Launching a startup isn’t easy, and along with building the right team, finding funding, and making a strong business and marketing plan, there is a crucial element to consider: who will handle the software development?

Some startups choose to take software development in-house: they hire a team of developers for their team and task them with bringing their idea to life. But many startups decide to outsource the development instead. The reasons why any company would choose to do this are numerous, but it makes even more sense for startups, where relationships are new, products are unproven, and money is limited.

Freelancers or a company?

Before exploring why outsourced software development benefits startups, it’s important to address the question of freelancers. While a talented freelancer might be able to handle your project solo (and probably cost you less), there are a lot of risks to this choice.

• Freelancers may take longer than a full team at a software development company. With no backup, if they need time off or get sick, the whole project grinds to a halt.
• Freelancers are one mind, and often having different perspectives on a project helps generate solutions more quickly.
• Freelancers manage themselves (or rely on you to do it), and even if they’re talented, they may not be the most organized. Meanwhile, a company has Project Managers who make sure the process is running smoothly 24/7.

So we can conclude that hiring a company is better than hiring a freelancer, but how does outsourcing benefit startups at all?

Why outsource software development?

Here are the top reasons to outsource your software development as a startup.

Save on costs

Money is a primary concern for startups - the expenses can add up as you’re trying to launch something that may or may not succeed, and your funding is limited. Outsourcing your software development can help mitigate your costs.

Outsourcing isn’t automatically synonymous with cheap - in fact, we encourage you to look for quality instead of finding the cheapest outsourced option out there. However, outsourcing, even with a high-quality company, will be cheaper than hiring your own team in the long run. Hiring a team requires more than their salary. You’ll have to pay for:

• Benefits
• Recruiting, hiring, and training costs
• Office space and utilities
• Expensive equipment
• Support staff

Multiply these costs by the number of developers you’ll need, and it really starts to add up. For a lower price, you can get a full team of trained developers who already have everything they need and more.

No recruitment, no hiring, and no training

Speaking of recruitment and hiring costs, there’s more to this aspect than just the expense. Recruiting and onboarding the right team takes time, skill, and effort, which not only takes away from the rest of your project but also slows down your process. Outsourcing to a company ensures that you can skip the entire hiring process.

Better communication

Communication is a key component of any efficient team, and it’s no different with a team of developers. Proper communication between your developers will contribute to how quickly your project develops and how soon solutions are found. If you hire your own team, they’ll have to get to know each other and develop that level of communication that an outsourced team has been building for years.

Proven processes

If you did hire a team, you wouldn’t be done once you hired and trained them. Software development requires meticulous planning and the right process needs to be followed so that every component is completed on time and correctly.

Instead of creating this process yourself or hiring yet another team member, you can fast-track your project yet again by outsourcing to a software development company. These companies have proven processes and steps that they’ve been honing and practicing for years. Their employees know their job and their project managers are ready to make it happen in the established timeframe.

Access to experts

It’s unlikely that your budget is going to allow you to hire the most talented developers out there. Instead of hiring less experienced developers because that’s what you can afford, outsource your software development and get a whole team of experts.

When you outsource your software development, you get not only a team that’s highly skilled and trained, with experience working on many projects like yours, but also leaders, PMs, and senior developers who have trained and mentored them. This arsenal of knowledge and industry insight will help the developers generate a better product for you than any individual developer could.

You can focus on other things

As an entrepreneur, you have many things on your plate - everything, in fact. Outsourcing your software development to a reliable and talented team frees up your time to focus on more important aspects of your startup that only you can take care of. Of course, make sure the team is communicating consistently and providing reports on their progress: outsourcing doesn’t mean disappearing from the tech aspect completely.

Looking for a software development company that can handle your startup’s project? Amplified’s team is ready to take on any idea and help you bring it to life.