Softwares Required.

Now is the time for selecting the sophisticated weapons to prepare for the war. It depends on basically 3 factors.

1. Supporting Open Source.
2. Supporting propitiatory software.
3. Ok with the express/demo editions. (Not advisable)

Since an IT company can be of many types, but basically I will be covering the web development part, because that seems to be easy while starting a company.

So the advisable tools of the trade are:

1. Windows XP (98 is outdated and Vista is slow). People are more familier with windows.

2. Visual Studio 2008/Php, Depending on which language you are comfortable with.

3. Mozilla as the browser. With Plugins installed (I will give a list in my next post).

4. Thunderbird E-Mail Client (With the Event Calender plugin Installed).

5. Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Powerpoint, Excel).

6. SQL/MySQL, depending upon choice.

7. VLC player. It can literally play anything.

This list will be updated with each passing enlightenment I get about Softwares. Hopefully you can also contribute in the Comments section. I will add the same to the List.

Hardwares & Utensils

Hardware is a highly flexible investment which may depend on various factors as follows:
1. Size of the company (Number of People).
2. Clients of the Company.
3. Service based or Product based company.
4. Budget for the Start up.
5. Location of the company. etc.

Many Companies like Google, Microsoft had started their office from Garage. It has become a jinx for every company to follow them. But not necessarily that can lead to success. For that you need to be either a Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Larry Page or Sergy Brin.

Personally I feel the following stuff are enough to get a company to run decently for a long period of time.

1. A big conference table in a descent 300 Sq Ft. area. It is also supposed to be the main development room. The alignments must be in form of 1,2,1,2 on the four sides of the table, where the sides with single people are the persons who started the company.

2. The room should have a white/glass board with a marker/duster. It is utmost necessary to develop ideas and to explain them.

3. Probably a projector can do wonders during presentations (Even sometimes to see a movie for relaxation).

4. A coffee vending machine with provision for tea, coffee, soup or health drink. Those guys in IT knows that, a software engineer cannot go through a complete day without having coffee, tea.

5. A/C (Air Conditioner) is necessary for that fact that, with so many PC's operating in the same place, the head needs to be replaced to make the place comfortable.

6. Descent lighting facility. Dim lighting can put stress on the eyes and Heavy lighting can make you uncomfortable.

7. Attached Bathroom facility with automatic door lock to prevent odour from entering the room. Probably a double door facility can help in this regard. The bathroom needs to be clean, well maintained and spacious with all utensils available.

8. A small reception area, where every incoming person can be scrutinized so that work should not be disturbed by mail man, courier man etc.

9. One printer/scanner for obvious stuff.

10. Stack of utensils like papers, notebooks, pencils, pens, stickers, scissors, gum, pins, clips etc available in abundance.

11. One server PC, with assembled high performance parts. probably a CPU without Screen and Keyboard/Mouse should do. It should have the best quality motherboard. around 1 TB of hard disk, best processor, No CD/DVD rom (So that data cannot be written some where else), good heavy quantity of RAM etc.

12. One 1 TB hard disk to take the backup from main server when required.

13. 7 PC (6 for working + 1 in the reception). Desktop PC are preferred over Laptops, because they are robust, speeder, easily upgradeable, easily customizable, cheapness and Data security (Data in office and not carried home in laptop).

14. One central phone with speaker phone facility with VOIP in the development room and one phone with just speaker phone facility in the reception. Any calls to the office are to be received in the reception and transferred to office room, not to create any disturbance during working.

15. Couch/Sofa for visitors.

16. Some wall hanging and plants to enhance the beauty of the place.

17. A soothing surround sound speaker is an optional luxury.

18. An internet Connection, something around 2MBPS will be good. Probably a wireless one to avoid wire congestion.

If I have missed any thing, please feel free to add in the comments so that I can include that in the post.

Naming the Company

The next important component for a startup company is to have a Name.
It helps you and others to identify the entity you are working for.
The name should satisfy the following criterias :

1. The name should be small and compact and not complex.
2. It should be easily pronounced. So that when others refer to it, they won't face any difficulty.
3. It should not clash with any existing name.
4. It should highlight the work you are doing and should relate to the context of the work.
5. The name should be followed by a punchline or motto of the company.
6. A logo can add to the beauty of it and bring a professional bent to the company from the beginning.

I must add that this was a tough task for me to search for a name for a company and till now zeroed upon none, considering that fact that what will be selected will last forever.

Prelude to Starting a Company....

Hi friends,
Many of us dream to have something of our own.
The motivating factor may be:
1. Becoming famous
2. Becoming rich
3. Impressing the fairer sex :)
4. Or as in my case getting bored of taking others and doing what others ask me to do.

Every one has their own reason.
But what binds them together is a Dream to accomplish their goal.
But what stops them is:
1. The busy schedule
2. The attitude of starting tomorrow rather than starting today, and
3. Weak motivating factor.

So to plunge into this field,
1. One should be ready to take the challenge head on and move ahead overcoming all hurdles.
2. What they need is time management
3. Multi tasking capabilities
4. Determination to move ahead in spite of failures
5. Creativity
6. Leadership qualities and technical knowledge.

So lets start our Company. Cheers....

 
Starting an IT Company. - Templates Novo Blogger 2008