Victoria Scholz
Senior Content Marketing Manager
Last updated on
21.11.24
Best Practice
Starting your own IT company and developing software yourself: Requirements and tips
9
min
Table of contents
The world is becoming more and more digital, it is becoming easier and easier to get started in your own business. Anyone considering starting their own IT company has good opportunities right now — especially if you develop your own software and thus create a solution for a niche that has not yet been able to benefit from digitization.
Do you want to found an IT company? In this blog article, you can read more about requirements, legal forms, etc.
Founding an IT company: Many challenges, but also huge opportunities
It is true that digitization promotes constant demand for digital processes in all industries and therefore to experts in the IT sector — but you should be prepared for the challenges you will face if you want to start your own IT company.
The better you understand them, the more balanced you can assess your real chances of a successful future.
- Quick development: Digitalization is progressing rapidly. Of course, this not only offers opportunities for your IT company. If you want to start a business, you must constantly learn new technologies, programming languages and tools.
- Safe data: Especially in IT, and especially if you want to develop your own software, you need extra considerations when it comes to data protection and security. This means that you must not only comply with current laws, but also ensure that customer data is adequately protected.
- Staff bottlenecks: IT specialists in particular are more in demand than ever before. If you want to hire more people after you've set up your own IT company, you might have trouble finding them.
- Lots of competition: It's not just you who want to found an IT company — other people are also increasingly becoming self-employed these days. Of course, this leads to competitors. This means that your own software or service, which you want to develop or offer, must be particularly innovative in order to survive on the market.
However, with the right partner like Ninox by your side, these challenges can be significantly minimized. Read more about this in the “Develop your own software with Ninox and start a business” section.
On the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities if you're considering starting your own IT company. The sector is so large that there are diverse niches, fields of activity and, above all, business models.
If you want to develop your own software and start a company based on it, you can rely on flexible sources of income, such as the SaaS principle. This means software-as-a-service and means that you generate income regularly, usually monthly, from your developed solution. Software as a service is sold as a kind of subscription model and states that the software is available online to customers. This also allows you to easily and quickly import updates and maintain the solution.
However, digitization also offers your IT company further opportunities. This means that you can now also develop software for companies that operate in niches and specialized industries. They solve their problems and quickly become industry leaders. In many cases, you can then also sell this software internationally.
Founding a software company: 3 steps to success
In order to start your own IT company, there are a few requirements that you should consider. First of all, you must Ask a few questions and make preliminary considerations. The start-up itself is completed quickly.
This is what the career path looks like in short form if you want to found your own IT company:
- Analysis and positioning
- Business plan
- Founding
In the next chapters, we will guide you through the 3 steps to start your software company and possibly develop your own software.
Step 1: Analysis and positioning
Before you start your own IT company, you need to think about a few things and do a comprehensive analysis. The more time you spend here, the more successful you will be in the long term.
Do you have a good idea to start an IT company? You should first put these through their paces and, above all, research whether other entrepreneurs had the same idea before you.
- Talk about it! Share your idea with the people around you and write down the feedback. You may be the only person who needs a solution to the problem and your product or service isn't relevant to others. This is how you find out the demand for your software.
- Identify your target group! Ask yourself who is going to buy your product or use your service. The more detailed you define this, the better you can plan your advertising measures. Before you start an IT company, write down who your customers would be. Imagine a typical person using your service. What challenges does it have? What needs does it want to satisfy with your software? How would this person like to be addressed and how? Get in touch with your target group and get to know them.
- Know your price! Set a price and pricing model before you start your own software company. Here, talk to your target group and determine how much money they would spend to use your solution. Also ask yourself how much money you need to at least cover your expenses. With this price, how many customers do you need to make a profit?
- Get to know your colleagues! A competitive analysis is essential if you want to found an IT start-up and be successful. Type parts of your idea into online search engines and check out the competition. Is your idea unique enough to survive on the market? For example, are you the only person who offers this service in your area? Or are you doing something better than the competition? In this way, you can find out what makes your solution unique.
Step 2: Business Plan
After the first step, you've now made some preliminary considerations and made notes. Before you start your software company now, you need to combine all this information in a business plan.
Depending on the type of incorporation, the business plan is essential before you set up an IT company and must also be submitted when you register. If you rely on investors or other external financiers, the business plan is also essential.
The plan includes:
- Competition and market analysis
- Company description
- Target group
- Advertising measures
- Financial plan and financing plan
Especially the Financial plan and financing plan are important if you want to start your own IT company. The difference is simple: The financial plan shows all costs and sales. This allows you to find out how you are financially positioned in your first financial year.
The financing plan shows your equity and debt capital. If you have applied for funding programs, you can also list them here.
Also remember to list your reserves, any operating costs such as office rent and ancillary costs, and start-up costs if you want to start your own IT company.
Compare costs with profits to get an overview of sales.
For example, if you decide to develop your own software based on Ninox, you must Don't expect any start-up costs. This drastically reduces your fixed costs.
Step 3: Start your own IT company
The preparation has been completed and the requirements have been met. It's getting serious now. First, choose the appropriate legal form.
