Here's a question that has ruined more than a few businesses: when you pay someone to build your software, do you actually own it afterwards? Most people assume the answer is obviously yes. It isn't always — and the people who learn that the hard way learn it at the worst possible moment.
The nightmare scenario
Picture it. Your business runs on an app a developer built years ago. The relationship sours, or they simply disappear. You go to hire someone new — and discover you don't have the source code, or you're locked into accounts and services in the original developer's name. Your entire business is being held hostage by something you thought you'd bought and paid for.
What you should insist on, in writing
- Full ownership of the source code transfers to you on final payment
- All accounts (hosting, domain, services) are in your name, not theirs
- You receive the code and everything needed to run and change it
- It's all spelled out in the agreement before any work begins
None of this is unreasonable, and any developer worth hiring will agree to it without blinking. The ones who get cagey when you ask? That's exactly the information you needed.
If you can't take your software and walk away, you don't own it — you're renting it from the person who built it.
For what it's worth: on every project I do, you own everything when we're done. No lock-in, no hostage situations, no surprises. That's not generosity — it's just how it should work. I'm also happy to sign an NDA before we even start talking specifics.