How to Find the Right App Development Partner

“Our client is our boss,” the saying goes. I am just wondering, is a tech vendor all we really are for some clients? Does this always happen? What are the implications of such a collaboration? I might not have all the answers, but I certainly grasp Tapptitude’s approach to this.

Tech vendor vs product partner

On the one hand, you might say that power is where money is–in this case, the client. The client has many options while being the final decision-maker. The client is the one defining the terms of the exchange; without a doubt, the client is always right. Since the money comes from them, the tech vendor must put together a financially-attractive proposal, execute his expectations, and never upset him. Serving the client at all costs seems mandatory; otherwise, there is no business. Here, we can (imperfectly) say our client is our boss. Yet this complete ownership comes with the caveat that for success in the long run, the client should have a clear roadmap for what they’re building and the know-how to evaluate the performance of the vendor.

On the other hand, however, you might be more utopian. You could tend to believe in an equal partnership, where both parties have an essential and hopefully straightforward say. A partnership where there are expectations on how the product is built, but they’re not imposed by one side but rather decided together. A way of doing things that enhances each other’s expertise and where the power is shared. A partnership where value is created at multiple levels and putting a price tag on it (even though it happens) is in vain. Here, we can (imperfectly) say our client is our partner.

Signs you should be looking for a new development partner

If you’re considering switching your development partner, it helps to remember that you’re the one paying the bills. Your partner might have the technical know-how to build your product (and even keep it working), but you also have a lot of power in shaping the relationship.

Although I typically only hear the founders’ side of the story, I can usually spot mistakes they’ve made in picking their partner. Here are some examples:

No proper due diligence about the team’s competencies and delivery track record;
Rushing into a partnership for the sake of starting to build right away (reputable agencies don’t usually have teams or developers on the bench available to start within a couple of weeks);
Going with a cross-platform framework (most common React Native or Flutter) without taking into account its limitations for the type of product you’re looking to build or the level of expertise the agency has on that framework;
Asking for a fixed price quotation before the product is fully defined (not trusting the time & material model or the steps needed in order to get to a fixed budget agreement)
Not clarifying how the team that will work on your product looks like and how much of their working time they will spend to work on your product;
Not clarifying the IP implications (you’d be surprised how creative some agencies can get with reusing code they don’t own the IP for or even buying templates from Codecanyon);
Having unrealistic expectations about the development velocity.
Trying to build bootstrapped, thinking that will get you in a better position to raise your first round
Going with a partner that won’t challenge you and only tells you what you want to hear

To conclude, take a hard look at what went well and what went wrong. Rinse and repeat what has helped you. Learn from your mistakes. Are you in a better position to work with a more reputable (and often not as cheap) development agency or product studio or do you need to go back to the drawing board (and maybe to investors to raise a round)?

How-to-choose-the-best-mobile-development-agency

Can the new partners continue from where the previous developers left off?

In an ideal scenario, your old development partner will hand over your codebase and upload it onto a repository you manage. From there, your new partners can take over and continue the work. But that is not always a smart idea… or the most productive path. Sometimes understanding another developer’s approach can be slower than rewriting it from scratch, especially if there is no documentation and they are no longer available to assist in this process.

Another piece of advice here – try to get more than just one assessment of the code quality and avoid agencies that will only tell you what you want to hear to get your business. It’s better to prioritize transparency than too good to be true news.

How to choose the right app development agency

Understand what the agency or product studio stands for

Getting to know a future partner as well as you can is always a smart business move, regardless of your industry or niche. Picking the right mobile app development company to help you build your product is no exception.

Do the usual first: jump on a video call early in the process, as that will tell you more than a series of email exchanges. Chat with the people from the agencies you’ve selected and allow them to challenge you. Moreover, visit their office if it’s feasible for you. By doing this, you’ll see the environment the team is working in. Is it nice? Is it comfy? Is it the right vibe? Would you be happy working there yourself? You can tell a lot about people by the way they maintain their surroundings.

Meet the people that will be working on your mobile product. The greatest danger in this stage is that you are charmed by some salespeople who sell you the moon, and then you’re thrown into a team that you can hardly communicate with and who struggle to deliver.

The solution for this is that you spend a bit more time understanding those people and having real conversations with their delivery teams. Have a chat with them and see what they’re like. Pay close attention to what they’re saying verbally, as well as non-verbally. Would you hire them? Would you enjoy working with them?

