Need some advice for those in IT

[Carpet_pissr]

I'm currently looking for a job, and an old acquaintance I had not seen in 15 years called me up out of the blue last week, asking for advice. He started a small software development company in Costa Rica and wanted to ask my input on hiring a US based sales rep. Most of their clients are here, in NYC.

Timely, as I have been looking for another startup opportunity, but I don't know this sector (they do outsourced development work of all kinds apparently - he called it "staff augementation") Targets are company CTO's that need to fill in gaps with experienced developers, but they also do project work.

My question, as I ponder the possibility of helping them out, is this:
1. How's the market for this kind of work currently? I know a lot of the bigger tech companies are laying off, and wondering if as a result of that, they may look to lower cost development.
2. Where would I go to generate leads for this kind of work? Is there a main conference that everyone goes to maybe?
3. Their niche, according to the guy, is that their guys have an average of 18 years experience - and they have created an LLC in Miami to make US customers feel better about doing business with them.

Any ideas or feedback as I ponder trying to help this company out (generating leads and ultimately sales) is appreciated!

This is their current website, if you want to see their "menu" of services. I think most of their work is "we need 3 guys for 4 months to work on this internal project...give me a price" vs "build me a website"

Edit: More info:
They are trying to fill in the gap between Chinese and Indian outsourced devs (cheap, but possibly unreliable and/or difficult to deal with) and very expensive US developers.
Most of their customers use them over and over again - many for several years, because they were so happy with the work (which led to all their current referrals, which led to more business, etc).
He mentioned REACT a lot...
16 developers currently

[Alefroth]

I don't see a web site.

[naednek]

I don't see a web site.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/carpetpisserzed

[Alefroth]

Lol

[Carpet_pissr]

I don't see a web site.

Crap, sorry!

https://www.creeksoftware.com/services

[Zenn7]

Not sure asking those of us in IT how good the market is for selling a company's product that can replace us with cheaper labor is necessarily going to get you the best feedback?

I can safely say my company would not be up for it what with at least 2 offices in India with over 5k employees there (not all IT, but a lot of IT amongst other things).

[gbasden]

I work with state level public sector agencies and there is a lot of interest in project based outsourcing. It depends a lot, of course, but entities with limited IT staff are often good targets for an outsourcer pitch.

[Carpet_pissr]

I work with state level public sector agencies and there is a lot of interest in project based outsourcing. It depends a lot, of course, but entities with limited IT staff are often good targets for an outsourcer pitch.

Excellent, thanks. Any thoughts on how to find/approach those entities?

[Carpet_pissr]

Not sure asking those of us in IT how good the market is for selling a company's product that can replace us with cheaper labor is necessarily going to get you the best feedback?

I can safely say my company would not be up for it what with at least 2 offices in India with over 5k employees there (not all IT, but a lot of IT amongst other things).

Augmentation, not replacement. My understanding is that a lot of their clients even already have in-house developers, but they just need some additional manpower every now and then for special projects. My take is that they know, and are happy in their niche: small jobs, smallish companies

Or targeting small to possibly medium sized companies that don't have an in-house development capability.

[FishPants]

There's a place for these companies, but the sales folks are usually very well connected with senior leaders as their pipeline from previous relationships. Cold calling this service will be very very very difficult if you don't have a strong network of decision makers that know you on a first name basis.

I do staff augmentation as required, either through a direct independent contractor or SOW based work - but I am calling PWC, or other big firms for specialized work. If it's outsourced dev, it's probably going to India through Cognizant etc.

The market is probably for organizations smaller than mine, but if someone I knew and trusted for 10+ years came to me with this solution I would probably look for a small project to test the waters and start from there - but if you add me on LinkedIn and blast me with what your firm does and when can we meet; I'm going to block you and move on.

[LordMortis]

There's a place for these companies, but the sales folks are usually very well connected with senior leaders as their pipeline from previous relationships. Cold calling this service will be very very very difficult if you don't have a strong network of decision makers that know you on a first name basis.

That or you are industry specific and have a resume within that industry which usually started with some sort of crossover, again with who you knew and how you knew them.

That is 90%+ of how we did it as tier 1 auto supplier. The other 10% was shopping around for need specific projects or taking on college interns to make money building a resume. Cold calls were 0%. You were either tied to the industry and accepted as a preferred solution provider filling a need that was freshly imposed/ongoing or we went looking for you.

[Carpet_pissr]

There's a place for these companies, but the sales folks are usually very well connected with senior leaders as their pipeline from previous relationships. Cold calling this service will be very very very difficult if you don't have a strong network of decision makers that know you on a first name basis.

I do staff augmentation as required, either through a direct independent contractor or SOW based work - but I am calling PWC, or other big firms for specialized work. If it's outsourced dev, it's probably going to India through Cognizant etc.

The market is probably for organizations smaller than mine, but if someone I knew and trusted for 10+ years came to me with this solution I would probably look for a small project to test the waters and start from there - but if you add me on LinkedIn and blast me with what your firm does and when can we meet; I'm going to block you and move on.

Not what I was hoping to hear, but what I suspected. Thanks for the candor, very helpful for my decision - this, in particular: "if you add me on LinkedIn and blast me with what your firm does and when can we meet; I'm going to block you and move on."

[gbasden]

I work with state level public sector agencies and there is a lot of interest in project based outsourcing. It depends a lot, of course, but entities with limited IT staff are often good targets for an outsourcer pitch.

Excellent, thanks. Any thoughts on how to find/approach those entities?

Well, in my specific niche it would be attending government IT conferences and meetings, and of course reaching out to Chief Information Officers for the various departments. I don't know how broadly applicable my experience is with other states, though.

[Carpet_pissr]

I work with state level public sector agencies and there is a lot of interest in project based outsourcing. It depends a lot, of course, but entities with limited IT staff are often good targets for an outsourcer pitch.

Excellent, thanks. Any thoughts on how to find/approach those entities?

Well, in my specific niche it would be attending government IT conferences and meetings, and of course reaching out to Chief Information Officers for the various departments. I don't know how broadly applicable my experience is with other states, though.

Excellent, thanks. Which specific conferences? I was trying to find some trade shows for this kind of service.

Even if I don’t go to work with them, I’d still like to help this guy out with some ideas.

[gbasden]

I work with state level public sector agencies and there is a lot of interest in project based outsourcing. It depends a lot, of course, but entities with limited IT staff are often good targets for an outsourcer pitch.

Excellent, thanks. Any thoughts on how to find/approach those entities?

Well, in my specific niche it would be attending government IT conferences and meetings, and of course reaching out to Chief Information Officers for the various departments. I don't know how broadly applicable my experience is with other states, though.

Excellent, thanks. Which specific conferences? I was trying to find some trade shows for this kind of service.

Even if I don’t go to work with them, I’d still like to help this guy out with some ideas.

It's going to vary wildly depending on the State. For instance, in California there is a yearly conference called the CIO Academy that has boards and discussions but also a lot of vendors. It's probably the biggest conference for the state IT community because it's in Sacramento. Then there are other smaller tech gatherings that a lot of the project outsourcers attend. For instance, Microsoft puts on Azure specific gatherings that are attended by and sponsored by Prodigy, one of our smaller local consulting shops. If you are targeting State and Local government, the key is having someone local at the capitol to be able to show face and make relationships.

[Punisher]

I work with state level public sector agencies and there is a lot of interest in project based outsourcing. It depends a lot, of course, but entities with limited IT staff are often good targets for an outsourcer pitch.

Excellent, thanks. Any thoughts on how to find/approach those entities?

Have you tried doing this outside their offices?