3Advance

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at Hindsight Systems. We’re a technology startup focused primarily in the pre-trial monitoring of clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance Apps?

We use 3Advance to help us develop our proprietary monitoring application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

3Advance dedicated UX/UI professionals who designed a clickable prototype for our application. We basically provided them with a product requirement document. Then, they established an entire design team.

Their team's translating our idea into an end product. They also connected us with hardware providers to build the hardware compatible with our application.

What is the team composition?

Our primary point of contact’s Paul (Founder & CEO). He assigns tasks to individual engineers in different departments. During the design phase, we worked with about four people from their team. We worked with UX/UI engineers, a marketing teammate, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with 3Advance Apps?

I searched for software providers in our local area and that led me to Clutch. I read reviews and that’s how I got to 3Advance.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $25,000. We’re about to sign an additional contract that will increase the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had initial conversations in late January 2020 and our initial design phase began in April. We’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We have a clickable prototype that has blown our investors out of the water. It’s above and beyond what we expected. They took us from an idea to well on our way to a developed application.

I couldn’t be happier with everything 3Advance has done for us. Even with tasks outside their scope of work, they’ve weighed in to give us expert opinions. I cannot say enough about them or the product that we have.

How did 3Advance Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

We've talked with them 2–3 times a week over conference calls when we walked through the design process with them. We work primarily with Notion and Basecamp. Their communication is beyond what we expected. They’re spot on with timelines and flexible with our timelines. Their team is able to translate technical jargon to people who aren’t technically savvy well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility is one of their most impressive qualities. For example, we were in the throes of finding a hardware provider to create the hardware to work in tandem with our software application. We were coming up with goose eggs. I mentioned this issue to Paul who said he knew people in the industry. Within two days, I had a list of hardware providers. We plan to sign an agreement with a hardware provider provided by Paul. He didn’t have skin in the game. He was just trying to be helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve exceeded our expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell them exactly what you want. Have clear and defined requirements and expectations. Tell them what you don’t know too. If you have a gap in your plan, be upfront with that. They can probably help you fill that gap.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of Pay It Furloughed, which was created during the government shutdown last year. It’s a co-creation between myself and a frequent collaborator of mine, Al Goldberg.

We had the idea to bring a bit of light into the darkness for federal workers and contractors during the federal shutdown, by teaming up with a number of craft brewers and one store that sold craft beer in Washington, DC. We wanted to make it possible for people to make long-distance donations to buy beer for someone who’s negatively affected by the government shutdown.

The basic concept was for people to go on to a website, make a donation for a beer, a six-pack, or a case of beer, and a government contractor that was furloughed during the shutdown could walk into any one of the breweries or the shop that we were partnered with and, as long as there was money in the virtual box, they could drink as many beers as they wanted, responsibly and within reason.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance Apps?

We had an idea, but we didn’t know how to execute it from a technology standpoint. There would be multiple venues for people, and redeeming tiers. We wanted to make the donation interface very simple, whether someone was on a mobile device or a desktop. That’s how we came to collaborate with 3Advance Apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I think that this was the fastest project any of us had been a part of. I pitched the idea to my collaborator over dinner, and we had a conference call with Paul (CEO, 3Advance Apps) and his team a few hours later. I and my partner have an events background, and we have a lot of experience in the food space as well, but we didn’t have experience in terms of creating technology like this.

We needed something built from scratch, and fast. It had to have a super sleek user experience and redemption experience for the merchants. We wanted to make it simple for people anywhere in the world to just input their credit card information and make a donation for one beer, a six-pack, a case, or just a lump sum of their choosing, and we wanted to make it very easy for our craft beer partners to look at the virtual box and determine whether there was money in it. If so, then they could redeem a beer for anyone that wanted one at the time. 

Paul and his team had to come up with a website interface for donations and a backend recordkeeping technology for us, for the purpose of then transferring the money to the breweries. The idea was that, not only did these furloughed workers get a beer when they needed it most, and a chance to get out of the house and have some conversations, but we were also going to be helping local craft brewers and a local shop get business.

We wanted the whole process to be both pro federal worker/contractor and pro local business. 3Advance Apps came up with a mobile-friendly website and the recordkeeping functionality in the backend. We also had to have a redemption functionality, so that every time a beer was redeemed, the merchant could input that sale into the software. To make it as transparent as possible, we wanted to make it so that the website would reflect in real-time the number of beers that had been donated, redeemed, and remaining.

