Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Tech Company in Lagos

Hiring a tech company in Lagos should be one of the most important business decisions you make this year. And yet, most founders and business owners approach it the same way they would buy a phone — they look at the price, glance at a few reviews, and sign a contract they barely read.

Six months later, they are sitting on an unfinished product, an unresponsive vendor, and a development budget they cannot recover.

This is not rare. It happens constantly in the Lagos startup ecosystem, and it does not happen because the founder was careless. It happens because they did not know what to ask.

This guide gives you every question you need — direct, specific, and unapologetic — so that the next tech company you hire in Lagos has to earn your business before they get it.

Who this is for: Business owners, startup founders, and product managers in Lagos and across Nigeria who are about to engage a software or app development company for the first time — or who have been burned before and want to do it right this time.

Why This Decision Is So High-Stakes in Lagos

Lagos has a fast-growing tech ecosystem. There are hundreds of agencies, freelance collectives, and “tech companies” operating across Lekki, Victoria Island, Yaba, and Ikeja — ranging from world-class professional teams to one-man operations operating under a business name.

The challenge is that from the outside, they can look almost identical. A polished website, a few client logos, and a confident sales conversation do not tell you whether a team can actually deliver a scalable product on time and within budget.

The questions in this guide are your filter. They are designed to separate the companies that can truly execute from those who are selling you a vision they have never actually delivered.

Category 1: Portfolio and Track Record

These are the first questions you ask — before anything else. A tech company’s history of completed work is the single most predictive signal of whether they will deliver for you.

1. Can you show me live products you have built — not mockups, not screenshots, but applications I can open and use right now?

This is non-negotiable. Any serious software development company in Lagos should be able to give you links to deployed, live applications their team has built. Open them. Use them. Check how fast they load. Check how they look on mobile. Check whether the user experience feels polished or rushed.

If a company shows you only design mockups, client testimonials, or a portfolio PDF with no live links — that is a serious red flag.

2. Have you built anything similar to what I am trying to build?

Domain experience matters. A company that has built three fintech apps brings deep knowledge of payment gateway integrations, KYC flows, and financial compliance requirements that a generalist agency simply does not have. Ask directly: have you built in my industry? What were the specific challenges? How did you solve them?

3. Can I speak with two or three of your past clients directly?

References are standard practice in every other professional service industry. In tech, they are somehow treated as unusual. They should not be. A company confident in their work will connect you with past clients without hesitation. If they hedge, delay, or offer only written testimonials, that tells you something.

When you do speak to references, ask: Was the project delivered on time? Were there surprise costs? How did the team communicate during the project? Would you hire them again?

4. What is the largest and most complex project you have delivered?

This tells you the ceiling of their capability. If your project is significantly more complex than anything they have previously completed, you are asking them to grow at your expense. That is a risk worth understanding upfront.

Category 2: Team and Expertise

You are not hiring a brand. You are hiring people. These questions reveal who will actually be working on your product.

5. Who specifically will work on my project — and what are their backgrounds?

Many Lagos tech companies win business with senior developers in the sales conversation, then hand projects to junior developers once the contract is signed. Ask specifically: who are the developers on my project? How many years of experience do they have? Can I meet them before we sign?

A company confident in their team will have no problem introducing you to the engineers who will own your codebase.

6. What is your team’s core technology stack, and why?

The answer should be specific and confident. React and React Native for cross-platform web and mobile. Node.js or Python for backend services. AWS or Google Cloud for infrastructure. Flutter for high-performance mobile apps.

If the answer is vague (“we use whatever the client needs”) or includes outdated frameworks, push back. The technology your product is built on will affect its performance, security, and your ability to hire developers to maintain it for years to come.

7. Do you have in-house UI/UX designers, or do you outsource design?

This matters more than most founders realise. Design and engineering are deeply interconnected. A team where designers and developers work together daily produces better products than one where design is outsourced to a separate party and handed to developers as a finished brief. Ask to see the company’s design process and sample UI work.

