Surfing the waves: How the Right Agency Can Accelerate Your Business

As a founder, bridging the gap between your vision and the technical expertise needed to bring it to life can feel overwhelming - and current data shows that over 40% of founders these days are non-technical, so it’s likely you’re one of them. And even if you are technical, you still need strong people to nail your product. You may be considering working with an agency, but you’ve likely heard of some bad experiences that make you think twice, fearing that all agencies operate like that. Today, I’m down to debunk this assumption and show you the real value of a good agency and how it can help you on your startup journey.

The dark side of (most) agencies

Before we get on with it, I have to say that I do recognize some of the common issues with agencies. As a founder myself, I’ve encountered them as well, either firsthand or in the previous experiences of my clients.The most frequent issues and concerns can be summarised as:

1: Agencies Only Inflate Resources

The notion that agencies push a “feature factory” culture to sell more resources just to rip you off is sadly a common reality. In contrast to that, we focus on solving real problems, building a product aligned with your business needs, and flexibly adjusting the team to what is necessary at any given time. That’s how we do it, with nearly every one of our project teams fluctuating as we go.

2: Code Quality Takes a Backseat

One of the common beliefs that tends to be true is that agencies lack incentive to maintain code quality, pushing features and not caring about creating technical debt or increasing efficiency. At Whitesmith we do quite the contrary: we prioritise high-quality code and swift execution. We believe in cultivating a reputation for excellence, not cutting corners. And after our clients achieve their initial milestones, a lot of times we handover our entire work into their own team.

A bad codebase would bite us hard at this stage, taking longer to transition and the feedback from upcoming technical teams and consequently our client wouldn’t be positive. After we are no longer there, it’s much easier to blame and point the finger. We certainly need to leave no reasons for that.

3: Agencies = Bureaucracy and No Way Back

While some say agencies make scaling down difficult and make you tied to their resources, we operate as a flexible, fractional team. We let our work speak for itself, and when it’s time we always prepare the handover of a mature product to your in-house team, and help you hire the right people that will grow and scale while we move on to our next challenge. We focus on the criteria of success and the next milestone for our clients. And success might be exactly building a team and handing over our work, moving on to another project before either side might get too comfortable and stagnate.

The True Value of a Good Agency

Just like any other service, from doctors through carpenters, the key to avoiding problems like these is to select the right provider. A good agency will help you save time and money, address your needs, and handle the tech side while you focus on your core operations. This is what we do at Whitesmith as a mature studio that provides both technical and business expertise. We build great products instead of pushing features, create effective product roadmaps, and manage resources within your budget and time constraints.

We’re driven to do this well by thinking like co-founders. Our success comes from helping your business to thrive and knowing this aligns our thinking without any cost in equity.

Thinking like a co-founder helps us understand where the risks are, obsess about the customer and iterate quickly. Combining that thinking with our experience with multiple companies helps us foresee and navigate risks, ensuring your startup doesn’t just avoid pitfalls but can capitalise on opportunities. We tune into the needs of your customers just like a master mechanic, turning real feedback into a better product. We have all the tools to quickly adapt and iterate at startup speed.

In essence, we’re your agile tech partner. Whitesmith helps you launch, scale, and transition to an in-house team, celebrating your independence as a sign of our shared success. With Whitesmith, you don’t just get services; you gain a dedicated ally in your entrepreneurial journey. Let’s craft something remarkable together.