So you have the next great technology business idea, but you don't have a background in programming. You'll need to recruit a programmer who not only can design, write and test online and mobile code, but also share your passion and bring your vision to life. Your initial idea might be to hire a consultant or outsource those duties, but you may want to consider bringing on a software developer as a partner.
Hiring a software developer as an employee isn't always easy. Due to the proliferation of companies seeking web and mobile application developers, the best programmers are in high demand, says Amy Hoover, executive vice president and partner at Atlanta-based Talent Zoo, an advertising, marketing and technology recruitment service. And, if, like most startups, you don't have the resources to pay a great software engineer a salary on par with what a company like Google can pay, then you're probably at a disadvantage. Software engineer salaries in the U.S. can range from $53,000 to more than $140,000 per year, according to EngineerSalary.com.
While some entrepreneurs opt to save money by outsourcing programming duties to companies overseas, Hoover says complications can outweigh benefits. "These programmers sometimes disappear in the middle of a project, or right afterward, which leaves no safety net or ongoing support," she says. Language barriers and time differences can also present challenges, she says.
Instead, startups are recruiting programmers by making them co-founders and partners. Having an equity stake and the freedom to shape the technical direction of the startup can be big incentives to landing a great, full-time programmer, Hoover says.
Here are three steps to recruiting a top-notch software engineer for your startup:
1. Network aggressively.
Unless you already have a cache of talented software engineers in your network, you'll need to start meeting some. Start by searching professional networking sites like LinkedIn or by making contacts at industry events.
In 2009, while developing San Francisco-based Getaround, Sam Zaid and co-founder Jessica Scorpio were searching for a software engineer to build their web site and mobile app. The service allows people in need of a car to rent one from a community of car owners.
Zaid and Scorpio attended an event for iPhone developers in San Francisco in hopes of finding a developer. The pair held two-minute group interviews with more than a 100 engineers. That's how they met their future programmer, Elliot Kroo, who was a software engineer with a company that was later acquired by Google.
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Then there's Yaron Samid, who went directly to information-technology industry experts for hiring advice. In late 2009, Samid was starting New York-based BillGuard, a personal finance service that alerts users to hidden credit-card charges, billing errors and fraud. Samid says he asked a "rock star chief technology officer, who was my blueprint for the person I wanted to build my company, who he would choose" as a programmer if he was starting a tech business. He recommended Raphael Ouzan, a then 22-year-old programmer who Samid eventually recruited as his co-founder and chief technology officer.
2. Ask programmers to create a prototype from scratch.
Once you've met a software engineer you might want to work with, the next step is to assess his or her technical chops. One way is to ask him or her to write a program from scratch. "Have them prototype your ideas to get a sense of their speed, accuracy, attention to detail, creativity and, perhaps most importantly, how well you work together," says Samid, who is 38. Samid says he and Ouzan brainstormed together for weeks and asked Ouzan to prototype their ideas. Samid liked the results. "After this exercise, I knew Raphael was the ideal technologist to help me build BillGuard," he says.
A simple interview usually won't suffice, Getaround's Zaid says. "You can't simply ask questions because you probably wouldn't know the right answer," says Zaid, 32. "It's kind of like talking to an architect and asking him or her about the best way to construct the foundation for a 50-story building. That wouldn't be a productive conversation for a nontechnical person in that industry."
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Zaid and Scorpio asked a group of five programmers, including Kroo, to create a preliminary version of Getaround's iPhone app as an unpaid tryout. "We did this not only to screen developers but also to find out what the app might eventually look like," he says.
To help vet the programmers' work, Zaid recommends calling on someone you know with a technology background to serve as an advisor. In addition to providing you feedback, this advisor "would ideally be someone an engineer can find commonality with and trust, perhaps more so than a nontech person who doesn't understand the details," he says.
3. Offer to make him or her a partner.
About a month after meeting Kroo, Zaid and Scorpio determined they wanted him to be their chief software engineer. He started working for them on a part-time basis. Kroo eventually left his full-time job to join Getaround after Zaid and Scorpio offered to bring him on full-time as co-founder and director of engineering.
"Getaround is a huge opportunity with far greater challenges and a far greater potential impact than your traditional web startup," says Kroo. "Joining and co-founding Getaround in this light was no-brainer."
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When courting a key engineer candidate, it's important to explain your business vision and roadmap to achieve it clearly, Zaid recommends. "Sometimes, engineers might not understand the business side of it," he says. "If you can explain [the business and his or her role] effectively, you're that much closer to being able to convince someone to give your idea all they have."
Zaid says negotiating how much equity to offer depends on a number of factors, including the programmer's experience. "Bottom line, you want to make sure everyone involved is motivated," he says. "If you bring an engineer on as a partner, you want him or her to feel invested, and the incentive is that they have control to lead the technical vision and execution."
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Comments:
Also a few times I had programmers work on small projects. They worked remotely at home in the US. They wound up hijacking the code and we ended up in small claims court. How are people protecting themselves against this? Note: they were well paid.
How do we find these offshore developers that we can use? For long or short term projects? How reliable are they?
My co-founder built me a prototype in 2 days in lieu of having a large portfolio. It is very difficult to find a good programmer to do this, but it is possible.
i believe a programmer who is really confident about their creativity and understands your idea should be willing to design a free prototype, and you cant be a jack of all trade...there is more to do after developing the software, so being partners with your programmer makes you concentrate more on the business angles. Technology companies don't have to be run by technologists....you dont have to be a chef to start a fast food. All you need do is get as much information as you can, get good hands, and work closely with them
What would a decent equity be for that partner, and who pays the initial bills, both?
