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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

#61

Post by FrankLicea »

andrew_ wrote: post #56
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…

What percentage does Astro charge on top of that (e.g. management fee)? Where's the breakdown? You're claiming transparency but it looks fairly opaque. I'm not trying to be combative, merely pointing out the marketing pitch is at odds with the data available.

Oops, forgot to mention that. The management fee is 15%. You would get a break down for any teammate that you want to interview for your team. It would look something like:

1) The teammate's desired salary 2) Benefits and taxes 3) 15% management fee

I see you point about this not being spelled out on our landing page! Good catch!

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

#63

Post by jamal-kumar »

probably_wrong wrote: post #44
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.

You're probably correct, I have no good excuses for my Spanish other than that I learned it by immersion over years instead of taking a class or something

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

#64

Post by 01acheru »

FrankLicea wrote: post #8
jamal-kumar wrote: post #6

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

We operate in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay! Gracias!

Is there a reason why you don't operate in Brazil? Language maybe?

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

#66

Post by FrankLicea »

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…

So for us, hiring domestically (either 1099 or FTE) vs internationally, wasn't a mutually exclusive decision. Finding good people was a real risk to our growth. So we expanded the top of our funnel to more locations simultaneously.

However, we weren't just interested in salary arbitrage, we really did need to attract good people with premium benefits. Good international teammates aren't going to leave their team only to risk being a second class contractor on a foreign team. So we found that by offering our teammates a premium experience: health insurance, gym perks, education resources, Macbooks, and other apple products, career paths and salary reviews, we expanded the pool of people that were interested in working with us beyond the pool of people on Toptal/Turing and other platforms with no fulfillment on the ground.

Not all teams are interested in that philosophy in hiring but we've had the most success with it.

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

#67

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

It’s not super clear to me, or maybe I don’t have deep enough knowledge here and that’s why it’s not obvious. Are the people that Company A hires through this service direct employees of Company A, or are they C2C paid hourly from Company A to Astro who then has their own C2C with the developer?

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

#68

Post by FrankLicea »

darau1 wrote: post #60

I've been in contact with 3 different firms like Astro in the past 3 months, and now you guys pop up. Did something happen somewhere in the American job market? Or have I just been discovered to be living under a rock?

Ha! I can't say why of course, but our bet is that more companies are open to expanding their engineering departments to other parts of the world. Keyword being "departments" with strategies for benefits, perks, equipment, etc. and they need a logistics partner on the ground to help, etc.

That's our hope anyway!

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

#69

Post by FrankLicea »

01acheru wrote: post #64
FrankLicea wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We operate in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay! Gracias!

Is there a reason why you don't operate in Brazil? Language maybe?

Just haven't gotten there yet!

One of the founders speaks Spanish and the other previously worked with teams in Colombia and Uruguay, so the Spanish speaking parts of South America came naturally to us. That said, we've got big plans for expansion!

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

#70

Post by woleium »

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.
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