I think that in setting up your own system, it will really be helpful if you hire programmers who have experience over a certain field. And then, you just have to oversee what they are accomplishing.
I mean, in as much as you want to have first hand control over what goes on, it would still be better to get more heads into it. While managing those extra people can be a little too much to bear, that would ensure that you get a lot of feed back.