Good to hear from you and thanks for the positive feedback. On our search we did look at using students. Kane Pickerill was one of the 12 Web design/dev’s we looked at, however unfortunately the fit was not quite right for us. We also identified Andrew Godwin (from Oxford Uni) for our backend dev who may help us in the future.

There are considerations to make when using students as part of your startup team:

- What is the student’s priority – studies or freelance work? (This situation also applies to part-time freelancers who work evenings)? If the student is working hard for project deadlines or exams this may delay your project timings.

- How much customer engagement experience does the student have? This is important when setting expectations and dealing with mid project problem situations.

As you say there are definite advantages for the startup: the students bring new/fresh ideas to the project; they are eager to learn; they often have spare capacity for outside work; and they need money to pay off their student loans.

We would/will use students when we find the right person at the right time. As with many things its a matter of good timing and fit.

Best

Nick

On the design side of things (logos, business cards, web design etc) how do you/anyone else feel about using students?

Some seem to deliver to professional standards and their prices are much much lower.