How to Find App Development Partners for Your Startup

Creating a startup comes with both making your ideas come true and dealing with issues that may arise along the way. This is where having an app development partnership in your business comes in handy. Searching for the right person can be a tough task, but in this article, we gathered the best methods that will help you on the way to cooperating with the best app development partners.

Why having an app development partnership is important?

Before jumping right to all how-tos, let’s start with the why questions. There are many inconveniences that come with choosing the wrong app partner. For example, you can have problems with developing your product or receive a finished product with a lot of bugs and bad quality. These things can result in wasting your money and time and not getting the results you hoped for. This is especially important to remember if you are new to a startup and business world because having the wrong app development partners may cost you losing your reputation.

Because of the reasons above, we suggest you go through our recommendations that will help you avoid the pitfalls and find the right software development partner for your startup.

The right app development partnership can:

• Speed up the growth
• Lead to more stability
• Contribute to better team and communication skills
• Help to minimize expenses

Now when you understand the importance of hiring the right team, let’s discuss the steps towards the ideal cooperation.

Step 1: Make sure you know what you need before getting to work

It is important to make sure that you know all details and what you really need for your team, startup, or services beforehand. Prepare the key information about your project, which you are going to delegate to a potential software development partner. Clarify on the app you want to create and your goals regarding it. The following questions may help:

• What problems do you want your app to solve?
• Who are your target users?
• Will the app be developed for Android or iOS, or both?
• What’s your budget?

After gathering all information and answering these questions to yourself, you can proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Prepare questions for potential app partner

The vendor selection process is not easy because you are responsible for who will be part of your team. It can be overwhelming as there are a lot of questions you can ask. For this step, we suggest some relevant questions, which may come in handy when searching for a successful software development partnership.

• Can you show some of your completed works?
• Do you have software development experience in this industry / with this type of software?
• What is your ideal app development process?
• How do you achieve a better user experience?
• What kind of methodologies do you use?
• What tech stack do you recommend to implement the desired functionality?
• Do you write unit tests for your code?

It is important to trust the people you choose. Each professional should match the criteria needed for your startup. If you have the opportunity, check the companies they used to work for and try to find out more about their workflow and how they collaborate within the team. And don’t forget to learn about their payment terms and the costs of developing the app.

Step 3: Use social media networks or specialized websites

We live in a world of quickly developing technologies, so why not use them in this case as well? There are many resources that can help you in searching for the right app development partnership. Well-known Dribble can be useful because you’ll be able to see the developer’s work first and discard not suitable candidates. If you are looking for a partner to grow your business with, CoFoundersLab, or Upwork is the right place for you. Services like Waxidea and Startup Weekend focus mainly on startups and helping in finding software development partners and growing your network. And if you need to check the company’s reviews use Clutch.

Step 4: Ask around

Don’t be afraid to reach out for help from other people. Most likely, someone from your circle knows the right person for a software development partnership or knows someone who knows. You can start by telling people about the startup, ask if they know professionals with needed expertise, visit coworking spaces and be open to suggestions.

Step 5: Search for app development agencies

There are many app development agencies that can provide programming services, professionals with relevant experience, and industry knowledge you need for your business. They can staff a complete team for developing a mobile app. But the question arises, which company is better to work with? And how can you know they are reliable?

The app development agency should have experts that know how to develop your idea in the best possible way. They should try to maintain the right software development partnership with you and understand your business. Here are some tips that will help you along the way:

Search for the information

Start with searching the information online, through social media, references, or ask people who already used app development services. Make a list of the agencies you find most suitable for the project, and write out all their cons and pros.

Check their portfolio

Checking the portfolio is an important step here because it will help you identify what the company does, their level of technical expertise, the scale of their previous projects. You can find out if they worked with products similar to yours and this will help in removing vendors that are not suitable for your business.

Find reviews

Nothing can say more about the company than the reviews of their clients. You can ask the agency for contacts to clients that had similar projects to yours, or find reviews online. If the company has is ready to present successful projects and introduce you to happy clients, this means you can move to the next step with them.

Ask for app demos

Ask the company to present you with a few of their completed projects. This will give you a better understanding of what the company is capable of doing.

Step 6: Discuss the app development cost

Another significant step to take is discussing the app development cost. Ask about their payment terms and the costs of developing the app. The cost will vary depending on what kind of app you are building, operating systems you want to support, etc. You can check approximate costs with the link we provided, but it is important to understand that a high price doesn’t guarantee high quality, but don’t be lured by the lowest price as well. Choose the company that can clearly say how long each stage of the development process will take, how many specialists will be engaged. This proves that they understand what result you expect from them and how to achieve it.

Step 7: Conduct an Interview

Nothing shows better whether the person is right for your startup and app development partnership than conducting an interview. You can hold it in person or online using services like Zoom. Not only this will help you see how they respond to your questions, behave in a professional space, but will also make sure that the person understands your goals and is interested in achieving them with you.

If you work with a software development partner who has different goals, doesn’t understand your ideas, and isn’t as interested in developing the product as you are, most likely the project is doomed to fail. It will be difficult and unpleasant to work with someone who doesn’t share your views and is only interested in getting paid for the job done. So look for someone who is ready to invest their resources in your startup.

Make sure they are looking for collaboration as well. If they are interested in a long-term software development partnership, chances are they will be more interested in the specifications of your business, who your startup’s customers are, and will look for the best ways to meet your expectations. The right partner will involve you in the development process, help you review the progress, and listen to your ideas.

Step 8: Remote employee onboarding

Because of the speed that technologies are developing now, apps have become our new normal, especially with the pandemic that pushed us into an even more technologically evolved environment. This increased the demand for remote employees. While it may seem difficult to connect with an app development partner, here is a checklist of things that will make the process better:

• Introduce the employee to communication best practices in your organization
• Help them connect with the team
• Provide them with an onboarding plan
• Set clear expectations
• Let them know you’re here to help

Finding App Development partner: Final Thoughts

Just the idea of searching for the right app development partner can cause anxiety or worry. There are many companies ready to provide software development services, which is why it can be difficult to identify whom to trust with your business.

The right partner has to provide the experience and knowledge required for your project. They have to know how to work in a team, and how to create and maintain a long-lasting app development partnership. The partner should also have the right mindset towards how to achieve your goals and make your ideas come true. And that is why the tips and steps above will definitely come in handy. They will help you distinguish who is right for your business’s future and who is not.