4 ms·

Not really seeing how this is anything more than a fancy outsourcing company. Yes, they can say "We're different because we have the best developers," but reall

by cool-RR 11y ago

Not really seeing how this is anything more than a fancy outsourcing company. Yes, they can say "We're different because we have the best developers," but really, lots of outsourcing companies say that.

rogerdickey 11y ago
A few other differences - you don't interface with developers, price is guaranteed, costs are lower because dev talent isn't in house (no holding cost).
- fweespeech 11y ago
  Have you ever worked at an outsourcing company? That is literally how it works at many of them, just fyi. I'd strongly, strongly recommend you hire someone who does PM for one of those companies if you are as oblivious to how they work as that statement just made it appear. > A few other differences - you don't interface with developers, Yeah, plenty of them just want you to talk to the PM. The only time I was ever brought into meetings was when it was a very, very large customer [e.g. Bigger than Zynga] and the contract was 7 figures. > price is guaranteed, Prices are often fixed in outsourcing contracts at a per-project price with a list of deliverables and features. > costs are lower because dev talent isn't in house (no holding cost). I've worked with outsourcing companies where they paid per-project or per-hour a specific project [usually projects under $20k] as their sole model. I worked with 2-3 at a time and just kept the apprised of my availability, one usually was the bread and butter while the other two handed me small projects [usually 80 hours or less].
- exelius 11y ago
  You mean just like I can get with Infosys or any of the boutique software dev consultants? Most of those guys don't even bother with the type of rapid prototyping it seems like you guys do because the margins are crap and the collection rate is abysmal. The client always expects more than can be delivered at the price point and then refuses to pay on the basis of non-fulfillment. Sure, you can go after them, but a single lawsuit will cost you half of the value of one of your projects. Prepayment isn't an option because you'd need to use something other than credit cards -- the chargeback rate would be far too high for any payment processor to keep you as a client.
- WalterSear 11y ago
  That's a ridiculously trite response.
narrator 11y ago
If you have the best developers, they will likely want to go get a better job at Google or Facebook than work in IT services.
- georgemcbay 11y ago
  They tout that their developers actually work for these companies on the side, which for me is (yet another) huge red flag for the whole thing in that if you're already making Google-money (which, even in SV, is "more than enough" if you're a talented developer) the $10,000-per-project side gigs you're working on are really easy to drop if even a bit of boredom creeps in, which it will since these are bound to be relatively cookie-cutter apps at those prices. The whole thing really doesn't make a lot of sense and is the first "YC" company that made me question if YC is maybe scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point in terms of what to fund.
  - harryjo 11y ago
    They probably have Google contractors, not employees. Or former employees, since their website has already shown to have proven deceptions (like claiming to have solely created Yahoo Weather)

by cool-RR 11y ago

rogerdickey 11y ago

A few other differences - you don't interface with developers, price is guaranteed, costs are lower because dev talent isn't in house (no holding cost).

fweespeech 11y ago
Have you ever worked at an outsourcing company? That is literally how it works at many of them, just fyi. I'd strongly, strongly recommend you hire someone who does PM for one of those companies if you are as oblivious to how they work as that statement just made it appear. > A few other differences - you don't interface with developers, Yeah, plenty of them just want you to talk to the PM. The only time I was ever brought into meetings was when it was a very, very large customer [e.g. Bigger than Zynga] and the contract was 7 figures. > price is guaranteed, Prices are often fixed in outsourcing contracts at a per-project price with a list of deliverables and features. > costs are lower because dev talent isn't in house (no holding cost). I've worked with outsourcing companies where they paid per-project or per-hour a specific project [usually projects under $20k] as their sole model. I worked with 2-3 at a time and just kept the apprised of my availability, one usually was the bread and butter while the other two handed me small projects [usually 80 hours or less].
exelius 11y ago
You mean just like I can get with Infosys or any of the boutique software dev consultants? Most of those guys don't even bother with the type of rapid prototyping it seems like you guys do because the margins are crap and the collection rate is abysmal. The client always expects more than can be delivered at the price point and then refuses to pay on the basis of non-fulfillment. Sure, you can go after them, but a single lawsuit will cost you half of the value of one of your projects. Prepayment isn't an option because you'd need to use something other than credit cards -- the chargeback rate would be far too high for any payment processor to keep you as a client.
WalterSear 11y ago
That's a ridiculously trite response.

narrator 11y ago

If you have the best developers, they will likely want to go get a better job at Google or Facebook than work in IT services.

georgemcbay 11y ago
They tout that their developers actually work for these companies on the side, which for me is (yet another) huge red flag for the whole thing in that if you're already making Google-money (which, even in SV, is "more than enough" if you're a talented developer) the $10,000-per-project side gigs you're working on are really easy to drop if even a bit of boredom creeps in, which it will since these are bound to be relatively cookie-cutter apps at those prices. The whole thing really doesn't make a lot of sense and is the first "YC" company that made me question if YC is maybe scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point in terms of what to fund.
- harryjo 11y ago
  They probably have Google contractors, not employees. Or former employees, since their website has already shown to have proven deceptions (like claiming to have solely created Yahoo Weather)