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Investing in a technical venture – what are your options?

by Ameliaava19

There is no doubt in the fact that the IT sector is booming faster than any other industry. It’s easier to acquire investments through venture capitalists, newest ideas are more than welcome and a huge talent pool is available. With these benefits, know that some IT ventures are economical, or say cheap, but they take time to grow. Other options like apps and SaaS products are expensive, but super scalable. Here is an article that compares the cost of development, revenue models and technical feasibility so you can make an informed decision.

1. Website

This is your first option, the cheapest and the quickest too. A website gives you multiple options to start a venture. You can create a blog, start affiliate marketing, start an online design, writing or editing tool, share product reviews and whatnot.

Starting a website is super simple. If you are up for a low scope business like an online magazine, you can even DIY a website on a content management system like WordPress. This way, with domain and hosting, your website launch will cost you something between $100 to $500 per month, considering you’ll write articles and other content yourself.

For more complex options, you’ll have to hire a developer expert in the field of websites. To stay under a budget, I recommend you hire a web development company in Washington DC. Get a domain from GoDaddy and choose a 2-year hosting plan on Bluehost. This website launch will cost you something starting from $700 to $300 depending on your offerings.

2. Online store

Next up in the list is an online store. This could be an ecommerce store where you sell products to businesses or consumers. Or, you can make an online marketplace like Amazon or Alibaba where different sellers and buyers meet and trade products and services.

You have actually got two main options for making an online store. You either build a branded business mobile app, or integrate ecommerce features on a website. In each case, you need advanced features like profile creation, carts, payment gateways and so on.

If you want to start an ecommerce store on a website, Shopify and WooCommerce are the quickest options. If you already have a website on WordPress, WooCommerce is recommended. If you had a custom website, go for Shopify. This online store construction will cost you depending on your product types, features and the scope of your business. though the cost usually starts from $200 including the domain and hosting plans.

3. Online courses

The third option in the list is selling courses online. Now for this, you can again choose from two options. Go for online consultancy, like a business coach, a virtual CMO etc. Or, you can record courses, host them on a website and give lifetime access.

Both of these options have their pros and cons and different revenue models. For online consultancy, you can charge per hour or per session. For online courses, you’ll have a fixed course price depending on the skill you are teaching, the competition in the niche. Consider the platform you are hosting on and the socio-economic status of the target audience.

For online consultancy sessions, the best business medium is your own website. Create a landing page, attract traffic, close leads, get digital payments and teach on Skype, Slack, Zoom or Google Meet.

For recorded courses, it’s better to choose an established platform like Udemy. It’s easier to set up courses and they only charge commissions when your courses are sold. The marketing is easy and you won’t have to invest in a website.

4. Mobile app

Mobile apps require an investment that is not as low as an online store, but also not typically as high as a SaaS product. They are at the forefront of technical revolution because they are easily accessible. Smartphone devices are handy and are with users 24*7. This means that technically, financially and economically, investing in mobile app development is a lucrative option. You can then plan to scale to a SaaS product create stores and websites to market it and do everything else to stretch your profits.

But mobile apps are sensitive because of niche categories. There is so much competition in the field, yet so much gap to fulfil in terms of content diversity and user experience. we recommend you launch an app in categories of smart home automation, healthcare, mobile game or real estate. Also, you can choose to leverage technologies like blockchain, Augmented and Virtual Reality, robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning and so on.

To stay under budget, we recommend you hire a team of app developers in Chicago. They offer competitive rates, plus the project managers will be available in your business hours. You won’t have cultural barriers during communication and you can even meet personally if the need be. For reference, an app can cost you anywhere between $3,000 to $300,000 dollars depending on the complexity.

5. SaaS product

SaaS products are usually created and sold to business users. examples of SaaS products include software programs like HubSpot, Monday, Trello, Google Suite, HootSuite, SharkVPN, Daslane, Twilio 2FA etc.

SaaS products earn through subscription charges. They could be per month, per year. Also, there are some companies that give lifetime access for a high price, like iProVPN.

Apart from the revenue model, SaaS products provide a lot of convenience to the target users. They don’t need to install the program for using. Plus, multiple users can access the programs simultaneously for an added, yet minimal cost. The user doesn’t have to worry about investing in a software that might go obsolete or need money for maintenance. In fact, they don’t really have to update. Most importantly, a software can’t be hacked from the company’s local storage.

But this also means that the development, maintenance, updates and technical support part falls on the shoulder of the startup that owns the SaaS product. And this is what startups investing in a SaaS product capitalize on.

SaaS products surely need a huge investment. They need immense attention, development efforts, strong testing and continuous maintenance to stay in health and provide acceptable user acceptance. They also need marketing. And all of these factors require a solid budget starting from $3000 per month to $50,000 per month and more depending on the scope of your product, the businesses using it and your expansion plans.

 

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