Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

We are developing a music service with a certain implementation model & revenue model in mind. Its nothing out of the blue, but a combination of best of everything, in a nice way. We have external partners who would give some initial content & are willing to work with us. We are still struggling to build a decent product as of now, but we have the vision very clear. We have 1.5 developers on it and I think the time line is aggressive, but we need to meet that in, in order to capture a strong promotional opportunity. I do see us hiring more people once we go live. However, to bootstrap or get the service running, is it reasonable to hire non-local contractors who have skill in the domain? I know they would get the work done, and also recognize operational issues like maintenance of the code, bug fixes. But wanted to have a take, if others have at some point of time, while starting up, hired contractor to do certain components or support the existing developers?

share|improve this question

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

The real question is whether you're contracting out your product as a whole. Based on the way you're describing your team, it sounds like your team of "founders" doesn't include a technical lead (sorry if I'm wrong here), in which case hiring developers and contractors will likely be an issue.

If you do have a technical co-founder, then it's possible, but it's still fraught with potential issues. The core problem is that in a startup, your development team needs to be passionately committed to getting the product functioning and running, out the door, and continually improving it. If you're just hiring a contractor or just hiring developers that don't have an equity stake, then it's very very difficult to achieve that level of motivation.

Here is the best thread I've ever read on this topic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1630626

Best of luck!

share|improve this answer
we are technical folks, but we do not have "domain competency". We can get there, but since not having done that before, it has its own issues around how to best do it. I look as contractors as being people who know it and can help us refine our thoughts technically as well as help in development – user9068 Apr 1 '11 at 20:25
Thank you! I missed on saying that as I was caught up in the point :) I do understand the lack of motivation, but I want to have people compliment us, so that we can learn as well. But there are timelines, which need to be met and I dont want us to sacrifice that for purpose of learning all the stuff from scratch (I would love to do that, but the timelines are my concern as well) – user9068 Apr 1 '11 at 20:28
Along a similar thread, here are two more conversations that you might be interested in: ginzametrics.com/can-you-outsource-ux.html and news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2408363 – Joseph Fung Apr 5 '11 at 13:33
up vote 0 down vote

I've worked as a contractor in the way that you're describing, I guess the key to your question is 'non-local' ie you're going off shore or at least geographically separate from home base. If that's the case you really need to know the people, trust them to do a good job, and make sure that you're remote project management skills, QA etc are up to scratch.

This doesn't have to be complex, Skype, Basecamp, Virtual Standups over video if necessary, Balsamiq etc will all help. IMHO It's the soft side of the IT business that will cause problems here - can you get other people to do what you need them to, if you're not in the same office/building.

share|improve this answer
Thank you, I will make sure that we have people who we can trust – user9068 Apr 1 '11 at 20:29
up vote 0 down vote

I used GMI ( http://www.greymatterindia.com/ ) for my second company, which was impressive enough to sell to a public company in beta. They are in india.

Upsides:

  • They were about 1/2 the cost of US firms
  • They were relentless on making sure I was satisfied. They always did what I asked and never complained.
  • They did good work

Downsides:

  • I had to be up at 2am often to discuss the project live with them on chat.
  • I had to mock up most of the pages using an image editor. A picture is worth a thousand words in development. Trying to explain what I wanted with just words was impossible.
  • They rock the programming but the design was poor. I'd recommend hiring a great designer, like http://www.alexdesigns.com/
share|improve this answer
That is a great feedback. I am night person, so I can stay up odd hours. For design I agree. We have done visual (hand done) design and flows. But I am also interested in performance and architecture and think it would be important to have a SME sort of a person do that – user9068 Apr 1 '11 at 20:31

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.