What is Technical Writing? A Beginner’s Guide for Startups and Small Businesses

What if I told you that you’ve come across technical writing more times than you realise?

It’s in every product you’ve purchased, every app you’ve installed — even that complicated IKEA bookshelf you built. Each of these likely came with manuals, instructions, or user guides — all of which are examples of technical writing.

In this beginner's guide, we’ll break down what technical writing is, how it differs from business writing, and how startups and small businesses can start writing useful, user-friendly documentation.

Let’s start with the basics: What is technical writing?

What Is Technical Writing?

Technical writing is a specialised type of content writing that explains complex ideas in a clear, concise, and accessible way.

Simply put, it bridges the gap between technical knowledge and everyday understanding, helping users follow instructions, learn systems, or use a product effectively.

Despite its importance, technical writing is often overlooked in startups and small teams. But in reality, clear documentation:

• Reduces time spent on support or troubleshooting

• Accelerates onboarding

• Improves overall user experience

Types of Technical Documentation

There are many forms of technical writing, including:

• Internal Documentation

  • Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

  • Onboarding and Training Documents

• External Documentation

  • User Guides and Manuals

  • Product Documentation

  • Knowledge Base Articles

  • Whitepapers and Technical Briefs

  • Research Papers

The format depends on your audience and your objective — whether it’s helping someone complete a task, understand how a feature works, or learn the value of your product.

🔑 Pro tip: Knowing your documentation’s purpose helps you structure the content, determine the level of detail, and guide the reader effectively.

Business Writing vs. Technical Writing

It’s easy to confuse business writing and technical writing – they both:

• Use professional language (business speak)

• Aim for clarity

• Exist in business settings

• Occasionally overlap in formats (like reports and proposals)

However, they differ in objective, tone, structure, writing styles, and outcomes. Let’s understand more about their differences.

Category	Business Writing	Technical Writing
Objective	To share decisions, ideas, or updates clearly.	To explain complex information clearly and accurately.
Tone	Professional, persuasive, goal-oriented	Objective, instructional, user-focused
Structure	Flexible; often persuasive or informative	Task-based, step-by-step, includes visuals
Writing Style	Direct; may include opinions or recommendations	Neutral, precise, functional

In short, technical writing helps people use or understand a product, process, or tool, while business writing helps people communicate, collaborate, or make decisions in a business context.

With a better grasp on what technical writing is, let’s understand the importance of technical writing: Why does technical writing matter – even for startups and small businesses?

Why Technical Writing Matters – Even for Startups & Small Businesses

One of the biggest myths is that only large, complex products need documentation. But waiting until your product scales can lead to rushed, inconsistent, or unclear docs later.

Starting early helps you:

• 🧭 Ease user onboarding – Faster setup = better first impressions

• 📉 Reduce support requests – Self-service docs lower ticket volume

• 🤝 Build trust – Well-written docs show credibility and polish

• 📈 Scale with ease – Internal documentation keeps your team aligned

• 🔍 Boost SEO – Help content drives organic discovery

The bottom line is, technical writing transforms your internal knowledge into content your users can actually use.

Signs You Need Technical Writing

Still unsure if it’s time to invest in technical writing? Here are some telltale signs that you may need technical writing.

1. Your team answers the same questions repeatedly

2. Users need help getting started

3. Your product evolves quickly and lacks updated docs

4. Your internal processes are undocumented or inconsistent

5. You’re getting traffic — but not conversions

If you resonate with any of these, it’s time to treat documentation like a core part of your business — not an afterthought. 

How a Technical Writer Can Help

Having a dedicated technical writer can be a game-changer for startups and small businesses — especially when it comes to saving time, improving customer experience, and building scalable systems.

Here’s how they can help you:

• Translate complex ideas into user-friendly content

• Build a strong foundation for scalable documentation

• Improve user experience and reduce support load

• Keep content aligned with ongoing product development

A technical writer doesn’t just write manuals — they make your product easier to understand, use, and support. That’s huge for startups trying to grow fast without overwhelming their team or confusing their users.

Whether you’re building your first onboarding flow or scaling a SaaS platform, technical writing helps users succeed — and successful users stick around. Clear technical documentation for startups can reduce support overhead, improve product clarity, and build trust from day one.

Need help getting started? So She Scripted can help you plan, write, and structure technical documentation that your users (and your team) will actually want to read.