We started out with just three partners, and, as the furlough continued, we brought on more beer partners. Paul and his team constantly updated the website to ensure that the new partners were listed and that they had a little tutorial of the technology, for the redemption portion of it. It was a web platform only.

We thought about making an app, but we didn’t know how much the shutdown would last. If it was going to be a recurring initiative, we would’ve maybe made a mobile app. We wanted to have the path of least resistance from hearing about it to making a donation to us.

What is the team composition?

Paul and Darren (Partner and CTO, 3Advance Apps) were our main points of contact. I know that other team members worked on the project, but I didn’t have the chance to interface with them at all.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $15,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with 3Advance Apps during the month of January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It was really gratifying that we were able to take that idea and make it into a reality in such a short period of time. 3Advance Apps was extremely reactive and productive with their work.

We were up and running within 72 hours of having the idea, and the initiative ran for almost two weeks before the shutdown ended. In that time, we got press coverage, mainly in The States, but also from around the world, and we got donations from around the world.

We’ve had a lot of interactions with people on social media, who were either government contractors or workers redeeming a beer, and posting on Instagram thanking us for it; or from people who’d just bought a six-pack of beer for someone.

Paul and his team came up with that within just a couple of days of absolutely phenomenal, breakneck work. I’ve never seen a project go from a “Wouldn’t it be cool?” moment to us having a mobile-ready website and partnerships with beer companies and shops, and being able to go to the press with an announcement.

Paul and his team were highly creative and responsive and worked at supersonic speed. We couldn’t have been happier with the work they did. We all had to figure it out as we went along, and it was a huge success. We raised over $30,000 and gave out thousands of free beers to government workers and contractors.

We were on CNN, NPR, and CBS News Hour. We got coverage in every publication in Washington DC, including The Washington Post. We got donations from around the world, including Japan, Norway, South America, and New Zealand. The bulk of the donations came from the US, but there were donations openly made around the world, which was heartening to see.

How did 3Advance Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

We had some initial conference calls to go over the overarching task, to make sure everyone was on the same page about where it needed to go. After that, we primarily communicated through email and occasionally on Slack. At one point, we did get together for a beer in the middle of all of it.

It was really an “Aha!” moment that got out there super quickly and went viral in a way that surprised all of us. I know that I and Paul’s team didn’t sleep for the next couple of weeks, while it was all running. It was really incredible to be a part of, and none of it would’ve been possible without 3Advance Apps. We really owe them a debt for their speed and creativity.

They made it so that the website was easily editable by myself and my partner. If we wanted to add a new language or include new stories that were written by the initiative, we could do that without bothering Paul and his team Their ability to meet deadlines was fearless, and their dedication and determination were beyond impressive. We couldn’t have been happier with the work they did or the time they delivered it in.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We knew how hard they were working, how stressful it was, and how much was riding on it. We had limited time to come out with a product that worked really well on all levels. With all of that pressure, throughout it, Paul and his team had a great sense of humor and a great attitude. They were continually upbeat.

At one point, we sent them a case of Red Bull, because of how little they were sleeping. We sent them a case of beer, too, for when it was all over. We knew what kind of pressure they were under, and, not only did they do the work, but they did it with a fantastic attitude. It’s always a pleasure to interface with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

If we ever had the opportunity to work with them again, I’d have it go exactly the same way. We were very pleased with the work they did.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a sports betting startup company, HotBox. We are building a pool based sports betting product that we hope to license to one or several sportsbook operators across the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 3Advance?

We hired 3Advance to bring our product to life through mobile development. We began with only a skeleton prototype design with no actual code built. We hired 3Advance to build out the backend and frontend of our product.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to have a fully functional app that could be used in the sports betting market.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We did a bit of research on clutch to come across 3Advance, who we thought would be the best fit for the job.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected 3advance, we had a few meetings to discuss the overall goals and objectives of our project. We brought to the table some design templates that were used in the beginning phases of wireframes.

We worked with 3advance to tweak the designs and layouts to become what we have today. 3advance was used for all development phases and coding of our application.

What was the team composition?

