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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

#31

Post by jacsamira »

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…

Not a downer at all! We're not a fit for everyone. We totally get that. We let the devs set their prices, and then have a standard premium benefits package because we believe everyone should have silicon valley level perks. We're definitely not the cheapest, but we're invested in a long-term relationship for both parties and not just a cost-savings play. In our experience, turnover ends up being super high with low rates. But maybe you found some gems! I hope it works out. I really believe there is a need and an opportunity for everyone. We're just trying to do our part to help in any way we can.

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

#32

Post by jacsamira »

runako wrote: post #23
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.

Thanks for this. Could you expand on this a bit, given "developer salary" in e.g. the Bay Area/NYC means wildly different things from (say) Houston or Pittsburgh? Were you indexing against Bay salaries or US median/average?

Austin, TX :) Thanks for pointing that out

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

#33

Post by santiagoep »

In my previous company they used the strategy of hiring employees directly and through Astro. The truth is that Astro's experience is very noticeable when it comes to hiring quality talent. I think it ends up being more economical to have Astro, because of all the headaches they solve.

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

#34

Post by jacsamira »

martinpg wrote: post #24

Seems like a great idea! How do you keep the engineers feeling engaged to the team and the company after they are hired? Especially now with remote work as the main option.

This is tricky indeed, but something we keep at the front of mind and is very important to us. We have local offices and local teams solely focused on team engagement and happiness. We even have a community happiness manager. We have spent the last 4 years creating a community in every location we have an office with the sole focus of offering support, friendship, guidance, and mentors. Our goal is to help each team member feel like a core stakeholder on their US team. Another way of doing this is we're not afraid of firing customers. We don't let our customers treat our developers like second-class contractors. If that happens, we have a clause in our contract that we can terminate the relationship.

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

#35

Post by jacsamira »

santiagoep wrote: post #33

In my previous company they used the strategy of hiring employees directly and through Astro. The truth is that Astro's experience is very noticeable when it comes to hiring quality talent. I think it ends up being more economical to have Astro, because of all the headaches they solve.

<3 <3 <3

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

#36

Post by FrankLicea »

martinpg wrote: post #24

Seems like a great idea! How do you keep the engineers feeling engaged to the team and the company after they are hired? Especially now with remote work as the main option.

Companies have a few avenues to help with this. The Astro dashboard lets the US company sponsor meaningful perks that value teammates and really make a difference with retention and wellbeing; Bonuses, health insurance, gym memberships, education resources, access to co-working or offices for the team, even coordinate hard to get equipment like Macbooks, Airpods.

We can even coordinate travel and off site retreats to really help the team feel like one. Finally, our platform keeps US companies accountable for things like regular salary reviews and career paths. All the perks in the world won't matter if that's not in place.

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

#37

Post by karaterobot »

Do Astro developers sign any kind of exclusivity or non-compete contract that would make it harder for them to leave to work for another company?

A former company I worked for hired some excellent Central American developers through a company, and I later learned those guys had all signed contracts that made them give more than half their salary to the outsourcing company for two years, and if they wanted to leave before the end of two years, they had to pay a lump sum that was about a year's salary.

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

#38

Post by csmpltn »

jacsamira wrote: post #20
setgree wrote: post #18

This seems like a great idea and I’m glad to see you working on it! Just curious, of all the ways you might get this off the ground, what tipped the scales in favor of VC funding? Personally, it’s hard for me to imagine this becoming a Reddit-sized operation (perhaps I lack imagination) and really easy to imagine your funders pushing you to pivot when you’re not growing 10X YoY or whatever. Did you think about incorp…

Thanks so much! We grew like crazy last year (over 400%). Do I think we can do the same this year, not sure, but definitely 100 times again this year and 100 times again next year. The company is only as big as the need for employing great devs worldwide. We may not be a consumer known product, but we hope to help lots of companies and devs for many years to come! Also, we've been very careful to not give up control…

> "We grew like crazy last year (over 400%)"

You went from 0 to 4 paying customers?

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

#39

Post by wefarrell »

bberenberg wrote: post #11

Seems cool. How much coaching do you have for US companies to better understand the team's local culture issues? For example, I worked with teams in Brazil in the past and while they were smart, kind, etc they were slow in every sense of the word. They didn't have the US culture of respond quickly, unblock people, get shit done, etc. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact working slower may be a benefit, but the…

Brazilians tend to take two hour lunches without work interruptions. Outside of that time, the ones I have worked with have been fast and responsive. Had I not known that I too probably would have thought they were slow and unresponsive. I figured that out by actually going down there and working with them for a week.

As far as the "unlbock people, get shit done, etc..." I think that's the case with a lot of outsourced work in general and I don't think it has anything to do with Brazilian culture. Outsourced labor are used to being treated like cogs in a machine so they are less likely to take the initiative or speak up when they see something that doesn't make sense.

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

#40

Post by FrankLicea »

santiagoep wrote: post #33

In my previous company they used the strategy of hiring employees directly and through Astro. The truth is that Astro's experience is very noticeable when it comes to hiring quality talent. I think it ends up being more economical to have Astro, because of all the headaches they solve.

Thank you!
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