What Do I Need to Know Before Hiring a Developer?
Before hiring a developer, you need a clear description of the problem your app solves, who it solves it for, and what the simplest version of the solution would actually do. Without this, you are asking a developer to make expensive decisions on your behalf, and most of them will, because they have no other option.
Why most non-technical founders hire developers too early
The instinct to hire a developer as soon as you have an idea is understandable. You know you cannot build it yourself, so you find someone who can. But a developer without a strategy is building in the dark. They will make assumptions about what you want, fill in gaps with their own judgement, and deliver something that may work technically but does not solve the right problem in the right way.
The result is not usually a failed build, it is a build that works but that nobody uses, or that needs to be redesigned from the ground up after the fact. I have seen this happen more times than I can count.
What you need before the first conversation
Before you speak to a developer, you should be able to describe: the specific problem your app solves, the specific person it solves it for, what the app needs to do at a minimum (not a full feature list, the core function), what success looks like for the first version, and what is out of scope.
This is sometimes called a product requirements document, but it does not need to be formal or long. It just needs to be specific enough that two different developers reading it would build something similar.
What to look for in a developer
Beyond technical skill, look for someone who asks questions about your users and your problem before asking about your features. A developer who wants to understand what you are trying to achieve, not just what you want built, is more likely to build something useful.
Also be clear on the engagement model: fixed scope vs. hourly, who owns the code, what handoff looks like, and how changes to scope are handled. These details matter more than most first-time founders expect.
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How to prepare yourself
If the thought of writing a product requirements document feels overwhelming, that is a sign you need to do more strategy work before spending money on development. From Passion to Product is a free six-week cohort that covers exactly this, how to go from an idea to a strategy document that a developer can actually use. The next cohort starts May 25, 2026.
