Oh, the amazing world of technology and startup tech culture. We live in an exciting time—the pandemic and cultural upheaval notwithstanding— where innovation is happening in every sector of society. The tech world, of course, is the head driver of that change, and the way companies are learning to grow and adapt is a story that has its humble beginnings in the early days of Microsoft, Google, and other household names like Amazon. But how does a startup company bob and weave through the unforgiving fast-paced environment of technology and make it out alive? The good news is that today’s tech giants have paved the way for less-than-traditional approaches to filling technical skills gaps, keeping costs low, and scaling expansion. Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Model is an exciting strategy for managers and VP of operations looking to hire their next all-star developer team and reach the next milestone in the company.
Imagine this scenario…
You’re heading a tech company that has reached a point that demands growth. You see potential, momentum, and the opportunity to leap forward. This begs the question: how do you reach the next milestone without expending all your resources or compromising your current operations? After all, hiring and establishing a presence in a foreign low-cost market can be quite a logistical nightmare. And how do you find the right talent that fits your company’s needs and goals?
The BOT model has proven to be an excellent solution to this common growing pains problem. Here at CodersLink, we’ve been at the forefront of helping U.S tech companies expand their operations using Latin America’ s—especially Mexico’s— now widely known and bustling tech hubs in places like Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. As specialized headhunters (specializing in various tech positions and industries), we have had extensive success with the BOT model and propelling tech companies into their next investment phase and creative milestone.
A Partner That Chose BOT Model to Inject Talent and Enhance Operations
Take the ever-growing Irys (formerly CityFlag). These guys are a gov tech startup that has made their name doing citizen relationship management, community engagement, and improving the communication between the people and the government. They have recently expanded their operations and are working with CodersLink to build and staff their tech team in Mexico. Through our partnership, the company was able to expand its runway until it raised its investment and scaled its operations. The name from CityFlag to Irys was a direct result of their growth and their expansion into serving other clients, including military bases and transit hubs. Today their mission is to “improve the quality of life in communities through the use of technology.” They have a solid working team of specialists working towards their common goal.
An Overview of One of Tech’s Most Effective Growth Strategy, BOT Model
We know, at first glance, taking your operation abroad may seem risky. There are many concerns: logistical, operational, and legal. The very thought of these might make you a little queasy. Yet, BOT model offers a flexible and reliable approach to setting a strong foundation for robust and long-term growth. As Forbes magazine described in March of 2020, the revamped version of the BOT model offers companies a low-risk version of the traditional model.
The Build Phase: This is step one of the foundation-setting. The strategy begins with your company forming a partnership with a recruiting firm to establish a software development center abroad, typically in low-cost offshore markets where high-level and experienced talent is locked and loaded. The recruitment agency hires the developers, acquires office space, sets up the facility, takes care of payroll, contracts, etc.
Let’s break it down:
The Operate Phase: This refers to operational management. Your offshore partner will set up some of the more involved logistical stuff that can drain a lot of resources and times from a company at the beginning. This includes things like HR, payroll, legal protections, and more.
The Transfer Phase: Once the offshore entity is operational, your company will take back the reins. Keep in mind, the client company was always the owner and worked with the hiring agency through a close partnership. At this point, the client company takes full control over operations.
How BOT Model Sets a Solid Foundation for Structured Growth
The BOT model is an effective way to establish a solid overseas component and/or extension of the company without risking working resources. First, you find a reliable recruitment firm and establish a partnership. The recruitment firm specializes in staff augmentation and professional recruitment while following your company values and objectives. They set up the office, hire the team, and do the tedious housekeeping before the entire operation is transferred to you.
Check out our BOT calculator and figure out how much your company can save when using a tech recruitment agency like CodersLink.
The BOT Model will benefit your company in the following areas:
- Legal Protection. Establishing operations outside of the U.S requires navigation of the foreign country’s rules and regulations. Mexico, for example, offers great support to the technology centers in the country but still has its own employment laws. As your nearshore partner, we deal with the initial formation of a whole new operation. We vet and hire the team, set up office space, and ensure compliance with tax laws, local regulations, establish IP rights, etc.
- Privacy Protection. The safeguarding of intellectual property is a big concern across the tech world. The BOT model ensures that no third party has access to your intellectual property.
- Assessment of team performance<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>. The client company gets to assess and measure the performance of the established team to ensure satisfaction with the assembled entity.
- Seamless integration and transfer. Through a BOT model, the third-party entity never owns anything. The operation is always under the client company name, and we are simply setting up the foundation so that you can take it over when it’s ready.
- Cost reduction and low risk. Growing your company in a different company might seem like a risky enterprise. And yet, the efficiency of your recruitment agency will streamline costs and keep it low while keeping the risk at a minimum.
Build a Great Tech Team — Hire and Retain A-Players
Finding talent is a task that plagues companies across the tech industry. There are entire volumes dedicated solely to effective hiring practicing and recruitment methods in the age of tech startups. What CodersLink has done is establish a symbiotic relationship with Mexico’s technical centers and built a vetting system and recruitment operation that guarantees we’re assembling the best-of-the-best-real-world-experienced developers and software engineers. So using the BOT Model means you have someone on the ground in the new location gathering a team of A-players ready to transfer and commit to your company.
BOT helps you establish a strong team through:
- Vetted and skilled candidates
- A strict employment process that requires careful assessment of skills and experience
- Integrating of the initial team during the build phase
We’ve seen high levels of success with this model and witnessed the rapid integration of teams with our client companies. For example, Stackpath is a network security company working with CodersLink to grow their team. They enable developers to protect, accelerate, and innovate cloud properties that range from websites to media delivery and IoT services. They worked with us to find and hire the best group of people in the local area. We help build and engage their network engineering team in Guadalajara, Mexico. Since their establishment of an office in Mexico, the company has seen steady growth and success.
Reduce Labor Costs — Strategize and Scale Your Operation
Growth can topple companies if their internal infrastructure is not well-designed. A company that handles their growth with organized planning and structure is not easily shaken by the weight of expansion that crumbles many companies. One of the natural obstacles to growth is reducing labor costs. Build-Operate-Transfer Model is designed to keep costs low as companies seek to expand.
BOT helps keep costs low through:
- Opening a nearshore team
- Getting your payroll managed
- Managing legal and logistical issues
- Not draining your company resources and time
- Successful tech recruitment guideline
Take another one of our partner companies. Parlevel is a technology startup based in San Antonio and is the top-to-bottom provider of innovative vending technology tools for the food and beverage industry. The startup was founded in 2012 and since then has grown exponentially. They are using CodersLink to help their multiple teams (support, mobile, and software teams) grow faster and increase their performance capacity while keeping costs low.
Reach Your Company’s Next Big Milestone and Accelerate Growth & Productivity
The new BOT Model is generating much talk across the tech world. It’s no secret that there are hidden gems of tech talent outside of the United States. Mexico is one of those places, as its growth in the technology sector has only skyrocketed in the last decade. This opens up the door for nearshore expansion for companies that are looking to expand and find the world’s leading software and technical talent not too far from its borders.
CodersLink will help you build the right team for your company’s next phase. Our partnerships are always focused on our client’s needs and objectives, while providing access to an established talent pool and fertile tech environment.
Have questions about how we work with the Build-Operate-Transfer model? Ask us below!
