How to Choose a Freelance Developer for Your Startup: A Founder's Checklist

How to Choose a Freelance Developer for Your Startup: A Founder's Checklist

Hiring the right freelance developer can make or break your startup's first product. A good hire delivers a working MVP in weeks and becomes a long-term technical partner. A bad hire wastes months and thousands of euros on code that needs to be rewritten. Having worked with dozens of startups as a freelance developer, I have seen both outcomes — and the difference almost always comes down to how the founder approached the hiring process.

Before You Start Searching: Preparation

Define Your MVP Scope

Before contacting any developer, write down exactly what your MVP needs to do. Not what your final product will do — what the minimum version needs. List every feature and mark each as "must-have" or "nice-to-have." A common startup mistake is trying to build the full vision in v1. The result is a project that takes 6 months instead of 6 weeks and burns through the budget before launch.

Set a Realistic Budget

Typical MVP costs in 2026:

• Simple web app (CRUD, auth, basic UI): €2,000–5,000
• SaaS platform (multi-tenant, billing, dashboards): €4,000–15,000
• AI-powered product (chatbot, automation, ML features): €3,000–10,000
• Mobile app backend + API: €3,000–8,000
• Marketplace/platform: €8,000–25,000

If your budget is significantly below these ranges, reconsider your scope or timeline. Under-budgeting leads to cutting corners on security, testing, and architecture — which costs more to fix later.

Choose Your Tech Stack (or Let the Developer Choose)

If you have a technical co-founder, they likely have stack preferences. If not, trust the developer's recommendation — but make sure they explain the trade-offs. For most startups building web applications, Python/Django or Node.js for the backend and React or Next.js for the frontend is a battle-tested combination. Avoid exotic stacks for your MVP; you want a technology with a large talent pool so you can hire additional developers later.

The Evaluation Checklist

1. Relevant Portfolio (Weight: 30%)

Look for projects similar to yours in complexity and type. A developer who has built three SaaS products will build your SaaS faster and better than someone who has only done static websites, even if the latter charges less. Specific things to check:

• Are the portfolio projects live and working? Click through them.
• Do case studies mention specific technical decisions and their reasoning?
• Are there measurable outcomes (users, performance, revenue impact)?

2. Communication Quality (Weight: 25%)

This is the most underrated factor. During your first conversation, assess:

• Do they ask clarifying questions about your project, or just quote a price?
• Can they explain technical concepts in plain language?
• How quickly do they respond? (Within 24 hours is reasonable; within 2 hours shows they are serious.)
• Do they push back on unrealistic expectations, or just say yes to everything?

A developer who says "that's technically possible but I'd recommend a simpler approach for your MVP" is more valuable than one who agrees to build anything you describe.

3. Technical Depth (Weight: 20%)

You do not need to be technical to evaluate this. Ask these questions:

• "How would you structure the database for [your main feature]?" — A good developer will think out loud and mention trade-offs.
• "What happens when 1,000 users are using the app simultaneously?" — They should mention caching, database optimization, or scaling strategies.
• "How do you handle security (authentication, data protection)?" — They should have a clear, standard approach.
• "What is your testing strategy?" — Any answer beyond "I test manually" is a good sign.

4. Process and Project Management (Weight: 15%)

• Do they use milestones with deliverables?
• What project management tool do they use? (Trello, Linear, Notion, etc.)
• How often will they send updates?
• Do they use version control (Git)? (This should be a given, but ask.)
• What is their deployment process?

5. Pricing Transparency (Weight: 10%)

• Can they give you a range after hearing your requirements? (A firm quote after a 15-minute conversation is either very experienced or guessing.)
• Do they break down the estimate by feature or milestone?
• What is included in the price? (Design? Deployment? One month of bug fixes?)
• How do they handle scope changes?

Red Flags That Should Make You Walk Away

1. "I can build anything." — Every good developer has specializations and limitations they are honest about.
2. No portfolio or NDA on everything. — Some past work may be under NDA, but a developer with zero public work to show is risky.
3. Price significantly below market. — If everyone else quotes €5,000–8,000 and one person says €1,500, they either do not understand the scope or plan to cut corners.
4. No questions about your business. — A developer who does not ask about your users, your goals, or your constraints will build the wrong thing.
5. Refuses milestones or partial payments. — Asking for 100% upfront is a major red flag. Standard structures: 30/30/40 or 50/50.
6. Cannot show code quality. — Ask for a GitHub profile or a code sample. Clean, well-organized code is a strong signal of professionalism.

Contract and Payment Structure

Essential Contract Elements

• Scope of work: Detailed feature list and deliverables.
• Timeline: Milestones with dates.
• Payment schedule: Tied to milestones, not calendar dates.
• IP ownership: You own the code upon payment. This is non-negotiable.
• Bug fix period: 30–90 days of free bug fixes after launch.
• Termination clause: What happens if either party wants to end the engagement early.

Recommended Payment Structure

• 30% upfront — Upon signing, to start work.
• 30% at midpoint — Upon delivery of the first major milestone (working demo).
• 40% at completion — Upon final delivery and acceptance testing.

After Hiring: Setting Up for Success

1. Share your full context. Give the developer access to your business plan, competitor analysis, and user research. The more context they have, the better decisions they will make.
2. Be available. The fastest way to slow down a project is to take three days to answer the developer's questions.
3. Trust their technical judgment. You hired an expert. If they recommend a different approach than what you imagined, hear them out.
4. Test early and often. Do not wait until the end to try the product. Use every milestone delivery to test and give feedback.
5. Plan for post-launch. Your MVP launch is the beginning, not the end. Budget for iterations based on user feedback.

Conclusion

The best freelance developer for your startup is not necessarily the cheapest or the one with the most impressive resume. It is the one who understands your business, communicates clearly, has built similar products before, and structures the engagement for mutual success. Use this checklist during your evaluation, and you will dramatically increase your chances of a successful collaboration.

I work with startups to build MVPs and scale products using Python, Django, and AI. If you are looking for a technical partner for your project, check out my services or get in touch for a free consultation.