thoughtbot partners with startups across stages and sizes, including a founding team of 1 and a growing team of product people. It’s our goal to support our clients how they need us - from both a team mentorship and product perspective.
Startups setting out to successfully build and launch their product, tend to need support with validation and shaping the right strategy for a first version. Investment and successful fundraising are common goals as well in this phase, so finding product market fit to help establish sustainable growth and traction are key pieces of the puzzle.
The challenges these teams face are they operate with limited resources, and are under budget constraints. They are under pressure to deliver results quickly, and are navigating the uncertainty and risk associated with building software and starting a new business
When setting out to build their MVP, or support their application post-launch, startup teams are weighing their options for working with an agency or hiring their own team. We also find existing teams at an established company who want to explore an MVP have similar, if not more options to think through - do you distract your existing team, hire more folks, or bring on an agency to tackle the work? Here are the considerations and suggestions we share with clients at these crossroads.
Hiring an agency to develop your MVP
Hiring an agency isn’t a walk in the park - and selecting the right one is critical given the investment. We’ve had a number of folks reach out to us after a failed first project with another group, freelancer, or offshore partner. Our top suggestion - is find an agency that has experience working with startups at your stage and work that matches your goals. With that list, here’s what you can expect if they are a high quality group.
There are a few benefits when it comes to hiring an agency. They tend to be able to start quickly, and you should be assigned a diverse team, with a great deal of experience. They bring to the table a sound approach for execution, so worrying about project management shouldn’t be a concern. They are experienced in planning and building MVPs, so you can mitigate risksand get to market quicker because they’ll have a strong understanding of what works and common pitfalls.
If your solution is a complex one, they will have the ability to manage a more detailed scope while bubbling up questions, concerns and risks. You shouldn’t have to drive the effort forward - it should feel like a partnership. Agencies with startup experience should also be able to guide you through any discovery or validation work. For thoughtbot, that takes the form of user interviews, prototype testing, and agile experiments. This type of work allows you to make research-backed, data-driven adjustments based on feedback.
Having an agency as a long-term partner, also lets you scale up and down as needed, meaning they likely have offerings that vary depending on your needs at the moment (new features vs. maintenance). If a high quality, senior team, that is proactive in how they work with you is important, you should expect they will charge a premium price compared to an hourly freelancer.
Make sure you think about:
- Think about and be clear about how you expect to work and like to work to ensure expectations on communication styles, collaboration tools, and delivery are all agreed upon before you sign a contract. If getting budget reports, or establishing milestones is important, be upfront about that.
- Make sure you understand how IP and codebase ownership and discussing the work publically will work if you select that agency.
- Have a plan for vetting agencies and a clear, repeatable decision making process so you can compare groups and stick to your timeline. Asking for referrals from your network, and/or mentors. Talk to references and review case studies of comparable work if you can.
Hiring an in-house team to build your MVP
Startups tend to be in a better place for hiring once they are funded. They are consistently hiring capacity with their workload, and are having trouble keeping up with growing demands. They might have had a few long term relationships with agencies or freelancers at this point with plenty more work for them to move onto. They feel confident in where they fit in the market, and have moved into a place where they are more concerned with scaling.
They have the bandwidth to start and follow a what could be many months hiring process, and are in a place where you feel more confident committing to a long-term employee. For the product itself, it’s well documented and you have a plan for onboarding new employees including ramping them up on your design and development process.
Good things to consider:
- Review what’s most critical for you at the moment. What can only you do and what could be handed off. Elements that are strategically valuable tend to go to the top of the list for things that should be brought in house.
- Start small, and take your time. First hires are critical to your product, business but also culture so make sure they are a great fit. Bringing on 1 or 2 multi-talented individuals with experience and interest in wearing a few different hats can be very helpful.
- We’ve seen a CTO and/or Product Manager are two early on hires that can make a big impact, especially if you trust them to help grow out their team as they evolve the product.
There are a few considerations for you regardless of if you choose to hire your own team, or hire an agency. Either route you choose you should have a plan for long-term growth, keeping the group aligned, and fostering strong communication and collaboration.
At thoughtbot, helping our startup clients develop a sound process for agile development is just as important as building the right piece of software. If you have a great product, but no process for maintaining and evolving it, you’ll be left in a tough spot. Our goal is to get both elements in a great spot, so you can continue to grow your business and team down the line. We love meeting new people and sharing what we’ve learned. If we can be a resource to you as you navigate growth, please don’t hesitate to reach out.