Fred Wilson: Should mobile engineers recruit or nurture?

We have entered the mobile age from the Web age. Many web-priority companies face this transformation. So in the construction of their own mobile team, should be from the outside to recruit or cultivate themselves well? And look at Fred Wilson's thinking.

We have seen many large companies with a "web first" strategy struggling to shift from web priority to mobile priority. Although most of them have completed this shift, the process is not easy.

Most of these companies ' mobile teams are made up of mobile product managers, mobile engineers, and mobile designers. The task of these teams is to design and develop mobile apps that salute Web applications. This is understandable, because these companies are successful because of those web apps, and it works, but not the best, for a number of reasons.

1 Mobile engineers, designers and product managers are scarce and expensive. For this piece of work, iOS or Android experts can cost up to 1.5 to twice times as many web experts.

2 web and mobile applications are not independent of each other, but are a continuous user experience from the Web to the mobile or vice versa. Two different types of applications can lead to a variety of problems.

3 Many things need to be launched both on the web and on the mobile side. Localization is a good example of a new payment system.

Another option is to train your own product, engineering, and design teams to learn to move and turn web experts into mobile experts. This is a good fit for the concept of "whole stack engineer" for all work when necessary.

Some of the companies we invest in have adopted this model and have achieved good results. This is not overnight can be achieved, it takes time to pay. So it's not a good idea for immature start-ups, but some of the very young companies we invest in have one or two of them who quickly learn the iOS or Android development skills and then lead the team for mobile development.

This shows that a great engineer can adapt to any new environment and learn any new language just by giving him time and place. The same is true for great designers and product managers.

Mobile is different, it needs new skills and thinking way. But if you choose the right training partner for people and partners to invest, these can also be learned.

We understand that one of the most successful "web first" companies we invest in is no longer a mobile engineering team or a mobile product team. All engineering and product teams do both mobile and web. They still have small teams dedicated to mobile development and other special issues related to mobility. But most of the mobile product, design, and engineering work is done by the web-making teams. They have completely moved into the planning, design and development work. This is the reason why I have to write this article.

So the question goes back to whether you should hire someone from outside or invest in yourself. Of course, if you develop quickly, you have to do both. But as Jerry Colonna told me many years ago, the companies that invest in their own people are the most suitable places to work and invest. So, when you think about how to do something new, don't always think about absorbing fresh blood from outside. Consider getting your best people to learn some new skills. It is possible and indeed feasible.