By Sam Li, CEO & Co-Founder of Thoropass and Techstars All-Star Mentor

If you're an early-stage startup, you know the pressure: move fast, prove the idea works, and get feedback from real users. Founders often quickly realize they need more engineering power to keep up — but hiring full-time engineers in the U.S. can be slow and expensive. That’s why many, including us at Thoropass, looked beyond borders.

From day one, Thoropass was built with a global team. We started with three engineers (who are all senior leaders on our team today after five years!), and today, our Labs organization — which includes engineering, product, and design — has grown to over 60 people, with teammates across more than 10 countries.

This article reflects on our journey and shares practical advice for fellow founders on how to work with, and succeed with, offshore teams.

Early Stage – MVP and PMF Phase

The goal at that stage isn’t to build something perfect — it’s to ship a working product, validate assumptions, and gain early go-to-market momentum. Speed is everything.

Offshore teams can help you get there faster. Whether you're augmenting your U.S.-based engineers or relying entirely on international talent, offshore partners provide flexibility, high quality, and cost-efficiency.

The primary driver in this stage is time-to-value. You need to iterate rapidly, close feedback loops, keep moving without being slowed down by lengthy hiring cycles, and ideally, spend as little as possible.

We built our MVP with a small team of engineers in Europe and LATAM, with the founders playing Sales, PM, Support, and everything in between. This lean global team enabled us to deliver a working product to customers in record time. That early traction gave us both confidence and signal — which in turn made it easier to raise our Series A round and attract more top talent.

Scale Stage

Once you have a product in-market, your engineering needs shift. The bar for quality, reliability, and internal collaboration gets higher. You also need to staff for product support and DevOps. You now need a robust, full-time team — but offshore talent remains a key strategic lever.

At this stage, the primary benefit of offshore collaboration shifts from speed to flexibility.

Scaling a startup isn’t a straight line. There are sprints, plateaus, and unexpected pivots. You don’t want to overhire and then have to pull back. Partnering with global teams lets you scale up or down as needed without the long-term commitment of full-time roles.

Two scenarios where offshore work shines:

1. Well-Defined Projects: When requirements are clear and the value is validated (e.g., customer integrations or tooling), offshore teams help you execute faster without draining your in-house bandwidth.

2. Special Projects & Innovation: When testing a new idea or feature that isn't yet prioritized internally, an offshore team can run the experiment. If it works, you invest further. If not, you move on with minimal disruption.

These models unlock speed and creativity — without derailing your roadmap or bloating your org chart.

Picking the Right Partner Matters

Tapping into global talent comes with risk. The key is choosing the right partner.

You want a team that has done this before — that understands how to build production-grade software, respects your capital, and collaborates like an extension of your team.

Here are a few dimensions to think about:

Dev Shop vs. Individual Developers: Freelancers can be great for one-off tasks, but for sustained product work, a well-run agency or dev shop often brings more reliability, process maturity, and team continuity.

Location: While talent is global, time zones, cultural fit, and communication style matter. LATAM, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia are all popular. We chose LATAM (more on that below).

Tech Stack: In general, lean toward widely adopted, well-documented technologies to minimize onboarding friction and avoid reliance on hard-to-hire niche expertise. This has made it easier for global teams to collaborate seamlessly and maintain velocity.

Why LATAM Works for Us

Time zone overlap is one of the biggest operational advantages of working with teams in Latin America. Real-time collaboration, debugging, and Slack conversations become much easier when there’s a natural workday overlap.

Cost is another factor. While rates vary, you typically see 50%+ savings compared to U.S.-based engineers at similar seniority levels. Just make sure you're clear about expectations — "senior" doesn't always mean the same thing everywhere.

We’ve also found that work styles and communication norms in LATAM align well with our culture. Combined with cost and time zone benefits, this makes LATAM our go-to region for offshore collaboration.

What to Watch Out For

The wrong partner can cost you just as much as a bad hire. Look out for these red flags:

• Lack of transparency around how developers are hired or vetted

• Managers who don’t understand code quality

• Impressive demos that fall apart in production

• Push for niche or proprietary stacks without strong justification

The best partners focus on outcomes, not output. They recommend stable, proven technologies and take responsibility for delivering real business value. Past working relationships are our #1 signal. If we've worked with someone before and had a strong experience, we keep going back to them. If you're starting fresh, consider a pilot project to evaluate quality, communication, and reliability.

Final Thoughts

Using offshore teams isn’t a shortcut or a solution only reserved for non-core work — it’s a strategic choice. When done right, it gives your startup speed, flexibility, and access to world-class talent.

But like any hire, success depends on clarity, trust, and alignment. Start small. Set clear expectations. Communicate often. And treat your offshore team like an extension of your own.

Because in the end, you’re not just outsourcing tasks. You’re extending your company’s DNA.

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