I've been working in technology for the last 17 years, and I cannot help but admit that — as rewarding as this industry seems — it's a never-ending race with time, and the speed at which the disruptive becomes outdated is unparalleled. My early days started with Microsoft Front Page building 3-4 Page catalog websites and eventually evolving into more complicated dB driven platforms and web applications and I am thankful for those days because coding has taught me more than anything else and I personally believe that all educational institutions should adopt programming within their standard curriculum. Writing code structures the brain and teaches you how to convert the non tangible into a structured model, basically an abstract idea into a working proof of concept that can mature and evolve to solve real business challenges. While I am no longer a programmer by practice, I still enjoy coding from time to time or debating technical issues with our engineering team and it is surprising how quickly things change and evolve. Long story short, 17 years later, I currently am the Chief Executive at Alpha Technology Group, a group of 10 technology companies some of which I have serially launched, some of which are portfolio investments / acquisitions under our management, some of which are startups that we have incubated and accelerated active in different technology verticals such as Streaming, Content, AI, Enterprise Solutions, and others. The reason I am writing this is that i have experienced a pattern of do's and don'ts that could potentially be a turning point in a startup lifecycle. (Again, this is an Opinion Piece.) 1- Start Early and Move Quickly If you start early, your risk is much lower, your responsibilities are much less, and your ability to commit and focus is much higher. Once you take that decision, time to market is key especially that technology changes and evolves quickly. 2- Forget about Business Plans, Go to the Market Many might disagree with this, however I am a strong believer that going to the market first will set your expectations, enhance your offering, and tailor your product development plan / roadmap to the actual demands of today's workplace. You can always crunch through the BPs later on. I honestly do not remember ever launching a startup with a business plan. 3- Pivot, then Pivot Again There will be times where the initial idea you started with may not be the best fit, be ready to pivot into new dimensions that hold better opportunities while retaining the bigger vision. Netflix for instance started as a brick and mortar chain leasing vcr tapes and dvds to customers and pivoted into a new dimension by streaming content online while retaining the initial vision of bringing entertainment to households. 4- Focus on Product Innovation If you are in tech and have an innovative or disruptive product today, this will most probably not be the case one year later unless your day and night are focused on constantly pushing the barriers of innovation to stay ahead. 5- Be the Best at Something A lot of companies tend to stretch themselves horizontally until they eventually go flat. It is always better to start by focusing on one core offering, mastering that vertical with constant innovation and disruption and becoming the best in what you do rather than the 2nd best in different things. - - Wissam Sabbagh , Group CEO, Alpha Technology Group @wissamsabbagh
