Outstaff developers
Raider.io: Adding expert devs so the founder could lead, not code
For the love of the game (and clean code)
Raider.io is the go-to platform for World of Warcraft’s competitive PvE community. It serves millions of players with rich tools like:
- Player & Guild Rankings
- Mythic+ Dungeon Scores & Leaderboards
- Character Profiles with raid progress and gear
- Guild Recruitment tools
- A desktop app that offers in-game integration, auto-updates, and addon management
With so many moving parts across web and desktop, maintaining momentum takes serious dev firepower.
In 2022, Raider.io hit a wall: too many bugs, too little bandwidth, and a previous bad hire that shook confidence. What they needed was real engineering support with people who’d own their tasks, integrate with the team, and genuinely care about the product.
So when they were trying to find balance, they looked past traditional staffing agencies—and straight to koitechs.
The challenge: too much work, not enough hands
Raider.io had just let go of a developer who didn’t work out. With too many bugs and too little bandwidth, their small team was stuck choosing between maintaining what worked and building what was next. And the founder, who also architected the platform, couldn’t keep up:
“I could see the potential for what we could build, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything myself. We were stuck balancing maintenance work with new initiatives. It felt like we were stagnating—spending too much time keeping things running and not enough time pushing forward.” — Raider.io founder
They didn’t want an agency that would toss random contractors at the problem. They also didn’t want junior unreliable engineers who needed to be spoon-fed with every task.
They wanted devs who could embed into their culture, understand the product, and move autonomously without compromising on quality.
What sealed the deal was a chat. After meeting the koitechs CTO Artem Lopatii (who also happens to be a WoW player), the fit was obvious.
How the founder got his time (and sanity) back?
We didn’t just hand over developers. We built a lightweight system that freed up the founder from daily ops.
It started with one dev. The founder was still in the weeds: planning sprints, writing code, jumping on constant syncs.
Then we added another. We proposed weekly structured check-ins, async comms, and handled all the planning in between.
One of us took on a hybrid role—part product owner, part team lead—handling planning, triaging, and communication. When one developer required extra support, we shielded the founder from the back-and-forth, managed the mentoring internally, and kept the team moving.
**Eventually, the founder stopped writing code altogether. He focused on the roadmap. Delegated the tedious backlog stuff. And got such peace of mind, he could even go-karting on a random Tuesday at lunch. **
What is the outcome of your work? Show that your work is result-focused.
What Raider.io got?
- 2 full-stack engineers dedicated to the project
- A product-owner-style presence on our side — a team lead who acted as both tech lead and strategic consultant
- Clear communication and reliable async handoffs despite an 8-hour time gap
- The ability to “just get things done” without constant micromanagement
And — just as important — engineers who understood the product, the user base, and the stakes. (No surprise: our lead dev was also a WoW player.)