Our coding and communication was mostly done through a front-end UI/developer and a back-end software architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within a few months we had a functioning MVP that we were able to use to raise funds from outside investors. A few months later we had our beta version that was functioning at a high enough level that we were able to put it in front of large gaming operators and demo the product.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I think the workflow was highly effective. We understand each others needs and goals. We had weekly calls to discuss product updates and strategy.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was really happy with the speed of development on the product. We had a vision that was put into reality fairly quickly by the 3Advance team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think internal testing could have been an area of improvement before builds were pushed out to the application. Cost flexibility could be an area of improvement as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a restaurant app development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3advance?

We wanted to create a CRM system that could streamline some of the communications within the restaurant industry, so we reached out to 3advance to design the UX of the app we had in mind.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

3advance met with us to go over project requirements and goals, and then created wireframes for our review. Once we approved of a direction, they designed the UX of the app from scratch and are starting to move into the development phase. 

What is the team composition? 

We work with about 11 different people, including UX designers and developers.

How did you come to work with 3advance?

I discovered them on a trip to Washington, D.C., where they were highly regarded within the community. I liked the fact that they not only had POS experience but also experience within the restaurant industry. When I reached out to them with my idea, they invited me to meet with them in their office, and the rest is history.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The app 3advance designed looks phenomenal. They did a great job of translating our vision into a product that's already attracted the attention of a chain restaurant. 

How did 3advance perform from a project management standpoint?

They always meet, if not exceed, any timeliness we set and are very communicative overall.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take a very personalized approach, listening closely to our needs and vision. Their designs have exceeded our expectations and reflect our vision very well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They've already made improvements, but I've let them know that it's challenging to work within multiple different types of project management software. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay in constant communication with them throughout the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder of Digital Product Studio, an online platform that partners with educators to create niche platforms for different types of communities. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance?

We engaged 3Advance to develop our video streaming app, enabling our customers to watch videos on the go.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After providing 3Advance with a basic outline of the app we wanted to build, they laid out the scope of work and created wireframes. Working with our internal developer in sprints, their team helped develop the app from scratch and connected it to our website. After launching the first app in iOS, they also developed the app for Android, as well as a second app shortly after. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked directly with Paul (CEO, 3Advance), as well as a couple of developers and one UX designer. 

How did you come to work with 3Advance?

Our internal developer asked around in his personal network for some recommendations and came across 3Advance. They impressed us the most out of the few firms we interviewed. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $30,000–$40,000 on each app, so we've invested under $200,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July 2018 and completed the first app by the end of August. They delivered the second project just in time for a conference in September. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

3Advance delivered high-quality apps in just a few months, helping our business achieve a lot. They were one of the best technical partners we've ever worked with. Both apps were released under aggressive timelines and have received nothing but positive feedback since launching. Within the first week of their releases, we received hundreds of positive comments and an average rating of 4.7 or higher in the iTunes store. 

How did 3Advance perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive and flexible when it came to adapting to our changing scope of work in order to have the apps ready by certain dates. They worked efficiently in series of two-week sprints and joined one of our Slack channels, which worked very well for us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understood what we needed and what to suggest that was appropriate for our business, unlike other developers that require more guidance and redirection. 3Advance's suggestions were very much in line with what the business needed. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust that they're good at what they do and be transparent about your needs, even if that means limiting the scope in order to get the necessary product by a certain timeframe. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technology adviser at the AARP Foundation for the Experience Corps program.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance?

We were trying to figure out how to simplify our data collection. There was a tremendous burden on our volunteers to maintain paper logs of their tutoring sessions with students. Staff also spent many hours every month inputting the data into Salesforce.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

3Advance had three initial sessions with me over the phone to make sure they understood our entire program. I explained to them what our network does, who the key stakeholders are, and who the customers are. They asked me a series of questions about how the data should sync, and what platform we use. They spent a lot of time working on how to make the application as simple as possible for our volunteers. They focused a lot of their efforts on the user experience. We had two in-person sessions to do data modeling about how to structure the application and decided on the best approach.

They developed iOS and Android native applications. A key feature of the app is notifications. If a volunteer goes in and does not complete a session, they will get a reminder within 24 hours to complete their session. There’s also a feature that allows them to enter data from multiple sessions at once without having to log out again. They’re currently helping with the pilot phase and making sure that the app is running smoothly.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with five members of the team: a server/architecture developer, an interaction designer, a graphic designer, a mobile platform manager, and a backend programmer.

