Hello! First off thank you for asking us here. My name is Humberto Valle, I'm the founder of Unthink Digital Marketing (www.Unthink.me) although we have some full stack programmers in our team, we don't offer software development as a service, however we do have a partner company that we refer work to. Below are some of our reasoning as to why we trust this company that maybe can help you decide on who to hire as you do your own search.

BetaBulls.com is an industry leader when it comes to full stack engineering. After talking with them we found out that they have done some custom platforms for government compliance systems, some IoT for healthcare facilities and some GPS based project management tool for a large construction company.
As you look around, ask for transparency from the team, they shouldn't have a problem in sharing previous work or references.

As far as BetaBulls.com, their pricing was very flexible. I know they've taken structures of monthly payments with or w/o equity depending on the startup and platform plus they offer a 30 day free trial and or money back guarantee.

If you are a software developer (i'm a novice) you would see right off the bat that companies that offer free trial periods is most likely because their customer service and their work is above average. We like to partner with companies that match our ideals and mission and are seeking for ways to help the startup guys and small business entrepreneurs who need more flexibility. As you search, look for a team that be a partner not a hired gun that is just sitting there waiting to be babysat. Hire those who can be teammates even if they work for another company or for themselves.

I presume the question is about one-time project based hire and not a full time resource. Google, as rightly mentioned by you, is definitely one of the ways to search for relevant agencies or vendors. Alternately, you can try one of the following as well:
1. You can try websites like LinkedIn, Quora, Clarity et al to get connected or introduced to a relevant agency or expert per your requirement. LinkedIn could be highly powerful in doing so.

2. Try freelancing websites like Upwork, Zintro, Maven etc to reach out to relevant experts and explore an engagement model.

3. If the project isn't too complex or in case you've 1-2 senior experts then hiring an intern and grooming him/her up could be one of the most cost effective way to get things done.

4. In case you've large capital reserve or are venture backed then you can consider hiring relevant experts. Again, LinkedIn could be the game changer here.

5. In case your business has relevant social presence, especially Facebook, then you can consider running a small campaign to receive relevant resumes.

Let me know if there's anything more I can help you out with. I can connect you to few agencies or experts if you could share the requirement. Happy to connect!!

You hit the nail on the head with the part of your question referencing trust. Sales and business development is really about getting the best/most efficient pathway towards building (or disqualifying) trust between buyer and seller. This is especially true in the services industry (and in my experience, definitely in the software world.) I've built and managed sales teams for several software firms (both SaaS platforms and completely built to spec application development services). At my development shop, Farshore Partners, we have people reach out to us through a myriad of channels (many find us through our blog posts/white papers which are highly ranked on Google.) While the volume and cadence of when these people come to us may change, the biggest difference I’ve found is how much time is needed to cultivate that trust with them.

Keyword searches are certainly the way a large number of people will initiate their search for finding the right development partner; but that step alone is very unlikely to be the only or even primary way they will select that partner. The same is true for searching for the company’s ratings and feedback on sites like Clutch (or even GlassDoor to see what their employees are saying). So being keyword relevant, or doing searches online as a starting point is very common, but is only a means to starting the process for people looking to hire software developers. Actually finding and securing a relationship with the “best” or “right” partner often includes many more steps along the way. Software development, like pretty much any other industry, is still strongly leveraged towards word of mouth and referral-based marketing. So if I was to be looking for a development partner (and I didn’t have my own shop at my disposal) I would start with asking my network of friends and associates first. Barring that, a Google search is always a great low barrier kick-off point.

If you’d like to discuss more about vetting or qualifying potential development partners, or any other items, feel free to reach out!

Hi there, my name is Przemyslaw Grzywa (it is not a cluster of random letters together, it IS my real name) and I am a co-founder of a software company providing web and mobile development.

Our experience says that generally you need to look for three things when choosing your software development provider:

1. Recommendations;
2. Referenced projects (best if these come from your industry);
3. Quality of the team.

Let us start with the first thing: recommendations from your peers and your network. Talk to your friends, post a question on Facebook or Linkedin that will reach your network asking for recommended company. I am sure you will get at least dozen of propositions. Talk to people about their experience with working with particular companies, ask for budgets and quality of their work. Discuss communication abilities and process behind the work. It is standard right now to work using agile methodology.

