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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

#101

Post by FrankLicea »

mattfrommars wrote: post #97

Fantastic work. Basically, you want to be the TCS, Accenture of South America. Awesome. What I'd love to know is how did you get 50+ US start up to use your services? How did you compete/or reach out to the folks who are directly involved in vetting outsourcing firms to use your services and not the industrial standard TCS/Accenture/Wipro - who dominate the space. I do want to start an outsourcing agency one day but…

Really good question. Honestly, it was word of mouth and referrals. I had a successful career as a software developer and product manager for various startups and large companies in the Austin area. Eventually I had colleagues that went off to leadership positions at other companies. Jacqueline was similar but on the sales side.

The biggest advantage we had in getting started was trust. Also in the beginning, we didn't quite start out with our grand vision. We picked up PM work and projects and miscellaneous things here and there, but slowly that expanded our network of people who previously worked with us. We asked all these early customers for introductions to other teams. Overall it took us 3 years.

Is there something you could do to generate a working relationship with your prospects that leads to trust?

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

#102

Post by FrankLicea »

pelagicAustral wrote: post #94
FrankLicea wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Alo! As a dev, where do I register for the platform?

Send me an email and I'll get you setup. See my email in my profile!

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

#103

Post by FrankLicea »

moonchrome wrote: post #98
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…

At those prices I'd expect inflating estimates, catfishing juniors by selling seniors in interview/contacts and splitting senior staff between multiple clients. Basically that's the price range a senior developer can make on his own remoting on platforms like toptal - there's no buffer there for the agency cut unless they are some partnership or losing money to catch clients. And best case scenario - they have decent…

We kept encountering the same issues you mention.

Our teammates weren't satisfied with the outsourcing company and didn't like being interleaved between projects (formally or informally). And with negotiating down lower rates, the clients they tended to attract weren't exactly tech companies, which was uninspiring for our latam teammates.

We believe that by providing a platform that lets tech companies provide a premium developer experience, similar to the "Silicon Valley engineering culture", we can provide access to teammates that aren't typically found on Toptal/Turing nor at the typical outsourcing firm.

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

#104

Post by FrankLicea »

FrankLicea wrote: post #101
mattfrommars wrote: post #97

Fantastic work. Basically, you want to be the TCS, Accenture of South America. Awesome. What I'd love to know is how did you get 50+ US start up to use your services? How did you compete/or reach out to the folks who are directly involved in vetting outsourcing firms to use your services and not the industrial standard TCS/Accenture/Wipro - who dominate the space. I do want to start an outsourcing agency one day but…

Really good question. Honestly, it was word of mouth and referrals. I had a successful career as a software developer and product manager for various startups and large companies in the Austin area. Eventually I had colleagues that went off to leadership positions at other companies. Jacqueline was similar but on the sales side. The biggest advantage we had in getting started was trust. Also in the beginning, we didn…

More ideas, do you have former colleagues you can reach to? Can your colleagues introduce you to new people? Getting a personal warm introduction has been the best route for us.

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

#105

Post by FrankLicea »

scantron4 wrote: post #96
jacsamira wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pricing-wise, I'd say our all-in fees on a per dev basis are comparable to a developer's salary here in the US, but our fees are inclusive of benefits, tech, offices, etc... and the US salary is not.

Its frustrating that over and over you say "comparable to" rather than a number.

I understand the frustration and I'll try to explain a bit more.

Candidate salaries tend to vary based on country, experience, skillset, etc. People on the platform set their personal salary requirements and it's up to companies to provide a compelling offer.

Astro itself doesn't have a fixed rate card or salary bands. Our concern is that we could unintentionally anchor or band someone's salary. That said, we do see trends in the market and we're happy to provide guidance on what's considered above or below market.

Someone earlier recommended we setup something like a AWS cost estimator, i think that's a great idea, so long as we can figure out a way to do it without undercutting people on the platform.

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

#106

Post by FrankLicea »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #79

There is nothing stopping companies from hiring freelancers from Latin America, without adding another middleman (like your service) which will, of course, cost something. Having tried this setup and having dealt with middlemen (eg. Pilot) and not, I can't say I noticed much difference with dealing with self employed. Especially if the team members are senior, they're likely to know the ropes of setting up business i…

Interesting experience! Would love to know more, if that's okay. How many freelancers did you manage? and how big was your team?

I think that a few freelancers are manageable (not sure if that applies to you!) But we've noticed companies that are managing engineering departments with ~50 or more and growing quickly really benefit. At that point both the HR and engineering department need something like logistics partner on the ground to coordinate meaningful benefits, specialized equipment (test devices, locked down laptops), help with company events, etc.

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

#107

Post by oohaba »

smallerfish wrote: post #82
woleium wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Sure, emailed.

Living in LATAM and would also like to see your research, if you'd be so kind.

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

#108

Post by nomdep »

ivanmontillam wrote: post #84
rootsudo wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

However the employees choose to convert their dollar salaries is their responsibility, not the employer's

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

#109

Post by mattfrommars »

FrankLicea wrote: post #101
mattfrommars wrote: post #97

Fantastic work. Basically, you want to be the TCS, Accenture of South America. Awesome. What I'd love to know is how did you get 50+ US start up to use your services? How did you compete/or reach out to the folks who are directly involved in vetting outsourcing firms to use your services and not the industrial standard TCS/Accenture/Wipro - who dominate the space. I do want to start an outsourcing agency one day but…

Really good question. Honestly, it was word of mouth and referrals. I had a successful career as a software developer and product manager for various startups and large companies in the Austin area. Eventually I had colleagues that went off to leadership positions at other companies. Jacqueline was similar but on the sales side. The biggest advantage we had in getting started was trust. Also in the beginning, we didn…

Very interesting. Great to see you leverage the circle you had to take the business to the next level. One thing I have a buddy of mine is he is unable to scale or secure big contracts. We have a slightly different business than yours, instead of creating remote teams for US companies, we abstract that requirement all together! We instead work exactly what the requirements are and take it to completion. We offer on monthly basis for tech support and its an on going thing.

What tips/resource would you have to gain into the market to secure work at US corporation who work with Accenture/Wipro/TCS firms? What makes them 'approved list of contractors' to get work done as hiring is absolute pain the US and slow, along with talent shortage. We, currently, do not have a network that have higher reaches in firms. Currently, we are only able to secure smaller contracts via freelancing website, e.g. Elance, Freelancer, etc.

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