How to hire developers for a startup? A guide for non-tech founders

What exactly does it take for a startup to succeed? Is it knowing how to create robust mobile apps that resonate with your brand voice? Or Is it all about having technical skills that help you dominate the technological ecosystem? More often than not, non-tech founders grapple with these questions. And such questions they face because even today, a particular section of society cannot accept that a non-tech founder can create an equally smashing tech product, if not more, than their technical-background counterparts.

Non-tech founders and CEOs are shaping the technological world as we know it, even without a comprehensive technical background. No matter their academic expertise or experience in the tech domain, they are paving the way toward success, investing much time in learning, upskilling, and finding the right talent.

Embarking on a successful journey since its inception, the hospitality giant Airbnb is helmed and created by non-tech founders. Out of the three co-founders, only one had a computer science background. Brian Chesky, a great visionary who realized his dreams and made it to the list of the top 100 most influential people in Time magazine, used to be a hockey player and a bodybuilder before building Airbnb with his co-founders Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk.

There are many such examples where non-tech founders were able to create a smashing product and have been at the forefront of innovation. From Pandora, Alibaba, StyleSeat, and TeeSpring, to Tinder, Vayable, and more, non-tech founders have been able to even, at times, surpass the innovative heights achieved by entrepreneurs having a technical background.

Apart from the insights, knowledge, and grit of these entrepreneurs, there was one thing that was crucial for the success of these exemplary organizations. And that is the right kind of talent that was able to understand, create and implement the vision of these entrepreneurs.

But that being said, hiring developers for startups is easier said than done. This article will help you understand how to hire developers for a startup. In addition, we will also look at how finding developers that are a right fit for your startup can help you conquer this entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Challenges in finding the right talent for your startup

Even though it is nearly impossible to eradicate all the challenges, entrepreneurs can significantly reduce the pressure by hiring the right talent or outsourcing agency for their startup. Building a solid team from the ground up that can work on your idea and convert it into a fully-functioning business venture.

One major challenge while hiring the right talent for your organization is finding the best fit as quickly as possible. Non-tech founders need to hire developers for startups that are a right fit, as it will help successfully manage the business processes while ensuring that the actions align with the business goals. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to find app developers for a startup that can further act as the right team behind your project and will help you understand technology workflows while offering you ways to collaborate effectively.

This article attempts to share insights on hiring developers for startups or onboarding an agency, along with the multiple factors affecting the process. We’ll also take you through a step-by-step guide on finding and attracting the right developers and how to minimize the challenges as a new entrepreneur venturing into the business world.

Before diving into the details of hiring developers for a startup or hiring an apt development agency for a startup, let us understand what would be better for your business, hiring a developer or onboarding an agency.

What would be better for a non-tech founder? To hire in-house or to onboard an agency?

Although having in-house developers is preferred over the alternatives, for a non tech entrepreneur, this alone can become a daunting challenge owing to the lack of technical expertise.

Challenges faced while hiring in-house developers:

• High cost
• Limited skills and experience
• Limited scalability
• Limited ability to handle large or complex projects

High cost

Hiring in-house developers in a startup comes at a high price, quite literally. The cost to the company is just one of the things you’ll have to spend money on. Infrastructure, setup, office space, tools, and software are just the tip of the iceberg regarding the overhead cost of hiring an in house developer.

Limited skills and experience

Unless you hire multiple startup app developers, which will balloon the expenses, the in-house developer will likely specialize in one or two programming languages. This will, in turn, limit your product idea’s potential to the developer’s skillset.

On the other hand, a dedicated outsourcing organization will offer you a web developer for a startup in addition to project managers, graphics designers, quality analysts, and more that can help accelerate your app development project while increasing the efficiency and scalability of the process. Apart from this, they have various types of developers working under various domains.

Limited scalability

With a limited number of in-house developers, you cannot work on projects simultaneously, slowing down the development process, even with shorter sprints.

Limited ability to handle large or complex projects

In-house developers seldom possess the right mindset or exposure to managing large-scale projects compared to those working in a specialized development agency.

These challenges can be easily eradicated by onboarding a software development agency for your needs. To better understand why a non tech founder should think about outsourcing their requirements, read our article on the advantages of outsourcing to a mobile app development company.

However, if you still believe that an in-house developer would be a better-suited choice than outsourcing a mobile app development company, this is how you should hire in-house developers for a startup.

Look for someone with a well-rounded skill set capable of understanding your product’s primary code base and explicit knowledge of how specific technologies would interact with your product. Consider their peripheral views on development while taking the interviews.

Furthermore, you should determine if they specialize in front-end or back-end development or simply both. You must be further capable of evaluating their strengths and weaknesses while clarifying your business vision to them to move ahead on a similar pathway for robust product development.

But as we mentioned earlier, outsourcing your development requirements will be cost-effective and beneficial for your startup. Here is a guide on how to select the best development agency.

