How to grow a startup with an outsourced company

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Summary:

Daniele has already outsourced the development of her first Web platform. She is wondering if she can really sell and grow this platform with an external development team.

Today I’m going to answer a question from Daniele, the founder of a legal tech startup. Her question is...

Can I grow my startup with an outsourced company?

Before answering this question, let’s add a bit of context.Daniele has already outsourced the development of her first Web platform. She is wondering if she can really sell and grow this platform with an external development team.First off, it’s legitimate to worry because it’s a must to provide your customers a good product in order to make them happy, right?But what is even more important is to...

Key in business

  • Understand your clients’ needs
  • Shape the perfect solution
  • Sell them the solution

Now maybe you think you need to have a developer in-house to build a successful business. That not always the case!To illustrate this, let’s take as an example an electronic device project.If you would create an IoT (or Internet of Things), you would consider outsourcing the manufacturing to a company in China or somewhere else in the work where it would be more cost-effective, right?You might have the business opportunity, but you’re not exactly a Bluetooth or electronics expert yourself.And it’s the same for software.You just need a good product manager.

What a product manager does

  • Bridge developers & clients
  • Create specifications
  • Delegate and order what to build
  • Take control of development
  • Manage client feedback
  • Prioritize what to do
  • Build a roadmap

Someone capable of building that bridge between developers and clients. Someone who can create specifications, delegate and order what to build, take control of the quality of the product (whether it's a physical product or software), manage client feedback and prioritize what to do, in order to build your roadmap. And after building the business strategy, hiring a product manager is the most important thing when it comes to actually providing the solution to your clients.

Conclusion

So in conclusion and to answer Daniele’s question, if you cannot afford to build an entire technical team, and if you are happy with your outsourcing company, go for hiring a good product manager.

What’s required from a development provider

  • Reactive and agile
  • Able to bring a developer in a timely manner

To handle tasks like bug fixes and new development, what is required from a development provider is to be reactive and agile, as well as be able to bring in a developer in a short amount time for important tasks.You need to have someone that can quickly work on your project in a timely manner whenever necessary.So make a deal with the outsourced company for at least 5 or 10 hours per week to be sure they will keep some bandwidth if you need them for your project.Now if like Daniele, you have a specific question for your project, just go ahead and ask on myctofriend.co/ask.I will do my best to answer your question by video or redirect you to any existing content that will answer it.I publish a new video every week, so subscribe now and learn how to be better at tech management and build your startup successfully.Also be sure to go through our other content here at myctofriend.co to learn more from real startup growth experiences.I’ll be waiting for your questions, and I look forward to seeing you in other videos. Cheers.