Choosing a software partner in Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania

A company in Germany or the Nordics decides to work with a development team in a nearby time zone rather than one across the world. The Baltics come up quickly. Then the search gets harder: three countries, hundreds of companies, websites that all say the same things. The country matters less than it seems at first, and the questions that separate partners are the same everywhere.

The short answer#

Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania share what most nearshore buyers need: EU membership and GDPR, the euro, time zones within a couple of hours of most of Europe, and English widely used in the technology sector. The differences between countries are smaller than the differences between companies, so choose the partner, not the country.

What separates a good partner is visible before signing:

• They ask about your process before talking about technology.
• Their estimate comes with written assumptions.
• They can show comparable work and let you talk to a client.
• You know exactly who will work on your project.
• Changes and handover are handled in writing.
• Your company owns the code and accounts from the first day.

A short paid discovery phase is the most reliable way to test a partner before a larger commitment.

What the three countries have in common#

• EU member states: GDPR applies, data can stay within the EU, and consumer-protection and e-commerce rules follow EU law.
• The euro, so no currency risk for eurozone clients.
• Eastern European Time, one hour ahead of Central European Time, which gives a full shared working day with most of Europe.
• A technology sector where English is widely used as a working language.
• Short flights from many European capitals, which makes an in-person workshop practical.

What is worth considering about location#

• Local knowledge. If the system must connect to local banks, carriers, accounting software or public registers, a partner in that country knows those systems and their documentation, often in the local language.
• Language of end users. If users are in Latvia, a partner that writes and tests Latvian interfaces natively avoids translated-sounding software.
• Regulation you operate under. A partner familiar with how an EU rule is implemented locally, such as cybersecurity or e-invoicing requirements, saves research time.
• Being able to meet. For long projects, the ability to hold a workshop in person at short notice matters more than the country name.

Questions that separate partners#

1. What do they ask in the first conversation? Good partners ask about your process, users, systems and constraints before proposing technology.
2. How do they estimate? A range, written assumptions and exclusions, and a proposal to reduce uncertainty through discovery. See why software estimates are often wrong.
3. Can they show comparable work, and can you speak to a client?
4. Who works on your project? Names, roles and seniority, and what happens if someone leaves.
5. How are changes and acceptance handled? Written down before work starts, as described in fixed price or time and materials.
6. Who owns the code, repositories and accounts? The answer should be you, from the start.
7. How do they test, deploy and document?
8. What do they not do? A partner who says clearly what is outside their strengths is more trustworthy than one who does everything.
9. What happens if you part ways? Handover terms should exist before they are needed.

Test before committing#

For anything more than a small task, start with a short paid phase: a discovery workshop producing a written scope, or a small first delivery. You learn how the team communicates, how accurately they estimate, and how they handle the first disagreement, at a fraction of the cost of the full project.

Nevo is an engineer-led software company in Riga, founded in 2019. The custom software development page describes how projects start.