How to Hire Software Developers for a Startup: Short Guide
Updated March 3, 2023
The main problems of modern startups are incorrect roadmap planning and resource allocation. These are common reasons why 90% of new projects fail.
The analytical CBInsight study shows that 15% of entrepreneurs close their startups due to budget deficits, and 38% find themselves isolated from investments at one of the stages of project implementation.
Why is this happening? Testing the idea for viability failed, the prototype did not come out on time, or the MVP was unclaimed in the market. Other reasons for the bad start are the wrong stack and development team.
GloriumTech experts studied the IT market and prepared 5 tips on how to hire software developers for a startup. In this article, we will analyze the problems of hiring, the dilemma of choosing between staff and outsourcing, and the best recruiting strategy.
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How to hire developers for a startup: outsource or staff?
Standalone startups have limited budgets, timings and depend on investor approval. It leads to resource allocation problems. The solutions that large companies can afford are often inaccessible to young organizations without a background and stable funding. So the first stumbling block arises, the choice of implementers.
Staff VS outsourcing:
| Staff | Outsourcing |
| Permanent team | Temporary workers |
| Know the business and are interested in its development | Have an idea of the business and are interested in long-term cooperation |
| Average skill level | Any skill level |
| Difficult adaptation | Easy to adapt to the project |
| Need to learn new techniques and how to work in a team | Have experience working in a team without knowledge of most stacks |
| You can hire a full-time project manager | Usually, the team consists of developers and a manager |
| Expenses for salaries, equipment, qualifications | Piecework payment for a time/project |
| A personnel officer is needed for high-quality recruiting | You can choose a company based on portfolio and reviews |
To summarize: a full-time team of specialists is perfect for large companies ready to pay high costs, and outsourcing is more loyal in terms of pricing policy, ensuring a high level of project quality too. Remote development services allow you to select performers with the necessary skills from more than 24 million IT specialists worldwide without spending a budget on training and team adaptation.
Varieties such as offshoring, nearshoring, and onshoring open up access to developers from anywhere in the world. Due to differences in pricing, it can be inexpensive but an excellent solution for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Problems of startups directly or indirectly related to recruiting
When we talk about recruiting IT specialists, we do not separate the concepts of outsourcing and staff, meaning hiring developers in general. The quality of the final product depends on their skills, both working and social in general (hard/soft).
Whether it’s a mobile app, website, SPA, or multi-platform product, you can’t get a good MVP without team cohesion and engagement. Let alone release and further support. Let’s take a quick look at 6 major recruiting problems.
Communication and Social Skills
When hiring developers, ensure there are no communication problems. Contrary to stereotypes, modern developers are active social personalities who like to communicate. Another question is in their characters and attitude to criticism. If negativity or tension arises in the work environment after each fix or suggestion, the product’s final quality may suffer.
The time and expenses for further revision increase too. Activities such as team building or shared weekends are vital for full-time employees because they can get to know each other better and rally around one goal.
Organizing workflow and project management
If you hire specialists in the staff, you must understand: the work must be coordinated and managed. The hierarchy of any IT team includes developers and a manager who organizes the process and monitors project implementation online.
The main advantage of outsourcing is that the teams are usually already assembled and can work together, which allows you to delegate the project, focusing on your core business processes. The hardest part is working with solo freelancers, especially if they have never participated in team development.
Involvement and software development level
In-house developers are the most loyal to the company and its projects. But not when they get a better deal from competitors. Talents do not stay for a long time in startups or freelance. Usually, they are lured away by large players in the IT market.
It does not mean that it is unrealistic to find a good specialist. It is just a little more expensive. If quality and future collaboration prospects are important to you, such expenses are justified.
The speed of implementation and the timing of development
The market is constantly changing, moving, and becoming oversaturated with the same products. IT solutions often lose relevance only because they come out when trends change what is quite late. A poorly coordinated team may not meet deadlines, delay release, and reduce the product’s viability.
The same goes for development dynamics. If there are too many edits, or the functionality is constantly changing during sprints, it will be complicated to release a product timely. To optimize the workflow, we recommend sticking to the roadmap and making changes after the MVP is released.
Quality and work on errors
QA is an essential point when developing an IT product. This service allows you to reduce bugs at all stages of the project. Of course, full-fledged support is not always available for startups, but your MVP must have no critical errors in the demo or production version.
Users and investors usually ignore minor bugs, but they will practically destroy you if they cannot use the program for its purpose. To implement QA, it is not necessary to maintain a staff. It is much cheaper to delegate tasks to professionals.
Limitations and challenges of the IT market
Many entrepreneurs have problems when searching for performers in the local market. More prominent corporations lure out promising talent right in the development process. It often slows down the project or freezes it, forcing you to search for a new employee.
But the outsourcing model prevents this problem. For example, GloriumTech can help you hire a dedicated team of experts. The developers will not leave the project in the middle, having completed it on time.
To summarize: the majority of entrepreneurs face the described problems. Each can be solved on the spot, but it is better to avoid them by choosing the right performers for your project.
How to hire a programmer for a startup: planning and preparing requirements for performers
Before hiring developers, you need to decide on the scope of work, tasks for implementation, and a roadmap. Good development strategy and detailed plan for transforming the idea into a full-fledged IT product help to recruit developers successfully, develop a solution, and support MVP.
At this stage, it is necessary to prepare a step-on-step work plan describing the tech stack used, functionality, and design, focusing on market demand and user convenience. So, here are the top 5 positions that need to be analyzed before recruiting performers.
