Accelerance Outsourcing

Contact:
Frances Mann-Craik
Mann-Craik & Associates
408-868-9577

SOFTWARE COMPANIES WITHOUT PROGRAMMERS – ACCELERANCE OUTSOURCING DELIVERS VIRTUAL DEVELOPMENT TEAMS

Redwood City, CA, November 16, 2004 - Accelerance™, the expert outsourcing consultancy, today confirmed an emerging Silicon Valley trend - software companies, many formed by Silicon Valley dot.com veterans who are boot-strapping their companies rather than seeking outside funding, forgoing in-house programming teams and relying solely on outsourced engineering talent for product development. Accelerance clients currently using this model include, among others: Blujacket, a stealth-mode, self-funded startup creating a corporate compliance application; Jian, the developer of the award winning BizPlanBuilder® and project-specific business development software tools; and Aware Media, the developer of a community website for creative professionals. This “virtual programmer” model leverages the business and marketing expertise of software companies, while benefiting from the capabilities of outsourced development teams in the Accelerance Affiliate Program, which bring a quality product to market quickly and economically.

“ We are working with an increasing number of software companies, both startups and established firms, that are keenly focused on the bottom line and are adopting a ‘virtual programmer’ model to achieve business results in the most efficient way,” said Steve Mezak, CEO of Accelerance. Accelerance outsourcing services support this virtual model by providing end-to-end services for outsourced development. Vision Resources provides quick selection, days rather than months, of best-match outsourced developers, including the highly-qualified members of the Accelerance Affiliate Program with twelve Affiliates from ten countries, including the US. Vision Success offers a full range of software planning and program management oversight services, especially valuable to non-technical management teams. Vision Perfect is a quality assurance service, which is critical for product success. “You don’t need a technical genius in-house to create great software,” Mezak concluded.

Accelerance’s client Blujacket is a stealth-mode startup team of four Silicon Valley veterans that formed in August 2004. Due to the competitive pressure in its market space, Blujacket needed a production release out-the-door by the end of 2004. Just five months for product design and development. In addition, Blujacket needed an economical way to develop its product without burning through the company’s resources. “We couldn’t have done this without outsourcing, because we couldn’t have afforded it,” said Ted George, CTO of Blujacket.

After searching on his own for an outsourced development team, George turned to Accelerance for help. “Steve’s reputation and Accelerance’s credibility and track record made them the obvious choice for us,” George said. “We used the Accelerance Vision Resources service to quickly source a great-fit outsourced team. The very first Accelerance Affiliate team we interviewed was the best fit, both technically and style-wise, of all the outsourced teams I approached,” George said. “Blujacket wrote the product specification, technology selection and high-level design. Accelerance's affiliate is developing the product, with me providing close design and development oversight.” The development program is on track to deliver a production release before the end of this year.

Jian, a 14-year-old firm that creates project-specific software tools including the award winning BizPlanBuilder®, specializes in providing expert knowledge and effective, timesaving tools for entrepreneurs (www.jian.com). While experts in business processes, Jian does not have in-house experts writing software code. Following its own business management advice, Jian uses outsourced programmers for its software development, as they’ve found this is the most cost effective and expedient approach. Recently, the “disappearance” of Jian’s lead contract programmer led founder Burke Franklin to Accelerance. “We needed a high-quality, reliable outsourced team for product upgrades, bug fixes and enhancements, and we needed them fast.” Franklin said. “Accelerance quickly delivered a team of outsourced programmers from the Accelerance Affiliate Program who were up and running in a few days and are providing excellent and reliable results.”

Aware Media, a new Accelerance client currently operating in stealth mode, is an early stage entrepreneurial effort with a vision of developing an online community for creative professionals. Its founder, Seth Alsbury a veteran of software startups, intends to bring his vision to reality without hiring any in-house programming staff. “For Aware Media, Accelerance is helping with end-to-end planning and development management from our Vision Success service, starting with the Market Requirements Document (MRD). Once the project is defined, we will use Vision Resources to deliver the most appropriate team for product development, then continue with Vision Success for the overall management of the development program,” Mezak said.

“ Entrepreneurs continue to dream of building their next visionary product,” Mezak commented. “However, with the slow economic recovery, business models must be streamlined for all software companies - from visionary entrepreneurs to huge software development organizations. Accelerance takes the risk out of outsourcing by providing both point solutions and full planning and program management to support the new ‘virtual programmer’ model.”

About Accelerance
Accelerance is an outsourcing services firm providing software development companies and IT organizations with the information and support they need to leverage outsourcing for maximum benefit. Accelerance’s Vision services include: Vision Decision - assessment of the in-house versus outsourced development decision; Vision Resources - independent, global resource selection with twelve affiliates in ten countries employing over a thousand engineers; Vision Success - expert project execution; and Vision Perfect - quality assurance testing. Accelerance, located in Redwood City, California (the heart of the Silicon Valley), was founded in 2001 by Steve Mezak, a veteran of numerous software development companies and projects both onshore and offshore. For more information, visit www.accelerance.com.