RE: "I'm constantly battling the financial people here in the US over hiring engineers in india"
It shouldn't be a struggle to inform anyone where you will establish a team. You translate your decision to the financial people in terms of numbers. The numbers line up because you have experience in managing teams in different countries, so you know the associated costs, benefits, and risks per country. You also know the pulse of the engineering communities in various countries - what level of technology they're at, how many engineers in a particular country with experience in what you seek, general availability, so you know your ramp risks. You can express quality in terms of financials (e.g. QA cycle @ cost; ramp @ cost). TTM is usually faster in the USA by a certain percent depending upon which type of technology, so that may translate into profits from early revenue.
Lower labor cost may or may not be a net gain in savings. Let the numbers do the talking.
No one should have any doubts over the location as long as you translate the cost of doing it inside vs outside of the USA. It's their job only to inform you whether cost or revenue side is more key at your company's stage, and for them to hold you to your numbers.
If you are open to offshoring or are experienced with establishing it, people tend to sense this and trust your judgement.
Whether we like it or not, offshoring is here to stay. It's not going away. It could very well accelerate. VP of Engineering could become like the VP of Operations. Managing an offshored division with some high-level ops in the USA. You could get ahead of this fast moving train, and lead it rather than become a victim of it. At a minimum, establish some type of team overseas in conjunction with your US team, to gain an experience that successfully makes some combination of this work - it also wouldn't hurt to prove you are open to offshoring so you can get the VC monkeys off your back. It takes years to build up trust overseas with respect to IP. Who do you think people will contract projects to? The person that has an engaged overseas development team with a successful track record and no IP thefts, or someone that's just starting to create an overseas team?
Regards,
Amy J |
