business guide

IoT start-ups
 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Table of
contents
Tips for success as a new tech company 3

Three ways to fail fast - Incomplete vision 4

Three ways to fail fast - Bad timing 5

Three ways to fail fast - Organizational weakness 6

Three ways outsourcing can help your start-up - Don’t 7

overthink hardware

Three ways outsourcing can help your start-up - Keep 8

connectivity simple

Three ways outsourcing can help your start-up - App

9
and software design

A helping hand for start-ups 10

IoT start-ups business guide

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Tips for success as a new tech company

Everyone understands that building a successful start- An inescapable fact is that most start-ups fail. As many

up is a long, complicated and high-risk task. The start- as 90% of start-ups don’t succeed as founders try to

up phase extends from the seed of an idea or concept build their dreams and achieve exponential growth

and carries it through to the point at which a business and huge rewards.* A combination of lack of funds,

that generates revenues, has employees and creates poor timing, inability to scale up or simply the idea not

products or services. being good enough in the first place are typical causes

of failure. Many good ideas come to nothing because

Definitions of what constitutes a start-up vary wildly of these reasons but also because start-ups are

with some well-established businesses enjoying the unlike any other type of business and come to market

innovative image of being seen as a start-up while inexperienced, ill-equipped and understaffed.

some very new businesses crave being thought of as

well-established, even though having products on the This paper will first address some of the common

market, let alone profits on the balance sheet, remains a reasons that start-ups fail. In the following chapters

distant dream. we will address IoT-specific challenges and ways to

overcome them.

(* source: https://www.failory.com/blog/startup-failure-rate) AS MANY AS 90% OF START-UPS DON’T SUCCEED

AS FOUNDERS TRY TO BUILD THEIR DREAMS AND ACHIEVE
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
AND HUGE REWARDS*

IoT start-ups business guide 3

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Three ways to fail fast

There is no such thing as a standard start-up but, regardless of the

industry, innovation or business model adopted, there are common
reasons for failure. These include:

1 INCOMPLETE VISION

An idea that looked good on paper but simply doesn’t that could change the marketplace and distort your

translate to market demand in the real world is the business case.

most obvious reason for start-ups to fail. This is often

seen when a new technology emerges and innovators Leadership is critical as a successful start-up relies

look to add the new technology to an existing offering. not only on having a good idea but also on having a

Sometimes this results in fabulous levels of success business concept to bring that to market effectively. A

such as Amazon’s digitalization of retail but it also has start-up in IoT might have an idea to create

resulted in large failures such as pets.com at the turn of an application to support elderly care that has a new

the millennium which tried to retail pet supplies online way of monitoring user health as its unique proposition

without bringing a unique offering to the market. but if the devices can’t be brought to market at scale

at a price the market will bear, the start-up will fail even

There are many reasons why a business idea turns though there is a need for what it offers.

out to fail but the fundamentals of assessing whether

there is a real market for your idea, whether customers Success therefore relies not only on a strong idea but

will pay sufficiently for it and whether you offer a also a realistic concept of how to take it to market, what

differentiated proposition are the basics. Awareness of that will cost and what the ultimate rewards will be.

potential competitors is essential, as is knowledge of

shifts in trends and upcoming technological innovations

IoT start-ups business guide 4

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Three ways to fail fast

2 BAD TIMING

Being early or late to a market can be the reason a been developing a similar product at the same time and

concept or idea will fail. If a start-up brings its product bring it to market just before a start-up’s much lower

to market and there is no appetite for it because profile launch. A technical innovation may emerge that

nobody understands its value, sales will not occur and makes the original idea obsolete before it even reaches

the business will fail. Similarly, if the product arrives too market. An economic or social crisis such as the global

late and rivals have already secured substantial market financial crisis of 2008 or the Covid pandemic may

share it may be impossible to make up the lost ground. change the appetite for investment or for the start-up’s

offering.

One element of getting timing right can be luck.

Sometimes, start-ups fail for reasons that are totally out These are challenges that really test entrepreneurs

of their control. A large corporation might have but some timing issues are avoidable. Being too late

to market can be avoided through partnerships and

outsourcing of some functions, using the resources and

experience of partners to accelerate market readiness.

Being too early to market can be avoided by performing

in-depth research and partnering with others to benefit

from their experience of the market to target the

optimum launch time for your offering.

IoT start-ups business guide 5

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Three ways to fail fast

3 ORGANIZATIONAL WEAKNESS

Start-ups stem from a vision, usually originating from Even with these skills in place the start-up may still lack

one or a very small number of highly driven people. the 360-degree expertise needed to run a business.

Often these people have come out of large corporations A skill set that is incomplete can mean missed sales,

and are familiar with working in well-resourced insufficient investment is raised, R&D is operated

environments in which everything from the chair they inefficiently , or there is a lack of skilled engineers, and

sit on to the collection of revenue and the payment of financial and industrial regulations are overlooked. Each

taxes is all taken care of for them. of these can cause the failure of a start-up.

It may be a shock to suddenly find yourself in a start-up

where functions such as facilities, HR, IT, accounting,

fleet management, marketing and many more do not

exist. Start-ups focus on what makes them different,

their unique vision for a new product or service and

understandably prioritize R&D, sales and finance. These

are the essentials for building a start-up but they do not

guarantee success on their own.

A founding team typically involves a technologist

or visionary that has identified the concept for the

start-up. This is augmented by sales capabilities so the

product or service can be marketed and supported by

finance expertise both to raise investment and operate

the business on a sound financial basis. These skills are

seldom encapsulated in one person so a start-up’s core

team often involves people that are experienced in

these areas.

