I am developing a software applicaion on a limited budget. I want to
hire a software engineer and compensate him or her with a combination
of hourly fee and stock or profit sharing in the company. My goal is to
lower up front development costs, provide incentive for doing a good
job and still attract a top notch contractor. How can I find more
information about structuring such a deal?

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Request for Question Clarification by fons-ga on 22 Jul 2002 18:53 PDT

Hi adminasite-ga,

I'm living in Shanghai and in the process of setting up an online
publication for the Chinese software industry. While there is a lot of
qualified engineers and companies available, while there is a large
demand from outside China for those skills, both groups find it very
hard to meet each other.
My question: would outsourcing to China be an option for you? In that
case I would be able to give some tips.

Regards,

Fons

Hi adminasite-ga,

http://www.scguild.com is a great source for independent contractors.
You can search their database or hire me at
http://www.scguild.com/Resume/6119I.html

Kindest Regards,
Olexiy

Your principal concern should be to find someone good. Trying to save
a few bucks with fancy schemes will only make that more difficult.
Remember that the IC has business risks of their own (uptime risk,
nonpayment risk, development risk, etc.); asking them to bear your
business risks as well as theirs will likely scare away anyone you'd
want to be working with. If you need capital, your customers or
investors might be a better place to look. If the project doesn't make
sense without "lower up front development costs", well, perhaps it
doesn't make sense period.

As for outsourcing to foreign countries, it can work very well. The IC
I'm familiar with has done most of her work for foreigners, with
onsite time ranging from occasional to zero. That said, communication
is so crucial. I would want to be quite comfortable with the language
and culture of the people I was working with, wherever they were
located.

Good luck!

Douglas Ridgway