This is a good guide for anyone hiring contract developers, not just those who are bootstrapping their project.

I've run into problems before mostly with communication, availability, and reliability as you mentioned. I'm excited to implement some of these recommendations.

Glad you liked it! You're right; I could've used a lot of these strategies when I was hiring inside of a big co.

Holy smokes! As a dev that last blurb about being willing to outsource a little bit is hard to take in. But at this point it's either code forever, or release something.

Thanks Ruben. Time to outsource.