Hire Developers for a Startup

Startups have already turned into a worldwide trend of outsourcing and offshore development centers overseas. With each year, there are more and more firms emerging on the European market, popping up in hundreds of variations and multiplying in quantity. Yet, startups face a few serious risks that should be considered in advance and successfully eliminated.

B2B marketing expert Ravi Kikan outlines some of the most common startup difficulties, among which are execution and human capital. Every startup requires trained professionals to design a product that would differentiate it from others. Startups are especially concerned about the quality, deadlines, and costs as the budget is mainly limited. Most startups are short in budgeting for MVP development, so hiring an in-house team of experts is a big challenge for them. If you plan to start a new business, think about the ways you will hire developers for startup or consider software development agency in advance.

Startup Developer Origins: Startup History Overview

Originally, the term “startup” was closely related to the so-called “the dot-com bubble,” or “the tech bubble,” a phenomenal rise of newly established Internet-based companies (“dot-coms”) and their stock-exchange values at the start of the 2000s. Basically, the most successful startups were created at that time (Apple, Microsoft, Google). At these times, “startup” became a widely used definition of Internet-based growing software companies, later spreading over all new-born projects.

However, it is worth noting that the dot-bubble situation set in motion startup growth. During this era, the term “startup” became popular and established in human minds but the first actual startups are known even since the Great Depression (1920-1930s) and some times before. But only after the dot-bubble historical period, such companies have become labeled startups. Although it is hard to clearly define the exact start of the “startup era,” it relates a lot to the Silicon Valley business area development. For example, such Silicon Valley company as IBM, founded in 1911, has grown into one of the largest computer software producers all over the world.

How Much It Costs to Hire Developers for Startup

European countries are startup leaders in the world, annually reporting new startups in various fields. Deutsche Startup Monitor reports only 1224 startups in Germany established in 2016. Meanwhile, a known startup leader Switzerland displays over 12,000 new companies to be created each year, according to Swiss Startup Monitor. According to recent information on CNBC, 83 new startups on cybersecurity were founded in 2016 in Israel alone. As you can see, the number of startups is growing, each of them needs thorough implementation and proper personnel, and startup developer salary rates are rising correspondingly. The demand to hire programmers for startup increases every year.

In this article, Matt Mansfield gathered some interesting statistics on startup development. For example, finance, insurance, and real estate industries proved to be successfully operating after 4 years and constitute 58% of all startups. No wonder that these companies have been actively hiring developers for startup development. If we talk about startup developer salary rates in different countries, these rates depend on the biggest number of factors compared to in-house coders working for well-established companies. For instance, here are annual incomes of app developer for startup in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Ukraine:

• the US – $110,000
• the UK – $54,330
• Canada – $50,373
• Australia – $49,798
• Germany – $61,232
• Ukraine – $24,689

As you can see, the lowest startup developer salary rates refer to Ukrainian specialists. However, it is a Ukrainian web developer startup-oriented who is in high demand on a global market. Obviously, many companies and projects are interested in hiring a developer for a startup exactly from Ukraine.

Why It Is Important to Hire Developers for Startup

When you launch a new business, you may be looking for the answers on “how to find a CTO” who would be able to guide the whole team inside your company at once, so you seek ways to engage the working forces in your business. Hiring a qualified software developer for startup company plays a vital role in the future successful outcome for any new emerging project. There are lots of ways how to find developers for your startup. A reliable developer for startup is important because they are responsible for the technical implementation of a startup. Moreover, most modern startups are digital, so finding web developers for them becomes a core task for any startup business. It is logical, that qualified developers provide high-quality products that prevent businessmen from expenditures in the future and assure the best quality for their final products and services.

We furthermore outline the benefits of hiring dedicated developers that you can gain when you hire developers for startup:

• Quick start. It is possible for an experienced web developer startup team to start working on your product within 3 months, while it usually takes up to 6 months to hire separate programmers and manage a team of them
• Increased production. Having a startup development team easies even such side duties as payment, communication, and development-related ones because the team in fully self-managed and used to work in a complex way
• Better quality. No surprise that even a single startup company software developer can provide you with a better product compared to a narrowly aimed specialist or a coder without startup development experience
• Cheaper cost. The development cost depends on a lot of factors, but it is always less pricey to outsource a great software developer for startup company at an affordable cost

Depending on the type, size, and features of the upcoming startup product, you need to look for some of the following skills when you hire developers for startup:

• Web architecture and development framework experience
• UI design understanding
• Data presentation skills
• Mobile app development experience
• Network and information security understanding
• Algorithm design knowledge
• Java, Python, or Ruby skills
• Mac, Linux, and Unix OS user
• Software QA and user testing knowledge
• Database management experience

What Are the Most Successful Startup Companies Nowadays?

