How do I vet a software development company's portfolio to make sure their past work is real and relevant?

Why Portfolio Verification Matters in the U.S. Market

The U.S. has a large market of offshore and nearshore development shops that market heavily to American buyers. Case studies are easy to fabricate, logos can be borrowed, and stock screenshots pass as product work. A structured vetting process protects your budget and timeline before you sign anything.

Step-by-Step Vetting Checklist

1. Demand Live, Working Evidence

• Ask for live URLs, App Store or Google Play links, or a sandboxed demo—not just screenshots or Figma mocks.
• Check app store ratings, download counts, and review dates. A product with 5M+ downloads and active recent reviews is hard to fake.
• Search the product name independently; if it doesn't exist outside the vendor's website, treat that as a red flag.

2. Verify Client Identity Independently

• Get the names and titles of two or three client contacts, then find them on LinkedIn yourself—don't rely solely on contact info the vendor provides.
• Ask clients: Was this vendor's core team the one that built the product, or did they subcontract? Did the project ship on time and within budget? Would you hire them again?
• In the U.S., you can also check the vendor's Better Business Bureau profile, Clutch.co reviews (which require client verification), and G2 listings.

3. Match Team History to Project Claims

• Request the LinkedIn profiles of the leads who would work on your project—not just the sales team.
• Check their work history: do the employment dates align with the portfolio project dates? Gaps or mismatches suggest the work was done by people no longer at the company.

4. Assess Relevance, Not Just Volume

• A portfolio of 50 projects is less useful than three deeply relevant ones. Look for work in your industry vertical, at a similar scale, and with comparable technical complexity.
• Ask what problems they solved—not just what features they built. Vendors who built real products can describe edge cases, failures, and pivots.

5. Check Legal and IP Hygiene

• Ask whether past clients retained full IP ownership. In the U.S., contracts that don't assign IP explicitly can create ownership disputes. A reputable vendor should have a clean answer ready.
• Confirm they've signed NDAs with past clients and offer one to you before any detailed scoping conversation.

Where CodeNicely Fits

CodeNicely's portfolio includes verifiable products such as GimBooks (Y Combinator-backed, 5M+ downloads) and Vahak (800K+ trucks onboarded), which are independently searchable. They operate with NDA-first engagements and clients retain 100% IP ownership—both checkable through direct client conversations. That said, any vendor you're seriously considering should be able to meet the same standard of verifiability described above.