| This is going to be a long reply. Sorry about that. # Full Disclosure - I am part of an agency that helps companies like yours build products either for internal use or for their customers.
- We are partners for a couple of large enterprises, but most of our customers have between 50 to 300 employees. # Experience - We have worked with a company in a specific niche that was using a platform from a small provider.
- We ended up rebuilding their entire platform from scratch. Spoiler - it was not easy.
- I prefer being called a technology partner rather than an agency/vendor. Our clients' success is how we define our success. # Thoughts - Your own product will never be 100% complete - If you are someone who loves to optimize things and wants efficiency, then every single workflow or process can be optimized or even entirely removed. And, it is absolutely okay, as long as you are always in a better place than you are currently and are growing your revenue while reducing stress/manual overhead with every single update. - The only way this works properly is if a senior team member from the agency is embedded as part of your team. - Only work with companies/agencies/partners who come via a referral. Picking agencies from Clutch etc. is not the way to go. All those listings are always paid, even the ones which say they are not. - This has been said before - When working with a tech partner, start with an extremely small but challenging project. Set clear milestones for them to hit and for you to be able to measure success. - IMPORTANT - Define one product owner on your team who will be responsible for all decisions. This is a bigger deal than you would think. You have domain experts in your team, who can be consulted, but that product owner will be the primary decision maker. - IN-HOUSE TALENT - Use the tech partner to help grow and train your team. They are in the industry to hire tech people and can find the right people for your team. - DESIGN - Do not skimp on this. I am sure there are workflows and processes which have been present for a long time. People in your team are used to them. But this new phase gives you an opportunity to redefine/reevaluate everything. Delete. Redesign. Implement. - Don't be a stickler for Agile vs Scrum vs any other new shiny methodology. Figure out the system that works best for you, your existing team, and your extended team. Yes, this takes time, but it is possible to agree on some things and then build from there. - Communication - When working with an agency, working with a partner who has someone embedded allows you to bring them into all conversations early. The right partner will help you make better decisions. And this senior embedded person will be able to communicate and manage the extended team using off-the-shelf tools which you have visibility on. Example - Our core tools for communication include Slack, Airtable, and Figma. - Long-term thinking - having the correct incentive structure for your tech partner allows them to make better decisions for the product and the business instead of thinking about getting done with one project and making a profit. - Legal Contract - It does not always work, but it is important to have a good contract with timelines and SLAs for your work. |