Hi there, my name is Przemyslaw Grzywa (it is not a cluster of random letters together, it IS my real name) and I am a co-founder of a software company providing web and mobile development.

Our experience says that generally you need to look for three things when choosing your software development provider:

1. Recommendations;
2. Referenced projects (best if these come from your industry);
3. Quality of the team.

Let us start with the first thing: recommendations from your peers and your network. Talk to your friends, post a question on Facebook or Linkedin that will reach your network asking for recommended company. I am sure you will get at least dozen of propositions. Talk to people about their experience with working with particular companies, ask for budgets and quality of their work. Discuss communication abilities and process behind the work. It is standard right now to work using agile methodology.

Next step is making a short list and see which of chosen companies worked with project similar to your own. Look for companies focused on particular industry or that has done some work in the past from your business sector. This will make sure you will get much more than just sofwtare development. You can also count on their knowledge and know-how that will help you better design and develop the product.

Finally, check the individual people from the team by looking at their Linkedin profiles. See if their post anything to share their knowledge with the network. Look for some hints to see whether "chemistry" is working for you as well. After all, these are the people you are going to spend a reasonable amount of time on-line (from couple of weeks to couple of months).

Last but not least - if you can't find anything don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask for testing or proof of concept possibilities. Make sure that you are positive about the company and feel comfortable with your choice.