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Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

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Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#81

Post by FrankLicea »

edferda wrote: post #80

Hey this looks pretty awesome. Currently I work in LATAM for international corporations and it is also hard for us, developers, to find a good fit. Dealing with Latin American agencies is always a pain, it seems Astro might attract companies that care more about their people and building quality, long term relationships. What are you doing to treat candidates like human beings? How do developers join your roster?

Thank you for the kind words! Your experience is exactly why we built Astro!

We do a few things 1) Astro provides a standard set of benefits and perks, this tends to attract companies with great culture, 2) Because Astro isn't a project-for-hire platform, this also attracts companies that need long-term teammates, and 3) the Astro team isn't scared to provide insight to companies on how to best retain their international teammates; salary reviews, career paths, meaningful local perks, and time off. We know that professionals in LATAM have lots of options.

See my email in my profile so I can tell you more about how to join the platform!

Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#82

Post by smallerfish »

woleium wrote: post #70
smallerfish wrote: post #25

Not to be a downer, but that's pretty expensive. I spent last week in [latam capital city] and met with 3 local outsourcing firms, down from 6 that I'd pre-screened by Zoom. I then reduced the list to 2 based on the co-founders of each being technical, and their solid recruiting practices. Both have offices which devs are free to come into (or work remotely), both pay salaries and offer benefits, both provide embedde…

Would you be willing to share your research? my email is on my profile if you are.

Sure, emailed.

Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#83

Post by TuringNYC »

rootsudo wrote: post #58
FrankLicea wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback, I see your point! That's on oversight on our side, nothing nefarious intended, we'll have to figure how to best spell out the pricing. Pricing-wise, I'd say the all-in fees on a per dev basis are comparable to a developer's salary here in the US (Austin, TX), the fees are all inclusive of benefits, tech equipment, offices, perks, etc... When you decide to make an offer to someone, you'll get…

"Pricing-wise, I'd say the all-in fees on a per dev basis are comparable to a developer's salary here in the US, the fees are all inclusive of benefits, tech equipment, offices, perks, etc..." Well, then as a USA based org, I'd have to say - what's the point? If it's comparable to a USA dev Salary, what savings/arbitrage/win a I achieving here? Wouldn't it be easier for a USA based company to just corp 2 corp/1099 or…

>> If it's comparable to a USA dev Salary, what savings/arbitrage/win a I achieving here? Wouldn't it be easier for a USA based company to just corp 2 corp/1099 or such someone onshore, then offshore and have a middle man?

I'm not affiliated with the GP, but here are my takes:

1. Talent is talent, so doesnt matter where you hire from as long as it is good talent with good communications skills

2. I cant find someone overseas, so this is a good platform to do so

3. I dont want to deal with international money transfers/taxes/restrictions, so this takes care of that

4. I doubt you can get this type of talent at Austin rates, so the rates are good. If you need talent NOW, it is even harder to get it at good rates

Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#84

Post by ivanmontillam »

rootsudo wrote: post #59
ivanmontillam wrote: post #48

Venezuela and Argentina have vibrant software development community, but have challenges in terms of payment methods, specifically about local currencies. How'd you deal with that? The challenge with Venezuela and Argentina is that you cannot pay developers in local currency, otherwise they'd be losing a truckload of revenue (e.g. Argentina is heavily taxed for remote workers and the official exchange rate for foreig…

The easiest way is to pay in dollars and advise them to not use the Government rate/bank rate to convert. There is a market rate and government rate - and there are services that will just pay out in Dollars in those countries. Also, cryptocurrency. Ironically enough.

Exactly, but do you realize that's tax evasion in Argentina? By law[0], all foreign income must be converted into ARS (Argentinian Peso) using the Government rate/bank rate.

And yes, I meant "tax evasion", not "tax avoidance". "Tax evasion" the illegal version of the topic.

--

[0]: https://maxifirtman.medium.com/gu%C3%ADa-definitiva-para-cob... (in Spanish)

Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#86

Post by FrankLicea »

lincolnParkKid wrote: post #85

What about it is at all different from toptal, Turing and the like?

As mentioned above, you can think of Astro as something like a love child between Toptal + Gusto + WeWork + Amazon. Unlike Toptal or Turing, etc, we fulfill local benefits, equipment, even team-building events.

We’re proud of the fact that developers in Latin America have a much better experience working with us. That’s because our customers (i.e. the companies using Astro) are looking to scale their engineering departments with long-term stakeholders, not temporary “horsepower”, and also because real tech culture (the sort of thing devs in Silicon Valley take for granted) is a huge draw for developers, but nearly impossible to find via outsourcing shops, and very hit-and-miss on Toptal/Turing.

We believe our approach gives teams access to teammates that are otherwise unreachable on platforms like Toptal, etc. and traditional outsourcing/staffing firms.

Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#89

Post by FrankLicea »

whymauri wrote: post #87

Are early startup employees in Latin America finally getting stock or are they going to continue being exploited as they build unicorn after unicorn?

It's up the companies to make compelling offers to candidates if they want to find good people. What I can tell you is that this is more common now then when we first started, which we're very glad about!

In fact, on our platform we've seen some companies not only provide stock options but some even pay US level wages, or significantly above local market to entice professionals to join their teams.

The companies that provide these kinds of offers don't fit in the traditional outsourcing models. We believe Astro fits them better to attract talent that isn't accessible with the more traditional channels.

Re: Launch HN: Astro (YC W21) – Build your own dev teams in Latin America

#90

Post by FrankLicea »

0xfacfac wrote: post #88

This is the same as Austin Software, right?

Astro is by Austin Software! It's a productized version of what we do.

People kept thinking that Austin Software was a product outsourcing firm, i.e. they kept asking us for quotes or rate cards, etc. So to avoid confusion we built Astro, which is a UX over our team building infrastructure.

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