Lean startups and tips for fashtech companies at different stages. Keep it MVP but know when to upgrade. Never stop experimenting.

1. Techtalk for fashtech - 10
tech tips for software
startups

2. Timo Tuominen
@tehmou
FABUTEC CTO
10 years in software
Fashion
Crowdfunding
Social media platforms
Banking
Apps

3. 1. Code is difficult
It’s not just you

4. • Software is expensive
• Good developers are difficult to find
• … and difficult to keep
• Endless updates, maintenance, bug fixes

5. But I want to make fashtec,
what to do?

6. Starting small
Validate business case with as little
code as possible (pre-MVP)

7. 2.The best code is
no code

8. • Need a way to track orders? Google docs
• Getting the latest prices from another website? Open your
web browser every morning
• Delivery service? Do you have a driver’s license?
• Email notifications? Send emails

9. 3.The second best code is
someone else’s code

10. • Shopify / Wix / Squarespace / Wordpress
• Contentful / Prismic CMS
• Indiegogo / Kickstarter
• At this stage investors are usually more interested in
metrics than how much of code generated!

11. Security scanning
machine startup

12. 4. Automate only when needed
Wait for positive problems

13. • Don’t be ashamed to do things manually behind
the scenes
• Too many customers to handle things manually?
That’s great, now is the time to make it easier!
• The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is always
less than you would think
• You will have to make unreasonable compromises

14. Growing bigger
Establish processes, start hiring people

15. 5. Use Agile processes
Read a book about Scrum

16. • Develop in one or two week sprints
• Stop after every sprint to reflect what could be improved
• Keep a backlog of concrete things to do and estimate
their relative sizes

17. 6. Use analytics
Measure your success

18. • Think carefully what your success is in numbers
• Set up funnels of what you want the users to do
• Google Tag Manager, Crazy egg, Flurry, etc.

20. 6. Hire people who can learn
No beard necessary

21. • Ask them to explain (hobby) projects in detail
• Do not worry if they do not have experience in the exact
technology you were thinking about
• You will to have spend a lot of time with the first people
you hire!
• Barista degree is a bonus

22. Scaling up
State of art of software

23. 8. Establish roles and
positive culture

24. • People working for you want to grow, help them do it
• Draw weekly smileys of how every feels
• Give responsibility and freedom of decision - even if you
disagree
• Maintain accountability across organisation

25. 9. Nine developers do not
make a baby in one month

26. • Even if you have money it’s still really slow and hard
• The difference between a £5k and £50k app might be
only nice animations and good UX
• The more people the more needed interactions, focus on
getting the best of the best
• Software is ideally created by a tightly focused team

27. 10. Experiment and have
fun

28. • Stagnation and “playing it safe” are the worst
enemies of technology companies
• Amazon used to be a book seller with a cool cloud
infrastructure
• Samsung started as a noodle company
• When you stop doing crazy stuff the best people
get bored and leave

29. Thank you!
Picture credits
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rpa-baby-steps-key-success-rita-brunk
https://www.valeriegarcia.com/single-post/2016/05/16/Sticks-and-Stones
http://www.cbronline.com/news/londons-bike-hire-scheme-supported-by-automated-work-scheduling-firm/
http://www.hotelroomsearch.net/latvia/office
https://crozdesk.com/analytics-intelligence/analytics-software/crazy-egg
http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/the-hipster-effect/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imlBm2yf4vk
https://www.vox.com/2015/1/8/7513317/container-ship-msc-oscar
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140806095508-64875646-what-the-heck-is-a-business-experiment
https://jikoman.info/main/agile-scrum-board.ben
https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/do-we-need-business-analyst-agile-team
https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2017/04/topping-off-salesforce-tower.html