How did you come to work with 3Advance?

I worked with them in a previous job. I didn’t consider other providers for this project because they did such an amazing job on the last one. They always made sure that I had exactly what I needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The mandate was to significantly reduce both the burden and the amount of time spent on data for our volunteers and staff. We also wanted to provide a great user experience for the volunteers. Now I’m able to present a clear path for getting data into our Salesforce system without staff having to go into Salesforce themselves. Thanks to the new app, staff don’t have to do any data entry in Salesforce and volunteers get more time to do tutoring. 

So far the app has been rock solid without any crashes. The initial feedback I'm getting from users is that they're excited about it. They really like that they don't have to manually enter data because it’s preloaded in the app. 3Advance has the ability to uncover the hidden potential in a project, and deliver a valuable product.

How did 3Advance perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at providing regular updates. I'm on a call with them every week for about 45 minutes. We go through what the team is working on and their progress. I get to talk with the team members actually doing the work and not just the management team. The regular calls keep us on the same page. If an issue comes up during the development phase, they work to solve it. They also use Notion and Basecamp to manage the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing is that they ask good questions and they listen to your answer. That allows them to provide a solution that's right for you and not just the industry standard. They’ve figured out the formula for working with clients. You don't feel like you're just another problem on a list. They're invested in you and your project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Any organization has room for improvement. Their competence assures clients that they're going to receive a viable product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior online producer for the Newseum in Washington D.C.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance?

We originally worked with a freelance developer based in Ireland to create our "Today's Front Pages" app. When it came time to update the iOS version and ultimately create an Android version, we decided to go with a local company with a broad skill set.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Newseum's multimedia department initially engaged with 3Advance in 2012 to update the iOS version of our "Today's Front Pages" app.

Although the features didn’t substantially change, they stabilized the app, created a new user experience and design, and implemented social sharing.

Beyond development, they gave us recommendations to improve our app and keep us up to date with OS changes. Currently, they continue to provide on-call support and we plan to work with the team in the future to implement some modifications.

In addition to the app, they work with our exhibition department to facilitate the transition from our old digital asset management tool to Widen. However, I’m not directly involved in that project, so I can’t give concrete insights.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with Paul (Founder, 3Advance) who serves as our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with 3Advance?

I’ve actually known Paul for a long time, now. I worked with him over 14 years ago, so I had already heard about his company. I had an idea of Paul’s capabilities and knew what to expect, so it was easy to hire his team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under $25,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work began in 2014 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Updating the iOS version and then launching the Android app tremendously increased our audience. The app is immensely popular and continues to be well-reviewed. Compared to our website, the app is far more user-friendly, which, I believe, encourages more mobile engagement.

As for their process, they were self-sufficient and knew what to do. We trusted them to produce strong work, and we never had to hold their hand throughout the project. As a well-known developer in the area, they lived up to their reputation.

How did 3Advance perform from a project management standpoint?

I mostly communicate with Paul; if I have questions about status updates or need any changes, I know I can email him directly. While I’m not sure if this is the case with other clients, it’s an invaluable part of our relationship.

In terms of costs, they’re great at working with our budgets. Because they want to improve the app, they often make suggestions, even if they might be too expensive for us. However, they understand our budget limitations and always provide alternative cost-efficient solutions to move forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate how much they can do with such a small team. Over time, they’ve really grown, building a strong reputation in the area.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Look at their past projects to see their abilities. I recommend 3Advance because I trust their work and have no doubts about their abilities.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TwentyTables is a mobile platform that connects restaurants and consumers through prix fixe meals which include $6 lunches and $12 dinners. For every 20 meals a consumer purchases through the platform, TwentyTables donates five meals to charity. I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance?

I tasked them to build out the platform for both iOS and Android.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I had wireframes and a business plan when I contacted them. They helped me develop more advanced wireframes and then, from there, built out a prototype, an alpha, a beta, and a released app.  It took about a month to design and build out the prototypes from the wireframes. And app development took a total of five months for both iOS and Android - which is impressive considering the technical sophistication of the app.  We had a clear idea of what we wanted going in but based on their engaged feedback and insightful advice, we made adjustments to the platform and are better off as a result.  They also helped us put them in Google Play and iTunes.

