Startup hiring, especially an early-stage one, is tough. Software developers prefer to work in established organizations for more stable conditions, benefits, and more room for growth. A startup must refrain from competing with established companies regarding salary and other perks.
Many early-stage startups opt for outsourcing a dedicated software development team as an alternative form of recruitment, which has become a norm in the industry. Almost 40% of startups outsource their business processes, which is expected to rise.
In this article, we’ll describe some helpful and proven strategies for hiring developers for the new startup and leveraging the outsourcing development model for your benefit. This article will help even non-tech startup founders hire software developers successfully and understand what they can expect from candidates.
Step № 1 Create the detailed project description.
Step № 2 Define the job description, profile, and requirements.
Step № 3 Analyze existing similar solutions.
Step № 4 Define values, mission, and vision.
Step № 5 Describe the essential features.
Step № 6 Create opportunities for professional growth.
Step № 7 Choose the employment model.
Step № 8 Create a shortlist of potential candidates.
Step № 9 Make job offers to the shortlisted candidates.
Step № 10 Clear requirements and terms described in the contract.
To hire dedicated software developers for a startup, you need an evident vision of recruits’ value to your startup. Be careful because a startup hiring not always can afford the work of software developers qualified for the job, whether outsourced or not.
The most important question you must answer is – what kind of project will your dedicated software development team build?
Remember that agile software development is not a one-person job. Mostly you will need a dedicated software development team, not just one very qualified person. There are different types of software developers: backend, front-end, middle-tier, full-stack, desktop, web, mobile, and so on. You need to know the stages of team development and clearly define your task’s job description, profile, and requirements beforehand.
Next, look at similar existing startups and their software solutions and study what your competitors do.
Here are some points you have to take into consideration while looking at the existing products:
Hiring a dedicated software development team will be significantly easier if you know the vital application requirements and look for particular skills.
To build a compelling value proposition for your future software, you have to understand the following:
If you share your values, mission, and vision with the hired dedicated development team, they can better resonate with your perspective. Each dedicated software development team must maintain its corporate culture, including rules for the dress code and fixed working hours, a friendly atmosphere, positive communication, readiness to help, adherence to moral and ethical principles, etc. Employees without specific interpersonal skills will not be involved in the corporate culture and will unlikely receive positive team experience while the agile software development process.
The next step for hiring a dedicated development team for a startup is creating a how-to plan for all the stages of software development.
Write down all essential details and create a draft for the solution’s operational sequences containing a UX and UI mockup of the application to show your dedicated software development team what they can expect by working with you.
You have to think about the experience and engagement of your potential users.
If you are looking for funding for your startup, you must show it to the investors. And that means building an MVP.
First, describe the features you want to include in the MVP which will be helpful while startups are hiring.
Some features are crucial for every software:
There are also numerous other critical solution-specific features. Your ideal dedicated development team should know which technology and framework are needed and understand all stages of the agile development process and the time requirements for integrating all the features listed in the application. While conducting the job interview, you can ask feature-related questions to know how they approach the software development process.
It would help if you created a roadmap of the future solution to progress with each milestone.
Remember to define a budget for the whole project and an exact timeline before hiring a dedicated development team for a startup.
Focusing on creating a comprehensive application plan for all stages of team development is crucial for non-tech startup founders to hire a dedicated software development team for a startup.
When hiring software developers for a startup, consider offering them space and resources to grow and gather knowledge to achieve higher professional levels with the appropriate rewards. Remember that hiring a dedicated software development team requires more than an opportunity for professional growth. Everybody needs soft skills development, crucial for achievements and individual employee satisfaction. To hire a dedicated software development team who feels put into a cage will strive to get out of it and meet personal growth plans somewhere else.
After setting up your business needs, you must decide which employment model you will choose for the hired dedicated software development team. Good to know that more than one option is available here.
The project-based model is the best suitable option for the agile development of a small project. In this case, you will work with previously defined requirements paying a fixed price. This model also has downsides, especially for projects with evolving needs. One of the most critical minuses is a need for more flexibility.
If your vision of the software you want to develop needs to be more explicit, you should better work with the dedicated development team model. As you can understand from the title, a team of developers will be assigned to your project to work exclusively with you for a specific period. The dedicated software development team will be contracted to your startup for this time.
Working with a dedicated software development team brings different advantages, such as:
Of course, when considering this model, you can make changes during some stages of team development, but there are also certain limitations.
The third option is the extended team model, which allows you to work with the in-house team and fill gaps with the outsourced IT specialists team. Your in-house team coordinates the software development while the outsourced developer performs specific tasks.
While hiring a dedicated software development team, check the background to ensure that you can trust their expertise and that hired developers can create the necessary software.
While hiring a dedicated software development team for a startup through different platforms, look through the reviews of other clients, and analyze a list of previous projects accomplished. It can be beneficial for filtering out candidates that don’t have vital skills needed for your startup.