8. Do you have dedicated QA testers, or do developers test their own code?

Developers testing their own code is a recipe for bugs. Every professional software development company should have a separate quality assurance function — either dedicated testers or a structured QA process — that catches issues before they reach you or your users.

Category 3: Process and Communication

The process a tech company follows determines whether your project is delivered predictably — or chaos.

9. Walk me through exactly what happens from the day I sign a contract to the day my product launches.

You are looking for a structured, stage-by-stage answer. Discovery and requirements. Design sprints with your review and approval. Development in time-boxed iterations (sprints). QA and testing. Staged deployment and launch. Post-launch monitoring.

A vague answer — “we gather requirements, build, and deliver” — should concern you. The more clearly a company can articulate their process, the more evidence you have that they have actually done this before.

10. How often will I see working software during development?

The answer should be: every two weeks. Industry best practice is to develop in two-week sprints, with a working demo at the end of each sprint. This means you are never more than two weeks away from seeing your product progress with your own eyes. If a company wants to disappear for two or three months and “deliver” at the end, walk away.

11. Who is my main point of contact, and how quickly do they respond to messages?

You need a dedicated project manager — one person whose job is to own communication between you and the development team. Ask specifically: is this person Lagos-based? What is their typical response time during business hours? What communication tools do you use (WhatsApp, Slack, email, project management software)?

12. What happens if the project falls behind schedule?

Every professional development company has experienced scope creep or unexpected technical challenges. What separates good companies from bad ones is how they handle it. Do they communicate early and proactively? Do they propose solutions? Or do they go quiet and hope you do not notice? Ask this question directly and listen carefully to the answer.

13. How do you handle change requests once development has started?

You will almost certainly want to make changes during development — this is normal. Ask how change requests are scoped, priced, and approved. A transparent company will have a clear change management process. A company with no answer to this question will use change requests to inflate your final invoice unpredictably.

Category 4: Ownership, IP, and Legal

These questions protect you legally and commercially. Never skip them.

14. Who owns the source code and all intellectual property when the project is complete?

The answer must be: you do. You are paying for the product, you own it. This should be stated explicitly in the contract. Some agencies retain licensing rights or use proprietary frameworks that mean you are technically dependent on them forever. Confirm in writing that all code, assets, documentation, and credentials are transferred to you in full upon final payment.

15. Will the codebase be documented so my own developers can work with it later?

A well-built product comes with documentation: a README, API documentation, environment setup guides, and inline code comments. This is what makes it possible for your internal team — or a new development partner — to understand, maintain, and extend the codebase in future. If a company builds something only they can maintain, they have built themselves into your business permanently.

16. Do you use version control, and will I have access to the repository throughout the project?

The answer to version control should be yes — every professional team uses Git. You should also have access to the repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket) from the beginning of the project, not only at the end. This gives you visibility, protects you if the relationship breaks down, and ensures no work is lost.

17. What does your contract say about confidentiality and data protection?

You will likely be sharing business-sensitive information — your product strategy, your user data architecture, possibly your financial model — with this team. Ask whether they sign NDAs as a standard part of their engagement. Also ask how they handle data protection in line with Nigeria’s Data Protection Act (NDPA), particularly if your product will process users’ personal data.

Category 5: Pricing, Timelines, and Value

The cheapest company is rarely the best investment. These questions help you understand what you are actually buying.

18. Is your pricing fixed-price or time-and-materials, and what are the risks of each?

Fixed-price contracts give you cost certainty but can lead to scope disputes if requirements are not extremely well-defined upfront. Time-and-materials contracts give flexibility but can lead to budget overruns if not managed carefully. Ask which model the company prefers and why. Then ask: in what situations have your clients spent significantly more than the original estimate?

19. What is included in this quote — and what is not?

Get a detailed scope breakdown. Does the quote include design? Does it include third-party API integrations (Paystack, Google Maps, SMS providers)? Does it include app store submission for iOS and Android? Does it include one month of post-launch support? The clearer you are on inclusions and exclusions, the fewer surprises you will encounter later.

