground where the consumer wants the product but is irritated enough by your vaporware to reject it, but you shouldn't pursue those concepts in the first place. If the consumer doesn't want the product, you're just asking for trouble in the form of tech support issues and negative press.

When I originally heard about this strategy, I thought it was a little shady, but then I saw a company (RescueTime) employ it, and what did I do? I requested to be notified as soon as it arrived.

Business concepts are analogous to chemical reactions, and money is analogous to energy. Exothermic reactions are a source of energy. An endothermic reaction burns energy. The same is true for profitability and money. That's all. Everything else is nonsense. No amount of narcissistic nonsense will change the fact that bad business concepts are awful.

Good business ideas are good, and if they are skillfully executed, "regular" non-sociopaths may make them work. Hard labor, careful planning, attention to detail, multitasking, and a lot of "boring" managerial tasks go into execution.

So doing what the aforementioned poster advised plus ignoring the huge pouring flood of runny brown bullshit that you will meet is the key to company success.

That's all. There are other tangential ideas, but the majority of them "circle" that one. (Marketing, sales, profits, and so on.) There's also the subject of funding, equity, investment, and exits, but you don't need to get there until you've nailed down the major item or have a good concept of how you're going to get there.