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It’s an undeniable fact that startups make our world a better and smarter place. Take Uber, Airbnb, Zoom, LinkedIn and other solutions that we actively use on a daily basis. They turn communication, employment, traveling, shopping and working activities to a whole new level.
It’s no wonder the number of startups increases yearly and breaks new records. According to recent statistics, as of 2022, there were more than 70,000 startups in the US. As of July 2022, there were more than 1,100 startups worldwide with a valuation of over $1 billion.
However, it is not a secret that not every startup becomes a unicorn. Most fail at the early stages, mostly because they build projects that do not meet market needs or satisfy demanding users.
Project development is also a risky venture, and many startups end up losing a lot of money and struggling to attract further investments. But do not worry—we know how to avoid startup failure and will tell you everything you need to know.
Since our company specializes in custom software development for startups and growing businesses, we’d like to share some secrets of successful startups with you. We will discuss how to turn a brilliant project idea into a scalable product, how to make your solution a perfect market fit, and how to make your development journey less bumpy and challenging.
Why startups need reliable development vendors
As we’ve already mentioned, software development can be a huge failure for many startups. However, this is not necessarily going to happen if you hire an experienced and cohesive development team to build your project.
You may have a clear vision of your project and particular business goals, but if you lack a technical background, you need someone to rely on and know that they will do a 100% great job. After all, you are putting your budget, time and perhaps even reputation at stake.
If you take a look at the statistics, you’ll discover that the first reason why 42% of startups fail is because of incorrectly defined market needs. 29% of all failures are a result of funding and budget loss. And based on our experience, we can say that the bad quality of the product causes at least 62% of failures. That is why it is so important to find dedicated teams and developers with relevant expertise to minimize all possible risks.
Development companies not only build high-quality solutions, they also bring so much more to the successful startups. They take care of:
As you can see, a software development company does a huge job to build and deliver impeccable solutions able to impress you, your investors and end users. On top of that, your level of involvement can be minimized, so that you can focus on your business plan and goals while the developers will do their job and turn your ideas into real software.
Last but not least, outsourcing can boost your time to market and release your project faster. In some cases, a team can build a solid version of a project in 3-6 months, which increases the odds of fast market entry, which is utterly important for startups.
Top 5 reasons to choose Altamira as your software development partner
Now that you are aware how advantageous it is to cooperate with experienced development agencies, we’d like to take our company as an example.
We’ll focus on the decision-making reasons that can help you to venture out and entrust your project to a company like ours. So first things first, let’s talk about pros and professional capabilities the Altamira team can offer to your startup.
#1 Wide range of services
The first and foremost advantage is that our team offers a wide variety of development services that you can benefit from. Altamira specialists offer:
- Web development and mobile development (native, hybrid and cross-platform solutions for iOS and Android devices);
- Trendy UI/UX design for mobile apps and web apps;
- Discovery stage and preparation of all necessary documentation;
- Fast MVP development and proof of concept creation;
- Creation of industry-specific apps powered by AI, ML, AR, Big Data and IoT;
- Modernization of existing solutions, data migration and code review;
- Effective team augmentation.
#2 Huge talent pool
Apart from a wide service range, we have a huge talent pool of 120+ technical specialists of different seniority and qualifications. We select an appropriate team for every startup. The most important criteria for this selection are developers’ relevant experience, deep understanding of your business niche and goals, and ability to work with the technologies necessary for a project.
Speaking about the tech stack that we use for web and mobile app development, it includes but is not limited to the following.
All our developers and QA specialists have graduated from tech universities. They have all the necessary certifications, and they improve their qualifications by attending conferences, taking courses, and learning from the best specialists worldwide. So, you can be sure that when you hire us, you get specialists who deliver an app with clean code and advanced functionality.
#3 Full involvement into your project
Whatever mobile and web apps we build, we always immerse ourselves deeply in your business industry—whether it is retail, entertainment, education, or dating. Our goal is to understand the real needs and problems of the end users, your app will solve.
We strive to ensure seamless user experience and achieve customer satisfaction so that your startup can become highly competitive and get numerous growth possibilities. To achieve full involvement, we conduct market research, explore the solutions of your competitors, examine your requirements and assumptions, and end up providing a detailed plan with well-defined user stories and properly selected tech stack.
#4 Cost-efficiency and scalability
Software development for startups as well as enterprise software development can be a costly and risky venture. That is why it is crucial to cooperate with companies that can minimize your expenses. Thorough market research, proper project estimation and a well-set plan of development have to avoid additional costs and stay within your budget.
Qualified teams like ours offer a perfect price-quality ratio and always advocate for your startup’s future scalability. We use an Agile development approach, which allows us to balance developers’ workloads and project costs and ensure the best possible quality of code.
