We work with clients in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and the UAE from an office in the Chandigarh Tricity. The projects that go well and the projects that go badly differ in ways that have almost nothing to do with the hourly rate.
What actually decides the outcome
- A written scope before money movesDistance amplifies ambiguity. A scope you could get away with being vague about across a meeting room becomes a month of rework across eight time zones.
- A weekly demo on a linkNot a status report. The running thing, every week. This is the single practice that separates offshore projects that work from the horror stories.
- A deliberate overlap windowIST is +5:30 from London and +10:30 from New York. Two to four hours of genuine overlap each working day is enough; zero is how a two-day question takes a fortnight.
- One named person on each sideNot a team inbox. Someone who decides, and someone who answers.
What to check before the first payment
- The company exists, on paperAsk for the CIN and GSTIN. Both are public registers in India and both take a minute to look up. A supplier who cannot produce them is not necessarily a fraud, but you are dealing with an individual rather than a company and should price the risk accordingly.
- Two references in your own timezoneNot a testimonials page — people you can telephone. Ask them what went wrong on their project and how it was handled. That answer is worth more than the whole portfolio.
- Who is actually on your projectNames and roles, and whether the person who scoped it is the person who will build it. Sales-led agencies are where the answer changes after signature.
- How they get paid, and whenMilestones against work you have signed off, never a large lump sum up front. A deposit is normal; half the project cost before anything exists is not.
How the first two weeks should look
The opening fortnight predicts the rest of the project more reliably than anything in the proposal. You should end week one with a written scope you recognise, a named delivery date and access to a shared board. You should end week two with something you can open in a browser, even if it is ugly and half-empty.
If week two produces a status email instead of a link, say so immediately. It is a five-minute conversation then and a very expensive one in month three, and how a supplier responds to being pulled up early tells you most of what you need to know about the months ahead.
Contracts, IP and payment
Sign the NDA and the IP-assignment before kickoff, not at handover — IP should be yours from the first commit, and any supplier who hesitates on that has told you something important. Payment is normally milestone-based against work you have signed off, by bank transfer or Wise, invoiced in your currency or USD.
For Indian suppliers, ask whether invoices are raised as an export of services and how GST is handled on your side; it is routine, but it is worth having the answer before the first invoice rather than after.
The failure modes, named
- Buying headcount instead of an outcome"Five developers for six months" is not a scope. It is a budget with no definition of done.
- The disappearing clientOffshore teams cannot read a room they are not in. An hour a week of your attention is the cheapest insurance on the whole project.
- Rate-shopping to the bottomThere is always someone cheaper, and below a certain point the saving is being funded by leaving out testing, deployment and half the integrations.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check an Indian company is real before I pay anything?
Ask for the company registration (CIN) and GSTIN and look them up — both are public. Then ask for two clients you can phone in your own timezone. A company that can produce all four within a day is in a different category from one that cannot.
What timezone overlap do you keep?
We work a deliberate overlap with your working day — typically the morning for UK and European clients and the evening for North America — so there is live time with your team every working day rather than a 24-hour round trip on every question.
Is my data safe with an offshore team?
It depends on the arrangement, not the country. Ask who has production access, whether they work on company-controlled machines, how credentials are shared, and what happens to your data at the end of the contract. Get the answers in the contract. Those questions are as worth asking of a supplier down the road as of one overseas.
Want this applied to your project?
Send us what you have — even a rough note. You'll get a written scope, a fixed quote and a delivery date within one business day, with no obligation.
