The 5 Most Common Mistakes Startups Make When Choosing A Software Development Partner

Startups are always looking for ways to squeeze their budgets and save an extra penny when they can. And when salaries go up as we’ve seen in recent years, outsourcing becomes a favorite option. Today 60% of US companies outsource all or part of their software application development to software partners outside of the US – whether it’s in blockchain development consulting, or telecom software solutions. However, choosing the right software development partner is crucial for the success of projects.

The good news is; once you find the right team, you’ll never have to look again.
So here are 5 of the most common mistakes startups make when choosing a software development partner. Avoid these errors and you’ll find the best possible outsourcing team to help you reach your goals.
Let’s get to it…

Who Is A Software Development Partner?

A software development partner is a company that specializes in developing software solutions for its clients. For example, an accounting software development company that develops business-related software for clients.  Such a partner will help you achieve your application development goals much quicker and at relatively lower costs – from outside your company. They work with your business to create, test, and deliver your products.

A software development outsourcing partner can offer multiple services, including:

• Designing and developing software for any purpose.
• Supporting existing systems.
• Upgrading or maintaining existing systems or applications so that they run efficiently and securely.

A good startup technology partner often becomes part of your extended team (your extended family). They’re part of your work culture, but from outside, and are assigned specific projects to work on and deliver within certain deadlines.

These Are 5 Common Mistakes People Make When Hiring Software Development Partners

What are the most common mistakes you shouldn’t do while hiring software development partners?

1. Badly Formed Requirements At The Start Of The Project

Project Requirements are the foundation of a good software product. They define what your startup seeks to accomplish and also provide a blueprint for your development team to use in building the product. When working with external software dev teams, having clear requirements is critical for a successful project. This cannot be overemphasized! You will not get any results out of your startup technology partner if your project requirements are poorly defined!

Now, these requirements should be detailed enough so your web application development partner knows exactly what is expected, but not so detailed that creativity or innovation is inhibited. With poor project requirements, it takes more time and money to fix problems that come up later in the project.

2. Lack Of Information Given To The Team

Information is everything when working with an external partner. It is crucial that your project goals, company objectives, business requirements, technical requirements, user specifications, work methods, and all other relevant information are made available for the external team you’re hiring. When you fail to feed your new team with sufficient information, you’re preparing for a bad breakup. This is a mistake that many startups make, perhaps assuming that their website and blog are sufficient sources of documentation for the new dev partner. 

That’s wrong! Share as much as you can, to allow smooth fusion between your in-house and outsourced teams. Initiate the new team into your backyard completely, by sharing every piece of information that can allow that.

3. Little Communication In The Development Process

One of the dirtiest mistakes to avoid when hiring web application development partners is failing to communicate regularly and efficiently. Software development projects require frequent communication between partners for there to be a chance of success. 

You should know about progress, roadblocks, and changes as soon as possible so that you can respond accordingly. If there are problems or delays, don’t assume that your partner will let you know — ask!

4. Lack Of Technical Skills

The biggest mistake startups make is to rush through the hiring process without performing thorough, in-depth research on the development company they’re hiring. You probably have made this mistake too. You will often focus too much on the money you’re saving, forgetting that quality comes first. Failing to do a deep dive into all the development partners you’re considering is a big mistake.

You cannot make the mistake of hiring a development partner who’s lacking experienced or proficient developers with the various technologies you’ll be using. And this is the greatest challenge with outsourcing.  In a later section of this article, we’ll discuss ways to scrutinize and assess the technical ability that resides inside your development partner.

5. Unoptimized Communication Strategy

Don’t hire a software development team if you won’t optimize your communication. If you are not able to communicate effectively with your team, then you should not expect any results.

The first step in hiring a software development team is to set up and optimize your communication strategy. A Serious mistake companies make when hiring dev partners is failing to have an optimized communication plan in place from the beginning. If you do not constantly provide a clear understanding of what you want from your development team, how can you expect them to deliver?

How To Choose a Software Or Web Application Development Partner

Here are our top tips for choosing a software dev partner for your startup…

1. Investigate their technical competencies

This is the tip of all tips. You want a company with wealth of experience in software development. Carefully investigate the technical and business capabilities of potential partners before you hire. How do you evaluate the depth of experience and technical competence that resides within any dev company, beyond what they tell you?

One strategy is to go by referral. Let other startups refer you to great software development companies they’ve worked with. Another strategy is to use social media, to see what people are saying about the said company. Remember to check the company’s reviews on clutch, LinkedIn and on their own website. Experience is another important element to look at – what prior projects have they worked on, and with what companies?

2. Assess work culture

Work culture should be an inherent part of your evaluation criteria for hiring software development teams. You want to make sure their values, style, culture, and approaches align with yours. For example, if your company is deep in agile development, you shouldn’t hire a dev partner who doesn’t implement any agile development methodologies to deliver quality.

3. Ensure they have sub-dedicated teams

It’s always ideal to go for dev partners who have smaller teams within the company that can be dedicated to your project. This way you won’t have any matters with availability, as your dedicated team works with you and you only.

4. Too cheap is not good

Before hiring, you have a good idea of what it takes to realize such a project for which you’re seeking a team. If a dev company makes an offer that’s too little, too cheap, it’s probably because they do not understand the level of complexity involved, or are lacking in experience. This is software, so be careful not to fall for super cheap prices when trying to save money, because the quality of delivery should be your priority, even over cost.

Conclusion

As you seek to minimize costs by hiring software development partners outside your country,  ensure that quality and work culture are at the top of your priorities. You’ll definitely find a great team to help you achieve your goals much quicker and efficiently – if you avoid the 5 deadly mistakes we’ve discussed in this article.

If you’d like to escape the trouble of evaluating dozens of dev companies for your next project, Broscorp can help! We are a Ukrainian custom software development company with tremendous experience developing complex web applications, data analytics, sophisticated big-data solutions, and third-party integrations for small and medium-sized businesses like yours. Learn more about our case studies here.