Starting an international software development company

Source Elements is company based in the USA, which is collaborating with a company elsewhere and clients all over the globe. Therefore they mostly work online. Rebekah Wilson is co-founder and Director of Technology of Source-elements.

When starting a company it is important to establish each other’s risk profiles. In Wilson’s case all participants had the same risk profile, both were new to start-up culture, which gives a recognizable dynamic. You grow together. When starting one has to know one’s partners for which reason the founders have to meet in real life to assess each other’s integrity and benevolence.

With the programmers it is important to check their capability. Because the company writes and sells computer software, it is ok to communicate on the computer. If it were making something else, Wilson would feel the need to be there more hands on. Trust with programmers is already inherent in the medium; one does not have to be in the same place.

Being the Director of Technology the role of Wilson in the collaboration is to bridge between different discourses and interests. Therefore they developed formats of communication that have a steady rhythm in real time. It organizes response time and feedback between partners, with the programmers and with the clients as well.

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