Stop kissing frogs. You get ten nearshore cold emails a day and delete them all. Smart. From my personal network, I introduce you to the two or three CEE engineering firms I actually know and trust.
// stop kissing frogs
This is my personal network, not a marketplace or a directory. The companies I introduce are ones I actually know and have worked with, matched on real fit.
In-depth pre-qualification of thousands of companies on your own is impossible. Here's how most people try, and the shortcut.
You end up with a shortlist of companies that are strong in marketing, but maybe not in engineering.
A good fit for a peer isn't a fit for you. Stack, domain, team size and project phase change everything.
A curated network of very different, vetted CEE providers. I introduce you only to firms that match your specifics.
Two calls (technical & business) to capture requirements, constraints and how compatible your environment is.
3 days later I reconfirm wants vs. needs and set realistic expectations.
Keeping you anonymous, I check matching availability across my CEE network.
I introduce you to ≤ 3 firms that fit. My job's done, but I stay on call if needed.
Pick a time that works. Technical conversation, no sales script.
Employing individuals is about harmonizing. Selecting an external partner is about compatibly complementing.
Think of your best engineer, call him Tom. In his environment he's an over-performer. Drop him into a different city, team and incentive structure and the output changes, not because the skills changed.
Success with nearshore isn't about the developers' technical skills or whether they speak your language. It's about a work environment compatible with yours. That's where CEE firms differ enormously: how they hire, promote, make profit and collaborate. Matching that is the whole job.
The hard part hasn't changed: finding the right firm was always difficult. What changed is the requirement. A Head of R&D today isn't shopping for cheap capacity, they want the smartest skills, senior people and AI-fluent teams, and skill is far harder to judge than headcount. Add a flood of new vendors and ten cold emails a day, and the right firm is harder to spot than ever. A longer menu doesn't help you order well. A trusted intro does.
For 20 years I've sold nearshore software services into the DACH market. Before that I bought them as Head of R&D. I see the same frustration on both sides every day: DACH teams that can't find the right partner among countless providers, and strong CEE firms that can't reach the right department. I bridge that gap, precisely, for a few at a time.
↗ Martin Weiss on LinkedIn"In a 2017 recruiting phase we met Martin. He proposed a nearshore approach and recommended a good company. We still build software product with them, their people are integrated in our team, and they remain a strategic partner."
"We met Martin in 2016. He immediately understood our needs, challenges and concerns. Even though we no longer work with the firm he recommended, I'd still ask Martin for advice when choosing a software engineering partner."
And in 2026 that stopped working. The pivot from capacity to skill.
Cloning "Tom" as a remote worker is the wrong mental model.
What's really driving the decision in the DACH market.
Nearshore software development means outsourcing software engineering to a provider in a nearby country, usually within the same or an adjacent time zone. For companies in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) that typically means Central and Eastern European firms with a UTC+1/+2 overlap, strong engineering talent and close cultural fit.
Offshore outsourcing sends work to distant regions with large time-zone gaps. Nearshore keeps the partner geographically and culturally close, so overlapping working hours, real-time collaboration and short travel are practical. That is why DACH companies nearshore software engineering to CEE.
NearshoreHub is free and no-risk for buyers. I learn your requirements, then introduce you to a maximum of three Central and Eastern European software firms that genuinely fit, with no fee and no obligation.
The network spans 15 CEE countries, including Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine, across the full stack: custom application development, embedded and firmware, cloud, mobile and cross-platform, plus regulated-industry experience.
Because those are cold, identical pitches from firms you cannot tell apart, and most DACH R&D leads now get around ten a day and ignore them all. This is the opposite: a personal introduction from someone who has worked with the companies, knows your context, and only connects you when there is a genuine fit.
No. AI assisted development lets smaller teams do more, which actually raises the bar on the people you work with. You need senior judgment, good architecture and teams that use AI well, not raw headcount. That makes choosing the right partner more important, not less.
