It can definitely work, but it has to be done right.
1) Don't go through the big firms with a flashy list of clients. The businesses practices many of these firms use are designed to extract value from you rather than provide value to you. There are good ones that are trustworthy, but you probably can't afford them.
2) Recruit and build your own team of handpicked developers. Once you have a couple of really good ones, use them to recruit their other talented friends.
3) Pick a country with a smaller time zone difference. Ideally you want to have some overlap where you can sync up early in the morning or at the end of the day.
4) Expect to fly out a few times to spin up the team and get them going. And even afterwards, expect to fly the devs in for a week or so every quarter. This is a good idea even with a distributed team within the US.
5) Treat offshoring as way to reach more talent, not particularly as a way to get cheaper talent. If you go in with that attitude, you'll find better quality devs and achieve your goals more easily.
1) Don't go through the big firms with a flashy list of clients. The businesses practices many of these firms use are designed to extract value from you rather than provide value to you. There are good ones that are trustworthy, but you probably can't afford them.
2) Recruit and build your own team of handpicked developers. Once you have a couple of really good ones, use them to recruit their other talented friends.
3) Pick a country with a smaller time zone difference. Ideally you want to have some overlap where you can sync up early in the morning or at the end of the day.
4) Expect to fly out a few times to spin up the team and get them going. And even afterwards, expect to fly the devs in for a week or so every quarter. This is a good idea even with a distributed team within the US.
5) Treat offshoring as way to reach more talent, not particularly as a way to get cheaper talent. If you go in with that attitude, you'll find better quality devs and achieve your goals more easily.