You never know, until you've tried and sometimes by the time you've tried it might be too late. Outsourcing is a difficult one and if you are the only partner it is hard to find someone that shares your passion and has the required expertise. Of course in places like US where you've got hubs and areas where entrepreneurs and experts are in the same place that works. However in Europe that's less likely. In fact Europe not only does not have a proper hub (apart from its capital cities), but certain countries, in particular like Spain, make it 10X harder for you to startup a business and succeed. Just to employ in Spain, you must already be rich, becuase when you come to dismiss them they can even take your life and leave you with nothing. So What do you do then? Relocate?
Finding a local developer will cost you around $100 per hour. Finding one in Asia will cost you $50 per day. You can use the same vetting process, give them a mini 3 day program but you pay them (only costs $150) and if they work out then guess what, your project comes in at 1/16th the budget and no equity lost. I would add that it helps to be a bit tech savy, like you understand design stuff like CSS, and concept of a data base driven website - you simply just not keen to do the coding yourself. I have an excellent developer in Vietnam but I won't share his name for a thousand bucks....
Hello, I have been a professional web developer for years, working with websites ranked in the top 500 of the US... I have done from very simple to very complex online business and along the way I have found lots of people with the next big idea and countless offers to be a partner in projects. It is hard to find somebody with a good partnership proposition, with a good base and a good plan of business expansion, most of those people will separate from the project as soon as it demands some good effort from them. To the people with the ideas, I suggest to research about the programmers they want to work with and check the previous works done, and contact the person they feel will relate better with the project. If a programmer offers to spend time creating a scratch for free, probably that programmer has too much time in his/her hands, meaning, low demand and minimum experience, etc... It might be more expensive to get people without experience handling your big idea than a professional. To the programmers, I suggest the same, research about the person with the idea, what have they done in the past and the level of success they have had, check where they are getting their knowledge from; people with "hands on" experience in something related to the "big idea" will be better prepared and will be able to see how to overcome future challenges. Good luck everybody, Max Cabrera maxcabrera.com
As I was reading this I thought, damn does this really work in the States? Asking 5 people to create a prototype for free out here only works if you ask a bunch of students and even then I think you're just selling out. If you believe in an idea, invest in it.. but don't expect people to work for free under the assumption this would prove their motivation. Reading through the comments, it's true there is A LOT more to do than just develop an idea, but there's so many "idea people" that just want to come with "an idea" and then leave all the hard work to others. Damn, how I hate those people! Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty! Like Nick said, there's work to do so don't wait around for stuff to happen.
The general issue I see here is that it's easy to be an idea person, and hard to be a person that can actually breath real life into that idea. I can see why that would irk the crap out of seriously talented developers. Now, caveat: I'm the "business person" in my partnership at TotalTab. But here's the truth: there is as much "business stuff" to do (marketing, strategic planning, gaining initial customers, validating ideas, accounting, social networking, fundraising, etc.) at the onset of a tech business as there is "development stuff". So as long as the two of you can team up and each tackle what you need to tackle, the partnership can thrive. Just don't expect to have a great idea, throw it over the transom to some commodity developer with a hook of "partnership", and then sit back and expect shit to just happen. You'd better learn everything you can about what you are building, because you have shit to do do.
This is completely insane. No decent programmer in his right mind would build you a prototype for free...
Finding the right programmer and then setting up the deal it's like getting married or something.
Non-disclosure agreements.
Ooh lovely points, and he's as good looking as eva!!! Yay!!!
i just wonder, is there any case had occurred where after we've met the suitable programmer and enlightened him/her about our idea and business vision, somehow, he/she took away our idea and join venture with other people.how to avoid this kind of circumstance or deal with this kind of problem?
I also disagree with having someone develop a prototype on spec (free). You don't go to a financial advisor and ask for a portfolio recommendation or a diagnosis from your doctor for free, do you?
This is a great article. I chose to outsource the development of my app and it's coming along, but it hasn't been the greatest experience. There is definitely a language and time barrier, which has caused the timeline to spiral out of control and I'm now faced with the prospect of firing them and being two months behind schedule.Working with someone that you can sit down with and talk through each portion of the app will lead to greater understandings, synergy and the ability to complete tasks on time.Rob C.MileHighBusinessPlans.com
The thought of asking someone to do spec work on the level of prototyping a (usually little thought out) user interface and preliminary modeling... Is sick. The person asking for this will very likely have no concrete understanding of their core business model, because they are in the infancy/green exploratory phases. This article is like Christmas dinner for those 'idea' people on Craig's List who only need someone to: design, create, implement, and administrate the technological aspects of their brilliant idea. Hey! I need to cross the river, I just need someone to build me a boat and help me put it in the water and paddle it. Listen here people, you can't corner the market on ideas. It has to be implementation. And, technology companies should be run by technologists. If you have the engineering skillset to implement on market desires... Why would you do any work for free? Just maintain a portfolio. Also, educate yourself on marketing practices and funding/startup workflows and expectations. Why not use your analytical mind to determine a market need that you can solve for, and shop for an 'idea person' to do that part of the legwork for your startup? I don't know, maybe I'm getting old, but the views in this article seem like idiocy to me.