Why Use Python for Startups? - Reading Time: 7 Mins

📅 May 19, 2019

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⏱️5 min read

Introduction

When I was just starting out learning Django to break into the local startup scene.

I was wondering what are the types of startups, who are looking for python developers?

There is demand for Django developer which Shopee was trying to search for them.

Sadly there wasn't much information about it till I was searching consistently for these startups on AngelList, Tech in Asia or e27.

Why Python for Startups?

Early stage startups have limited time, budget and the need for flexibility.

An analogy that I like by Reid Hoffman whenever he is describing a startup.

Throwing yourself off a cliff and assembling a plane on the way down.

Python developers offer this ability to create minimum viable products (MVP) at a limited budget to allow startups to test out ideas.

Before you could commit to hiring a specialised developer for specific functions of the product or service.

By then your python developers would have laid the foundations which allow you to scale up to a massive amount of users like Disqus or Instagram

Creating MVPs

Here's a list of MVPs that Python developer could build MVPs to test out ideas for startups:

Internet of Things (IoT) - Use of Raspberry Pi & other python support micro-controllers to create hardware products
Artifical Intelligence - Creation of AI products or services like chatbots, recommendation engines & self-driving cars
Web Applications - Through the use of either Flask or Django web frameworks
Alexa Skills - Building games, applications or educational Alexa skills through the use of Flask-Ask for Amazon Alexa Speakers
Data Products or Services - Data analysis & data visualisation like Plotly for dashboards or industry reports using industry data.
Web Crawlers - To scrape data using Scrapy or [Beautiful] from tons of website to build data products or services
Software as a Service - Building API using Flask & Django Rest Framework or customing an ERP system like Odoo

Small & Lean Teams

The main draw for me when I was looking to specialise as a Django or Flask developer instead of diving into the realms of data science.

I had a CTO friend for a local startup. He built a team of 10 developers who are doing work that is equal to 30 developers work.

It increased my motivation to be a Django developer as I am delivering value for startups and fuel my aspiration in building my own startup in the future.

With a smaller team to build a product or services allows you to keep the lights on for a longer duration.

So Which Startups Is Using Python?

Over the years, I know of an extensive amount of startups, companies or financial institutions.

Who is using Python in some form that I know of personally in Singapore over the years.

So here is the list of startups in Singapore that I know who are employing developers who know Python that is specialised to build web applications or data science-related products or services.

Microsec - Microsec build security solutions for constraint IoT devices that is easy to integrate and withstands cyber attacks.
JobTech - By analysing more than 1 million jobs every day, They provide the best labour market insights & tools
The Artling - The Artling is an online art gallery that showcases a curated selection of Art from Asia's best galleries and artists.
Carousell - Carousell is a smartphone and web-based consumer to consumer marketplace for buying and selling new and secondhand goods.
Shopee - Shopee is an e-commerce platform headquartered in Singapore under Sea Group (previously known as Garena)
StashAway - Robo advisor platform that is similar to Wealthfront or Betterment.
Evie AI - AI Assistant for scheduling, recruitment & sales
Horangi - Horangi builds security products that enable the rapid delivery of incident response and threat detection for our customers who lack the scale, expertise or time to do it themselves.

Conclusion

Besides the above reasons on why you should use Python to build your own startup.

I think another important reason for any aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to build their own startup is that.

Python is easy to pick up for anyone without any background in STEM.

With an eco-system that allows you to plugin & play technologies to build your MVP.

Especially when you do not have a technical co-founder to help you to build an MVP for you.

This is actually a common trend among the Singapore based startup eco-system that I had come across over the years.

References

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