According to LinkedIn Top Startups list, the top 10 successful startup companies in the US based on 2019 research information are Lyft, Ripple, and Coinbase related to web services, and the computer software area represented by such innovative companies as Rubric, Noodle.ai, and Robinhood. It is worth noting that there is one food company mentioned in this least, and it is an ice-cream manufacture Halo Top Creamery. Aurora Innovation represent the automotive sector, while Bird and Glossier are the most promising consumer goods platforms. As you can see, most startup companies are related to web technologies, computer software, and financial aspects. When it comes for startup hire a developer, every company looks for programmers experienced in these fields. Many of them prefer hiring developers for startup from Ukraine.

How to Hire a Programmer for a Startup: Freelance, Outsourcing, and Outstaffing

There are three main ways to find developers for startup: freelance workers, outsourcing, and nearshoring. Companies usually want to find a programmer for startup to work on freelance. Besides, they might use outsourcing for specific tasks or hire outstaffing companies. Let’s take a look at all three options of how to hire a programmer for a startup:

• Freelance is fine if you have a short-term project requiring a little work to be done on your project. It’s relatively cheap, but some freelancers might require hourly payment. The main drawback of hiring freelance software developer startup-experienced is that they might not show enough engagement in your project, you will have to spend a lot of time to test them before actually doing anything, and if you need to hire a team, hiring freelance web developer startup-dedicated one by one can be very exhausting and time-consuming. It is also quite hard to find experieced and reliable developer, part-time and only for your specific problem, e.g your goal is to find Angular REST API developer to fix all your RESR APIs issues. Hunting such developer by yourself will be costly and definitely time-consuming.
• Outsourcing is about hiring a team of web developers for startup and forwarding a project to them with all the instructions, in the end, you will receive a ready final project. Outsourcing is quite costly, but if you don’t have time for project management and are interested in the final product only, it will be fine for you.
• Outstaffing or dedicated/distributed team model is your option if you need a dedicated team of professionals who would be as engaged as you and are responsible for the project itself. Of course, outstaffing means hiring developers for startup from an outstaffing/offshore development company, so it requires your direct engagement and control of the whole work process. Such services are also will be in use, when you are looking for developers with special skillset, e.g. Marionette programming or Polymer developer for your startup, as outstaffing providers are trained to find real experts of any niche. But at the same time, when you hire startup team, you receive full flexibility in managing your team of dedicated remote developers. In case of necessity, you can extend your team with the help of in-house developers of an offshore development company.

Remember, if a dedicated team is working on your future product, you are at 50% success. Hiring software developers for startup from an outstaffing firm is always cheaper, more flexible, and reliable.

Choosing a Web Developer Startup-Oriented: How to Hire Programmer for Startup Remotely

If you don’t have enough technical experience to evaluate the potential of the possible employee, here are some helpful tips on how to hire a programmer for a startup for sure:

• Referrals matter. Even in a programming world, good developers usually know each other and if you have a friend among developers, you can simply ask for a recommendation. There could be startup programmers finishing their current projects and not looking for a next job yet; however, they may be interested in your product and they will gladly join you in several weeks or so.
• Ask for feedback from previous clients. In our world, no one hires a startup developer without seeing his/her portfolio and analyzing their previous experience in coding. At least, the startup developer should be able to provide you with a list of works they did to ensure you in high-end quality of their services.
• Review code samples. It is absolutely okay to request some code samples related to previous projects, at least to see if the person can really develop what he stated in his resume. Although you won’t be able to see the full applicability of the provided code lines, what you will see for sure is how used to programming the person is. Also, you can check out the basic syntax of the programming language on the web before you set the interview. It is not a good idea to require candidates to write some code at the interview as there will be not much time to do it properly.
• Ask to complete a small technical task related to your startup. Another option is to ask potential candidates to develop a small task-related and applicable to your future/current product. If they are able to prototype something based on your instructions and descriptions, you can be sure that you both are on the right track.
• Ask non-technical questions. It is good practice to ask non-technical questions besides technical ones during the last stages of the hiring process. When you hire developers for startup, it is important to hire not just the right specialists, but the right persons that will share your vision and implementation of the future problem. Moreover, by establishing friendly relations with your employees, you will make the communication process more pleasant and the development process won’t drag as well.
• Agree on a probation period. Of course, the trial period should be set. So, you both could see how things are going on, how you understand each other, how the qualifications of the hired startup developer meet your needs, and so on. Based on this probation period, you will understand if you would like to continue your cooperation or not.

Hope we made things clear on how to hire a programmer for a startup and choose the right developer. It is time to find developer for startup and start working on your project!

Contact us today to find out more about how to hire developers for startup!

Written by:

Anastasia Stefanuk

Market Researcher

Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.