7 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Offshore Development Team
Score every vendor 1–5 on these 7 criteria before you sign anything. Total out of 35. The highest score is your safest bet.
Score every vendor before you sign
You're about to spend $25,000–$500,000+ on an offshore development partner. Before you sign anything, rate every vendor you're evaluating on these 7 criteria. Score each 1–5. Total out of 35. The vendor with the highest score is your safest bet.
We built this scorecard because we've seen too many CTOs get burned by vendors who promise everything on the sales call and deliver nothing after the wire transfer.
Every question maps to a specific risk. Every risk has a specific remedy. And we score ourselves against this same framework at the bottom — so you can see exactly where offshore development center in india stands.
Do they let you pay after delivery?
The #1 risk in offshore development is paying upfront for work that never ships — or ships 3 months late and half-finished. If a vendor demands 30–50% before writing a single line of code, all the financial risk sits on your side. The vendor has your money and zero urgency to deliver on time.
“When exactly do I pay? Before the sprint or after I review the deliverables?”
- “We require 50% upfront and 50% on delivery”
- “We bill monthly regardless of sprint status”
- “Payment is due at sprint kickoff”
- “You pay after reviewing and accepting the sprint deliverable”
- “You can opt out at any sprint boundary with no exit fees”
Every sprint at Offshore Development Center India runs against a signed Statement of Work. At sprint end, you accept the deliverable — then we invoice. If you don't accept, you don't pay. Partial code and assets remain yours. Opt out at any sprint boundary, no exit fees.
Is the source code in your repository from Day One?
Code ownership is the single most overlooked risk in offshore engagements. Many vendors keep source code on their own servers, their own GitHub organizations, or their own cloud accounts. If the relationship ends badly — or even just ends — they hold your codebase as leverage. Some charge “port-out fees” of $10,000–$50,000 to release your own code.
“Where does the source code live? Your repo or mine? From which day?”
- “We manage the code in our internal repository and transfer at project end”
- “We'll provide a code dump when the contract concludes”
- “There's a transition fee for code handover”
- “Repo is created in YOUR GitHub/GitLab organization on Day 1”
- “Every commit goes directly to your repo”
- “No port-out fees, ever”
Git repo created in your organization on Day 1 of any Build Sprint. We commit directly to your repo. You own the repo, the commits, the deploy artifacts, and any third-party licenses procured for the project. We retain no copies post-engagement. Zero port-out fees.
Is there a money-back guarantee on the first engagement?
Every offshore relationship is a leap of faith — until the first sprint ships. A refund guarantee on the first engagement eliminates the risk of that leap entirely. If the first sprint doesn't meet your expectations, you get your money back. No vendor who's confident in their team should hesitate to offer this.
“If the first sprint doesn't meet the Statement of Work, what's my recourse?”
- “We don't offer refunds, but we'll fix any issues in the next sprint”
- “Our contract doesn't include refund clauses”
- Silence or topic-changing
- “Full refund within 14 days if the first Build Sprint doesn't meet the SOW”
- “The deliverable code remains yours either way”
First-Sprint Money-Back guarantee. If your first paid Build Sprint (Light or Full) doesn't meet the signed SOW, submit a refund request within 14 days. Full refund processed within 5 business days. The deliverable code remains yours. This is contractual — written into the SOW, not a marketing promise.
Can you start with a small, low-cost test?
A vendor who requires a 6-month contract or $100K minimum engagement before you've seen a single deliverable is asking you to gamble. The best partnerships start small — a single sprint, a prototype, a discovery session — so both sides can evaluate fit before scaling.
“What's the smallest engagement I can start with?”
- “Our minimum engagement is 6 months / $100K”
- “We only work with retainer-based contracts”
- “We need a 3-month commitment upfront”
- “You can buy a single 2-week sprint”
- “We offer a free or low-cost prototype to prove our work first”
Six sprint options to start as small as you want — see the table below. No long-term commitment. Opt out at any sprint boundary. Scale to bundles or a dedicated team only when you're ready.
| Sprint | Duration | Price |
|---|---|---|
| AI Prototype Sprint | 3 days | FREE (qualifying) / $3,500 |
| Discovery Sprint | 1 week | $4,800 |
| Light Build Sprint | 2 weeks | $4,800 |
| Full Build Sprint | 2 weeks | $11,500 |
| Mobile Build Sprint | 2 weeks | $13,500 |
| Design Sprint | 2 weeks | $14,500 |
Can you talk directly to the developers?
Many offshore vendors put a “project manager” or “account manager” layer between you and the actual developers. Every requirement passes through a game of telephone. Nuance gets lost. Feedback takes 48 hours instead of 5 minutes. The developers never understand the “why” behind the feature — they just execute tickets.
“Will I have direct access to the developers building my product? Daily?”