Do your homework and due diligence

The mobile app development agency you’re looking into surely has a portfolio available on their website, so you can get a glimpse into what they’re all about. You could even kindly ask to chat with some of their former clients, to understand how they worked together and how the team delivered. Any serious product company would gladly share references and show you some products they’ve worked on.

It’s vital to know what other projects this team has worked on and how they handled them. This is both a way of knowing what capabilities the agency has, as well as seeing how they implement those capabilities. Past clients will either confirm or “re-assess” the agency’s pitch; it’s that simple. How other people talk about them can be quite telling on how they deliver. You can look for them on platforms like Clutch (to see how previous clients described their experiences together) or Glassdoor (to see how past or present teams rated them as an employer).

Check out the agency’s product capabilities

As you’re checking out the website and portfolio of a mobile app development agency, take a good look at the core product capabilities they promote. What do they feel they’re best at? If they’re smart, they’ll stick to the capabilities they actually have.

Make a list of what you need and look at what the studio is offering. If the two align, then you might have found a good match. Have a sit-down to establish that both you and the product studio are going into this wholeheartedly and that neither of you has puzzling expectations.

As we’ve already mentioned, you should check out an agency’s previous projects. It’s important to assess if the team is capable of understanding the precise challenges you and your business face. If they don’t, working together would be a waste of time for both parties.

Look for consistent processes that work

Remember we advised you to visit the agency and get to know the people that will do the work? We still stand by that.

Not only will you see that the office actually exists, but you could learn something about the developers’ level of expertise, for example. Do they have senior people who really understand your challenges? A senior team will always cost more, but that will usually bring a lot more ROI at the end of the day. So, be mindful of what you actually count as success.

The product development process is quite important when working with a remote team, as that will give you an understanding of how things will happen and when. But people are the core of all this. An experienced product studio should be able to guide you in making the right decisions regarding product roadmaps and priorities and guide your focus on being effective in your product planning. Their product managers should feel like your internal team, bringing you clarity, transparency, and peace of mind that things are in control.

Prioritize transparency and flexibility

Transparency is key, especially when working with a remote mobile app development company. Both you and the product studio should communicate openly and consistently. It is important for the agency to understand what your plans are and what you think you need, because only from those elements will they be able to provide value to you.

You will need to share designs, product documents or pieces of code, in order for them to start understanding your vision and how they could help. Signing NDAs is business as usual in this space if you feel the need to get that protection, but the more important element is to actually treat the product studio you chose as a partner.

Recognize and place value on expertise and experience

When trying to find the best mobile app development agency to bring your idea to life, you want to hire a team with expertise in defining, building and scaling products. Do your due diligence and filter well, but after you choose a team, trust their advice. Most likely, they’ve seen many products that had similar challenges and they’ve seen countless mistakes done by founders like yourself.

Allow the experts to share their thoughts and opinions openly and honestly, even if they might disagree with you. The people working on your app have its best interest at heart: they want to see the product succeeding just as much as you do, since it is a clear statement of their capabilities and professionalism.

Know that you’ll get what you put in – including money

We all want more for less and faster. But when it comes to developing mobile products, you can hardly cut corners by ‘building cheap.’ Cheap is always too good to be true and it will bite your fingers later.

You know how it goes: you pay less and you believe you made a bargain, but what you get in return is lower quality or slower delivery, and that hurts you. You still paid your money, but you didn’t receive your goods. Now you need to find another solution, from a position where you have (even) less money, more paranoia and higher expectations. That’s a difficult game to play successfully.

When you choose a better product studio, you know you will pay more, but the chances that you will receive solid solutions also increase exponentially. Choosing an experienced mobile app development company that’s a leader in its vertical, has years of business under its belt, dozens of happy clients and a great team doesn’t come cheap, but it brings predictability and reliability. When our clients ask us about these areas, we always tell them that the risk (to not be around in the next 3-5 years) is always on them, as it’s more difficult to grow a product business than it is to grow a solid services business that delivers consistent work.

Money-wise, you should do your research beforehand and be very clear on what your limits are, as no one has the time to waste on ‘negotiating’ something unclear. You need to understand what you can afford and therefore, what you’re asking for. At times, even though we have a great fit, your timeline or budget constraints would not allow us to work together.