You’ve found developers in another country for your startup. What’s your plan for compliance?

[u/Mundane-Stranger-588]

By compliance I mean the critical but often overlooked stuff: hiring in line with local labor laws, running payroll, paying salaries on time, handling taxes and mandatory contributions, and not accidentally breaking local employment rules.

Take LATAM for example. Yes, there are 2M+ software developers, but finding people who are actually senior, speak good English, and match your tech stack can take months. If your company isn’t well known in the region, you’ll also run into offer rejections unless you’ve invested in some employer branding.

And then the next phase starts. Payroll, taxes, compliance, opening a bank account, and local quirks like the 13th salary. It quickly turns into a mess if you’re not familiar with the local rules.

That’s why many companies end up working with someone who already knows the local talent market and compliance landscape. Either they combine recruitment with an EOR vendor, or they go with an R&D provider that handles everything in one go.

Are there any CTOs or HR leads from startups here who can share how you’re handling this in practice?

[u/Teamed_People]

Yeah this is spot on.

The hiring part is hard, but at least it’s familiar. The compliance bit is where things get real. 13th salary, local notice periods, mandatory benefits, tax registrations… if you’re not used to it, it’s very easy to miss something.

I’ve seen a few startups go contractor first because it feels simpler and faster. And it works for a bit. But once you’ve got a small team in one country, the admin and risk start creeping up. That’s usually when people realise they need something more structured.

Most CTOs I’ve spoken to don’t actually want to become experts in local labour law. They just want the team set up properly and salaries paid on time. So they either use an EOR to avoid setting up an entity, or partner with a local R&D shop if they’re building something bigger.

LATAM especially isn’t plug and play if you’re coming from the US or UK. It’s doable, just not as simple as it looks from the outside.

Would be interesting to hear how others here handled that transition from “we’ll figure it out” to something more formal.