- “Your primary point of contact will be your account manager”
- “We'll relay your feedback to the development team”
- “Developers are not client-facing”
- “Daily standups with your actual Scrum team”
- “Biweekly sprint reviews where developers present their work”
- “Direct Slack/Teams access to every team member”
Your dedicated Scrum team joins daily standups with you. Biweekly sprint reviews where developers present and demo their work directly. Weekly demo to your broader team. You set the priorities, define tasks, and communicate directly — no middleman relay. Our PM handles admin, HR, and infrastructure — not communication filtering.
Do they have a proven, repeatable process?
“We use agile” means nothing if there's no productized structure behind it. A proven process means fixed-price sprints with defined scope, clear milestone gates, and predictable output. Without it, you get scope creep, moving timelines, and “we need another 2 weeks” every 2 weeks.
“What does a typical 2-week sprint look like? What's the deliverable at the end?”
- “We're flexible — we adapt to your process” (translation: they have no process)
- “We bill time-and-materials” with no sprint structure
- No clear definition of “done” for any milestone
- Productized sprint catalog with fixed prices and fixed deliverables
- Signed Statement of Work before each sprint
- Clear definition of “done” tied to the SOW
Six productized sprint types — each with a fixed price, fixed timeline, fixed scope, and a signed SOW. Every sprint runs the same way: kickoff → daily standups → sprint review → acceptance → invoice. We also offer productized bundles — see the table below.
| Bundle | Duration | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| 6-Week Idea-to-App | 6 weeks | From $24,000 |
| MVP Launchpad | 12 weeks | From $48,000 |
| Mobile App Sprint Pack | 16 weeks | From $79,500 |
| Custom Bundle (3+ sprints) | Flexible | From $36,000 |
Same Scrum team across every sprint. Sprint-level opt-out. 10% bundle discount vs. individual sprints.
Can they prove competence before you pay?
Portfolios can be faked. Case studies can be exaggerated. Testimonials can be bought. The only proof of competence that matters is: can they build YOUR thing, with YOUR requirements, and show you working code?
“Can you build a small working demo of my product before I commit to a paid engagement?”
- “We can show you our portfolio and references”
- “We'll provide a detailed proposal document”
- “We don't do free work”
- “We'll build a working prototype of your idea in 3 days — free for qualifying founders”
- “Here's a deployed URL you can test right now”
Free 3-Day AI Prototype for qualifying founders. A senior designer plus an AI-fluent engineer turns your idea into a deployed, clickable, real-code prototype in 72 hours. You receive: public Vercel URL, GitHub repo in your org, Figma file, and a 15-minute Loom walkthrough. If we miss Day 3 delivery, you get a $500 credit — applied automatically, no claim form. Don't qualify for free? The paid version is $3,500 — identical scope, identical quality.
Add up each vendor's score across all 7 questions
Proceed with confidence. This vendor has strong accountability, transparency, and process maturity.
Negotiate hard on the weak areas. Get refund clauses and code ownership in writing before signing.
Proceed only if you have no better option. Expect friction on communication, timeline, and IP ownership.
The financial and operational risk is too high. Keep looking.
How we score ourselves
We designed our engagement model specifically to score 35/35 on this test. Our 5 guarantees are contractual — they appear in the Statement of Work, not just on the website.
| Question | Our score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pay after delivery? | 5/5 | Pay-After-Sprint Promise. Contractual. Written into every SOW. |
| 2. Source code in your repo? | 5/5 | Source Code Ownership Guarantee. Your GitHub from Day 1. No port-out fees. |
| 3. Money-back guarantee? | 5/5 | First-Sprint Money-Back. Full refund within 14 days if SOW isn't met. |
| 4. Start small? | 5/5 | Single sprints from $4,800. Free prototype for qualifying founders. |
| 5. Talk to developers? | 5/5 | Daily standups with your Scrum team. Direct Slack access. |
| 6. Proven process? | 5/5 | 6 productized sprint types. Fixed price, fixed scope, signed SOW. CMMI Level 3. |
| 7. Prove competence first? | 5/5 | Free 3-Day AI Prototype. Working code on a public URL before you spend a dollar. |
| TOTAL | 35/35 |
Full guarantee details: /guarantees
Three ways to start
See our work before spending anything
Claim a free 3-day AI prototype. Working deployed app in 72 hours. No payment, no obligation.
Claim free prototype →Lowest possible commitment
Pick any sprint from our catalog. Starting at $4,800. Pay after delivery.
See all sprints →Get a recommendation
Schedule a call with a Solutions Architect. No commitment.
Contact us →Offshore Development Center India
Operated by Taction Software LLC. Trusted by 785+ global businesses.
20+ years experience · CMMI Level 3 · ISO 27001 · Clutch Most Trusted
Offices: Chicago, IL · Cheyenne, WY · Austin, TX · Sacramento, CA · Noida, India