How to find best software developers to work on a start-up project?

Finding the right team for developing a project and turning your ideas into reality have always been a conundrum for the start-up founders. And why wouldn’t they be confused, after all, there is no definite solution for this.

Let’s dive deeper and understand How to find best IT developers to work on your start-up project?

Finding and hiring the right team of developers comprises a series of steps that founders need to follow before starting the search.

1. Describe your requirement/vision in a crystal clear format so the development team can understand you without any doubts hanging around.

Now if you are a non-tech person then it is understood that you won’t be able to describe the requirement clear enough to achieve our goal. In such cases you can find a couple of reference websites with clear description of what you need to develop and what is different in your vision and the reference you are giving. The difference is an important factor in understanding your requirement else there are very good chances that at the end you will receive a replica of your reference websites with a new look. That’s good of course if your goal was that from the start; in which case the developers should be informed so beforehand.

2. Prioritize the parameters on which your final decision will depend – Money, Time and Quality.

This is where the founders need to be wise and careful. That is because there is no definition to achieve optimum quality for certain combination of Money and Time. It could be possible that experienced man hours can deliver certain quality of work in less time compared to novices for more man hours as their rates are variable.

As as a solution to this, the founders have to come up with a range of amount they want to spend in a specific period of time for the quality work they want to receive.

Expert advice: Development of even an MVP (Minimal Viable Product) can cost huge money. So best is not to go fixed cost projects and always opt for hourly paid development partners, that is if Quality matters to you.

Once the quality parameter is finalized you can decide between Time and Money. Resources will be assigned to your project based on the money you are willing to spend over a specific period of time. If project takes 500 man hours then you can decide how you want to divide those man hours in weekly manner and resources will be assigned based as per that.

3. Search for the development teams all over for the best match to your requirement.

Now you are ready to face the developers for discussion of your project development. You can search development teams/partners in following ways:

Google search
Clutch.co
Goodfirms.co
Upwork

And various other platforms like AngelList, Facebook, LinkedIn and more.

Note: Clutch is most trusted rating platform for IT Companies.

First thing the developers will ask for is requirement draft, well nothing to be worried of as we have already taken care of that part in our first step.

Feel free to send the requirements to all you meet. And if you’re wary of your concept being copied you can sign the NDA. If anyone tries to find a way around the NDA they are worthy of being let go at that very moment.

4. Shortlist 5 applications

Within just 2 weeks of search and communication with various vendors you will be flooded with applications from development companies and freelancers. From all these you need to scrutinize and shortlist 5 best applications and that will require some labour.

While scrutinizing the applications points to be considered are:

Domain expertise
Technical skills
Ratings on various platforms (Check Step 3)
Background check on couple of references submitted

While checking the technical skills a preference should be given to those who are working on latest technologies. Eg. Frontend has Angular 5, ReactJS, VueJS, etc. Backend has RoR, Python (Django), Laravel 5.5, etc.

You’d need to do more study if your project includes work on NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, etc

Now, let’s see what the final 5 should have. This is list should cover following type of applications:

Above average quoted applications: Mostly these are a combination of quality and experienced developers which will take less time to finish the project with high quality.
Teams with young blood: These would be eager to prove their mettle and make name in industry. These are most loyal and transparent developers. But beware they may take time in delivery as for them achieving quality would be based on trial and error.
Applicants who have examples of similar projects ready and working for you to see.
Applicants having at least three 5-star ratings from different clients on one of the 3 rating platforms. (Check Step 3)

5. Assign 15-hour challenge to all 5 applicants

This is the best way to assess the development practice the applicants implement and to know how well can they jeel into your working environment.

Now this may not be a necessary step always. If your project is a simple E-Commerce platform, a delivery app or similar, then best is to go with the applicant who has a team and has already worked on similar projects in past with good ratings.

Since it is 15 hr work hardly anyone would defer to work for your challenge. Best is to give them work which an average person can finish in less than 10 hours. If you give them more work then they would think you are trying to get the best out of them for free. Besides if they take 15 hours for what others do in 10 you know they their position.

6. Hire the best development team/partner for your project

By this time you will be confident on which applicant is the best choice for your project to make reality. If you are still confused between two hire both. It’s always good to have two teams on a project. Besides, you always have the freedom to stay with one in long term.

Note: If the work you received in step 5 is better than the lowest level of work you can expect, it is good to pay them off with average rate to keep the good will.