Introduction
At some point, almost every startup is faced with the outsourcing decision. Whether your company would benefit from outsourcing some or all of their development to a trusted partner depends a lot on individual circumstances. If you are considering outsourcing, there are a few questions you should get answers to and a few things you should consider before making a decision.
How Outsourcing Works
Outsourcing falls into two main categories: adding to your existing and total outsourcing.
- Scaling up your current team or setting up a complementary development team that works closely with your internal IT department or another department within your organization. This option is great for established startups that need to scale their operations or access developers with skills their internal team doesn’t have. This form of outsourcing lets companies access a pool of experienced developers with a wide range of skills and quickly scale up development as needed without committing to hiring more internal team members.
- Total outsourcing involves relying on an external partner to support all of your development needs. This is a great option for smaller companies that don’t have the budget to support an internal team. In this case, the technology partner handles the entire development pipeline, including implementation, testing, and deployment.
Why Should My Startup Consider Outsourcing?
There are a few reasons companies consider outsourcing. Outsourcing allows your company to quickly and easily scale your development team up or down to meet your changing needs and requirements without the hassle and cost of in-house recruitment. Outsourcing is also a great way to add necessary skill sets to your team, particularly if a select skillset is only occasionally required.
Partnering with an experienced development team that understands your business goals is vital, particularly if your startup is still in the early stages. Having a steady and experienced team on your side can help you achieve your goals.
Choosing the Right Development Partner to Suit Your Needs
Every startup is unique, just like every development partner is unique. Finding a partner that works well with your team and can meet your unique needs is vital for success. While some aspects of development, such as good UX design or solid project management skills, apply to all projects, you need a development partner that can tailor their skills and expertise to meet your needs. A good partner will finish all the tasks you assign them, but a great development partner will work with you to identify potential growth areas, offer suggestions and advice, and help you achieve both your short and long term goals.
To help our partners succeed, Solidstudio offers a wide range of services, including technical audits, to help potential partners clearly identify their needs before committing to the partnership. We also host workshops to help our partners identify their true business needs and help them determine what steps they need to take to achieve their goals. Choosing a partner who looks at the big picture and is able to support both your current and future needs in the IT product development sphere is essential for a successful, long-term partnership.
The ability to scale quickly and seamlessly while keeping development quality high is at the core of any great development partner. Startups move quickly, and you need a development partner that can keep up with you.
How to Tell if a Partner Is a Good Fit
When working with a new partner, it’s vital that you see the value add from the very beginning of the relationship. Your development partner shouldn’t only be interested in the number of hours they will need to work or which resources they will need to commit to you and your projects. Instead, look for a partner that focuses on how they can help make your product, and your business, better by assisting with things like planning and assigning out work to the right resources for the job.
You should also make sure you choose a partner whose values and attitude match your company’s culture. Cooperation is key to the success of any project, particularly in the fast-paced startup world. It can be difficult for teams to work together if their values and corporate cultures aren’t compatible, so look for a partner that cares about the same thing you do.
Case Studies
E-Mobility leader from Berlin
One organization the Solidstudio team partnered with was a Berlin-based, rapidly-growing startup in the electrical mobility sector. This startup already had an internal development team, but they needed access to additional skills their internal team members didn’t possess, leading them to partner with Solidstudio. Our team is currently working with them to finish their partially completed solution and now provides full development support for 3 additional projects to address the pressing needs of their clients.
We were also able to facilitate the migration of their app to the cloud and help them architect their platform using micro-services. We are also working on implementing best-in-class cloud solutions. In addition to helping this client achieve their goals, we also helped them fundamentally change how they approach development by assessing their team and their needs and introducing them to the agile method.
T-Cup
Our team partnered with a company that had no internal development resources to provide total development support in this case study. T-Cup is a UK-based company in the health and wellness sector that was looking to develop a web-based application to help their customers track and improve their well-being.
Our team worked with them to create a minimum viable product (MVP) and continue to offer ongoing support using a variety of tools and methods, including planning, workshops, and backlog development through the implementation phase. We also handle their hosting.
Whether or not your startup should outsource their development (either partially or totally) depends on a lot of unique factors. The Solidstudio team is here to help you identify your core needs and craft solutions that allow you to achieve your goals, all while providing ongoing support and valuable advice.