Startups are like unicorns. They solve problems and change the world around us. There are many challenges that a startup needs to go through including choosing their server-side technology. With technology advancement, it is hard to decide which server-side technology to choose from.
It is common to find startups stuck in a loop when choosing their server-side technology. There are many reasons behind the indecision. It starts with “Paradox of choice” where the consumer is confused due to the number of options available in front of them. Startups need to make a choice. It is similar to finding a needle in the haystack. Startups also need to consider multiple factors before making a choice. On top of that, there will be a different opinion in the team where everyone is fighting for the preferred technology that they like and love to work on.
All these can lead to the wrong choice of the technology stack and further lowers the chance for startups to succeed in the current competitive market. After all, it all boils down to working on strengths and not create unnecessary roadblocks in the path of the startup’s success. Choosing a backend server side is more critical as it acts as an umbrella where all the business logic, data and another form of requests are handled.
In this article, we will focus on the top 5 criteria that startups should consider while selecting server-side technology. By going through the criteria, they can improve their chances of success considerably.
1. Time to market
Startups rely heavily on time to market factor. It is common to see multiple startups working to solve similar kind of problems. It is also a known fact that the first market mover always has the advantage. That’s why it is always a good idea for you to choose a server-side technology that let your team build the prototype using agile methodology.
For example, you can choose anything from Django to Ruby on Rails if the development platform is the web. Both of these are excellent server-side frameworks and offers the tools for agile development. Your aim should be to choose a server-side technology that is easy to build around.
2. Look into what you already know
It is common for startups to have multi-talented people where the team members already excel at some technology. As a decision maker, you need to take a look at your team and learn which server-side technology they already know or have a grip on. It will not only speed up the prototype development but also let developers work in their comfort zone.
3. Community strength
It is common for developers to Google things when they are stuck. Either they look out for answers on Stack Overflow or blogs written by other developers who encountered similar problems in the past. In short, you need to look out for community strength and how active it is. You don’t want to choose a technology where your team has to spend hours to solve a simple problem.
To understand the community strength, you should look at the total number of members/followers on Stack Overflow, Slack, and other programming community. If it is open source, check out its latest build on GitHub and how frequently it gets updated.
4. Availability of talent
Great, you choose a technology that has a vast community, offers prototyping and have a good community strength. However, you choose the technology for which the talent is scarce. This can lead to problems when your project expands, and your startup needs fresh talent to join your team. One good example would be Go programming language. It can be a great choice for many startup projects. However, the market has far less Go developers compared to other technologies.
5. Maintainability
As your product grows, it will become complex and hard to maintain. There are different ways you can choose the server-side technology which can rely on either Functional, Object Oriented(OO), Dynamic or Strongly typed.
When it comes to maintainability OO always wins against other forms of coding. In short, you need to choose a server-side technology that is easy to maintain in the long term.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right server-side technology requires careful planning. As an entrepreneur, your job is to envision the future and make decisions based on it. It is always better to form a team and take proper feedback from each member as well as external sources such as successful entrepreneur or custom software development companies that have built products in your vertical. So, what do you think about the criteria mentioned above? Do you think we covered the top ones? Comment below and let us know.
Finoit Technologies is a renowned mobile app development company providing custom software development services and IOT application development services. We have developed over 450 mobile apps, and have assisted many solopreneurs in their journey of startups by functioning as a tech partner and rolling out their product ideas. For questions/queries, you may write to us at [email protected]
