111 Minutes

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Atomato, a new company focusing on aspects of home automation. Our main message focuses on home automation, which is a widespread topic at the moment. From our experience, being able to understand, install, and implement these kinds of tools requires a sophisticated user. We're trying to bring our products to less technically-savvy people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 111 Minutes?

We were at the point of needing to design our web interfaces as well as the rest of the public-facing company image. Since this undertaking is geared towards the general public, I felt it was necessary to invest in building an appropriate logo. I have been involved with other B2B [business-to-business] companies who have a maximum audience of a few thousand other companies, so they don't require their logo to have a widespread appeal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

111 Minutes developed a corporate identity and logo for my company.

How did you come to work with 111 Minutes?

I was in search of someone who could come up with good ideas, a visual logo, and a corporate identity, not necessarily just a website developer. Since we have an office in Ukraine, I scanned the local market.

I was pleasantly impressed with 111 Minutes' online portfolio. I was attracted by the sleek, unconventional, and fresh approach. I had used other design companies in the past who were able to design nice logos but were ultimately conventional. Ten years ago, every company tried to build its website differently, but now they all pretty much look the same: a large image and font on the front page and informational sections. 111 Minutes had been involved in some interesting and unique projects, so I made a note of them and came back when the need emerged.

How much have you invested with 111 Minutes?

I cannot provide an exact figure, but the cost was appropriate for two weeks' worth of work. 111 Minutes is not the cheapest option for this type of work within the Ukraine market, but the cost was worth it and I would definitely engage them again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with 111 Minutes four weeks ago. We've had a short project, so implementation wasn't very difficult. The whole process of showing me prototypes, getting feedback on them and finalizing the work only took around two weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I have been working in the software development business world for a long time. My understanding of it comes from an engineering standpoint: taking the time to evaluate if the required functionality can be built and actually developing it. My artwork project with 111 Minutes was very atypical for me; it didn't come with any guidelines or guarantees of a result. Much of it was centered on the art itself and whether or not I liked it. There is no measuring tool for evaluating if it had been done correctly. Even if these aren't expensive or lengthy projects, the uncertainty around the outcome remains in my mind.

Within this artistic chaos, I was impressed with 111 Minutes' structure. They went through a very thorough interview and wrote down goals, making me think about things that I wouldn't normally express. 111 Minutes collected and thematically organized a lot of information about what I was planning to do with the business, to whom it would appeal, and so forth.

I didn't like the first iteration at all. It was completely unlike what I was expecting. 111 Minutes produced a very quick correction, and the work that was done after our initial drafting week was pretty much the final result.

It was also a great educational experience in highlighting many of the technical elements that need to be considered when designing a logo. It's probably standard practice in the industry, but I didn't know some of these things after many years of engaging similar companies. We considered how the logo would look in monochrome, with a dark background, printed onto a binder, and so on. We tested all of these things with different sizes. 111 Minutes produced a guideline stating the minimum size at which the logo was printable in conjunction with other elements on the page before losing its clarity. 111 Minutes made ample documentation for as simple an element as a logo.

How did 111 Minutes perform from a project management standpoint?

For a project that was only spread over three weeks, I found it strange that 111 Minutes took the time to create a schedule and a lot of documentation. They applied the same organizational approach as they would have done for a larger project and followed it to perfection.

What did you find most impressive about 111 Minutes?

111 Minutes took what they did seriously, and I appreciated that. For that part of the world, it's less common to see this, so it was refreshing to have a professional approach.

Are there any areas 111 Minutes could improve?

No. 111 Minutes demonstrated their abilities beyond what I was expecting. In my experience, a short project like this one may not have required such management overhead, but 111 Minutes had a well-established structure.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with 111 Minutes?

I would advise clients to give 111 Minutes a shot. This isn't engineering, so there are no guarantees that 111 Minutes would be able to reproduce my own results. In this chaotic subjective field, 111 Minutes created things that offer some degree of confidence.

BACKGROUND

Klue offers a platform connecting private persons with valuation experts from the Auction House industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

A central element of the Klue service is its mobile app, which was entirely implemented by 111 Minutes. The app developed by 111 is used by individuals to order professional valuations and descriptions of their more exclusive belongings. It is in that respect, very similar to traditional auction houses, where experts estimate the price of your things, with a fundamental difference that Klue leaves you free to choose yourself where to further sell your belongings. 

SOLUTION

I was looking for a developer and found them by recommendation from someone who had been in touch with them regarding app development.

