[starter]

Not trolling, 100% serious. I don't actually want to do outsourcing, per say. My interest lies more in leveraging low market wages in India and actually setting up a foreign office with it's own management etc.

You still think India's bad for business?

[geophile]

From other comments here, having someone on-site there improves the odds. But why bother? If you're a startup, you are creating one more unnecessary problem. Also, if you're a startup, you probably are going to be changing things frequently, resulting in constant software updates. In my experience, outsourcing works best (or least awfully) if the task you are outsourcing is completely specified, with no ambiguity. If you are going to be changing specs on them, it won't work so well.

I understand a startup needing to save money, but doing it this way seems crazy to me. I've done five startups by now (four with successful exits). If I were to join another, outsourced software development would be a red flag -- I'd stay away.