Even if you’ve got a developer’s background behind your shoulders, it doesn’t fully safeguard your startup from failure. The process of building a startup team is way more complicated than it seems at the first glance. In particular, have you heard that only 80% of startups stay afloat after one year? A shocking statistic, isn’t it?
In total, half of the accusations are on the wrong team, the poor product, belated delivery, misunderstanding among parties (client, provider, and investors, if there are any), and lack of passion. Hence, hiring developers for a startup should be a well-planned process, and dedicated team service from a reliable IT vendor can be the right solution.
Patternica knows how to hire a programmer for a startup not by hearsay. Having devoted 5+ years to assembling dedicated teams, we’re ready to shed light on this question. Read on how to build a team for a startup wisely!
Challenges you might face when building a startup team
The better you’re prepared at the initial stage, the more chances the development path will go smoothly and in the right direction. As the central part of your preparation, realize the challenges you might come across.
- Long and complicated process. Based on Patternica’s experience, building a good MVP usually takes from four to six months. This is an intense schedule that, however, won’t deteriorate the quality of the future solution when the work is done by professionals. If the team working on the project doesn’t feel the market specifics (38% of businesses fail on this ground), it may result in developing a product no one needs.
- Hardship in hiring the right people. Search for relevant people may not be successful from the first attempt. That’s why choosing a trustworthy IT outsourcing provider is the task of uppermost importance not to start the hiring and development process from scratch once again.
- Doing everything for the first time. Probably, it’s your first attempt at building a startup team, and this new experience requires time to comprehend all the nuances of this job. Thus, many costly mistakes can occur to you, prolonging the overall time for product creation.
How can you overcome these challenges? Continue reading for tips below!
Where to find developers for a startup: A quick overview
There is a number of ways you can go to find developers for a startup, and we’ll get you acquainted with the major of them. Check out the list!
- International freelance networks, such as Upwork, Toptal, or Fiverr;
- Famous job sites, including LinkedIn, Indeed Jobs, Glassdoor Jobs, etc.;
- Word of mouth — refer to your friends and acquaintances for giving recommendations of the IT providers they’ve tested;
- Official company lists — have a look at GoodFirms, Clutch, and Trustpilot.
Though the channels vary, as you see, we highly advise you to rely on professional help to hire a team of developers once and correctly + quickly, + efficiently. And usually, this is about finding the dedicated team in the vendors’ list, per advice, or through personal research.
How to build a team for your business: A step-by-step guide
Hiring a developer for a startup is challenging, not to mention the dedicated team comprising the PM, BA, QA, developers, and designer(s). Thus, we’ll leave a short instruction for you to get it done right.
Understand the division of roles from the start
As a client, you shift the bigger part of the hiring and development challenges to the provider. You won’t hold responsibility for talent acquisition, training, staff retention, team building, administration, employee benefits, IT infrastructure, and bundles of paperwork. On the contrary, your role consists of defining the project scope, introducing requirements, evaluating team results, and checking the fit for your company’s culture.
Take part in interviewing the startup members
To hire a software development team for your project, you should also do your bit in interviewing the key players. As a rule, the first circle of staff selection - both HR and technical - is done on the vendor’s part. So, you’ll join the dialogue when promising candidates are found.
Clarify the communication rules and policies
At this stage, mind the impact of time zone differences (do your time slots cross for easy communication?), calendars overlapping (compare days off and national holidays to estimate the project duration), and language (good command of English for all is a must-have).
Set clear milestones and KPIs
Once you’ve found a reliable development provider, get them familiar with the project’s goals, deadlines, and scope. Also, inform the team members about the preferred communication channels, frequency of updates, and key metrics to assess their progress.
Evaluate intermediate results and give feedback
To ensure the product delivery will happen at an agreed time, you’ll have the PM, standing at the top of the management process over developers and other dedicated team members. But you’ll need to check the overall progress and access the team performance per sprint. Feedback to the development team is no less critical for the project’s success.
Find out Patternica’s experience in startup team building!
We’ve already seen different scenarios of how the process might go after the client comes to us. Meanwhile, in the majority of cases, there are two most popular cases:
1. Hiring programmers for a startup. Once we provided just one high-skilled developer for the CTO, and in duet, they passed the whole development journey until the project realization.
2. Building a team for a startup. The company-client contacted us with the request to upgrade the product. It means they had the solution, but the UI, UX, and performance characteristics were poor. Our job was to redevelop the product from scratch with our dedicated team.
Build a team for your new project with true experts!
Patternica is a reliable IT service provider that can become your vendor — whether you need to hire a developer, find a dedicated team, or build the MVP. We’re looking forward to meeting the new startup owners and realizing their most demanding requests on the technical side. Bring us a new challenge by expressing your business concern through the quick form!