
Hiring An App Development Firm: Do Your Homework
Hiring An App Development Firm
It’s kind of like hiring a babysitter. But more expensive – and the babysitter wants to charge you more hours – and the babysitter might build a baby with a terrible UI.
Actually, the babysitter analogy isn’t that good.
I’ve interviewed all kinds of agencies: the best in the US and the worst. I met with firms who faked their address to appear “All-American”, and friendly African startups willing to offer a “part time CTO” for equity.
It’s overwhelming.
At every startup meetup, I run into entrepreneurs trying to find an agency.
At Carenade we vetted >100 different agencies.
So you want to hire an agency?
First, empathize. Read about feature creep, agile development, and read about how agencies find customers.
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- Build your DETAILED wireframes in Sketch or Xd.
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- Don’t skip step 1.
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- Then talk to agencies, lots of agencies.
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- Get quotes and talk to more agencies.
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- Don’t let them tell you it’s “impossible to give you a quote” – don’t listen the “building a house” analogy (you will see).
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- Compare the agencies prior work, talk to prior customers.
- Meet them in PERSON. Shake hands, learn who they are.
Finally, trust your gut.
Remember, these agencies are PROS. You are a newbie.
There is only one way a newbie can compete with the pros.
Diligence and hustle.