Unfortunately negative experiences are not new to the development agency world and they happen daily. While this resource is a network to connect the hundreds of people that have been defrauded, but to also help those that could be wondering if they're being defrauded themselves.

1. Always require GitHub/repository access!

No respectable development company would ever withhold the source code from you when making monthly payments to their project. Project installment payments ensure that you're paying for the work that's being completed. The mindset of a project being "stolen" is a ridiculous notion if you've already paid the majority for a project. Source control allows you to see project commits that developers are working on, it allows you to cross check your development schedule to what you're being told.

2. Always ensure a developer is giving reports often

Any respectable development company will often have daily checks with their development team. There should always be a level of transparency on projects, project managers will typically handle the daily operations and connect the developers with the customer. You should never be kept out of the loop from the entire development team. For larger projects, you should actually always have a technical lead and a project manager available.

3. Builds should come weekly

When developing a mobile application in particular, mobile builds should come almost weekly. Especially using technology such as React Native, if you're not getting that there should be specific defined reasons as to why and what the specific issue is that can be attributed to source code and commits. If you're not seeing this, this likely means your developer is worn thing on too many projects or is incapable of finishing your project.

4. From the top down

A good development team always starts from the top, non technical founders should not be developing large scale applications and when things go wrong. They often find themselves in the position where they don't know why these problems are occurring and also have no ability to step in and fix the problem themselves. Most companies that decide to outsource their development work wants a company that can handle the work they're not familiar with, this is why it's important the leader of a development agency should always be technical. What happens when they're not is a series of sub-contracting to contractors who also sub-contract which leads to undelivered projects.

5. Transparency

If you're looking for a technical "partner" or agency, the trend of all these listed points is transparency. If information is being withheld, that's a major red flag! Any good company or firm will always be more than happy to provide whatever you need to keep your mind at ease during the project. As soon as that transparency is lost, it sets a precedent that it's acceptable to lie to your customers, employees and more. Never work with a company willing to lie or withhold information for not legitimate purpose.