Any thoughts about trust when bringing on a new employee with responsibility for crucial code of our software.

Hi, check outmy response to another question similar to yours. I hope it helps. Overall what you need to do is grow your community of users, or depending on the app generate enough sales or interest typically before any investors considering joining you. Not impossible to get investors early on, but your best bet is through kickstarted if anything. My responses tend to get UpVoted by other experts. Check it out https://clarity.fm/a/8032

Yes, exactly what Twilio is capable of. If you need it for just your business, this can be done using simple scripts. Routing is actually the easy part. Voicemails are a bit more involved but they have you covered: https://www.twilio.com/docs/howto/voicemail

NOT Wordpress! Facebook uses PHP among other languages, if that tells you anything. Every programmer will be bias toward what they like and what they are used to coding with. The bigger question for you is, have you completed your due diligence? Is there a real need for another crowd funding platform? Why would yours be so different that it would stand out among the others? Who is you target market? What is your unique selling proposition? How big is your potential market? Should you go vertical or horizontal? You may have already answered these and the two dozen other questions every entrepreneur must ask before they waste valuable time and money to become another business start up statistic. Assuming you have a strong grasp of where you are heading and a solid strategic blueprint to be able to predict your growth, the last thing I will leave you with is this. The programing language is not nearly as important as your database structure and IT infrastructure for the purpose of scale. Not to say the language is not important - all three components work together. Spend time on the other two and work backwards. If you would like to discuss this further at no charge, use the link below. I provide a free 30 minute consultation to first time callers. https://clarity.fm/kevinmccarthy/FreeConsult Best regards, Kevin McCarthy www.kevinmccarthy.com

I've been involved in several projects that hinged upon this question (generally start-ups or web+mobile apps), and it's not a clean or easy answer unfortunately! Plus every developer you talk to is going to try to sell you their services, but what you need is simply the truth! I'd suggest that you consider shifting your focus away from finding a best language. That sort of premise can eliminate options that are actually quite valid solutions. Keep in mind that any mobile app will require multiple languages working in harmony - all while used in a commercially consistent and standards-based manner. That's the part that determines your technical scalability! Almost every programming language can achieve this functionality with an experienced developer on your team. The best advice I can give you, is to consult with at least two people on this, and three if your app is os-specific. The most important insight will come from a "full stack" developer. One who's got a variety of enterprise experience, and can code at all levels of the stack. This person needs to have experience in leading a team of other developers, which forces the strategy of which technologies to use and why onto their plates daily. Secondly, you'll want to consult with a "front end" developer, who can tell you what's possible using advanced OOP JavaScript techniques (like Google's angular.js), because in an absurdly fast change over the past 3 years, much of the formerly back-end work has made it's way to the front-end, and is driven by JavaScript, predominantly JSON data, and awesome API's. The game has changed and the front-enders are the poor souls dealing with this rapid shift daily. To do this, they're also fantastic JavaScript programmers, which is a language that runs on all mobile devices and all browsers, too. Love it or hate it JavaScript is the most commonly used language in the world. Finally, if your app is OS-specific, you'll want to consult with a developer who works predominantly with the OS your app is built for. This person lets you know what's possible from the device POV, should know what stacks and JavaScript approaches can and can't be done on that OS, and how to leverage the resources of the device for your app as well as extend it's functionality. BONUS - loop back to the full stack developer to double-check the claims of the front-ender and the mobile developers. Always double check with your most senior programmer ;) All of these consults together in addition to your own research and due diligence will get you comfortable and allow you to navigate on this rather daunting but deeply important journey. There aren't any turn-key options. Instead it's a series of inter-connected modules driven by different languages, and all working in tandem. Every solution will have bugs, and no one group of technologies can do everything without proper developers. If you'd like to go further down the rabbit hole, then we should definitely set-up some time to speak. Otherwise, I wish you great luck in research and encourage you to learn as much as you can! :) It's going to seem hard, and might give you a headache here or there, but learn everything you can about how different technologies "talk" to each other, and then you will be able to build a map for keeping your app and business scalable regardless of the changing tides of technology!

I'd suggest investing in a business (or businesses) of your own. A successful business will provide you with the greatest return on investment you will likely ever come across. There's no blueprint on how to do this - but there is definitely wisdom, strategies and tactics you can use to significantly increase your odds of success and maximize your ROI. If you're interested in learning more - give me a call. In any case - Best of Luck!