💡How to turn external tech teams into a strategic asset

If you are listening to the podcast you will notice that today’s guest was especially easy to introduce for me—finally, a French name that I could pronounce ;) I had the pleasure of speaking with Sean Languedoc, a serial entrepreneur and the founder & CEO of Outforce AI. His mission? To make tech outsourcing not just efficient, but actually strategic.

We’ve all been there—burned by agencies that send in their B team, delayed by months of inefficiencies, and exhausted by the mismatch between what’s promised and what’s delivered. Sean’s view? Outsourcing is broken. But fixable.

🧠 Matching Tech Talent with Precision

Outforce AI isn’t an outsourcing agency. It’s a data-driven matchmaker for engineering and data science services—curating top-performing agencies from a database of 79,000+ firms, based on domain expertise, tech stack depth, delivery history, and even cultural alignment.

Think of it like executive search, but for teams of engineers. Instead of “Do you do healthtech?” and getting a canned “Yes,” Outforce uses granular data to match companies with providers who’ve actually done the job—successfully, repeatedly, and with the right bench strength.

“Little data to make a big decision is a bad way of doing things.”
– Sean Languedoc

Outforce reduces the failure rate of outsourcing projects (often cited as 50–60%) to a stunning 98% success rate. The secret? Start with the team and timing—not just a brand name (or the price!)

⏱️ In PE, Speed Is the Alpha

Sean’s client base today includes mid-sized U.S. private equity firms, helping their portfolio companies build or refactor tech products fast. In private equity, speed to execution = value creation.

And nowhere is that more important than in the first 100 days post-acquisition. During that window, Sean says firms need to swarm:

  • Audit the product and the codebase

  • Evaluate decision-making logic (a nod to Conway’s Law)

  • Determine who on the tech team is staying—and who needs to go

  • Decide whether to scale the existing tech or rebuild it

In that contect, he offered two smart approaches:

  1. Bring in a full team to re-architect while legacy engineers maintain the current product.

  2. Augment the team internally to free up in-house talent for a rebuild.

Either way, the goal is the same: don’t lose momentum, speed is of the essence.

🤝 Outsourcing Can Be Strategic

Sean’s most provocative idea? That owning your tech staff isn't always necessary, especially in the early stages. Instead, the right outsourced team can:

  • Accelerate product-market fit

  • Free up equity allocation

  • Enable faster scaling without the 9-month hiring drag

Outsource the right way, and you gain speed, quality, and flexibility. That’s the holy trinity.

His warning: price-first outsourcing leads to rewrites. Think “Ocean’s Eleven” teams instead—small expert agencies with pattern recognition, cultural fluency, and domain expertise.

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🛠️ Technical Debt, Culture & Communication

In PE, buying older assets often means confronting legacy tech. But solving for technical debt isn’t just a DevOps issue—it’s a people and culture issue too.

Outforce AI considers:

  • Communication style (are they problem-solvers or order-takers?)

  • Cultural mindset (do they question? or just say “yes”?)

  • Team dynamics (can they handle feedback? work iteratively?)

They even worked with a neuroscientist trained in cultural adoption to understand how cross-cultural communication impacts productivity. Think agile American start-ups vs. deferential Southeast Asian engineering cultures—mismatched expectations can kill speed and results.

💡 Final Takeaway: Treat Outsourcing Like Interior Design

One of my favorite moments from the conversation? I compared using Outforce AI to hiring my interior designer. He got me discounts, knew where to go, and saved me a ton of time, money and stress. The value more than paid for itself.

The same is true here. Sean isn’t just matchmaking. He’s enabling transformation.

And in a world where funding cycles are tight, leadership churn is high, and talent is global, that's exactly the edge portfolio companies need.

📌 For more, check out Outforce AI and Sean’s upcoming video series on outsourcing best practices. And if you're a VC, PE investor, or a tech CEO: this one’s worth bookmarking.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

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