Ask HN: Reasonable approach to outsourcing MVP app? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Reasonable approach to outsourcing MVP app?

7 pointsfratlas14 comments

Just wondering if anyone here has outsourced their app development: where to, and how much should I expect to pay?

Fratlas,

What would success look like for you with this project? Since you mentioned that you're trying to create an MVP, success to me at this stage means that you've successfully validated your idea and are ready to start scaling.

Are you bootstrapping a SaaS app? Looking to get initial traction to show investors?

Your needs are going to vary wildly depending on what your business goals are. And for me, these questions are vital before starting a project.

Next year I plan on doing consulting work. My email is in my profile if you'd like chat more or have any questions.

There are agencies/dev shops that -- assuming they like your idea -- will take a piece of equity and charge a bit less.

Go with one of these shops so incentives are aligned and they truly care about building your product rather than just billing hours. I know (but don't work for) a couple and am happy to provide a referral, feel free to send me an email.

As for cost, I find Gigster's pricing examples to be pretty accurate: https://gigster.com/pricing

My agency has a particular focus on working with startups to build their MVP. It can definitely be done and there are a lot of great suggestions in this thread. A few key things that we look for as the people on the other side of the table from you:

* Clear understanding of the problem you are trying to build an MVP for

* Wireframes / UI Mockups / User flows / User stories are so, so beneficial

* Being open and realistic in regards to timeframe which depends on the complexity of MVP

* Willingness to communicate often and stay in touch regularly throughout the build.

Happy to discuss offline if you'd like to talk about it more. My email is on my profile. We're based in Australia.

My experience after building 10+ MVP:

- Don't approach agencies without Wireframes (Do it in Sketch, Paper or Proto.io)

- Hire a consultant to document your applications processes, diagrams and clear objectives (Spending 2 to 5k on this would save you 20k for sure)

- You can rely on Crew, Gigster for excellent but expensive developers

- You can rely upon dev/design studios in Ukraine, Uruguay, Belarus etc.

- Smart way to execute is, first get your branding and final designs with designer

- Hire development agencies locally or outsourced in India or above-mentioned countries

- You can buzz me if you are building iOS App (Would love to share my recent learnings)

An ideal MVP can be made in 10k to 20k

Hey Fratlas, what are you trying to build? Outsourcing can be a tricky thing... I've seen it go wrong more times than right.

Simple(ish) CRUD App? My budget is ~50-80k, is that reasonable?

Not really that unreasonable, but maybe a bit high. I'd be more than willing to bet that if you down-scope your feature set by 10%, you'd cut development costs by 50%. What exactly are you building?

Reading up on it, I'm starting to think it should be around 15-25k. It's a simple app which involves payment systems, GPS and talking to 1 or 2 APIs, with a very simple FE.

Without disclosing anything proprietary, I challenge you to describe your "MVP in Three". In other words, what are the three most important value-creating activities your app will facilitate?

Reduce inefficiencies in waiting times on C2B sales through GPS tracking (pretty hard to explain without mentioning the domain).

Not quite what I was looking for, but I'll take it. How's the development hunt going?

I think so. I've been quoted 10-20k for a mobile app (here in Uruguay). Costs do pile up, but 50 to 80k, well managed should get you way beyond an MVP.

I'd try to budget half for marketing, testing and other non-development activities.

Edit: Gigster's estimates sound okay.

Hi Fratlas- my name is Steve, I work on the project development team at Gigster. Happy to chat with you about our process and pricing, shoot me an email at steve.s@gigster.com.

Can you share some contact details?

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