Working at a startup, you literally start with nothing. NOTHING! The full effect of “nothing-ness” doesn’t hit you until you sit down and start to plan out what you’ll need. Since I’m the tech guy, this post will focus on the technical side of starting up a company. If you’re here looking for information on operations, well… better find another blog.

Once you realize you have nothing, that’s when when you realize how much work the IT department of a company does to setup an IT infrastructure. Luckily if this is something you’re interested in, as I am, then it’s also quite fun to pick and choose your new toys.

So what kind of IT resources does a start up need? Let’s see…

• Web Server
• Email Server
• File Server
• Backup Resources
• Test Servers
• Production Servers
• Network Services
• Hosting Services
• Networking Equipment.
• Source Control System
• Issue Tracking System
• Workstations
• Laptops
• Wireless Communication

Of course whether you need all these resources depends on your company. For my start up, we definitely needed all of these. Technology is so essential in any modern-day business, you’ll most likely need at least one or two of these items no matter what kind of company you’re starting.

Now that you have a list of technologies you’ll need, it’s time to take the next step: cut as much as you can! Yep, you read that right. Since a start up starts with very limited funds, you’ll need to do your best to save on everything. Thus it’s crucial that you save, scrimp, clip, do whatever it takes to get by with the bare minimum, even with technology. Ideally, you want to save as much as you can now, while also picking the right technology that will allow you to easily scale down the road. Stay tuned as that will be the topic of the next post.