Please don't outsource your entire startup

Hey there,

Last week I launched a fun project called aipetavatar.com.
I built it in a week for $97 and a freelancer from Upwork who set up the API.

I’ll explain how I did it in a future post.

A few years back I worked at a startup that spent over $100,000 to outsource all development. It tanked hard and today the URL is dead: brightowl.pro

So that got me thinking. What is, and what is not worth outsourcing?

As with anything nowadays, it’s a spectrum…

Don’t outsource your whole startup

Let’s be clear, outsourcing everything is probably not a good idea. If you don’t know how to fly a plane, you shouldn’t get in behind the yoke, right?

The same principle applies here.

Let’s say you start a blog but don’t know how your CMS works, that will get costly rather quick. But do you need to know exactly how a complicated API connection works?

I think not.

Stay basic

If you want to be successful at hiring freelancers, here are 2 criteria:

1. You need to know the basics of the task

2. You need to pick the right one

Going back to the API example, you don’t need to know exactly how it works. Let someone more technical set it up.

On aipetavatar.com, I couldn’t figure out how to set up the connection myself. But I found someone who did it for me for $28.

I still knew how the parameters within the API code worked, and that was enough.

How to find the right one

Don’t go scrolling through the endless pages of qualified workers. Instead, post a job that allows freelancers to apply.

Come back after a few hours and you’ll have about 10 applications.
Check them out, go with your gut.

Pick out 2 or 3, send them a message, and choose whose response you like the best. You don’t want to be interpreting bad English and misunderstanding each other. Too much hassle.

Start with a small task, choose well and you’ll be fine.
But don’t outsource your entire startup, that’s a recipe for disaster.

Cheers,

Carlo