While studying at school, no matter how elite and prestigious, students are not able to learn all necessary start-up skills. Of course, modern universities and colleges get young students who dream of becoming entrepreneurs and brace themselves for the quest called owning a personal business. However, it is important to keep in mind the top preferred technical skills required in 2017 and upcoming business year.

When the company is big, it is possible to choose corresponding staff to take care of different marketing-related issues like SEO or SMM. If there are enough employees, the company owner may assign all necessary roles to fulfill various tech tasks. But in the case of the individual start-up planning, the focus on the primary skills to master is of particular importance. Without them, online business will most probably fail.

We have thought of some basic tech skills that will come in handy for people who dream about launching their own business.

5 Basic Tech Skills Modern Entrepreneurs Should Mind

•    Coding. Perhaps, it is the most valuable skill of the current decade. It is studied during Computer Science or IT classes at high school, but that kind of gained knowledge is never enough to create a powerful website on your own. An official site today is the face of the company. Thus, it is impossible to survive the competition without a solid knowledge of HTML or CSS. One of the most popular platforms for a startup is Wordpress. It is entirely based on CSS+. In case a person wants an advanced site with much more options, it is better to choose PrestaShop or Magento. These platforms are more suitable if the business has too many products to offer. Then, however, the person should be ready to face harsh challenges in the shape of Java/TypeScript or Python, which requires an in-depth knowledge of other programming languages and coding.

Thanks to the advanced technologies, it became easier to gain and upgrade the knowledge of coding. Such places as Khan Academy may give a helping hand to learning the necessary subjects. You may also try Coursera, Udemy, and many other free online platforms that teach coding. After all, it’s never too late to join additional courses in IT. If you manage to master coding on the adequate level, there will be no need to hire personnel and have more expenses on wages. Usually, it takes six months or one year to learn the simplest types of coding to a decent level.

•    Web-application frameworks and wireframing. Have you heard of Ruby? It is one of those frameworks that help with coding. Frameworks like that allow coding in a single language and one location. It reduces the need to hire both front-end and back-end developers. At least, it eliminates the need to hire a huge, expensive team of professionals. It means that business owner spends less amount of money on paying salaries.

Even if your coding skills are far from excellent, it is possible to do the whole thing all alone without having a large IT team by your side. Try Ruby or Django to see the difference. If you are still not sure about your strengths, it would be enough to find just one expert to handle Ruby or other useful frameworks. Oh, and one more thing: make sure you are well aware of how various apps are structured in the chosen languages.

Wireframing is the thing that teaches users how web resources and applications are created and how they work. This kind of knowledge is necessary to cooperate with the technical/product staff efficiently. If you don’t know where to start, try Digital Telepathy or Wireframe Showcase. Valuable examples will speed up your education.

•    Amazon Web Services (AWS). Back in the middle of 90’s, it was difficult for computer users to store and share large volumes of information. Thanks to the latest advancements, it became possible to keep these volumes accessible in one place on the web. There is no need to purchase a personal server or hire an expert to solve all the issues anymore. Amazon Web Services or cloud are two excellent options for the mentioned above purposes. It is simple to master cloud hosting today. Learn how to host any web app on the cloud – it will reduce the amount of work significantly. These tools also eliminate the need to spend a lot of money on professional IT staff.

Here is the detailed instruction on how to start working with Amazon Web Services.

 •    Mobile friendliness. Mobile optimization is vital for your product to survive. Otherwise, you risk losing half of the potential customers, as they are not able to carry their laptop everywhere.

First, it is critical to come up with an effective mobile marketing strategy. It is not that difficult to select the best ways to earn money via mobile devices. Both Android and Apple platforms are perfect for generating high revenues. Mobile apps are becoming even more popular than web pages. To make your application user-friendly and well optimized, begin with some free resource basics, like Pluralsight. It won’t take a while!

• SWOT analysis. Any business can’t live without SWOT analysis since it was developed in the 60’s. Every decision you make has to be related to it. This simple tool helps to evaluate your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to find out what else can boost your sales. Exploring detailed free information on marketing SWOT analysis is always a good idea for your business.

•    Graphic design. Young startups often underestimate the importance of visual appearance. Grab the attention of your target audience by introducing an outstanding design that makes your page stand out from the rest of the competitors. The three most important factors to consider are the colors, typeface, and logo of your business. It might be enough to master Adobe Photoshop only. Such websites as Canva allow developing unique designs according to any taste within several minutes or an hour tops!

Anything Else to Add?

There are even more tech skills to keep in mind. Except for the skills described above, an entrepreneur to be should remember about the importance of a business plan. The goals of such plan should always be S.M.A.R.T.:

•    Specific

•    Measurable

•    Attainable

•    Realistic

•    Timely

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of excellent manuals one can read to fill the gaps in their knowledge. Those are various e-books and books on advanced SEO courses, SMM, outsourcing, step-by-step procedures of launching startups, innovative business ideas, etc. None of these ideas can be implemented without the necessary package of computer skills.

The essential tech skills, of course, require some time to get into. Still, they can significantly improve the level of your business, as well as the income you get.