Teams for rent

[ciubotaruoa]

Hi,

Again, I am validating an idea for a friend of mine (real one, not imaginary).
He has a company with 20+ developers. Good ones, experience and skilled. The company has good portfolio.
They are developing their own product but wish to get into a new business: renting agile teams. Meaning teams between 5 and 8: devs and tester(s). One of devs is also TL.
The company has a scrum master and a tech lead. So, all teams work with them. They are not part of the teams being rented. Instead they are part of service fee.

Bottom line, the customer rents a team or more according to his needs. There is a price per team member, per level, per month. Pays for the team something like: the month upfront and last month warranty.

They would like to pitch this starting january.

Ok. This is already too long.

What do you think? Will something like this work? Would you pay for this if you would need it?

Thank you!

 

[fisicx]

People have been outsourcing dev work for years. Nobody really cares about you being agile or how the team is managed.

Consider that a client has a project, gives you the spec and you quote for the work. If accepted, you task the developers and deliver the project. Exactly like any other project.

I don’t want to rent a team, I just want you to deliver the completed project.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I don’t want to rent a team, I just want you to deliver the completed project.

Yup.

teams between 5 and 8: devs and tester(s). One of devs is also TL.
The company has a scrum master and a tech lead...

This means little or nothing to most clients....

 

[Paul Carmen]

No, only a large company or someone interested in a big project would look at this. Plus the way you're pitching it, only an agency or someone with web & project knowledge would get it.

This puts you up against large industry players, so you need a great USP to stand out, why would anyone choose you?

You need to work this the other way around, who's is the target customer, what can you do for them, how do you market this as a business?

 

[ciubotaruoa]

No, only a large company or someone interested in a big project would look at this. Plus the way you're pitching it, only an agency or someone with web & project knowledge would get it.

Yes. That.s the idea.

This puts you up against large industry players, so you need a great USP to stand out, why would anyone choose you?

Yes, they know about them and have couple of differenciators (except the price).

You need to work this the other way around, who's is the target customer, what can you do for them, how do you market this as a business?

Noted.

I think the idea is to look for companies that need good and fast development for a short-mid period of time. Getting a team from day one is quite something. Hiring a team takes time and money. Then you need to make it work etc.

Anyway, thannks for advise.

 

[fisicx]

You are missing the whole point. Companies don’t want a team. They want solutions. They brief you, you do the development, project gets delivered. How you organise or manage the developers it up to you.

 

[ciubotaruoa]

You are missing the whole point. Companies don’t want a team. They want solutions. They brief you, you do the development, project gets delivered. How you organise or manage the developers it up to you.

Well, not necessarly. Depends on their approach to outsourcing. The bigger the company, the more control they want. So, in this case they do not hand the project. They preffer integrating outside teams into their process. So, I guess that is the target.

 

[Mattymoomoo]

Well, not necessarly. Depends on their approach to outsourcing. The bigger the company, the more control they want. So, in this case they do not hand the project. They preffer integrating outside teams into their process. So, I guess that is the target.

It depends on company. I've worked with a company that got completely pissed off when the software company asked if they wanted to add new developer. They just wanted the project sorted. I've worked for another where 50% of all spend was on outsourcing developers and they knew the good developers by name and what they were working on. Some even reported directly to the company. So be flexible to client needs at the start, but defo money in it.

 

[fisicx]

Agree there is lots of work for developers. But it’s almost always to work on a project. Nobody cares if you are agile trained or not, delivery is the requirement not how you organise your team.

 

[ciubotaruoa]

Meanwhile I got feedback on linkedin from a guy that was CEO of a US company doing this. He said that were doing this usually for big projects (>500k). But while they were renting the team they still needed an upfront total time and cost for the project. Even if that was changing in time.

 

[ethical PR]

Well, not necessarly. Depends on their approach to outsourcing. The bigger the company, the more control they want. So, in this case they do not hand the project. They preffer integrating outside teams into their process. So, I guess that is the target.

And you/ 'your friend' knows this how?

 

[ciubotaruoa]

And you/ 'your friend' knows this how?

Hi,

I said above that a ceo confirmed his company was renting teams. As for my friend I think he did a little bit of research. But to know this and to know how it is done, it is a big difference.

 

[phryne]

You are missing the whole point. Companies don’t want a team. They want solutions. They brief you, you do the development, project gets delivered. How you organise or manage the developers it up to you.

You'd be surprised by how many clients actually care about the amount of developers and their seniority level, some going as far as wanting to interview each of them. I think it comes down to the implication of them making the calculation one way or another to what's the daily rate.
I've seen/heard of a few projects that had to be fully redone after the solution was delivered at a good price and time, just to crash and burn a few months later because of spaghetti. Bottom line being, some clients do care about the head count and seniority, especially the ones who have been burned before. Just something to consider.

 

[fisicx]

You'd be surprised by how many clients actually care about the amount of developers and their seniority level, some going as far as wanting to interview each of them. I think it comes down to the implication of them making the calculation one way or another to what's the daily rate.
I've seen/heard of a few projects that had to be fully redone after the solution was delivered at a good price and time, just to crash and burn a few months later because of spaghetti. Bottom line being, some clients do care about the head count and seniority, especially the ones who have been burned before. Just something to consider.

That’s different to what @ciubotaruoa is offering. It makes complete sense to interview developers for a project to make sure you get the right one for the job. The proposal here was you get a team - there didn’t appear to be any negotiation about the team structure or qualifications or integrations. As the employer you should be able to choose the developers you need for a project. Which negates the whole team proposal.

 

[Lion King]

Bottom line, the customer rents a team or more according to his needs. There is a price per team member, per level, per month. Pays for the team something like: the month upfront and last month warranty.

Maybe I'm shortsighted (?), but as I see it there is no business here.

Why?
Simply because what you are explaining is exactly what you do when you hire a company to perform a task whatever it might be. You "rent/hire" their staff to perform a job for you at a certain agreed price etc. Usually you just call it "Outsourcing" but not limited to that term of course.

 

[JamaC]

Asking the question

" We are looking to provide X services, what do you guys think"

Was never going to work

You would have got better feedback if you asked the question

" We are looking to provide X services to **ideal customer** what do you guys think".

And that seems to be the problem, you haven't identified your ideal customer.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Asking the question

" We are looking to provide X services, what do you guys think"

Was never going to work

You would have got better feedback if you asked the question

" We are looking to provide X services to **ideal customer** what do you guys think".

And that seems to be the problem, you haven't identified your ideal customer.

Or better still

I'm looking to provide X service, which solves Y problem, which has been identified by prospects in Z sector'

In common with 80% of start up idea threads, the OP here is trying to sell an idea to their self.