111 Minutes provided us with project management and development support as well as designer time. Based on a backend API [application programming interface] that we provided and an initial InVision design of the app's screens, they were able to implement the mobile app pretty much in the time previously forecasted, and with few surprises.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

111 Minutes distinguished themselves by their openness, ease of reach, and professionalism.

They were proactive, actively discussing the more complex aspects of the app, informing us on time of issues that they discovered, or choices that needed deciding. 111 Minutes followed an agile development process with 2 week iterations and a direct line of contact between their developers and ours, hence making it easy and quick to solve problems.

Timewise, 111's original estimates of delivery dates for the various milestones were met with reasonable precision, and they were willing to add extra man-power to the project when problems occurred in order to meet the deadlines.

The code provided holds a high level of quality and went through proper QA [quality assurance] testing.

111 Minutes has broad in-house competence and were able to help us quickly on a few focused web-design projects.

Last but not least, they are a young company of bright people, and working with them was real fun!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Bubble Waffle is a network of restaurants which specializes in the sale of freshly baked waffle dough prepared according to a secret recipe, as well as espresso and other hot and cold beverages.

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 111Minutes?

We needed new branding for my company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

111Minutes designed a new visual theme and logo for us, which we've registered as the company brand. 111Minutes also created some 3D graphics for our product menu.

How did you come to work with 111Minutes?

A friend who had worked with them in the past recommended 111Minutes to me.

How much have you invested with 111Minutes?

The total cost of 111Minutes' services was around $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project with 111Minutes has been completed.

111Minutes' services aren't very cheap, but they have created a design foundation for my company. I have since worked with some less expensive designers, but I plan on working with 111Minutes again because of the quality of their work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I found 111Minutes to be a good partner in terms of design. My brand has grown in popularity as a result of their work. 111Minutes found the right visual key for us.

How did 111Minutes perform from a project management standpoint?

111Minutes delivered every task on time, with very few exceptions. Whenever something was delayed, it was because I didn't provide the necessary feed-back in time.

What did you find most impressive about 111Minutes?

111Minutes is one of the most professional companies that I've worked with. I received constant briefings and documentation, which helped us maintain our schedule.

Are there any areas 111Minutes could improve?

I was satisfied overall.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an advertising agency.

What is your position?

I was the account director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 111Minutes?

The objective for our project was to launch a mobile application created for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

111Minutes developed native apps for Android and iOS based on a design created by our company.

How did you come to work with 111Minutes?

A friend referred 111Minutes to me. They offered a good price and were prepared to build the product within a short deadline, giving us the necessary number of developers for this purpose.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

They offered a very good price for the application, which helped drive our decision to hire them. The exact cost is confidential since it's for a client, and I don't want to share their details.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2013. The apps were launched in February 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The app was one of the most successful ones produced by my company in 2014. We actually considered extending its life beyond the Olympics.

How did 111Minutes perform from a project management standpoint?

111Minutes was able to execute the project on time and on budget. This was key for us because we needed to launch the application and get some traction in time for the 2014 Sochi, Russia, Olympic games.

What distinguishes 111Minutes from other providers?

I've worked with many developers and often had to request solutions explicitly for problems with the work. 111Minutes fixed issues without having to be asked, which I appreciated.

Is there anything 111Minutes could have improved or done differently?

The final version of the app proved too complicated in terms of functionalities, but this isn't completely attributable to 111Minutes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We offer exchange sports services. People use our solution in order to find partners for their sport of choice.

What is your position?

I am a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 111Minutes?

I needed a team that could support and improve my application.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We've worked on two projects with 111Minutes. The main focus was app development, followed by bug fixes and support. Because the initial collaboration was successful, I contracted them to develop my new application from scratch. It is a restaurant review app which features content from famous critics in Moscow.

How did you come to work with 111Minutes?

They were recommended by a friend.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total cost of the development was between $30-60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are still working together. Our projects are being constantly improved with new ideas. 111Minutes has proven to be the right team for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We are very satisfied with 111Minutes' work. Our user base has been increasing as a result. The first company we worked with didn't offer a very good product by comparison.

How did 111Minutes perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team does professional work and is always in touch with us. I have a personal, dedicated project manager who acts as my point-of-contact at all times. For the two years in which we've worked together, our manager has remained the same. This means that he already knows everything about our projects, and I've never had to explain the same thing to multiple people.

What distinguishes 111Minutes from other providers?

They're simply a professional team and I am fully satisfied with them. 111Minutes provides good communication and professional results.

Is there anything 111Minutes could have improved or done differently?

I can't think of anything. All their processes have been fine.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I run an online journal that provides readers insight into the life of a traveler, along with tips for visiting different cities. It's also fashion-focused.

What is your position?

I am the owner and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 111Minutes?

I wanted to redesign my website, bringing it from a personal blog to a broader online journal. The goal was to reach a larger audience.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

111Minutes helped me rebrand my page, starting with the logo and ending with the overall vision for the website.

