Why Engage Athena IT to Create your Start-up?

Ten years ago the low barrier to entry to building a technology company was tempting for many and soon everyone was creating something new to get their share of the market. With so many people trying to get started on technology businesses, with little prior experience, the failure rate increased. Showing traction became more important than funding to gain attention and credibility.

For founders that are not technical, this has meant that there is a heavier burden of proof before they can obtain their next round of funding or get traction within their market.

We’ve toured the major start-up hubs of the USA, Europe and Australia, and we’ve witnessed founders, with fantastic business models, but no technology partners willing to join them on the journey of building an initial version of the product to test the market opportunity.

Moreover, whilst many of these founders have years of experience in business in a corporate environment, they tended to have little experience in the dynamic world of start-up or understanding the best technology fits for their vision.

You’ll quickly realise that you’ll have three options:
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Outsource

Contracting Offshore

Everyone’s doing it, and many entrepreneurs that have been successful praise the merits of talented overseas developers.

However, how do you know the difference between someone whom is talented and someone who isn’t? When we first started out, this used to be easy, now India and many countries churn out second rate developers at their high schools and universities.

Whilst the costs of development can be tempting, the main issue is quality control and building on that product going forward. Many offshore freelancers lack product and business experience so delivering a quality product, that your users will love,s requires much more hands on management than when using an in-house developer.
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Hire Staff or Agency Contractor

In House Developer

Unless they’re your technical co-founder and are willing to take on compensation in the form of equity, getting someone talented that is cross skilled will cost you a small fortune and take you a long time in both the screening and interview process.

Motivating someone whom is a technical co-founder to do all of the work for you will likely prove a challenge and more often than not lead to failure. If you’re hiring someone, you’ll find that you’re quickly drowned in paperwork with health insurance, compensation and time-consuming learning corporate formalities.

There is fierce compensation and high demand for talented developers, trying to explain to them why you’re the next big thing, when they can pick up a sizable salary and stock compensation package at Airbnb or Google, may prove a challenge.
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Contract Out

Working with a Development Agency

Many of the more reputable ones remain unaffordable to early-stage founders with limited access to funds.

The other challenge is that you may be reliant on them to define what you want and what you need. Their hand-holding is likely to prove costly and take time, the worst client to work for is someone who does not know who they want.

They’ll likely require a significant chunk of cash upfront to even consider working with you.
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Work with Athena's Business Builders

At Athena IT, we understand that the best technology directors are crossed skilled, they understand the direction in which technology, marketing and business is moving. The best technology managers have a good understanding of the underlying platforms and projects that they are managing, they know how to get things done.

We offer you the best of all three worlds, we’re more than a simple development agency for start-up and we don't overload you like a simple freelancing platform. We mix our approach to deliver the best fit for you, your budget and your project.

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Building Your Project in a Better Way

Starting a project, company and technical development is hard work. Initial excitement gives way to uncertainty, doubt and a need for direction.

If you’re trying to kick off a new project, within a firm where technical developments are not your core competency, you might want to talk with us.

If you’re flying solo or with partners trying to bootstrap your start-up, you might want to share the financial uncertainty with a development house or freelancer. However, it’s just not in their interest – it’s not their business.
We're Not Perfect, and That's Great

The Danger of Perfection

This may scare you, but we don’t believe in perfection.

Take a look at what Airbnb, Amazon and Facebook looked like when they first started, the barrier is of course much higher now, but we believe in continuous improvement.

We believe in getting your product and service out there and then continually refining it as the revenue comes in. We’re experts at data analytics, we believe in insight, action and results – not PowerPoints.

Minimum Viable Product
Continuous Improvement
Optimise Processes
Leverage and License
Cloud First
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Adam Boucher
Pretty much the next Mark Zuckerberg! Dan is an expert in SEO, analytics, digital marketing and agile web development. I worked with Dan while I was at Manheim and I learnt a great deal. If you are looking for someone who has an extreme eye for detail, is highly technical and has a true passion for innovation, he is your man.
Adam Boucher
Director Marketing Solutions at Tourism NT

Obtain our CTO as a Service

We are selective as to the businesses that we work with.

We’re looking for business that we can help grow, cut cost and increase efficiency. We believe in short term initial engagements with the intent of working together in the medium to longer term to mutual benefit. We’re not a development house that is seeking to churn through 300 clients a year, we’re seeking to work with fewer clients and help grow their businesses whilst we grow our own.

We prefer win/wins.

We’re in it together. Our business is full of passionate developers with a track-record of building user friendly, beautifully designed inside and out start-up products. You’ll leverage our experience to disrupt or evolve a marketplace.

We’re an extension of your business.

Automotive, Finance, Real-Estate, Instant Messaging and Adverting are just some of the industries we’ve worked in with in the past.

We believe that to succeed, you’ll need a diverse range of skills, people and those who excel at what they do. Our cross functional technology, marketing and business acumen is why you’ll have a better chance of getting a flying start with Athena IT.

We’ve build start-ups that live to tell the tale, it’s just what we do and what we love.

Send a Message

Let Athena IT know about your project or initiative, we will write back to discuss further