Outsourcing strategies in pre-MVP stage
EDIT: The original title was "Are you willing to outsource some competencies in the pre-MVP stage?" but I figured out this one is more relevant to the actual discussion.
You are about it build the first MVP of your product. Which competency would you outsource to a boutique software development studio, instead of trying to cope with it on your own?
a) UI/UX design, wireframes, hi-fidelity mockups
b) Creating the system architecture blueprint
c) SEO, marketing, go-to-market strategy
d) Develop the whole MVP including design, coding, and deployment
e) Consultancy regarding best practices
f) Something else
g) Nothing, I’ll do everything on my own, I’m a hacker after all
I’d love to learn about your approach to outsourcing in the pre-MVP stage!
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I'd say that most people here seem to do all, or at least most of it themselves.
It really depends on how much traction you have. If you've got a few committed customers & there's a clear market for your product, it could make sense to outsource but most projects here generally start out small with low backing.
Everything you listed is not going to come cheap, especially if you want it done well, and I think that most projects would not have the required capital (probably 10k+).
If it was me and I had to pick, i'd outsource what i'm least experienced at, which in this case would be SEO/marketing. That way, you can get the best bang for your buck by focusing on what you can excel at.
I'm really trying to run very lean. So I'm doing the UI/UX, wireframe, mockup, architecture, coding, and everything myself. I'm not knowledgeable about marketing and sales. So I'm studying up and reading up on that to level, but once I'm done construction. I'm going to spend some money on that until I can figure it out myself.
I'm late to the party, but here's my response:
Sometimes my entire MVP is offline.
f) Something else
I outsourced a few email pitches.
Tldr; I don't believe in making a huge, involved MVP. Either I keep it super simple or if that's not possible, I start with a team. Post revenue is when I start considering outsourcing.
I'd agree with @nathangrieve,
For (g) if there are some things that aren't directly related to your product, but need to be done precisely right (like something that an accountant, lawyer, or billing specialist could tell you), then it could be key to get them to help, but learning from them at the same time so you can handle a basic amount in that field in the future.
For (a), getting a good design can be critical for a first impression on users, if you can do a one-off payment to get someone to help with design, then go code it up and use it for a long time , you can benefit immensely from that. Artwork and design is durable, and then you can fill in some details when you need to change. Getting a style guide from the artist helps in the long run, so then you can make basic changes to the site yourself and make it look consistent.
Anything you outsource can be an opportunity for learning and growth. Observe what they do, learn from it, and use it in the long-run, even in helping you know what you need to hire someone to do in the future and what makes them good at it.
@Aurelius that's an interesting point. I agree that good design is a game changer, especially nowadays when we have to literally filter the noise of all these products, great design is a key differentiator even for the very first MVP.
On the other hand, sometimes having a good software architecture from the beginning means no need to rewrite from scratch in the next chapters. Learning from mistakes is great, but takes usually more time than learning from others' knowledge :)
Hence, I'm thinking whether even a hacker founder would be willing to get software architecture blueprint, what do you think?
True, I agree, I've learned a lot by looking at good codebases and extending them. Forming your own code around a good blueprint and trying to stay true to why they do things can help mould your thoughts to it. Plus, if it does a large amount of things you need, it's good to not reinvent the wheel
Would you agree that such system architecture blueprint along with a set of good practice might be a great value for an early stage startup with a technical co-founder on board?
Would mostly go with g with a little bit of a.
Design can be quite crucial and websites that are poorly designed signal low quality to end users.
For my next project
a) yes
b) SEO yes. I will be doing most of the sales in the beginning.
c) yes
d) yes
e) not sure needed
The reason is that these things are not really competency, IMO. They are just tasks that need to be done, for most business. For me, the competency is the product and your competitive advantages. If you are creating a no-code platform, then you are a tech company. I don't think you can and should outsource the coding. But you can outsource other things. If you have $, you can outsource marketing too.
The chance of successful startup is only 1% or less if being realist, I'll give it about 5% top for any optimists. The spending on hiring workforce during an early stage of the startup doesn't guarantee a good happy ending even if you'd have a strong financial backup, I agree with many people here. Outsourcing what you're absolutely lacking in those areas and things are really needed, trying to keep it as lean as possible.
Absolutely agreed, In fact I think now these numbers are even smaller (1% of successful startups might have been true when less people were trying to do it, like 5-6 ago) 😊
That being said, I think users are getting less prone to dropping their emails on half-baked landing pages just to be notified when product launches.
It is important to get something right, probably something very small and niche, as soon as possible.
Agreed, users don't get satisfied easily these days with just a landing page unless your product/service is super intriguing or having PR/marketing involved before its launch. Startups, websites, platforms, online entrepreneurs, wishful unicorns, it seems like they're in every corner when we make even a slightly turn. From my experience, do a lot of research, study, read everyday, learn your lesson, listen to just a few that matters but in the end believing what gut tells you.
@segmond @atymic @nathangrieve Thank you for your replies, guys!
I'm thinking of monthly, renewable packages that will solve the problem of budget entry barriers for pre-revenue startups and provide service flexibility based on current needs.
For instance, a package of 10 hours for $599 (this is just an example) allows you to use the following services at your convenience:
If you need more hours of service, you can either upgrade your plan or request additional service billed hourly.
Packages are paid upfront pretty much like in the SaaS model, and the minimum contract length is three months.
What do you think? Would you find it useful?
I'd strongly urge you to look at serving businesses that are already up and running but lacking one of those competencies. Then your work will be a multiplier for them and they'll have considerably more to pay you.
In terms of consultancy and brainstorming/idea validation workshops, I think it makes sense, maybe seo as well (but you'd barley get a quality audit in 10 hours).
In terms of development & design, I don't think 10 hours is anywhere near enough, so i'd make it easy to purchase additional hours.
At $60/h you'd come in extremely cheap, but i'm not sure how you'd be able to make money with a price that low.
If you know what you want and can evaluate the work, you can hire competent Eastern Europeans for less than $60/h for coding and design tasks. $60/hr is not extremely cheap.
$60/hr x 40hr/wk x 46wk/yr = $110K/yr
Thanks for your feedback! I think the actual package would start at 20h for 1199, that was just an example. The idea is to lower the entry barrier to get people start working with you.
That would be rare to deliver something meaningful in a few hours regarding web and mobile development, but sometimes inquiries may be just about landing page tweaks or some simple bug fix. But this opens the door for larger, hourly-based commitments
What do you think?
Fair point.
The angle i'd push is having one team that is familiar with the (clients) business that can help across the board with everything tech related.
I think your services would probably make more sense to startups that have some revenue, and are looking to gain traction (likely to need SEO assistance, plan for scaling, fix bugs for clients, etc)
Thanks!