20. What does your post-launch support and maintenance package look like?

Your product will need ongoing support — bug fixes, performance improvements, server maintenance, and feature updates. Ask specifically: what does post-launch support cost? What is the response time for critical bugs? What does a monthly retainer include? A company that has no clear answer to post-launch support is a company that treats launch as the finish line, when in reality it is just the beginning.

21. Have you ever had a project that significantly exceeded the original budget? What happened?

This question rewards honesty and punishes salesmanship. A company that claims every project comes in on budget is either inexperienced or not being truthful. A company that can describe a specific situation, explain what went wrong, and tell you what they changed as a result is a company worth trusting.

Category 6: Local Knowledge and Context

Building for Nigerian users requires specific knowledge that many offshore or generalist agencies simply do not have.

22. Have you integrated local payment gateways like Paystack or Flutterwave?

Nigerian fintech infrastructure has specific requirements, quirks, and failure modes that you only understand through direct experience. If your product handles payments, your development partner needs to have built with these systems before — not learn on your project.

23. How do you approach mobile-first design for Nigerian users?

Nigeria is a mobile-first market. The majority of your users will access your product on a low-to-mid-range Android device, often on a variable internet connection. Your development partner should be building for this reality — optimised data usage, offline functionality where needed, and fast load times on 3G networks — not designing for a MacBook on fibre.

24. Are you familiar with NDPA compliance and data localisation requirements?

Nigeria’s Data Protection Act (NDPA) has specific requirements for how personal data is collected, stored, processed, and transferred. Any tech company building a consumer product in Nigeria should be familiar with these requirements. If they are not, your business carries the regulatory risk.

What the Right Answers Look Like: A Quick Reference

Question Area	Green Flag	Red Flag
Portfolio	Live links to deployed products	Only mockups or PDFs
References	Connects you directly with past clients	Offers written testimonials only
Team	Introduces you to the actual developers	Vague about who will work on your project
Process	Structured sprints with fortnightly demos	“We’ll build and deliver”
Ownership	Full IP transfer written into contract	Hedges on code ownership
Post-launch	Clear maintenance plan with pricing	Treats launch as the endpoint
Local knowledge	Experience with Paystack, NDPA, mobile-first	Has never built for Nigerian users

How Poterby Tech Answers These Questions

We built this guide because we believe a founder who knows the right questions will eventually find us — and when they do, we want to be ready to answer every single one of them honestly.

Here is how Poterby Tech stands on each area:

Portfolio: Over 40 live, deployed products across fintech, e-commerce, health tech, and enterprise software. All accessible at poterbytech.com/work.

Team: Dedicated project managers, senior engineers with 5–10+ years of experience, in-house UI/UX designers, and a separate QA function. You meet the team before we sign.

Process: Structured discovery, design approval before development starts, 2-week sprints with live demos, and full QA before every release.

Ownership: All source code, documentation, and credentials belong to you from day one. We sign NDAs and transfer everything in full upon project completion.

Stack: React, React Native, Node.js, Python, Flutter, AWS, Google Cloud — modern, maintainable, and widely supported.

Local knowledge: We are Lagos-based. We have built with Paystack and Flutterwave. We understand mobile-first Nigerian users. We build for the market we live in.

Post-launch: We offer structured maintenance retainers and SLA-backed support packages so your product keeps performing after it launches.

Ready to put us to the test? Ask us every question on this list. We welcome it. Visit poterbytech.com/contact to book a free project consultation.

Summary: Your Pre-Hire Checklist

Before you sign any contract with a tech company in Lagos, confirm you have asked and received satisfactory answers to these:

A tech company that cannot answer these questions confidently is a company not yet ready to build your product.

🚀 Work With a Tech Company That Has Nothing to Hide

Poterby Tech is a software development company based in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. We build web apps, mobile apps, and AI-powered products for startups, SMEs, and enterprises.

👉 poterbytech.com/contact — Book your free consultation today.

Lagos | Abuja | Nigeria — Web Apps · iOS & Android · UI/UX Design · AI/ML · Cybersecurity