$6.5k MRR task-based development service
Encouraged by DesignJoy, an on-demand design agency, we launched Ifdev and landed our first client in the first week.
First we had to do a compare and contrast.
Differences between on-demand/task-based design vs development
- Development is more complex than design
- Development is specific to languages, frameworks, etc.
- Design is easier to outsource than development
So the question became: what model is most scalable for a similar service but for development?
We tackled each point above exclusively and combined the solutions to form the final model.
Development is more complex than design
After working as an engineer in my own startup and other startups, there's a lot maintenance work that drowns in the backlog. And usually maintenance work consists of small and clearly defined tasks.
Solution #1: specialize in small maintenance tasks that can be done async
This allows you to output more in less time. It also specializes you as an auxiliary dev with clear expectations. The knowledge you gain of the code base as well as being an async dev that takes on tasks not enjoyable for the core team makes you indispensable.
Development is specific to languages, frameworks, etc.
Here it was a no brainer. Javascript is the most prevalent full-stack language with many abstractive frameworks like Next.js that have been readily adopted in the past few years. Therefore, it's only natural to specialize in full-stack JS in order to narrow down your potential clients and still have a large TAM.
Solution #2: we do on-demand full-stack JS development to help you ship faster
Design is easier to outsource than development
Designers can use Sketch or Figma and share the designs with you when they're done. But giving someone access to your code is a more sensitive matter.
The best thing to do here is to remove barriers. All teams use Github or Gitlab to host their code and they use some project management tool to manage their tasks (e.x. Asana).
Solution #3: integrate into existent workflows
First, we provide a Terms & Privacy document that protects our clients and their properties. Second, a 3-step process allows you to onboard us in 5 minutes. We provide one email address for you to invite us to your repositories and your project management tools.
Then we begin to push PRs on the fly based on the tasks you assign us. One cool thing this could give rise to in the future is a centralized dashboard to view our tasks from all pm tools our clients work with.
Pricing
For pricing, we're still working on that. So I'll write something up on it once we have a better grasp on it. For now, we're starting at $4k USD per month.
One, this is 60% cheaper than the average developer in the US. It's a great incentive in the current economic conditions. And the price is low enough that the workload expected is manageable and scalable across multiple clients.
Hope this provides some insight for devs looking to productize their skillset. This is definitely replicable! Reach out if you're interested in support on the sales strategy.
To keep updated on our journey, follow us on twitter.
Cheers!
