If you are wondering how to hire software developers for a startup, let me tell you, you’re about to get enormous time & cost benefits along with uncompromised quality.
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Development is an essential for startups in today’s date. The reasons are all over the internet & tech talks and pretty sure you’re well aware of the benefits of software product development too (that’s obviously what brought you here).
Now, considering the benefits it has up its sleeves, it’s evident that to hire developers for startups is not a ‘one fine morning’ hasty process. Let’s face it - the basic difference between startups & enterprises is the risk that can be taken, especially in terms of dedicating funds, time & efforts. Development being the centerpiece of growth for most of the startups today, with what plan you start can make or break your startup’s future.
You can straighten the frown for now, as we bring to you a comprehensive guide where we discuss the foolproof way to effective hiring, challenges and the best way to overcome them - all tailored to your startup needs. Without further ado, let’s get started.
3 Things to Remember when Hiring Software Developers for Startup
The two biggest pillars of a startup are its processes & people. Precisely, how well thought the processes are and how smart & strategic the people behind the processes are. While there are a gazillion factors playing distinct roles in making a startup thrive through contemporary competition, these three factors make for a good prequel checklist. Know why :
1. Technology Matters.
What technology do you use?
When thinking about the technology, startups generally feel the ‘trending’ tech stack is the best choice. However, there are a few things that should be prioritized in order to choose the startup technology stack - primarily, what are your expectations from the software i.e. how logically & functionally complex your chosen features & functionalities are, what your scalability requirements are like, who the target users are & how comfortable they’ll be using the tech you’re choosing and your budget, of course.
2. Insights Come with Years of Experience.
Are they a leader, advisor or just blind follower?
Once you start talking to a number of development agencies, after a certain point you’ll start noticing a few patterns that come up in their way of communicating.
A type emphasizes on certain aspects of your startup software idea & proactively tries to enhance the plan, adding insights from their experience - there you have the leaders.
Another, would make your wish their command - clearly, the follower.
The last but not the least, advisor type, is there to help you plan out with big bells & whistles, but will fail to execute such claims.
If you are eager to partner with the first type i.e. a team of experts that has seen the ever-evolving tech world for years & coded wonders along the way, your demands & BinaryFolks’ capabilities will be a match!
3. Your Vision should be Mirrored into their Mission.
Can the development partner fit in your existing team structure like a puzzle piece, on-demand?
Now, coming to the most crucial part - ensure your software development partner learns every detail out of your head and leaves nothing to an inch of assumption. When hiring developers for a startup, there is a mammoth investment into a software, so keep in mind to verify their understanding and your vision through in-depth documentation (BRD). This way, you can use this business requirement document (yes, that’s the BRD) as the reference point in every stage of the development process.
Challenges in Hiring Software Developers for Startup
Hiring software developers for a startup surely comes with a fat side of benefits, but the catch is, it doesn’t come easy until you are prepared with a foolproof strategy. Here’s a list of the pitfalls, so you start your journey shielded!
(1) Individual Developer Retention in your In-House Team
Let’s face it - enterprises are notorious for headhunting & for a startup that makes retaining star skills a huge challenge. Remuneration is the top concern for a majority of working professionals and they’re easily sold on extra bucks and an added package of benefits. A startup that’s tied on its budget and constantly trying to optimize every cash outflow mapping with its ROI, holding on to individual developers becomes a task. Clearly, how an everchanging team of developers significantly harms a software’s consistency & quality!
(2) Financial Commitments & Recurring Maintenance Cost
Continuing with a recurring salary when your demand is only one-time, is clearly not a wise idea, at least for a startup. So, to make sure you hit the best of both worlds - highly functional development and just-right tech expenditure that give the best ROI, outsourcing to offshore developers is a tried & tested formula.
(3) Hiring Headache
This one is self explanatory, putting together an entire development team is one huge task and making sure together, as a team, they co-ordinate well is another. For a startup, development is usually a requirement that needs to be taken care of within a tight timeline, the hiring task comes as an unnecessary delaying factor.