A step-by-step guide to selecting the best agency for your business requirements

If you wish to find a software development company in New York, USA to outsource developers for your startup, you should check upon a few critical aspects that will help you determine the expertise and experience of the agency.

Robust Portfolio

To determine if the development agency is the right fit for your project, check out their portfolio of the projects they have pulled off and the clients they have worked with. If you wish to hire the best full-stack developer for startups, analyzing their portfolio will help you understand their essential skills. Furthermore, analyzing the product results of an agency that offers dedicated software development services for startups will help you determine their capabilities in general.

Domain Expertise

Only some agencies specialize in cutting-edge technologies and methods (such as Appinventiv). Therefore, ascertain the area in which the agency has a specialization and is known for. Once you have a fair idea of the focus area of the agency, you can find the agency that best matches the kind of product you’re trying to build.

Skills to evaluate the expertise of mobile app developers for startups:

• Determine if they have a strong hold over the programming language. Here’s a list of top programming languages you should know.
• Analyze their database knowledge and if they can work with a system update.
• Determine if they have a strong foundation in data structures and other algorithms
• Verify if they can use various tools and technologies to test and debug before deployment of the project

[Also Read: The Mobile App Testing Strategies that Appinventiv Follows]

Success Stories

The testimonials of clients the agency you’ve shortlisted has worked with are crucial in zeroing in on the agency. To find software developers for startups, you need to determine the quality of work the organization delivers and that is further resonated with the help of client success stories. These testimonials will give you ample information about critical aspects of software development, such as adherence to deadlines and budgets.

Customization

Another thing you should consider to hire developers for a startup is to determine if they can deliver a product as per your custom business requirements. Choosing off-the-shelf software is easy, but hiring an agency that can develop a custom plan per your business needs is difficult. A dedicated app development agency like Appiventiv has the right talent that can work according to your business requirements and offer product customization while paving the way for your product to gain instant traction in the market.

Hand-holding through ideation and post-launch maintenance

To hire developers for a startup that is the perfect fit, you have to ensure that the outsourcing agency provides hand-holding through the entire software development process. They must be capable of working along through the ideation phase to offer post-deployment maintenance of the product. The team must provide constant updates to the development and integrate modern technologies per the changing market requirements. This will further make way for your product’s overall success.

[Also Read: How Mobile Application Maintenance is a Key to Your App’s Success?]

Sprint Breakdown

The agency you have selected must be capable of dividing the various tasks of the development process into a series of sprints. This will help you determine if the offshore team is accountable and if they can deliver the sprint in time.

[Bonus Read: Sprint Retrospective: The What, Why and How]

What makes Appinventiv the right choice for your startup?

Appinventiv is a result-oriented custom software development company that can help your startup succeed with our expert development practices. Our developers have extensive knowledge and expertise in carrying out multiple app and web development projects within the required time frame and at an optimized cost. We are a 1000+ team of highly skilled and reliable developers with nearly a decade of expertise in offering full-scale development. We can help you from ideation to the success of your product.

Appinventiv recently crafted a revolutionary  healthcare app solution “YouCOMM”. It is a multi-request format platform that has redefined in-hospital patient communication. The startup is now running successfully in various hospital chains and has resulted in 60% growth in nurse response time.

Another startup that we helped succeed is Vyrb, a high-tech feature-rich social media app. The app facilitates users to exchange audio messages optimized for Bluetooth wearables. The social media app has been downloaded over 50k times and has received $1+ million funding.

Our extensive list of clients further includes the world’s most renowned brands, such as  KFC, Pizza Hut, Adidas, IKEA, 6th Street, and more. Get in touch with us to foster success and immense growth for your startup.

FAQs

Q1. How to find a developer for your startup or a dedicated software development agency?

A. In order to find the right outsourcing development agency for a startup, you first have to specify your business requirements and determine the employment model you wish to implement. After choosing the right country to outsource developers for a startup, you can look at various agencies with strong portfolios in your domain and finalize the right talent by carrying out a detailed interview and testing process.

Q2. What kind of team is better for my startup project?

A. You would have to choose between hiring freelancers, an in-house team, or outsourcing an organization if you wish to develop a project for your business from scratch. Now hiring an in-house team requires extra effort and a large budget, while freelancers usually lack the overall expertise and professionalism. So, it is better to outsource a dedicated team for your project that can offer you the required expertise at optimized costs.

Q3. Why startups should outsource software development?

A. Startups should outsource software development as it will help you optimize the overall development budget while allowing you to save time and focus on all the necessary tasks related to gathering investors and the interest of top talent. Furthermore, the agency will have all the latest tech and tools required to help a startup reach its initial goals and scale the resources in the future.

THE AUTHOR

Sudeep Srivastava

Co-Founder and Director