Collaboration has become key to every startup’s success in the digital-first world. While collaboration is often defined as one between in-house teams, startups increasingly look at external partners to collaborate and build their products and teams through outsourcing.
This collaborative nature of work can be prominently seen in product development and recruitment.
As startups in the European tech ecosystem gear up for an AI-fuelled transition in 2024 and try to stay ahead of the competition, they also turn to startups that help with recruitment and product development.
For founders at most startups, their time is the real wealth. In the current transitory phase, where scaleups are favoured over startups, every founder needs help to balance their time between activities like product development or recruitment and scaling their company.
Last year, when we spoke to experts at LevelUp Ventures, Tapptitude, Proshore, and Levi9 Technology Services, it became evident that focus and speed are two factors that founders or entrepreneurs get when they outsource their product development and recruitment.
Before we get to top outsourcing partners for recruitment and product development in Europe in 2024, here is a look at why you should outsource in the first place.
Freeing up focus time
For many startup founders and entrepreneurs, the biggest advantage of outsourcing stems from the ability to free up their time.
Leaders at the outsourcing as mentioned earlier startups see tech founders being able to focus on building and scaling their company, thus freeing up their time from being consumed by focusing on things like product development and recruitment.
This is a departure from times when founders had to handle recruitment themselves but have come to see these tasks as time-consuming.
This shift from in-house product development and recruitment to outsourcing also makes sense in light of the current funding environment where investors prioritise road to profitability over growth.
Another advantage that founders see with outsourcing is access to experts who holistically understand product development and recruitment.
“Specialist tech recruiters can predictably fill a pipeline with candidates, drive a proper selection process and ensure the right hires are made on time and according to the hiring plan,” explains Lebinh Luc, CEO and co-founder of LevelUp Ventures.
Outsourcing as support system
The above-mentioned outsourcing partners repeatedly mentioned how outsourcing partners are not only there to offload your work to others.
For most startup founders and entrepreneurs, an outsourcing partner, be it for recruitment or product development, can act as a support system.
This help can come through brainstorming sessions or discussing future roadmap and identifying key issues before the process begins.
Most outsourcing partners are startups and scale-ups with leaders who have walked the tough path of being a founder and building a startup from the ground up.
Their expertise, at times, can stretch far beyond the scope of work and tech entrepreneurs need that kind of soundboard to achieve their mission.
Let’s check out the top outsourcing partners helping tech founders and entrepreneurs to focus on building and scaling their companies.
LevelUp Ventures
Headquarters: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
No. of employees: 11-50
Contact: Laura Apostol
LevelUp Ventures frees leaders to build scale-ups that last, and supports them in their quest to make a dent in the world. They offer in-office and temporary tech recruitment services as well as executive search for fast-growing tech companies.
Founded in Amsterdam in 2015, they employ a team of 20 slightly obsessed talent experts and have been partnering with over 100 tech companies such as Dealroom, Temper, Ultimaker, and NextEnergy.
LevelUp loves to immerse itself in the culture of its clients, working side-by-side with founders, investors and internal recruiters.
With its unique blend of expertise, adaptability, and deep connection with the tech ecosystem, LevelUp utilises its extensive know-how and benchmarking to become a reliable partner in the industry.
LevelUp not only finds, attracts and hires your world-class tech professionals, but also shapes your recruitment processes, connects your mission to the motivation of talent and builds your hiring machine.
To meet the unique needs of start-ups and scale-ups at different stages of growth, they have developed tailored approaches.
From end-to-end outsourcing solutions to help you fill hard-to-find roles and build your recruitment operations, each solution is designed to seamlessly adapt to the different needs of startups and scaleups.
Tapptitude
Headquarters: Cluj-napoca, Cluj, Romania
No. of employees: 101-250
Contact: Tudor Cutus
Tapptitude is a product studio that works with funded startups and established brands to create interactive, mobile-first products that solve real needs and that people love to use.
Tapptitude works with clients as a product partner, actively supporting them throughout their journey from idea to product launch and scaling. Startups and brands work with them to define their product, design their prototype, develop their MVPs, and then build and scale a successful product.
Their processes are characterised by an early focus on value and close partnerships. Tapptitude works on each product to identify and create easy acquisition flows, create value early to retain users and build a solid infrastructure for scalability.
Tapptitude’s workflows are based on lean principles, rapid prototyping techniques, and agile development, making it very fast and flexible to iterate value for users.
The company’s headquarters and development centre are located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, a young, vibrant city full of talented techies.
There’s also a business office in London, close to the hottest startup ecosystem in Europe, allowing them to focus on partnerships and investment initiatives. In 2019, they opened an office in New York, US and in 2021, one in Amsterdam.
Levi9 Technology Services
Headquarters: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands
No. of employees: 501-1000
Contact: Mart van den Bosch
Levi9 Technology Services develops unique software and solutions, developed through co-creation methods in collaboration with their clients, helping them to make an impact in their markets.
Founded in 2005 by Menno de Jong and Bernhard van Oranje, Levi9 has a reputation in the Dutch market as a service company with highly satisfied customers and employees and has a unique company culture to deliver on this promise.
Levi9’s ambitions and promises are supported by exceptional results in the external benchmarks Giarte, customer satisfaction, and Effectory, employee satisfaction.
With more than 1,300 employees in Serbia, Romania, and Ukraine, Levi9 supports customers in their research and development process, defines software architectures, develops software, tests and maintains systems and applications with a focus on functionality and efficiency.
Ecosystem partners such as Microsoft, AWS and Google play an important role in the development of the unique software and solutions that Levi9’s customers use to achieve growth.
Levi9’s clients are predominantly Dutch, with headquarters in the Netherlands and an international presence. Their markets include retail, digital marketing and media, financial services and fintech, energy, and transport.
Proshore
Headquarters: Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands
No. of employees: 51-100
Contact: Jeroen van der Horst
Proshore is a trusted partner to help you release cutting-edge features and build complex applications. Proshore is committed to assisting scale-ups realise their roadmaps at the speed of business demands.
By leveraging Agile methodologies and assigning dedicated Scrum Masters to each project, working with Proshore allows CTOs and Product Managers to focus on strategic matters while ensuring efficient team management & product development.
With a track record of supporting startups and scaleups for over 14 years, they bring a wealth of experience and a unique, proven fully self-managed team approach beyond just developers. With headquarters in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and a development centre in Kathmandu, Nepal, they successfully service a global client base with access to over 3000 vetted developers.
Moreover, by opting for Proshore’s offshoring services, you support their core impact mission of empowering the young talent of Nepal with tech skills through ongoing technology bootcamps for a future proof generation.
Whether you are in need of a small team of three or a larger workforce, Proshore provides flexible contract periods of six, 12, or 24 months, with a two-month minimum trial period.
01
Empowering Ukrainian Startups: Highlights from the PowerUp Ukraine 2024 Conference