- The challenge of building your own team
- Benefits of working on your MVP with an agency
- Outsource nearshore software development specialists as a part of your team
In the world of software development, the task is far more complex. Using the prior analogy, it wouldn’t be remotely close to an experimental home-cooking, but more like opening a whole new restaurant.
This article will explain why hiring an agency is better than building a new team for MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development.
The challenge of building your own team
Before we move on to the benefits of working with an agency, it’s only fair to explain why building a new software development team is so difficult.
Much more expenses that don’t go into your software development
First of all, let’s just agree that developers don’t exist in a vacuum. In order for the machine to function properly, you’ll need a project manager, UX engineer, QA engineer, HR in some form. The actual number of positions to fill depends on the size of your project. Of course, you’ll have to find those people somehow, so you’ll either try on your own or hire a recruitment agency. Given the current state of the software development job market, the first option will be challenging and time-consuming, and the second one very expensive. There’s heavy competition for qualified developers, and the service of recruitment agencies can cost from 3 months to even a full year of the developer’s salary for each hire.
Therefore, it’s possible that the right team for you might simply be out of your budget.
Non-technical issues that keep you from focusing on the product
Besides that, there are aspects like company structure, healthcare, insurance, and office space. Of course, in the post-lockdown era, it may be possible to assemble a team without an office, but as you see, it’s is just a fraction of what’s there to deal with.
Now, can you afford all that, or would you rather use that money to build your software?
Teambuilding is time-consuming
Building your own team requires creating a cohesive and productive company culture, establishing rules, processes, communication, and more. In addition to that, your team will need time to develop seamless workflow, chemistry, and mutual understanding. There’s a massive difference between devs that worked with each other for a long time and the one that was just founded, even if they’re all top-level experts.
Of course, some founders can afford the time, money, and commitment to building the team for their project. Most often, however, the best strategy for building an MVP is hiring an agency.
Benefits of working on your MVP with an agency
First and foremost, we have to point out that MVP development has its own rules. It requires a specific approach in terms of process, consulting, verifying the idea, choosing the right technology, and more. Experienced software houses have the know-how and an entire procedure for those kinds of projects. For new founders, it’s a process of trial and error. What else?
The immediate access to the right people with the experience and skills you need
The best specialists are very rarely available on the job market. And if they are, hiring them costs a fortune. By choosing to work with an agency, you have a chance to work with them, benefit from their extensive expertise and knowledge. It doesn’t only apply to developers, but mainly the agency’s CTO and other tech leads. Their input will be invaluable in terms of clarifying the product’s vision, providing feedback, and asking the right questions.
Profiting from the agency’s industry experience
Working with an agency that truly understands your industry and has experience with similar projects not only facilitates communication but also makes the process easier. Teams that know your field will use their knowledge to improve your project. Therefore, make sure to check the agency’s portfolio. Maybe you’ll find some similar projects.
For instance, as a team with experience in Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT, we can understand the ins and outs of IoT-based projects, consult the idea with the client, and make the final outcome much better.
Agency’s familiarity with project methodologies
Every good software house works in an established methodology like Scrum, which includes rules for workflow and a set of processes such as workshops and Product Design Sprints. Those procedures ensure that everyone (including the client) knows what’s their task at all times and the MVP is being developed as quickly as it’s possible.
You can read how we approach the development process from A to Z here.
Faster time-to-market, faster scalability
If the success of your project depends on how fast it’s released, the agency is almost certainly the only reasonable choice. With the agency, you don’t need to worry about all the aspects we’ve mentioned in the first part of the article. You just focus on the quality and fast development of your product. If you’re operating in a highly competitive market, the choice is simple.
Outsource nearshore software development specialists as a part of your team
Despite the many potential risks and inconveniences of building a new team, many founders still decide to go on that path. One of the key reasons for it is the presumption that they’ll have to stay with the agency because no one else will want (or be able to) take over the project later on. And it’s not entirely unreasonable if you’re planning to create your team at some point in the future. For example, let’s say that an agency you’ve chosen was using a very obscure technology that was maybe right for the job, but there are very few devs that know it well. Finding those devs on the market might be a borderline impossible job.
In our case, that risk doesn’t exist. We make sure that the product’s documentation is perfectly understandable and we use only the most popular programming languages. We even wrote an article about it. Check it out:
Why should you consider using a popular tech stack?
So, whether or not you’re thinking about creating your team in the long run, you can be sure that we’ll make the handover process manageable for your in-house devs.
As a software house with extensive experience in MVP development, we know the expectations, challenges, and growing pains of startups and their founders. We advise, consult, and, most importantly, develop top-notch software that helps get through the initial phase of the product life cycle. In the case of KYOTO, our MVP led to the company’s breakthrough and helped to raise nearly €15 million in private investments and enter Euronext stock exchange market.
