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Global·16d ago
Startup Guides
Free
How to Hire Your First Freelance Developer
What you'll learn How to hire a reliable freelance developer in India for ₹40K-₹1L per MVP, without getting scammed. Why it matters Bad freelance hires cost founders ₹2-5 lakh and 3 months. Good ones ship in 4 weeks and become long-term partners. The playbook 1) Where to find — Upwork India, Toptal (top 3% but ₹6K-₹10K/hour), Referral from other founders (best), LinkedIn 'freelance developer' filter. 2) Avoid — Fiverr (cheap = risky), agencies (5x price for same work), college students without portfolios. 3) Filter by — Recent (last 6 months) portfolio in your stack + 3 client references you can WhatsApp. 4) The paid trial — Give them a 4-hour test task with ₹2,000 payment. Bad devs never finish. Good ones ship it in 2 hours. 5) Contract terms — Fixed price + milestones, NDA, code ownership clause, weekly demos, 30-day warranty period post-launch. 6) Payment split — 20% upfront, 40% at MVP mid-point, 40% on delivery. Common mistakes Paying 100% upfront (they disappear). Hiring on hourly (scope creep). Skipping the trial task. Not owning the code repo. Next action Post a job on Upwork this week with a specific 4-hour paid trial task. Interview 3 candidates. Hire the one who over-communicates.