Disclaimer: I started writing this article by speaking about outsourcing in general, but I soon found out that I became rather nasty toward the current outsourcing solutions (which, I believe, don’t work and cause big troubles for some companies) and that would not have helped anyone. So, I reconsidered and looked at what we’ve been doing for the last few months and take some of the most relevant bits from this experience. Therefore, I kind of talk about 3seeds.co.uk and our experience in matching startups with teams from our network. So, this article may sound a bit like a sales pitch. It partially is, but you know now and you can spend the next three minutes doing something else if you find that totally unacceptable.

1. Should a Startup Outsource Software
Development?
Conclusions after running a concierge MVP for the last 3
months
Disclaimer: I started writing this article by speaking about outsourcing in general, but I
soon found out that I became rather nasty toward the current outsourcing solutions
(which, I believe, don’t work and cause big troubles for some companies) and that
would not have helped anyone. So, I reconsidered and looked at what we’ve been doing
for the last few months and take some of the most relevant bits from this experience.
Therefore, I kind of talk about 3seeds.co.uk and our experience in matching startups
with teams from our network. So, this article may sound a bit like a sales pitch. It
partially is, but you know now and you can spend the next three minutes doing
something else if you find that totally unacceptable.
Is technology outsourcing a solution for startups?
The decision to outsource software or product development does not come easily for
many startups. Overcoming the trust and control issues is not handy sometimes,
especially when you are in a growing frenzy and the most valuable asset is your team.
We definitely can understand that and in many cases it is valid argument. But there are
some situations where a startup can hack development by virtually creating
development power machines from other’s resources. It’s a model close to the cloud
hosting logic and allows a small team to be nimble and effective in creating their
technology solutions.
3 main reasons for choosing outsourcing for a startup
From our experience in working with a few dozen startups since we launched 3seeds
last November, we can draw on three main reasons why a startup would/could choose

2. an outsourcing solutions for developing parts of its software:
1. Reduced costs
As expected, the main reason for choosing outsourcing solutions is a cost issue. But, we
found out, it’s more than simply lower prices: it’s always been so far a matter of
balancing the costs with the quality an outside software team can bring to the business.
And, as it is the case for 3seeds solutions, when you can save between 30% and 50% on
your product development compared to in-house or local solutions (and basically
receive the same quality), it really becomes an interesting opportunity for a startup.
2. Access to talent and specialised skills
Especially in SF and London these days, we all know how difficult it is to find good
technical talent. And when you find it, you usually have to sell your liver to be able to
pay for it. Now, being a startup can add an additional layer of complexity into this mix,
as the moneys are scarce and the stability is something to be established yet. But a
startup still needs to develop the products, even with black magic. Thing is, you may
not even have to learn voodoo to make it, as in other parts of Europe there is a thriving
ecosystem of strong technical talent and specialised skills.
For instance, right now, 3seeds allows you to avoid competing with other startups
recruiting locally by gaining access to well-trained, highly-educated IT professionals in
Central and Eastern Europe. And 22 teams with more than 1200 specialists in total can
be a good pool to find a good fit there.
3. Flexibility and speed
A startup is basically a high speed vehicle not necessary knowing where it’s heading.
And it is fine to be like this, we say. But that instantly means that speed matters,
especially when developing and launching your products. Flexibility means simply that
you have a few options to work with a team: from a time-based approach, where you
are quoted on the time spend on the project by the team, to having a dedicated team to
work only for your project for a pre-established period of time. Some of the teams can
even visit your offices and work from there, along with you. The whole point here is
that their experience allows them to focus on development so you can ship your

3. product faster. Besides that, for any contract from a certain value up, we’ve always
encouraged the client to create an initial test project for the chosen team, get it
developed and measure the satisfaction metrics, before committing to a bigger
investment. And it works.
I end this here, even though there may be other insights into this. But for now, let me
hear about your experiences in developing your software with an outside team. Funky
stories are definitely welcomed!