Opinion: 6 reasons why tech startups in Bangladesh continue to struggle

Tech startups have taken the world by storm in the past couple of decades. And like most Asian countries, Bangladesh is experiencing a tech startup uprising.

Global tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Rocket Internet, Schibsted, Naspers, and Uber have taken a lot of interest in the market in the last few years. Local startups are also coming to life—and in abundance. A lot of young people are directly getting involved in tech startups after graduating from school. The government is also very invested in digitalizing the country and getting at par with global standards.

In the last 10 years, apart from Bdjobs.com and a few others, not many tech startups were profitable or at least showed steady growth. Lack of effective online payment channels, unplanned urbanization, and poor traffic conditions are some of the biggest challenges. But these often overshadow the internal reasons that are causing a lot of the companies to struggle. Take a look:

Me-too products

Photo credit: GH18.

Many tech startups in Bangladesh open up because others are doing so. Having a me-too product is not an issue but it won’t make a business stand out if quality is not the top priority. Most entrepreneurs or investors are trying to set up ecommerce businesses, for example, without much thought on how it will solve real-life issues, with things like securing a couple of suppliers and buying a low-cost domain, web hosting, and plugins as the biggest motivations to start.

A country like Bangladesh has a lot of problems that need to be addressed. Tech startups need to focus on these issues and remodel their businesses accordingly. They need to put on their thinking hats to come up with a much-needed solution instead of offering the same products that everyone else is providing.

Trying to make money too quickly

One of the motivations for offering a me-too product is to earn quick money. But this is probably the biggest hoax about tech startups that many believe. The market in Bangladesh undoubtedly has a lot of potential. But generally, internet users in the country need to be more engaged and discover the power of internet.

This attitude is changing, but it will take some time. Hence, it’s wrong to assume that the Bangladeshi will start buying ecommerce services just because they’re online. And tech startups and their investors will have to be patient about revenue generation.

Lack of focus on quality product and tech

Lack of focus on KPI-driven marketing

Substandard customer service

Too many experts