The same approach will help you to choose an IT outsourcing company. Please read all the feedback from past customers and talk to them directly. You can see a lot about the reputation of an outsourcing software development team by browsing through the company’s profile on LinkedIn.
The expertise of the hired dedicated development team is essential. Still, you must ensure the software developers have specific soft skills for positive communication, successful teamwork, and anticipation. Effective communication between you and the dedicated development team is crucial for success. The most important thing is the common language on some high level to exchange opinions without difficulties.
When hiring a dedicated software development team, you expect it to be self-organized and capable of tackling issues independently, which is necessary for good teamwork and agile development. The candidates must be proactive and capable of making suggestions and reporting issues without being prompted.
Conducting an interview is the best approach to ensure that the dedicated software development team members have all the hard and soft skills. Talk with the candidates about their previous working experience to know if they are experienced and passionate about their work.
Create a survey to evaluate the responses of different software developers, especially those who will take responsibility for product delivery.
Speak with each candidate and compare the responses to your questions from the list to choose the best people who perform well under pressure.
After interviewing all of the candidates:
Before you hire your dedicated software development team for a startup, make sure you don’t make the most often mistakes made by others:
Before searching for a dedicated development team, define your project requirements first. To do it, you will need more than just good language knowledge. You have to describe every phase of your project to avoid ending up with colossal time and money waste.
The most important thing while looking for software developers is to avoid trusting an inexperienced software company with a dedicated development team who may only have fundamental development knowledge. It may cause a significant financial loss for you.
You have to find a trustworthy source for hiring to avoid trouble. If the hiring process goes in the wrong direction, it can be more time-consuming and increase the risk of missing requirements.
To avoid such problems, follow the recommendations given below to determine who you need for your startup.
Related: In-house vs outsourcing software development: benefits and differences
You must check at least two essential factors to determine your startup’s hiring needs. Such as:
Defining these two factors helps to create the complete roadmap. After you have described your required output, you need to make your product’s blueprint. After you have finalized the detailed description of your product, you will know whether a single software developer or a dedicated development team can realize the necessary outcome. If you can work with one developer only, you have to choose the right person because each software developer knows different languages and domains.
The development company is a more advanced option because the dedicated development team has the required expertise. Still, to decide if your startup needs a dedicated development team, create an exact plan for each milestone and ensure a good financial start.
Hiring a startup development company brings several advantages for you. For example, you don’t need to test the modules and continually check the progress. The dedicated development team will deliver your product with the required functionality.
Here are some essential tips on how to find software developers for your startup:
You will need expertise in different areas to build a functional software application. So, after you have chosen your dedicated software development team and are ready to start working, consult the development process with your team.
You can always find software developers with the skills needed to do the job with remote outsourcing. The long-term financial commitment will be acceptable because you have the contract only for a single project. You have even more benefits, while you can bring in more developers when there’s an increase in the workload.
If you want to hire a software development company, choosing the one with all the required expertise takes work. All software development companies may have specialists with different levels of experience. Take a short trial session to ensure the credibility of your chosen software development company.
Start the startup hiring if you already have a list of software development companies meeting your requirements. You also need to compare the services of different software development companies and choose the one with the best chances before you organize a meeting.
You have to consider the following:
After testing all the information, sign a contract and start working.
Cash is everything for all early-stage startups. Even if you have the initial capital for your startup, be careful spending money, especially when hiring a dedicated software development team.
Be stringent in your selection process. Pick suitable candidates who will get the app to the market successfully. Choose a dedicated software development team with experience building apps related to your needs. You can find the right people and stay within your budget. Just follow the instructions described above.
You can only briefly operate with a skeleton structure, even if you’re a good multitasker. You need to delegate issues to your dedicated software development team members, especially tasks related to software development.
To do it, look for candidates that share your startup goals and values to build a dedicated software development team from the start instead of bringing people into the project at a later stage.
When outsourcing, you’ll have access to a larger talent pool than you would find in the local community.
Startups hiring remotely choose a more straightforward way than somebody for a full-time position. You only need to decide whether the chosen dedicated development team has all the skills required for the project.
You’ll need expertise in different areas to build a functional app. You can choose a remote dedicated development team.
Business interactions between hired software developers may differ from personal ones, so this can cause conflicts and misunderstandings. Working with a dedicated development team helps you avoid disputes.
With a dedicated software development team, you will not spend any time training new employees, as each outsourced developer has their skills already in place.
You can find outsourced developers who have already created similar apps. It helps to prevent mistakes, which can affect the development timeline.
Here are some main reasons why to work with us:
Startup hiring takes a lot of work. It may take months of trial before you find it out, but how you deal with it is entirely up to you. We can assist you, which is excellent news!
VITech helps SMEs and innovative startups leverage and create technologies and make a meaningful impact on the quality of everyday life. Do not hesitate to contact us if you’d want to learn more about working with VITech.
Tell us about your project and we’ll be glad to help.
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