Technical stack
Obviously, most entrepreneurs don’t know the concepts of React.js or MSQL. They should not understand Front-end development and so on. Their task is to describe the idea to qualified personnel, for example, a consulting agency, and get a list of optimal technologies.
It will be better if you will not have to sacrifice budget, product quality, or time using them. It will also help you prepare requirements for future performers or test their knowledge and skills.
Budget for implementation
Talking about classic startups, we clearly understand the budget of an entrepreneur. Although it varies depending on external funding, it rarely exceeds $1 million. Not at the initial stages, when the idea is presented only on paper. You need to choose developers based on this budget.
The selection criteria are limited by the contractors’ pricing policy, experience working with the necessary technologies, and rating on specialized resources. It is essential to choose the middle ground with the minimum required stack.
MVP Release Timeline
Decide on a deadline. If investors require an MVP demo in 2 months, you shouldn’t add unnecessary features to the roadmap or develop 3 versions simultaneously. In the initial stages, it is much more critical to demonstrate to sponsors and consumers a unique solution that performs only a basic function. But performs well and with no bugs.
After approval, it is possible to expand the functionality and develop product versions for IOS and Android. For a start, a basic web application is enough.
Features and design
As in the previous paragraph, we focus on a minimal set of functions and their high-quality performance. For example, if you launch a unique marketplace with AR technology, you need to implement a showcase, shopping cart, and payment tools.
It is possible to emulate the AR environment for demonstration or develop a basis as IKEA did: when you point the smartphone camera at a room, the desired object is displayed in the viewfinder. Convey your idea and show an example of its implementation. You will modernize the technology after MVP is released.
The goal of your app
MVP must perform its primary functions without errors. If it is a food delivery service, the ability to choose products from the menu and place an order is the minimum. The same with car sharing: auto catalog, confirming orders, and online payment.
If even one requirement is not met, the minimum viability of the product is impossible. Demonstrate your idea to users with MVP investors and gain audience loyalty.
To summarize: an MVP based on the primary objectives of your idea has more impact and implementation possibilities than a jumble of functions that do not match what is described on paper. Scaling is not a startup’s priority but rather an outcome of careful and thorough product development.
How to Hire Software Developers for Startup: 8 Tips from GloriumTech Experts
The main challenge of hiring is conducting thousands of interviews and analyzing applicants. It is an overwhelming task for an entrepreneur without a reliable HR department. If you hire people without clarifying their skills and experience, you risk failing a startup with long searches, team preparation, or poor project execution quality.
Fortunately, there are websites where you can choose a ready-made team or assemble it from freelancers. Use our quick guide to understand how to hire developers for a startup. Here are 8 tips for those who need a team to develop an IT product.
Decide on the technical stack
When looking for candidates, you should know what must be implemented and how. Some companies both develop applications and advise businesses on IT topics. This comprehensive approach may be the best solution for you if you can’t figure out the right stack yourself. Some organizations insist on their own technical solutions, but you do not have to agree if they are too expensive or inappropriate.
Estimate the possibilities of your budget
Development prices depend on: region, technical stack, total project complexity, and implementation timeline. Performer skills also play a role in pricing. Determine an upper budget limit and consider this amount when looking for contractors.
Specialized resources will help you flexibly customize filters based on the cost of work and the skills of candidates. Use these tools to identify the best deals with the right price/quality balance.
Choose a country where development prices suit you
A trivial example: in the US, the prices for developer services exceed $100, while in Eastern Europe, e.g., in Ukraine, the cost of a similar service is less than $80. But work quality is the same and sometimes even higher. For US customers, it makes sense to work on outsourcing with developers from Ukraine.
Of course, you can turn to Asian specialists at a more attractive price, but the language barrier, the difference in time zones, and the quality of services may be much lower than stated.
Find potential candidates
Take advantage of websites like Clutch or Right TalentUpwork, which contain hundreds of CVs and team profiles. There you will find performers for your project. Use filters for GEO, skills, and prices.
Study CVs, cases, and customer reviews
How to check the quality of work of potential developers for your startup? Easy. Specialized websites contain reviews of satisfied customers, portfolios, profiles describing team composition and skills, case studies, and other materials. Most have their own websites where you can look at their works. We also have a page with projects we completed.
Select 5 potential performers
There may be 2, 3, or even 100 promising developers, but you need to narrow their number to a minimum and focus on the best candidates. The fewer options you work out, the faster and easier it is to choose a performer for the IT component of your startup.
Interview candidates
To speed up the search, you can conduct one-on-one interviews with candidates or team managers. This approach will simplify recruiting and better acquaint you with developer experience and skills.
Start cooperation
As soon as you have chosen a performer, sign a cooperation agreement and start developing. Delay is unacceptable because your startup needs to enter the market on time and keep up with trends and competitors.
To summarize: choose inexpensive but responsible developers. Offshoring, nearshoring, and onshoring are suitable for entrepreneurs when launching a startup. It is cheaper to work with experts such as GloriumTech, and the quality of our services is on par with colleagues from the United States. What do you think is the best compromise on the market?
To summarize
Choosing developers for a startup is a responsible and challenging task. The quality of the MVP and the entire project depends on their skills and experience. That’s why we recommend planning your budget and recruiting flexible and loyal performers.
If you need to develop a mobile application, web resource, or adaptive multi-platform solution, contact GloriumTech. We offer a full range of services, from consulting to post-graduation support. Order a project and get an MVP that will grow into a full-fledged top-end IT product and make you the market leader.
