How to choose a software development company

Portfolios and testimonials tell you who a company has worked with. They don't tell you how the next six months of your project will feel. These questions do.

Ten questions to ask

1. Who exactly will work on my product? Names, roles and seniority — and whether the people on the sales call are the ones doing the work.
2. What happens in the first two weeks? A good answer involves discovery, users and a written scope, not "we start coding".
3. Will I see a prototype before you build? Clicking through a prototype catches expensive mistakes cheaply.
4. How often will I see working software? Every two weeks is a healthy rhythm.
5. Who owns the code, designs and accounts? You should — in your GitHub, your cloud and your store accounts, from day one.
6. How do you handle changes? Scope will change; the process for pricing it should be clear before it does.
7. What does your QA look like? Ask about automated tests, code review and testing on real devices.
8. How do you handle security? Roles, encryption, secure APIs, environment separation — and only certifications they can show.
9. What happens after launch? Monitoring, fixes and a roadmap — or a clean handover.
10. Will you tell me what to cut? A team that only ever says yes will build you an expensive product nobody uses.

Red flags

• A fixed price with no written scope.
• No access to the code or a staging link until the end.
• Logos and big numbers, but nobody can explain how a past project actually ran.
• Long gaps between updates, and updates without demos.

We wrote our answers to all ten into our process. If they match what you're looking for, tell us about your project.