Benefits to physical co-location at a startup stage (where you want to be moving very fast) are not to be overlooked. There's a reason people go to the lengths

Benefits to physical co-location at a startup stage (where you want to be moving very fast) are not to be overlooked. There's a reason people go to the lengths of living in the same house when working on a startup. If you really have to outsource then try to find the best engineers and hey, why not offer them equity if they are really good? Nothing like long term incentives to motivate people think long term. Avoid outsourcing houses where you never get to speak to the guy who is actually doing the work, just find talented individuals. Appreciate this might be tricky for startups who don't have a clue about code reviewing but generally HN freelancing threads would be a good start.