Startup Hiring vs Outsourcing: A Practical Framework

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The article presents a decision framework for startups choosing between hiring engineers and outsourcing work. It advises founders to categorize work into three types: core learning, core advantage, and commodity delivery. Core learning and core advantage work should typically involve internal teams, while well-defined commodity tasks can be outsourced. The framework recommends hiring for continuous, ambiguous work tied to customer feedback, and outsourcing for bounded, specialized projects. It concludes by suggesting a scoring system for workstreams to guide the decision.

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