Should I just hire a developer or JV with one?

by 12 replies
14
Hi

I have been involved in creating Joomla extensions socioclick.com, wowjoomla.com, recly.com for about 4 years and wordpress plugins about 2 years.

I have been researching an involved in social media right from the outset e.g. got a few killer twitter vanity urls before people knew what twitter is twitter.com/opportunity is one of them.

So I have come up with a concept that I believe has the potential to be big [the research is solid].

I am looking at my options.

a) Self fund [since I pumped everything into the relaunch of wowjoomla.com will have to get the money]
b) Finder a coder who has the right skills to see if I can get a JV

What would anyone here advise?

In order to get it right the coder would need to have killer skill in coding and killer skill does not come cheap, i am talking .js/ajax/jquery/css/php. If it done it needs to be done right since the potential is outside of the IM community and if it gets flagged in front of media that covers tech stories ie. techcrunch, mashable, it could go extremely well, even picked up for a buyout.

Should I bite the bullet, find a local coder and pay shed loads of money in GBP [UK pounds], outsource to a coder to another country remotely or look at JV?

thanks
Azzam
#main internet marketing discussion forum #developer #hire
  • I don't have the answer for you, but I can say this.

    The "JV" you are talking about is more of a partnership.
    I've been in business for many years and partnerships
    very rarely work out.

    If you do that make sure everything is in
    writing and you have an exit strategy for
    both of you.

    Ideally you want to keep control of as much as you can.

    I can also tell you that the coders I have worked with are not
    business people and don't like risk. They would rather have
    a paycheck that a possible percentage.
    • [1] reply
    • A joint venture (JV) is a partnership. It's funny how IMers think that JV means a list swap. That is a form of joint venture, but the overall meaning of joint venture is a partnership where both parties share the risk.
  • It depends how much you think the project is worth or is likely to be worth. If you think it will be worth $30,000 then a partnership will cost you $15,000 when you may have been able to just pay $2000 for the coding.

    Hypothetical figures of course
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for the inputs. Food for thought, thanks.
  • Only you can decide really.

    Contrary to popular belief, developers with a business brain do exist although, granted, they are not the norm. They're business people first, skilled developers second and can bring a massive amount to the table.

    In my experience, the product will be better in this scenario but you'll need to give away a high percentage (like 50%) to get someone like this. That needn't be a problem - 50% of a lot is better than 100% of nothing.

    Cheers,

    Neil
  • If you have the money to just pay for the development up front, you should go in that direction. I would try to outsource if you can find quality. It will save you money and find a more enthusiastic developer.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for the responses guys, appreciate it.
  • I've been on both sides of situation in question. I'm a programmer, but I'm also a businessman.

    Neil is very right - a programmer partner (if you can find one) brings a lot to the table. A programmer who has a vested interest in the software will tend to get bug fixes out faster, will perform customer support from the mentality of an owner as opposed to an employee, will not disappear off the face of the earth as many outsourced programmers tend to do, and will allow you to concentrate on doing what you do best - marketing.

    You've got to weigh the anticipated workload against the potential profit. If you have to spend 8 hours a day fielding customer support questions, problems with installation, bugs, upgrade requests, etc, then it makes sense to pay a programmer 50% to handle all of that. Few things are worse than having to support a software product without having the capability to fix things yourself, and having your programmer disappear on you - it makes you look bad to your customers and causes a great amount of stress in your life.

    However, if your products are very simple, and there's not really any support required, it will make more sense to just outsource the development for a lower cost.

    And definitely take Blase's advice and plan for the end of the partnership at the beginning. You should both know exactly what happens when the partnership dissolves, who gets what and when. All partnerships come to an end eventually, so make sure that what happens in that event is in writing and well understood by all involved.

    Finally, keep in mind that copyright is automatically assigned to the author of a work, including programming code. Unless there is something specific in writing, the author of any code will by default own the copyright - that's the way it is in the States, UK may be different, so you'll want to check on that. If you end up going through Elance or similar sites, that'll likely be taken care of for you.

    Respectfully,
    Marc
  • thanks for all the feedback.

    The actual product I was thinking of does exist since we created it for Joomla.
    My partner who is a coder that built this will come on board for a 50/50.
    You may ask the question why I did not bring him on before? Well due to the relaunch of our wowjoomla.com site in august he has been inundated with that site. Now he can spare time to this project.

    A really cool coder, I pay him for the development; then we recoup my costs [whilst he continues to support] then we split the profits depending on the terms.

    If we share the costs of development then we split 50/50.
  • Universal principle in business: You JV for expansion opportunities, not for labor. A coder is labor workforce, thus it's best to be hired than partnershipped with.
    • [1] reply
    • thanks, did not look at it this way
  • I would say hire him because the kind of work you want to get done can be done by any good coder. When you partner with someone, it's not just the skill but the person also brings with him his contacts and connections. So to keep things clean and crystal clear, it's always better to hire in such a situation.
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