U.S. startups turn to outsourcing for speed, flexibility: Volpis CEO
LAGOS, NIGERIA — As United States startups face tighter budgets and investor pressure, many are turning to outsourced technical talent to accelerate growth.
Outsourcing evolves from cost-cut to strategic advantage
Kostya Khuta, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IT outsourcing company Volpis, shared his insights that rather than just cutting costs, founders now view outsourcing as a way to reduce hiring friction, access specialized expertise, and scale efficiently without overextending their core teams.
“The biggest misconception I kept hearing is that outsourcing is just about lowering costs. But most of the founders I spoke with were thinking beyond that. They’re trying to reduce friction — in hiring, execution, and speed to market,” said Khuta, highlighting that it’s not just about cutting costs but delivering more efficient work.
In one case, a fleet-tech startup teamed up with Volpis to develop a production-ready product in under ten weeks, rather than going through the hassle of hiring a Kotlin developer.
Khuta stressed that the right partner doesn’t just code—they help prioritize features and avoid costly missteps.
Hybrid teams: The new startup blueprint
Even high-budget start-ups have issues with retention, as a top engineer can quit the company to join Meta or Amazon within a couple of months, according to Khuta.
To beat it, quite a number are going hybrid: a sparse in-house team handles strategy and vision, while other talent handles execution. This saves on human resource overhead costs and simultaneously provides the flexibility to adjust it as needed.
Khuta notes that outsourcing shines in three scenarios:
- When you need to build fast but don’t want long-term hiring commitments
- When you need domain-specific expertise, like logistics, mapping, or real-time location tracking
- When you’re scaling dynamically and can’t afford the lag of sourcing, onboarding, or restructuring
He clarified that startups aren’t outsourcing everything—just the pieces where external teams can move faster. And the goal is to work efficiently, hit milestones, and stay nimble without compromising quality.
As Khuta puts it, “The smartest founders I met in the U.S. weren’t just saving money. They were building smarter.”