How did you come to work with 111Minutes?

They'd worked with my father in the past. I got in touch with 111Minutes and reviewed their previous work. I was happy with what I saw and decided to work with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is ongoing. We started our work in May of 2015. The actual coding phase began in September. We re-launched the site at the end of November, 2015. We're now working on touch-ups and updates. I'm in touch with them daily.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I'm very satisfied with the final look of the website. It's exactly what I imagined it to be. Any changes that I need done are easy to communicate, and 111Minutes is fast to answer and incorporate those changes.

How did 111Minutes perform from a project management standpoint?

They push the project forward quickly and provide great suggestions.

What distinguishes 111Minutes from other providers?

111Minutes listens to the client's needs and are very understanding of what the requirements are. I've never had any problems in explaining my vision. At the same time, 111Minutes offers their professional outlook on matters that I may not have even been aware of, not being a developer myself.

Is there anything 111Minutes could have improved or done differently?

Time-wise, I would have liked the process to move faster. It was a huge project, so perhaps it couldn't have been completed any sooner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a publishing, education, and media company that publishes, sells, and distributes books and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, and children.

What was your position?

I worked for a huge education publisher, but am retired now. I ran our biggest website, which was dedicated to teachers. As part of that, we developed a very popular tool that enables teachers – or anyone else, for that matter – to get all kinds of basic information on just about any children's book, including reading levels and other basic information. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with 111Minutes?

We had a tool on our website that teachers could use to scan the bar code of a book, and the tool would look up the book and give them all the information on it. They could then save the information on individual books into a book list. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

One of the things that teachers do is create book lists and look up the reading level of all the books they have in their classrooms. Although they could do that on our website, we had been hearing from teachers for more than a year or two that they wanted to have a mobile app to save them time. Even though the current product saved them much time because they just went to search and typed in the name of a book, a mobile app would save them even more time. We hired 111Minutes to develop a mobile app for us based on a simple version of our book tool.

How did you come to work with 111Minutes?

I did an extensive Internet search and talked to colleagues and other contacts.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The initial engagement was $30,000 to $40,000, but that did not include an Android version, which came in at about $25,000 to $30,000. The annual maintenance contract to cover both versions was about $24,000, which was good. They had to do a lot of work on the app when Apple introduced the iPhone 6.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial version took maybe three or four months from beginning to end. In the following year – this was a very big thing – we ended up having a maintenance contract with them that was very economical and made a ton of sense. It enabled us to move away from paying to update the app every time iOS had a new update.

111Minutes became responsible for keeping the app updated to whatever the new version of iOS was. They were also onboard for any maintenance work that was necessary. We were able to come up with a very good financial arrangement with them. It was good for them and it ended up saving us money.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from this engagement?

The app has changed our business. The tool they made became very important for teachers in schools around the United States. On any given day, anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 searches are done with our app.

How did 111Minutes perform from a project management standpoint?

111Minutes did a very good job. They are cost effective. They stayed on budget and met their deadlines. They were easy to work with. They were able to translate from an iOS app to an Android app and make those adjustments without requiring that much oversight. They did everything we asked them to do.

Later on when I explored some ideas about different related apps, they did a terrific job working with me. They fleshed out my ideas and provided a working version of a prototype based on those ideas. I was able to test those ideas out with customers at a high enough fidelity level that I could get some good feedback. They are very good to work with. They work hard at trying to please their clients.

What distinguishes 111Minutes from other providers?

111Minutes worked hard to keep me happy, which I appreciated. On the prototype, the thing that powers this all is a big database. In order to do what I wanted to do for the prototype, they had to have access to the database and certain kinds of metadata. For some reason, they were having a hard time linking up with the database through our API [application programming interface] because the IT [information technology] group at my company – well, let's say they were challenged. 111Minutes actually took a snapshot of the entire database and hosted it themselves at their own site, all just so my little prototype could work. I was very impressed. They were just trying to make it possible for me to do the thing that I wanted to do. They understood that it wasn't about to go into production.

Is there anything 111Minutes could have improved or done differently?

No. They were great overall.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a mobile app startup. We’re developing an iOS mobile app for travelers. It’s geared towards travel and social discovery.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with 111Minutes?

The goal was to develop a minimum viable product for the company. I wanted to go from an idea to a full product that is live and ready to use.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

I developed some prototypes and they took the design and created a real professional iOS application. They went through the whole design process. They did the back-end work as well.

What was your process for selecting 111Minutes with which to work?

I found them on Elance. I interviewed about 20 other companies and decided to go with them. I felt very comfortable with their team. Artem [Fedin] and the CEO are very knowledgeable and great communicators.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was under $10,000

When was the work completed?

