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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

#41

Post by mwcampbell »

> We ended up working with various partners in Latin America because of the strong talent pool, great English, and US friendly time zones.

I'm curious about whether you tried to find developers in the US but not in Austin or one of the big tech hubs. Or have you found that most of the good US-based developers head for the tech hubs? (Even if that were true before, surely it's different post-pandemic.)

I'm not opposed to hiring good people wherever they are. But some of the challenges discussed above go away when hiring domestically. And, based on the comment elsewhere on this thread about working with companies that recognize the value of good people and are willing to pay above market rate, I gather that the point of hiring in Latam wasn't to be cheap.

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

#42

Post by jacsamira »

csmpltn wrote: post #38
jacsamira wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

lol! The HN I know and love. We started in 2018 :) So not 0, but I do agree, percentages can be bullshit.

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

#43

Post by FrankLicea »

karaterobot wrote: post #37

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 be…

Yikes! half the salary to an outsourcing company for two years? That's nuts, and those are exactly the kind of horror stories that made us want to build Astro, as U.S. devs, we often take for granted the "Silicon Valley" engineering culture we enjoy (vague I know, but roughly captures what i mean)

All we ask is that if a company builds a team using Astro, they don't try to cut us out, similar to the terms that other platforms have.

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

#44

Post by probably_wrong »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #6

Excelente! En cuáles países eran la gran parte de sus trabajadores?

Small friendly correction: ¿En cuáles países está la mayor parte de sus trabajadores?

"Ser" vs "estar" is one of those hair-pulling verbs with one "simple" rule and a hundred exceptions.

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

#45

Post by zebulonevans »

I have experience with teams in different time zones. Years ago, I used oDesk which became Upwork which was just a payment and sourcing platform. The heavy lifting was on me.

The extras provided here in Astro with the office, swag, perks, and vetting is very intriguing and certainly puts this a couple up in my book.

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

#46

Post by CodeBeater »

wefarrell wrote: post #39
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 outsourc…

I wholeheartedly second this. I have an unique lens on this issue as I'm in a unique spot. Despite being Brazilian myself, for most of my career I worked and managed US based developers, and just very very recently shifted to working directly with Brazilians. I saw no major difference in responsiveness and "get shit done" (aka initiative) between those two cohorts.

The only thing that took me by surprise is that Brazilians DO NOT take well to getting busy outside of working hours. If you text someone during their lunch break, expect to hear a complaint along with your response.

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

#47

Post by jacsamira »

zebulonevans wrote: post #45

I have experience with teams in different time zones. Years ago, I used oDesk which became Upwork which was just a payment and sourcing platform. The heavy lifting was on me. The extras provided here in Astro with the office, swag, perks, and vetting is very intriguing and certainly puts this a couple up in my book.

Thank you, zebulonevans! Yes, upwork is great, but we really needed help with all the other logistical stuff that really makes a difference in being able to treat teammates like core members of the team! We hope to hear from you :)

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

#48

Post by ivanmontillam »

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 foreign money received is too low compared to the parallel/blackmarket exchange rate).

I'm happy to discuss specific problems (my Twitter handle is open to DMs).

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

#49

Post by samstave »

FrankLicea wrote: post #17
samstave wrote: post #14

Looking at your screenshots, suggest you provide definitions... You have a screen: https://i.imgur.com/dRVwqZ2.png What if a profile doesn't match that? -- When looking for a "scrum master" How am I to then evaluate who ends up in said bucket... but If I select a bucket, how can I be known to the guy who heavily sides on scrum master (in your bucket) but they are really a talented [OTHER] bucket that doesnt show up w…

Thanks for the feedback! Yes good catch. We chose the roles we see most often requested, but when you scroll a little further down, you'd see a field where you can just type the role you're looking for! Thanks!

OH... I have an idea:

If one selects a bucket chexBox: HIGHLIGHT they other check boxes where a candidate is ALSO purview of

So if I have a realtion to X, but I also have a weight to XYZ then show that...

Inversely correlating me:

I know X and I also know Y. but my affinity is more to Y than X, but I still know Y.

The Bill Hicks Algo.

I used to do C, but I now know Java, But I still used to do C also....

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

#50

Post by andrew_ »

> Our pricing is also transparent

I'm sure there are reasons, but your pricing isn't truly transparent until I can find it from the homepage, without signing up for an account. Should I have to sign up with my burner/spam email address just to access that?

Edit: I'm not able to find the pricing even after creating an account. This isn't a great user experience for someone trying to figure out how much the platform might cost (and I'm actually in the market for this kind of thing)

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