IoT start-ups business guide 6

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Three ways outsourcing can help your

start-up

In addition to these common points of failure for start-ups in general,

start-ups in IoT face specific challenges. IoT is fast moving and innovation
is continuous but the ecosystem supporting IoT is maturing and many
of the functions and capabilities needed to support an IoT project are
available on an as-a-service basis.

This means start-ups don’t have to invest time and money in re-inventing
existing capabilities. Start-ups should assess whether they really need to
build everything themselves or whether they can outsource functions.
These include organizational capabilities as well as IoT-specific functions
in manufacturing, hardware design, connectivity management and go-to-
market expertise.

1 DON’T OVERTHINK HARDWARE

IoT devices are often highly complex containing processes can be minimized or potentially eliminated
batteries, connectivity modules, antennas and sensors for a new device. Start-ups can also have confidence
often within constrained form factors, subject to that testing and verification work has already been
certification and needing to operate in demanding completed.
extremes of temperature. It makes no sense for
example, to develop RF expertise to develop and Another example of how delay and complexity can be
implement these components because it could take reduced is by selecting a vendor who can provide both
years and significant capital to acquire the right level of modules and antennas - and who will also help with
expertise and establish testing facilities. device testing and certification. By specifying these
from a single supplier, the start-up can be certain that
Often there is no need to create custom component the two will integrate well and perform as expected.
hardware hardware because existing designs will Seperate suppliers may blame each other if the
address the needs of the business case effectively. device certification fails. By picking a single supplier,
Start-ups can work with an original design operations and design is simplified reducing the risk of
manufacturer (ODM) partner who can accelerate failure. Specialist skills such as antenna design can be
device design and manufacturing, saving money and accessed from the supplier without the start-up having
shortening time-to-market. In addition, this approach to put this in place itself. This is particularly important in
enables utilization of certified components which IoT devices because antenna design is often missed out
means the costly and lengthy design and certification and it is very costly and time-consuming to correct this
once a device has been designed.

IoT start-ups business guide 7

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Three ways outsourcing can help your

start-up

2 KEEP CONNECTIVITY SIMPLE Instead, it makes far more sense to select a partner who

can provide IoT connectivity regardless of location and

Global IoT connectivity, even in the increasingly support operations such as activations, deactivations,
simplified era of embedded and integrated SIMs (eSIM SIM management and billing. It makes no business
and iSIM), is complicated and involves maintaining sense for start-ups to develop this type of platform
relationships with multiple carriers in order to assure themselves because replicating carrier relationships
cellular connectivity anywhere. For IoT start-ups being will take years, fail to deliver economies of scale for end
able to bundle connectivity in with their service or users and require the start-up to build up its customer
product is an option that customers find attractive. For services team to be able to respond to connectivity
the typical IoT start-up however, it is time-consuming queries itself.
and costly to set up carrier relationships and

understand their differing tariffs and management It is far simpler, faster and more convenient to
platforms in different markets. partner for the network connectivity, the connectivity

management platform and customer support than to

build either of these capabilities in-house. Better quality,

improved time-to-market and more competitive pricing

can be achieved through effective partnering.

IoT start-ups business guide 8

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

Three ways outsourcing can help your

start-up

3 APPLICATION AND SOFTWARE DESIGN

Many IoT start-ups view their application as the source

of their business’s uniqueness but custom development

of a software application is expensive, time consuming

and demands specific skills that are in short supply.

Using ready-made templates may fall short of your

dream concept, but they can get you to a minimum

viable product (MVP) stage. This could be the difference

between triggering additional investment that would

enable you to turn to IoT specialists that can help you

build a more advanced and user-friendly app.

Building a software development team when developers

are in short supply is a substantial cost both in terms of

salaries but also in management time spent recruiting

specialists in these areas. If you can tap into an

experienced partner’s development capabilities, you

can shorten this process and get to market or - the next

stage of your business’s development - much faster.

IoT start-ups business guide 9

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

A helping hand for start-ups

Custom-built hardware, global connectivity and ensuring that you don’t miss out as competitors out-

bespoke software design are the ingredients of a develop and out-market you. Drawing on our leadership

successful IoT product but start-ups don’t need to build in modules and antennas, we’ve already addressed

each of these ingredients themselves in order to make the complexities of device design, mass market

their recipe a success. Quectel wants to help IoT start- manufacturing, global connectivity, management

ups build a smarter world and looks to partner with platforms and software design.

start-ups that have sound ideas and concepts to help

them take these through to mass-market success. This experience and capability mean you don’t need to

focus your resources on re-inventing the wheel, you

Our ODM services coupled with our expertise in can simply turn to Quectel to accelerate your path to

modules, antennas and connectivity and backed by market, freeing up resources to focus on your core

our experience of taking products and services to concept while relying on Quectel’s global footprint and

market globally means we have the entire portfolio of expertise to help you drive your start-up to success.

capabilities start-ups need to succeed. We can help you

take your business concept to market quickly,

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT QUECTEL’S

CAPABILITIES AT WWW.QUECTEL.COM

IoT start-ups business guide 10

 IoT start-ups business guide | Tips for success as a new tech company

/quectelwireless

/quectel_wireless_solutions

/Quectel_IoT

/Quectel

/quectel-wireless-solutions

For more information on the Quectel portfolio of products and services, please visit:
www.quectel.com