It’s ongoing work. The design is completed, and they’re doing the coding now. I anticipate this to be complete in a month to month and a half.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I’ve been user testing it with various groups of individuals and asking their input. So far, all of the feedback I’ve gotten is that it looks great. People are very excited to try the product out. 

Are you satisfied with their performance?

I’m extremely satisfied. They’ve gone above and beyond the scope of work. They have very good communication. They constantly asked me for feedback. Any questions or concerns I had were addressed immediately. They’ve taken initiative on their own to find other ways to enhance the product.

Is there anything unique or special about 111Minutes that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

Communication has been a problem for me before with other offshore teams. They are constantly updating me. They use Basecamp for all their projects. 111 takes care of problems within a day’s time and that’s really good. It’s crucial to have that kind of communication in a startup.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

Definitely go with them. They’re a good team. Allow them to explore their creative side because they have a lot of good members on the team that are very creative. I provided them guidance, but I allowed them to be as free with the design as possible. They will definitely impress.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

So far, so good. I don’t have any complaints right now. There have been some things that I assumed were included in the cost and weren’t, but they’ve been very accommodating. They try to stay as close to my budget as possible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The main asset that our company holds is an equestrian mobile application, which also has a website associated with it.

What is your role and responsibilities?

My husband and I started the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with 111Minutes?

We wanted to develop a mobile app on iOS and Android. The app is like Wikipedia for horse owners and equine professionals with regard to equine health.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They’ve been our mobile app developer and they’re soliciting us to help with the website support as well. They took a model of ours but it didn’t work so they did a lot of the functionality and coding to make it work. They also did some graphics. 

What was your process for selecting 111Minutes with which to work?

We went through four other developers before we were introduced to 111. The person who represented the third company was the one who introduced us to 111. He’s affiliated with 111 and he took personal interest in this.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was from $50,000 to $200,000

When was the work completed?

The app was launched a few years ago. We just revised the website. We’re doing updates to iOS and Android right now. We want to improve the graphics sometime soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Currently, the application is slow but that’s one thing that will be improved in the update. It’s a five-star rated app on both platforms. We’re still trying to figure out marketing to get more downloads.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

They took on a half-baked project and did a phenomenal job. They exceeded our expectations in finishing it and making it work. They didn’t just do the job based on the description. They were end-user oriented. We trusted them with a lot of decisions.

Some of the functionality was suggested by them and we were thrilled. They’ve wanted to make sure that we’re happy. We have very high expectations for them and they’ve met that standard so far. 

Is there anything unique or special about 111Minutes that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

Developers in the United States wanted the money, but there was no product. The fact that they’re in the Ukraine and they’re hungry is great. They want to build business in the U.S. They’re hungry to develop their reputation here and work with more U.S. clients. Therefore, they’re really trying to keep us happy. Aside from that, I think these kids were raised well by their parents. They get the work done and the communication has substance, it’s not just a bunch of fluff.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

It’s all client specific. We work in a unique way and we’re not corporate. We worked well with them because we respond to them immediately and don’t make them wait. The biggest thing if you don’t communicate is the project takes so long and loses its momentum. They will stay up in the middle of the night and work with you. They have pretty good English also.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

It wasn’t always fun. We’ve had times where they give us something and we weren’t happy with their deliverable. But, 111Minutes has always responded very constructively. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We’re a music DJ service website. We provide music and video service for working DJs.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with 111Minutes?

The goal was to give the site a new, more modern look and to add some new features. The site was already up but we relaunched it with them.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They did Web design and Web development.

What was your process for selecting 111Minutes with which to work?

My partner has a similar website, and he has worked with them in the past. He suggested using them. 

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was from $10,000 to $50,000

When was the work completed?

It was launched around May 2014. They started about three months before. The work is ongoing. We’re adding features periodically.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

It’s improved our business. We’ve grown slowly, but surely. We’ve gotten more DJs to come to us and signed many new accounts.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

I’m very satisfied. They’re negotiable with quotes for upgrades. They were ahead of us when they were working.

Is there anything unique or special about 111Minutes that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

The developers are in Ukraine, but I deal with a local guy in California that lives here in L.A. I’m able to negotiate with him. The turnaround is pretty quick. They use this thing called Basecamp where you’re able to see updates as they happen which is cool. You’re able to see the work as it’s happening daily with daily updates. I was impressed with that.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

They’re good at negotiating if you have everything on the list, but if you forget something, you need to be ready to put more money in. But, they’re definitely reasonable with the pricing. Put all your features and ideas in one basket for one quote. Try not to forget anything. It will save you money in the long run.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No. I don’t think so. I was hesitant to deal with someone outside of the United States, but everything turned out great.