There are several legal forms in Germany. We have listed the 4 most common ones for you:
- sole proprietorship
- Limited liability company (GmbH)
- Entrepreneurial company (limited liability) (UG)
- Open trading company (OHG)
Depending on the legal form, there are other accounting obligations. You should ask yourself how much capital you can raise to set up and what liability you prefer.
In addition to the legal form, you must also consider other basic information and regulations in Germany if you want to found an IT company.
Before you start working, you must register a business. In principle, this is possible all year round. It's best to do this before you make your first profit or your first customer, i.e. before you start your software startup.
If you only run an ancillary business, this must also be reported to the trade office.
You must bring this with you to the business registration:
- Completed business registration questionnaire
- ID card or passport
- Excerpt from the register (only for companies registered in the commercial, association or cooperative register)
If you set up your IT company with other people, everyone must fill out the questionnaire. You can often find this on the websites of your local trade office. Many authorities allow online registration. There is also a fee if you start your IT company, which is between 20 and 60 euros.
To start your IT company, you need to do the following:
- Apply for a tax number. You can obtain these from the responsible tax office. Here, too, you must fill out a questionnaire.
- You need a statutory accident insuranceif you want to set up a company in Germany. Therefore, contact your responsible professional association.
- In addition, you must register with IHK, i.e. the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. However, the trade office usually does this for you. However, they must transfer contributions to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In return, however, you benefit from all kinds of services and support from the Chamber.
If you are already hiring your first employees after you have founded your IT company, you need a Company number. These can be obtained from the responsible employment agency.
Develop your own software with Ninox and start a business
Do you want to develop software yourself and set up your own IT company with it? Ninox is the fastest way to bring a successful SaaS company to market.
It's very simple: We support you with your idea of digitizing business processes. No matter what industry you work in: With Ninox, you can easily set up an IT company. All you need is an idea. With our innovative low-code solution, you can easily develop your own software and sell it successfully.
Your benefits at a glance:
- Develop swiftly a separate business application that is straightforward can be adapted to individual processes. In addition, you don't have to learn tens of programming languages, but you can also achieve your extensive technical knowledge more quickly.
- Data protection and security are very important to us. They rely on low-code technology that has been certified several times and uses secure servers from Europe.
- We not only help you with your first solution, but also with marketingso that you can quickly position yourself on the market.
- With Ninox, you serve customers over a long period of time. That means regular income for you
With Ninox, small and medium-sized companies create their own software quickly and easily. However, some of our customers need help with this process. This is where our partners come in. They not only provide advice, but also develop individual solutions based on our low-code technology.
To start a successful IT company with Ninox, you should therefore at least one technical enthusiasm bring along. We support you with your software and provide you with videos, articles and further assistance.
To be successful with your own software and Ninox, you must have the following:
- Are you interested in developing software? Get to know Ninox. With our Ninox Partner Academy, we'll help you right through to the first deal.
- Do you have process knowledge from a specific sector? Our customers are active in many areas. But they all have one goal: They want to digitize their processes. With industry knowledge from your side, you can provide optimal support here.
- Ready to get started with your solution and bring it to the customer? We'll help you build up your first customer base right from the start. However, you must also want to promote your software.
Does that sound good to you? Learn more about our partner program elsewhere on our website and contact us.
Four examples of successful collaboration with Ninox
More than 100 partners are already part of our partner program. They develop successful solutions for customers from over 40 countries.
Eduard Gerz, founder and managing director of Finestcloud GmbH
Eduard worked in drive technology for a long time until he started working for a solar company. Here he noticed that the processes were still being carried out with Excel too often and digitization was necessary.
He developed his first solutions based on Ninox and then quickly realized that there was a need on the market. “With Ninox, we achieve our goals faster and can simply implement the solution faster for the customer,” he explains.
Sebastian Kalberg, founder and managing director of DV digital vereinfacht GmbH
As an experienced construction manager, Sebastian knew the problems in the industry: too much clutter. He explains it as follows: “I didn't understand how to fill out all the logs with a pen and clipboard, take pictures with the iPhone and then email them to me, reduce the file size first, type everything in Word, export the PDF and send it to the customer.”
A solution was needed. He discovered Ninox through a magazine and developed the first digital protocol. “I then showed this to my boss and he was flabbergasted.” Since then, Sebastian has been developing successful IT products for construction companies with Ninox.
Rico Kogleck, founder and managing director of RiKo Solutions GmbH
With his company, Rico wants to find the best possible solution for craft businesses. In a special case from a customer, he came across Ninox. After an initial pilot project, he and his team have implemented more and more solutions. Rico is now only focusing on Ninox as the basis for their software products.
Alexander Hottong, founder and managing director of Photovate GmbH
Alexander had no previous technical experience when he tried out Ninox. Still working for a real estate company back then, he created smaller solutions with the help of Ninox. After graduation, he was able to found his own IT company.
Within two years, he hired eleven employees and has been developing solutions for the photovoltaic industry ever since. “I'm not a software developer. Without low-code, I probably wouldn't even be where I am right now,” he explains.
