I was at Droidcon last week and was asked by some graduates about how to start-up a tech company. Here for what it is worth was my advice:

In my humble opinion key success factors include

• Creating a subscription product so you only have to sell it once and earn forever
• Identifying your distribution partners before creating a product. It is easier to sell to a few key people than millions of users.
• Being first in your product category
• Ensuring your product has a network effect, that is to say each sale drives additional growth

To this I would add

• Pivot (as suggested by Caroline of WIP at Droidcon)

That is when you find market demand is not for what you thought, change your direction rapidly to address that market demand.

For you three guys I would add

• Draw up a stakeholder agreement that describes how you will allocate work, ownership and earnings. Consider among other things
  • Entitlement to equity
  • Entitlement to income
  • Logging each hour someone works on the project. That way is someone goes on a 3 month holiday you can work it out fairly
  • What if someone leaves
  • You may not need a lawyer’s input. It may be sufficient for you to agree it amongst yourself in writing.