Everything You Should Know Before Hiring an App Developer Company

Hiring a mobile app development company can be as scary as hell!

I’m saying this from experience. I have been on the other side of the table.

I’ve been the one holding my dreams in my hands, talking to app developers, holding a sum of money, trying to decide where to allocate my money to. It was truly worrisome.

Every app developer promised me the moon and the stars, little did I know that most of them were not what they seemed.

This is why I started SleekDigital, and I promised something to my clients: I will not bullshit anyone. And I share the same philosophy throughout my team.

We will not sell useless apps that end up becoming white elephants after months and months of development.

We do not want to build apps unless the company or startup really needs it.

SleekDigital might not be the best-fit app developer for everyone, but we try to be honest and direct about it as much as possible.

There are many ways to tell if the client-developer relationship is a good fit. Some are tactical, others are strategic. Some are just gut-feeling when you can click well with the developer.

In this blog post, I am going to try and explain all the ins and outs before hiring an app developer. Heck, I will even tell you when you shouldn’t hire us!

Let’s have some fun.

Some Truths About Mobile App Development

Let’s kick off this blog post by letting you understand some things clearly.

Before engaging an ap developer, you should have a firm understand of these concepts related to mobile app development. You should also understand the effectiveness of building a mobile app for your company.

Your Mobile App Will Not Be Successful Overnight

Any app developer that tells you that your app will be successful in a few weeks is lying, delusional, or both.

It takes great execution and a great idea combined to increase the odds of success in a mobile app.

App Development Seldom Reach Massive Success in Version 1

Mobile apps need multiple versions in order to iterate the idea to perfect product-market-fit.

Rarely will a mobile app reach critical mass in the first version.

Develop And Hope Is Not A Strategy

At times, startups and SMEs launch a brand new mobile app, hoping for cash to rake in. However, it takes much strategy, planning and marketing to allow the app to take off quickly.

If your marketing involves blasting an Instagram post to 200 followers, don’t expect much to happen.

Off-The-Shelves Mobile App Development is Not Reliable

App developers offering mobile app development with ready-made solutions generally do not offer the best quality.

What you have in return for a good price is a low-quality app, many bugs, limited customisations, and every nightmare you can ever wish for.

Without Motivation, User Will Never Download an App

Ask yourself this, will you download an app if there is no reason to? Definitely not.

If you want to buy something, would you rather key in a URL in the browser to buy it quickly, or download an app? Of course, keying in a URL will be simpler.

This is why SleekDigital always advocates user acquisition strategies.

Are we on the same page? Good.

Let’s move on to the actual decision making.

In-House vs Freelancers vs Agency

Have you already decided that you will be opting for a mobile app development company? Feel free to skip this section!

If not, let’s check out our options you have for developing a mobile app.

You have these main options:

1. Hire/Train an in-house app developer team
2. Find/Qualify freelancers or a team of freelance app developers
3. Outsource your work to a mobile app development company like SleekDigital

Of course, it is possible to choose some combination of these 3 approaches, but let’s assume that your choice will be to choose between these available options.

There are benefits and drawbacks for each structure of app developers, but ultimately it is up to you.

Firstly, for an in-house app developer team, the main benefit is that they are solely working on your project. However, you will need to train the team to work together to build the app effectively.

Secondly, for freelancers, the key drawback is the dependability. Since they are not a company, they might not have the management or motivation to develop the app as per expectations.

For outsourcing to a company like us, you will be getting full-suite services, and knowing that each service is something that you will need for the success of the mobile app.

How about we save your time? Drop us an enquiry, and we will tell you straight up if we are a good fit for your startup or company?

Contact us for an app development enquiry!

Offshore vs Onshore vs Hybrid App Developers

Word has it that we can exploit offshore app developers to get the best price.

It is true that offshore app developers offer the best price. However, there are many situations where customers have faced terrible experiences.

Ask around and you might be able to find someone with a similar experience.

If you are looking for onshore app developers, you can physically meet up with them and provide feedback.

It is just a personal touch that is not achievable with offshore developers.

At SleekDigital, we are working on a hybrid model. Half of our team is offshore while half of our team is here in Singapore. This helps us communicate with clients effectively and keep our costs low at the same time.

The quality and personal touch of SleekDigital is that of a full-local team agency that might cost a multiple of what we are charging.

Speak with our local app developers today!

Agency Capabilities vs Your Goals

You will also have to take note of the agency’s strategy for you.

Are they just developing the app as per your instruction?

Or are they also providing valuable input so that you can grow your business?

Many app developers are technically trained with limited business acumen. This is a drawback for many app developers.

SleekDigital is able to breakdown your business goals and develops a system that is suitable for your business goals.

Not only that, but we are also able to implement growth strategies that can help you acquire app users quickly in the initial stages.

We are also in-tuned with the latest marketing ideas. These help your app grow quickly as well!

Marketing and tech go together more than people think. If the marketing team is independent of the tech team, the campaign might not work out as great as expected.

A Little Something About SleekDigital

SleekDigital adopts a (G)rowth, (L)ean, (A)gile, (D)esign Thinking approach where we help implement effective mobile app development strategies into our client projects.

Growth – Functionlaiies in the app that can help with user acquisition, user activation, user retention, and user monetisation.

Lean – Limiting initial functionalities to save investment costs.

Agile – Breaking development cycles into small sprints to gather feedback from the client.

Design Thinking – Ensuring that we are solving the right problems.

We are confident to say that SleekDigital is the top mobile app development company in Singapore.