Any tips for low-cost software developers?
[Update: I'm giving my previous development partner one last try. They've put a more experienced dev on it now and will see if they can deliver. Appreciate the feedback - it's given me alternative approaches to try if this fails. Thank you!]
Hey folks, my bootstrapping SaaS startup has shipped a product and we have a few paying subscribers (yay!)
BUT my tech co-founder had to leave to get a full-time job (boo!) I've had false starts with other co-founders and also with a low-cost software development outfit and I'm currently unable to build essential new features. It's starting to hit my numbers as customers are beginning to churn faster than I can bring them in (double boo!)
From my customer research I have a clear picture of what needs to be done - some key bug fixes, enhancements and new features that should slow the churn and increase growth. I have a few thousand bucks to spend on software development. There's quite a lot to do so I need a low cost resource. I know there are thousands of people/companies offering this, but can any of them actually deliver? Do you have any personal experience of a company you'd wholeheartedly recommend?
The most essential tech skills needed are Angular, D3, SVG, MongoDB, Node + Express. Angular in particular is a must-have.
You can get the basic idea of the product here:
https://medium.com/maptio/maptio-explained-in-screenshots-ea07397b79d4
Thank you!
I think you should take a different approach than you have in your post. My guess is that you feel the message above is an accurate description of the problem you want to solve by pointing out the skills needed, the situation you're in, and that you have a tight budget. However, any dev that reads this will see a different message.
What they will read is that you aren't quite sure what all the problems are, which means you don't have a clear scope of work, and you're short on cash. They will see many headaches for not enough money. Anyone that takes this job will most likely do so with the intention of just draining the remaining cash you have left.
Essentially what you're pointing out is that you want to underpay for a service but you're not sure what that service is yet. It's a bad bet on either side of the table.
Consider a different approach. What are the top 1-3 issues that are causing your customer base to abandon the product? If you can, map out the full technical scope of work to solve those issues. If you can't, then pay a dev just for that work. That will be much cheaper, and it will give you real data. From there, you can get clear bids on a clear scope of work... and the dev that helped you build that SOW may actually be incentivized to cut you a break since they have intimate knowledge of the work that needs to be done. If you need a dev to help with that effort I do have a resource that I can put you in contact with. Just email me via the link in my profile.
Thank you for the feedback - appreciate you taking the time to reply.
I have indeed mapped out the essential issues that need to be addressed and feel pretty clear on what needs to be done - I just didn't include all of that in the post. I'll consider editing it though if it's off-putting - what you say does sound reasonable.
I'll certainly consider your alternative approach. My instinct is to find a good partner first and work closely with them in a more agile way to address the issues rather than trying to define a tight tech spec in advance which will inevitably change once the partner gets fully up-to-speed with the code.
I would be more inclined to follow your approach if I could get the original developer to write the spec, but finding the right dev to do the tech spec, getting them up-to-speed with it all, then have them write a spec, then put out there for quotes and then need to do another full tech onboarding with the new developer seems too long-winded. But maybe I'm wrong, so I'll certainly give it more thought.
The main technical difficulty is that it's already a relatively complex piece of software so it's not as simple as, say, defining some changes to a WordPress-based web app.
Thanks again for taking the time.
Quick update: I've edited the original post.
@betilfan gave you some great feedback. I do think what you're working on is interesting and could really help with strategic planning and decision making. I do wonder whether or not that churn is a sign of changes being needed or if what you're pursuing is worth still pursuing. I would talk to the customers who have churned if you haven't already to get a sense of what their thoughts are.
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I have insight from the customers that have churned. Covid has been part of it, but the product is certainly not at PMF yet - there is iteration to be done, and a potential mini-pivot that I'm considering as well.