Find solution
What are the most successful online businesses?

Are there any examples of online businesses who outsourced their development and gone on to become very successful?

  • Are there any big brand pure online businesses (not just the online arm of an existing offline business) that have outsourced their entire development process? To clarify my question - I am talking about outsourcing development. I know that a lot startup companies will outsource / consider outsourcing, but my question (amended) is whether any of these are successful (I mean really successful - $100m +)?

  • Answer:

    built the initial app by spending $200 on ($10 an hour). http://digg.com/news/technology/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00 He got really lucky. Presumably he also knew some web design basics. I believe he outsourced in the US. In the non-million dollar success area, several top were outsourced on .  I don't know where they found their developers, but I do know they used a heavy filter during their HR process. There are handfuls of offshoring businesses in the US who have rooms of software or apps developers (15+). I believe the most prominent platforms these days are Elance, Odesk, and the new player in Solvate who is reasonably high level US talent. http://www.elance.com/ https://www.odesk.com/ http://www.solvate.com/ My experience outsourcing and from everything I hear suggest that you should be deliberate about: 1. Creating a good wireframe of your application (web or mobile) 2. Time zones (they are often 8 to 12 hours off your time) 3. Keeping things on track (accountability and focus) 4. Being clear 5. Allot extra time & extra money to fix or debug your app How to deal with the time zone issue with outsourcers: 1. Outsource your app locally 2. Purchase services from developers who are willing to adjust (make this part of the interview process and formal work requirements) 3. General flexibility.  Work in times of overlap of working and/or waking hours. 4. Hire a project manager who works on their time.  This seems like creating another problem & generally wasting money for smaller projects.  This extra money could be spent on hiring someone to fix the problems (kind of a beta-developer).

Nathan Ketsdever at Quora Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Yes, there are. Some of the agencies we have worked with are outsourcing some huge games/mobile projects overseas and the project budgets are through the roof. But in the end, it's really about finding the right team be it India, China, Vietnam, Russia. Because it really doesn't matter what the hourly rate is if they aren't a reliable and quality dev team. And if they do have a good dev team they need an even better project manager(s) to make it work.

James Ivaldi

We already have some good examples of developing software products for startups in this outsourcing company. Unfortunately, we couldn't tell about all cases because of NDA. Please take a look on one good example http://inflection.com/about/loca... Website http://www.archives.com, one of the outsourcing results, has millions users a day.

Iryna Avrutova

I do not know of a company that outsourced their development and has made over $100m+ (though I am positive that there are), that said Victoria Ransom from WildFireApp; a platform for contests and promotions on Facebook did exactly what you have asked and so far her company is doing great. She also did an interview with Andrew Warner from Mixergy and during the interview she explained in detail how she achieve her success.

Owen McGab Enaohwo

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.