Next step is making a short list and see which of chosen companies worked with project similar to your own. Look for companies focused on particular industry or that has done some work in the past from your business sector. This will make sure you will get much more than just sofwtare development. You can also count on their knowledge and know-how that will help you better design and develop the product.

Finally, check the individual people from the team by looking at their Linkedin profiles. See if their post anything to share their knowledge with the network. Look for some hints to see whether "chemistry" is working for you as well. After all, these are the people you are going to spend a reasonable amount of time on-line (from couple of weeks to couple of months).

Last but not least - if you can't find anything don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask for testing or proof of concept possibilities. Make sure that you are positive about the company and feel comfortable with your choice.

Hi there

This is a pretty up-to-date question, and I heard this question from almost every second client. The lack of tech talent locally or unreasonably costly for you to hire in-house engineers - the most common reasons they start to search.

First of all, you have to determinate what kind of developers you need. For example, if you have a really tiny project or just need to make a small upgrade of existing software - you can hire a freelancer (it's a cheap and easy way). But if you have a project for creating an application for both IOS and Android - in my opinion, you have to search for a software development agency.  

Also if you are the non-technical person you need to let's say guidelines along this way - so better choose the company, who has a solid experience in such things you're going to build. 

Recently I wrote the article ( https://kitrum.com/blog/where-to-find-software-developers-with-reasonable-rates-for-a-startup-business/ ) and fully described the ways and methods of hiring software developers. I believe it'll be useful to you.

My personal tips: don't rely on the first-pages results from Google search. While software development companies pay for great SEO and PPC campaigns doesn't mean that they top-notch professionals in building applications or software. And, yep, Clutch is one of the most reliable and trustworthy platforms for finding developers even through they verify each and every review. From my own experience: they called our client to understand is it the truth that he satisfied with our cooperation. So this listing pretty truthful.

The initial stage of any start-up requires total dedication of each team member, and the development of a prototype and a minimum viable product lay the foundation for further development of a business. Additionally, pay attention to specialists that have adopted a user-centered approach to software design and development. Ideally, your team should work full-time to show complete dedication to the product. Each candidate should understand how to deliver value and make suggestions on how to upgrade the product.
You can read more here: https://themanifest.com/development/how-hire-software-engineers-your-startup
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath

It all depends on the project. How big it is and what are the deadlines.
If the project is small or you need a small number of developers, then you can get by with freelance platforms. It doesn't take long to find experienced developers for an affordable hourly rate.
But if the project is large and there is an urgent need to find a development team, I would follow these steps:

1. First of all, need to find an analyst who will determine the approximate duration of the project, the optimal number of people for the project, and the approximate cost.

2. Thereafter, when the approximate amount of costs is known, it is required to resolve the issue with the number of people in the team. This decision needs to be made based on several factors, the hourly rate and the quality of the services. For example, developers from India are very cheap, in the range of $10- $30 per hour, but there is a possibility that you can face problems of poor quality of development and poor communication. At the same time, more qualified US developers can ask for more than $150 per hour. In the case when the development budget is unlimited, then the process of selecting developers will not be difficult. If not, then you need to choose something in between. For example, developers from Eastern Europe. For any of these options, sites such as Clutch, GoodFirms, GitHub, StackOverflow, LinkedIn are suitable.

3. Further, comes the stage of hiring specialists. Choose candidates, learn information about them on specialized sites, find out their experience with certain technologies, what they are capable of. Write a description of their future position. The more detailed the description of their position, the better they will independently evaluate their chances of success. If they realize that they can not cope, then they will immediately say about it. Interviews with candidates. Don't make decisions for too long. Long-term decision-making can affect the developers' decision to work with you, but at the same time take enough time to make sure that each developer meets your requirements.

4. Next, start working on your project.

You can read more about some methods of hiring a software development team here https://vironit.com/how-to-find-and-hire-a-dedicated-software-development-team/
It provides a detailed description of the entire search process. Where to looking for? What should you pay attention to? etc.