#5 Development speed and quality of solutions
We always offer optimal team composition for every startup so that the desired project can be developed as soon as possible without compromising its quality. We have experienced business analysts, project managers, developers, QA specialists, DevOps and marketing experts that take all efforts to deliver high-class solutions in 3-6 months and make it a perfect market fit.
We estimate the project and identify the number of senior specialists required to write clean code, perform all kinds of testing, and release products on time.
Our software development services for startup founders
Our software development agency has been building solutions for startups for more than 10 years. We have worked with clients in the healthcare, education, retail, real estate, banking, travel, and entertainment sectors. This cooperation has allowed our developers to gain the necessary expertise to deliver top-notch software products that can impress even the most demanding users.
As of now, we offer a range of professional development services to all startup owners and founders. The full list of our services includes:
Now, let’s examine each of those options more closely so that you can understand how everything works and which option might be most advantageous for your startup.
From discovery to successful final product launch
When it comes to software development for startups, we believe that thorough preparation is the key to success. That is why we offer our clients to complete the discovery stage and receive all necessary deliverables that will help them with future development.
The discovery stage implies holistic market and competitor research. The goal is to gather all necessary information about existing solutions, identify your unique selling point, and start work on all required technical documentation.
The discovery stage is completed in a week or two by our business analysts, who then provide you with the following deliverables.
In general, the discovery includes three main stages that are preparation, ideation and validation. Once they are completed, your team can proceed with the development. And because they have all plans and documents in their disposal, this will be a truly seamless experience.
Discovery stage helps to avoid numerous risks, therefore it is very essential to complete it and get all necessary plans and documents. We have an article covering this stage in detail, check it out here.
MVP development to speed-up your time-to-market
Minimum viable product development helped so many great businesses to enter the market really fast and adjust their project with time. MVP software development implies that you create a solid but simple test version of your product to test your business idea and gather end user feedback.
MVP helps test the market, properly shape your app idea, and introduce more new features over time.There is no need to take huge risks and build projects with all the features at once. After all, many startups fail because they identify market needs incorrectly and invest all their money in the development of the wrong project.
Altamira offers MVP and POC development services to ensure future project success and scalability. While building every MVP project or creating a proof of concept, we take into account your business goals and users’ needs. On average, we need 3-5 months to deliver your project and here are the main development stages:
This blog post by our experts already discusses all the advantages and specificities of MVP development for startups. It is highly recommended that you read it to avoid common mistakes, establish all processes correctly, and invest your money wisely. An MVP can become an incredible starting point for your startup and drive its further success.
How we help startups to scale up
As we’ve already mentioned, our software development company helps startups not only to build high-quality products but also to scale up. Together with Altamira you can perform seamless team augmentation and get specialists of essential expertise and seniority, benefit from fast development scaling, and boost the efficiency of your core development team.
Altamira can become your long-term reliable development and staff augmentation partner that can help you form proper strategy, build right communication between all tech specialists, balance project scope and all the sprints, and speed up your project development.
Our experts help startuppers with many technical aspects.
Our approach to custom software development
Before starting any project, our team members focus on the software development life cycle, set main tasks and organize them into a well-structured sequence. Our typical mobile and web development process includes several stages – research, design and prototyping, coding, quality assurance and project release.
We also have project managers who follow an Agile approach. They ensure that all deadlines are preserved and that everything goes according to the initial plan. Our project managers are always in touch with you and provide you with reports, updates, and numbers.
Altamira always pays special attention to design and does everything to make end users happy and satisfied. Our designers’ main goal is to create a project look that will highlight your brand identity and make you stand out.
Therefore, they select the most suitable color palette and make the design user-friendly. All buttons, loaders, and interfaces are easy to find and use, and that’s what really makes any app a good one. We also consider responsive design and all necessary dimensions and resolutions when designing an app for mobile devices. High-quality code wrapped into a trendy and comprehensive design is the hallmark of a truly successful digital startup.
Our tech team cares about the quality and security of the end product. That’s why our software engineers follow the best security practices, OWASP controls, and all required industry standards. To ensure the code is clean and secure, our QA experts perform manual and automated testing, resort to abuse cases, and thoroughly analyze the source code using SAST (Static Application Security Testing) and DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing).
By delegating app development to Altamira, you will definitely get a fully-fledged secure solution, and more importantly, your budget and deadlines will be preserved. We also guarantee help with software integration, improvement, and maintenance.
What advanced technologies do we use to empower projects
We strongly believe that all digital solutions should be modern and long lasting. Therefore we always empower startups by using advanced technologies such as:
- Artificial intelligence;
- Augmented reality;
- Machine learning;
- Internet of Things;
- Big Data.
