How To Find The Right Mobile App Development Partner For Your Startup

The advent of mobile apps has helped many startups and big brands to expand their business and unlock market reach like never before. By 2023, mobile app revenues are expected to reach 935.2 billion US dollars. In North America alone, the number of mobile app downloads is set to reach 15.2 billion by 2023. These numbers indicate the fact that the best way for businesses to reach consumers is through applications.

But are you someone who has a brilliant app idea but is still clueless about how to turn it into a robust, flexible, and scalable solution? If yes, you need to hire the best mobile app development partner to succeed. 

How to choose the right app development partner for your startup?

The choice of the startup’s app development team contributes a major role in the application’s success. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare yourself with the right tips and strategies to onboard the right app development team.

Here are some helpful tips to follow if you are looking forward to create a mobile app startup in 2024

1. Understand your project needs: Before you get into the mobile app development partnership, make sure you have clarity about your company’s goals, requirements, and what you’re expecting from app developers for your startup. 

If you’re not sure about your expectations from the app development company, then your collaboration might not be effective as your development partner might not be able to deliver that perfect solution for your startup. 

You need to have the answers to these questions before hiring the mobile development partner for your project:

• What is the objective of your project?
• Who will be your target audience?
• What is the market scope of your project?
• What are your budget limits?
• What strategy do your competitors follow?
• How will you collaborate with the development team?

 2. Conduct market research: Before you begin the process to find developers for your startup, make sure to do an in-depth market analysis.

 Before you assign a task to anyone, it’s important that you know the ins and outs of the industry. If you’re new to app development, then it makes sense to consult a few app development specialists to gain some basic knowledge. 

 Learn about the programming languages app development companies use in projects and the average hourly rates and experience of their developers. This will help you narrow down the app development companies. 

3. Select an experienced app development team: If the firm has prior experience working on similar apps, it would be an added advantage to explain what you exactly need. The practical experience of handling a similar app can make a great difference in the quality of your project. 

It would also give you a sense of confidence while handing over the project. Besides, there might be valuable suggestions to enhance the current ideas as they know what works and what does not. 

You can check the portfolio of the app development company to determine what type of projects they have worked upon. This will help you decide whether they are a good fit for your project or not.

4. Screen the team and app developers: Evaluating the portfolio of app development companies will give you an idea of their working capabilities. Also, a fool-proof way could be reading clients’ testimonials or users’ feedback before handing over the project. 

While screening, you could contact them to cross-verify the quality of services. You could inquire about their technology, user experience, and payment model. Make sure that they have the exact skills you’re looking for.  

5. Inquire about app development costs: The cost of mobile app development for startups is often the number one factor that determines the choice of development partner. However, cheapest isn’t always the best option while selecting a mobile app development company – quality also matters! 

The best way is to go through a few proposals with a detailed work breakdown and then compare the time estimates and project plans. Understand the number of hours and resources each company is proposing, and then do a comparative analysis of their total costs. 

Making payments in line with delivery milestones ensures that you and the development company are aligned towards delivering the project within budget and on time. 

6. Communicate regularly with the app development team: Working with an app development company requires regular communication to lead the project on the right path. Before hiring app developers for startup, make sure they are ready to work in different time zones and open to flexible reporting procedures. 

Communicating regularly will help you portray a clear picture of the project and develop long-term relationships with your mobile development partner for further projects. 

In addition, following the standard communication procedure will always maintain transparency with your development partner.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while communicating

• Figure out the platforms you’ll communicate through
• If not with everybody, try to talk to the lead developers and designers
• Try to understand how your app development partner creates the workflow for developing an application

7. Pay attention to commitment of meeting deadlines: Delivering projects on time is an important factor to consider when searching for the right app development partner for your startup. If the provider fails to meet the project deadline, it can lead to major breaches and additional costs. 

If you hire a provider backed by a pool of dedicated developers with years of experience in handling complex projects, there will be less chance of missing deadlines.

8. Ask for app maintenance policy: When working with an app development company, ask them about their app maintenance policy. Discuss the charges for assistance in the future, ongoing support, cost per new release, and their policy on fixing bugs. The policy of companies should be transparent from the beginning.

9. Inquire about app security measures: Since app development involves business credentials and other critical information, it’s important to verify the app security measures an app development company follows. 

Outsourcing a project to a software development company that signs non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and adheres to other security measures will be the right choice for you. 

10. Check design aspects: When developing a mobile app, user experience should be the topmost priority. The design takes the prime spot to achieve it. The previous work of the app development company reveals their design principles and how user-friendly their creations are. 

Creative direction from the developers is important as they know what can be achieved. Some firms also offer a mock-up of design during the proposal phase, which is an advantage.

Now that we have seen how to find app developers for startups, let’s move on to the mistakes to avoid while choosing software developers for startups. 

Mistakes to avoid while looking for the perfect development partner

Finding the right development partner is crucial to building your digital product. While searching for a partner, make sure you don’t make the following mistakes. Or else, all your efforts will go in vain. 

1. Don’t decide only on the cost factor: While every startup has a budget for app development, cost should not be the only deciding factor to choose the app development partner. Spending less on your app can result in total failure if it does not satisfy the business and user requirements. It may also result in additional costs in the long run. 

2. Don’t overlook confidentiality requirements: Do not underestimate or overlook the significance of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement for your development project. Don’t choose development partners that are reluctant to sign an NDA.

3. Do not select a company that avoids documentation: All documentation, including the requirement specifications jointly agreed upon by you and the app development partner, is crucial for any development project. You should discuss all the documentation requirements with the partner upfront and should never choose a company that is reluctant to the required documentation.

Choosing the best app development partner: Final thoughts

If you follow the above-listed steps and practices, you will find the development partner that best suits your needs in the long term. 

To sum it up, here are a few questions that you must ask your development partner before making the final decision.

• How many projects have you handled so far?
• Have you built anything similar to the app I want for my startup?
• What is your development process?
• What is your team size?
• How do you estimate the cost of the app development?
• What kind of post-launch app maintenance services do you offer?
• Do you sign an NDA?
• How will I get updates about my project?

Since we’re on this topic, consider working with Appinventiv, a leading mobile app development company. We have worked on several versatile mobile apps for Android and iOS. Our team of experts helps businesses and startups develop top-notch apps that customers embrace. 

For instance, our team of experts helped Dominos to bring a steep rise of 23% in their conversion rate by redesigning their app’s UX. The users are now spending more time within the app not just to place their orders but also to track them in real-time.

For another client JobGet, we created an application that makes the job search process easier for blue-collar workers. From understanding the client’s vision to creating an MVP, we helped them in every step of their product development journey. 

Since the launch of the application, JobGet has bagged $2.1 million funding and more than 1,50,000 job seekers have been placed. 

So, if you’re looking for a trusted app development company for your startup or want to hire developers, feel free to contact us. We will be delighted to help you!

THE AUTHOR

Saurabh Singh

CEO & Director