The Founder Interview Series #28: Lonnie McRorey, Framework Science

Outsourcing software development can provide several significant benefits. Unfortunately, it offers just as many ways to get burned. Is there a better model?

At its best, development outsourcing helps companies save money, complete projects faster, manage large one-off projects more effectively, and get access to hard-to-find talent.

But only 61% of companies say they are “absolutely” or even “somewhat” satisfied with their outsourcing initiatives. And up to 15% of IT projects fail outright.

Why? The software outsourcing business model is designed to generate profit for stakeholders for each engineering resource or project fulfilled by engineering resources.

In order to stay competitive and provide a lower rate than typical engineers in the U.S., offshore outsourcing vendor engineering salaries are kept low so as to Framework Science logomaximize profit.

But this “humans as a commodity” business model generates uncertainty for low-paid software engineers. It causes high turnover rates and low-quality work (often swapping a senior-level resource for a junior one who has no idea of object-oriented programming or good code structure) and lack of project commitment. Feeling underpaid doesn’t motivate anyone to do a great job.

Recognizing the model was broken, one entrepreneur decided to take a radically different approach–one that offered companies top-notch outsourced talent at an attractive rate but without the risks of traditional outsourcing. Here’s the story of Lonnie McRorey and Framework Science.

The Service

Framework Science was designed to tackle the high-risk challenges companies face when working with traditional software outsourcing vendors. Framework Science solves common outsourcing problems by operating a Philanthropic Software Engineering Services Model that focuses on high salaries to obtain top engineering talent that is vetted, tested, and committed to the client’s mission, while keeping the rate below 40 USD per hour.

In addition to highly skilled and knowledgeable engineering resources, Framework Science provides its clients a total cost of ownership calculator itemizing salary, taxes, benefits and operational costs generated for each resource.

All proceeds go back to FS operations in making sure the company provides all opportunities for employees to prosper and thrive. The idea is to make money off of ideas and not off the backs of people. That model is long gone.

Framework Science is the first nearshore software outsourcing company to develop a service automation platform on top of an IT business service model using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) so each client can see all service processes (from recruiting, testing, onboarding, and training, to tracking resource performance in real time).

Simple, powerful, flexible project management - Zenkit

The more decisions made, the more the ML component will understand to provide predictive analysis on hires, projects, and timelines. The unified system enables our clients to hire, build, and scale at a much faster rate than the competition. The equation is to take out uncertainty and ambiguity at every step of the process by using calculated strategies that generate certainty.

The Company

Year founded: 2017

Funding rounds: Zero funding – started from nothing.

Current size: 70+ Employees and hiring 20 more with 3MUSD gross in revenues / 900k USD net EBITDA . Servicing 27 technology companies in California with zero DEBT!

The Inspiration

Webbiquity: What inspired you to work on a solution to this particular problem?

Lonnie McRorey: I personally had bad experiences with numerous outsourcing vendors across the world. And after seeing my previous employer (a Tijuana, Baja California, nearshore software outsourcing company) treat their clients and employees poorly, I was frustrated, angry and had enough.

The fear was lifted and I had to respond with a much better way to help companies bring their products to market effectively, with greater velocity, while mitigating risk on quality and overall costs.

The Launch

Webbiquity: What were the most effective channels or methods for you to get the word out to prospective customers when you first launched your product?

LM: I’ve been in the software industry for over 20 years, so going to previous colleagues and clients was my ultimate approach. The brand, mission, and vision were very clear from the beginning and I think that contributed to our success. It’s so easy to be passionate about building a company that impacts peoples lives so profoundly.

Simple team management and collaboration via email

The Lessons

Webbiquity: Finish this sentence: “Knowing what I know now, if I were starting over today, what I would do differently is…”

LM: I would have created a solid exit strategy plan. I didn’t realize we were going to succeed so quickly and grow at such exponential speed that in the end, I asked myself: “Okay, what’s next?”

The Takeaways

Webbiquity: What’s the most important advice you could offer to an entrepreneur starting out today?

LM: I speak to a lot of start-ups and entrepreneurs, so from personal experience I mention “Don’t build a product/service because you think it’s going to make you a lot of money—build it because your passion is a clear, validated, with a well defined mission, and your laser-focused vision will inspire all those around you… and then watch it grow.”

You can connect with Lonnie McRorey on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Previous Posts in This Series

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #2: Scott Burns, Structural

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #3: Atif Siddiqi, Branch

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #4: Daren Klum, Secured2

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #5: Josh Fedie, SalesReach

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #6: Loring Kaveney, WorkOutLoud

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #7: Lief Larson, Salesfolks

The Founders Interview Series #8: John Sundberg, Kinetic Data

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #9: Amanda LaGrange, Tech Dump/Tech Discounts

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #10: Aba El Haddi, EnduraData

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #11: Michael McCarthy, Inkit

The Founders Interview Series #12: Mark Granovsky, G2Planet

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #13: Aric Bandy, Agosto

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #14: Amanuel Medhanie, Parsimony

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #15: Adam Hempenstall, Better Proposals

The Founders Interview Series #16: Tracy Fuller, InnovativEvents

The Founders Interview Series #17: Peter M. Vessenes, ProfitSee

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #18: Alex Wise, Netpeak Software

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #19: Mary Kay Ziniewicz, Bus Stop Mamas

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #20: Lewis Werner, Quill Security Technology

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #21: Steve Pulley, Mortarr

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #22: Dustin Bruzenak, Modern Logic

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #23: Nicolas Wegener, AdBase

The Entrepreneur Interview Series #24: Amber Christian, Bella Scena

The Founder Interview Series #25: Tim Duncan, Innovative Construction Technology

The Founder Interview Series #26: Orrin Broberg, Modus

The Founder Interview Series #27: Payman Taei, Visme

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