To turn the boldest idea into a real project, our software developers use the best practices and integrate all necessary third-party systems, such as payment gateway, location, and many other APIs your startup may need. Our software development specialists can create web and mobile apps of any complexity, IoT and Big Data solutions, image recognition software, tools with advanced analytics, business intelligence tools, cloud-based software, SaaS platforms and more.
If you have an idea and any doubts about the tech stack you’ve selected, just contact us for a free expert consultation. We will help you shape your idea and select the most suitable technology and integrations.
Success stories we’d like to showcase
When it comes to business, examples always speak louder than words. That is why we’d like to share some success stories of our startup clients and demonstrate the software products we developed for them.
Zemp Center
This is a custom PoS system for retail companies that we developed for one of our clients. His initial goal was to introduce a mobile PoS solution that would help retail companies with inventory management, reporting, employee management, supplier communication, and more. So, our client wanted to build a solution that would help achieve flexibility and automation of many retail processes.
Our team created a detailed project plan, developed Zemp Center from scratch, and implemented a range of features, such as barcode scanning, stock count, employee listing reports, product listings, customer orders, graphs with metrics, and more.
Since the app works with numbers and metrics, our designers created a clean and minimalistic look for it. As a result, every option is easy to find thanks to user-friendly UX. Here is how Zemp Center looks like.
Global Pet Security
The founder of Global Pet Security wanted to build a multiplatform solution that would keep track of pets’ vaccinations, store all information about them in one safe place, and provide an option to locate a pet in case it gets lost. Global Pet Security was built using Flutter.
Our software engineers integrated the payment gateway and Google API so that the maps could be used. They also implemented many options, such as a digital pet profile, sharing digital documents, declaring a pet missing, tracking a pet’s location, generating and scanning QR codes, and scheduling vet visits.
As a result, the solution was a huge success, and now it is actively used by breeders, pet owners, and even veterinarians. This startup began with an incredible idea, and thanks to high-quality development, it became a useful project that brings income to its owner.
These two projects that we described are examples of how startups can become profitable business models. And we definitely have way more such success stories in our portfolio. So in case you are interested, check out these case studies:
- INCINQ – a blind dating app with a bunch of advanced features;
- Aqualine drones – robust app for on-demand drone services;
- Bestyn – a holistic platform for neighbors where they can communicate, make announcements, organize events and exchange news;
- CTRL Golf – an IoT powered app for learning how to play Golf and practicing right techniques;
- Auxyn – advanced social media platform for musicians;
- Mazaaks – brand new social network for comedians.
To conclude
All in all, software development for startups gains its momentum. Software vendors worldwide help startuppers to develop incredible solutions and achieve tremendous business growth. You may have the most interesting project idea in mind, but without the help of a technical partner with extensive expertise, your idea may never turn into something real and profitable.
Our company has helped dozens of startups successfully launch and win the hearts of end users. By choosing us and our custom web software or mobile development services, you choose a cohesive team of specialists who will guide you through all processes, minimize all development risks, and deliver high-quality products within the set time and budget.
FAQ
To create software, you need a cohesive team of technicians. These include software engineers—front-end and back-end coders, designers, quality assurance specialists, project managers, and, in some cases, DevOps and marketing experts. It is always better to hire a full team than to look for all of those specialists elsewhere.
We highly recommend exploring service rating vendors such as GoodFirms or Clutch. There, you can select the necessary category and find companies that specialize in certain kinds of development services. It is also a good idea to check out their clients’ reviews, company websites, and portfolios to get a bigger picture and make the right final choice.
To estimate projects, companies need to understand the scope of required work, know the tech stack that will be used, and count the number of hours it may take to complete the job. Specialists’ hourly rates differ depending on qualification and seniority, so team composition also influences the final price. To find out all the details about project estimation, check out this blog post explaining all the approaches and techniques.
A software startup is a newly established company focused on building and scaling software products. These startups often develop mobile apps, web platforms, or enterprise solutions, typically aiming for innovation and rapid growth. Unlike traditional software companies, startups operate in a fast-paced environment, testing and iterating on ideas quickly to find market fit.
The cost of launching a software startup varies widely based on the complexity of the product, team size, and location. Here’s a rough breakdown:
- Small MVP (Minimum Viable Product): $10,000 – $50,000 (built by a small team or freelancers)
- Mid-sized startup: $50,000 – $200,000 (includes a small in-house or outsourced team)
- Large-scale startup: $200,000+ (involves multiple developers, marketing, and operational expenses)
Other factors, such as cloud hosting, marketing, and legal costs, also contribute to the total budget. Many startups seek funding from investors or bootstrap their way to growth.