(4) Identifying the Real Expertise from a Pool of Self-Proclaimed ‘Numero Uno’s
This one is self explanatory, putting together an entire development team is one huge task and making sure together, as a team, they co-ordinate well is another. For a startup, development is usually a requirement that needs to be taken care of within a tight timeline, the hiring task comes as an unnecessary delaying factor.
Benefits of Hiring Offshore Developers for Startup
While the benefits of hiring software developers for a startup aren’t unknown to you, let’s take a quick look at the comprehensive list so we are on the same page regarding what we are expecting as we’re helping you with the best practices to hire developers for your startup.
Diverse Expertise
Access Flexible Team Size
Speedier Development
Zero Development Risks
Pay On-Demand
To Know More, Check Out the Smart Hiring Handbook : Offshore AI Developers
How to Hire Software Developers for Your Startup in 5 Strategic Steps
Coming to the final discussion - what is the most efficient way to hire a programmer team for a startup? Breaking the process up in 5 snackable steps so you successfully bypass the pitfalls and close effective hiring, hassle-free!
Step 1 : Know your Development Needs Inside Out
The cornerstone of highly performant software development is a clear & concise idea. So to start with, try documenting your startup software idea in as detail as you can, so you end up with a clear copy of your idea. That way, conveying your idea to the potential partner becomes a lot easier too and that fetches you a more appropriate estimate as well.
Step 2 : Do an Extensive Vendor Research & Shortlist
With a detailed requirement at hand the next step is to find the right hands to give the development responsibilities to. The key to choosing the right vendor is to pay close attention to a number of factors - their work portfolio, testimonials, development team structure etc.
Read More.
Step 3 : Ask the Right Questions
Once you have shortlisted a list of potential software development vendors, it’s time to spot the one from those that’s the best-fit to your needs & budget alike. Here’s a list of questions that can get you a bunch of answers that’ll help you decide!
- What technologies do you have the highest hands-on experience with?
- Share your experience with XYZ (your desired stack) tech projects
- How do you differentiate yourself from the other service providers with similar offerings?
- How do you plan on making the timezone differences work?
Step 4 : Communicate your Needs to the T
With a successful completion of Step - 1, you’re halfway through this step already. Now that you have your requirement at hand, it gets easy to make the chosen vendors understand exactly what you are looking for. Encourage them to ask over assuming any part of any module that may require more clarity for them to comprehend.
Step 5 : Start work with one that Blends the Right Experience & Expertise
Now you have done your part to gather all the information you needed, it’s time to do a thorough data point comparison and pick the one that has a proven record of getting quality work done under a reasonable budget. And with that, you are done with hiring software developers for your startup the best possible way!
ROI of Hiring Software Developers for Startup with BinaryFolks
With so many companies all over the internet claiming to be the best software developers, as a startup’s decision maker, you may find yourself spoilt for choices. But a wrong choice made there can completely spoil your startup’s growth opportunities, making it slip into the ‘big ideas gone downhill’ club. We at BinaryFolks are pretty transparent with what we bring to the table, like :
- 12 years of experience across a wide range of software development services
- Skills of seasoned developers & consultants who are tech giant alumni (ex - Google, ex - Amazon, ex - Salesforce)
- Value for money development making the best of quality meet functionality
- The proof is in the products we’ve built
- Your idea & our insights make a great development recipe
- We prioritize communication skills as much as development
If that’s what you’re looking for in your potential startup software development partner, we might have a synergy there!
Conclusion
So the bottom-line is, hiring software developers for startup is neither rocket science nor a cakewalk - it takes a business’ significant time, thoughts, research & of course, mindful financial investment to bring its array of benefits straight to the growth court. The major goal is to ensure you choose the right hands to shape your startup’s digital success.
Quick recap :
- Invest in structured primary & secondary research
- Don’t go by flat words, go by insights embedded in those words
- Look for the proof in their portfolio
Easy? Let’s get started with prepping a roadmap first!
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