How to Choose a Software Development Company: A CTO's Checklist
April 10, 2026 · 9 min read · Sparken Technologies Engineering
Twelve questions that separate serious engineering partners from body shops — including the ones vendors hope you won't ask.
Why the obvious questions don't help
Every vendor will tell you they write clean code, follow agile, and care about quality. Those answers are free and meaningless. The questions that actually separate serious partners from body shops are the uncomfortable ones — the ones that have a real cost to answer honestly.
Questions about ownership and risk
Who owns the source code and IP, and when? (The answer should be: you, on payment, no exceptions.) What happens if we part ways mid-project? Is there vendor lock-in in the architecture? Will you sign an NDA before discovery? A partner confident in their work has clean answers to all of these.
Questions about how they actually work
Who will I talk to — a salesperson or an engineer? Will I see working software every week, or just at the end? How do you estimate, and what happens when an estimate is wrong? Can I see a live project board? The right partner makes delivery visible; a body shop keeps it in a black box.
Questions about people and seniority
Who exactly will work on my project, and how senior are they? Is the team you're pitching the team I'll get? How do you handle code review and testing? Will you push back on my requirements if they're wrong? You want a partner who tells you the bad news early, not one who agrees with everything to close the deal.