The finished product is an Uber-like interface where instead of cars you see participating restaurants and food trucks. You click on the icon of the particular restaurant on the map and on the bottom it pops up white labeled which means an image of the restaurant or food truck. You click on that again and you scroll three options per. We limited it to three options to focus consumer attention on the inventory that the restaurants and food trucks want to move at that time. Food trucks can migrate across the map and you can track them in real-time, which is a solution that’s not currently out there.

It’s real-time interfacing on both sides. If a restaurant turns off, it disappears from the map. If a food truck turns on or changes its location, it updates real-time on the map. Restaurants and food trucks control their menu offerings and field the incoming orders in real-time, so they can manage their inventory and say yes or no on an order-by-order basis. On the consumer side, we built in an optional ‘friend finder’ where users can see where their friends are eating and when so they can jump into a meal with them. For consumers, it’s a passive way to advertise their meal plans to a closed network (at their option), giving contacts and friends a chance to join them for a meal - driving more business to restaurants.  The app is intuitive and very simple on the front-end, but there’s a lot of friend finder functionality built into the backend, which was part of the sophistication.

For payment integration, we used Stripe. The way that works is that customers purchase books of electronic ‘tickets’, a book of 10 tickets costs a consumer $60 (or $6 per ticket). One ticket is redeemable for a lunch and two tickets are redeemable for a dinner. 3Advance had to do the backend work to make sure the remittance from the customer equals the $6 per ticket purchase price.  

There’s also a rate and tip functionality. After a restaurant serves a meal, they close out the loop by clicking confirmed reserved and that prompts the user to rate and tip by thumbs up or thumbs down. The tips are one-off in terms of payment processing. Books are normally purchased all at once, but tipping is on an ad hoc basis.

On top of that, we gamify that charitable giving experience for consumers so that they can see how many meals they’ve helped us contribute to charity. For every 20 meals purchased a customer gets credit for five - and we reflect that contribution on a separate rewards screen. The rewards screen indicates their status/ranking among their closed group of friends (on a no-names basis) as well as the platform as a whole. For example, you could be ranked first out of your 12 friends and then in the top fifth percentile for the platform as a whole. We also built in the capability for people to donate tickets directly which would bump them up to 12 meals donated. We have a button in the rewards screen to donate tickets. You can opt to donate one, two, five, or ten which also integrates with the payment information. 3Advance had to create the mechanism to tally and keep track and accurately reflect our customers’ charitable contributions.

What is the team composition?

On the tech side, we had 10 different builders and designers at any one time. It was a full-time exercise on their part. We sapped up their resources because of some of the sophistication and changes that we put in front of them. Paul Murphy [Principal and Founder, 3Advance] was our point of contact. Paul and his team were great.

How did you come to work with 3Advance?

I wanted to keep it stateside and local and 3Advance is relatively well-known and very reputable in Washington D.C. tech circles.  As a non-technical founder, one of the main things I found attractive about Paul and his team was Paul’s ability to connect and understand what my particular vision was and what I wanted. We were able to communicate well. I thought that was essential considering the scope of what we were trying to accomplish.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $200,000 and $300,000 - money well spent.

What is the status of this engagement?

I first contracted them in April where we had a few planning sessions. They came back with the prototype in May and then they started the full built out in mid-June which was the timeframe I was looking for. We plan to continue to utilize 3Advance for app maintenance for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The apps are launched in both stores. We’ve been in the market running a pilot test for the past 10 weeks. We started with one local restaurant with 20 friends and family on the platform just to test it to make sure the logistics on the consumer and restaurant sides were as anticipated.

In 10 weeks we’ve grown from one restaurant to 24 registered restaurants and 11 daily average active restaurants. The food truck functionality works perfectly, they move around on the map and the application is fantastic. The map is different every time someone turns it on because the food trucks change locations daily.

We have jumped from 20 to over 300 consumers without doing any active onboarding. We’re pleased with what we’re seeing so far.

How did 3Advance perform from a project management standpoint?

We did weekly video chats, more frequent calls, and bi-weekly in-person meetings. We spent a lot of time going over every single minute aspect of the platform. Their organizational efforts were impressive and commendable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Paul and his team are the utmost professionals but are also very easy to get along with and to communicate with. Being a non-technical founder, it was of paramount importance that he and I and his team and I could communicate. I would put them at the top of any other vendor I’ve worked with. They delivered on what I asked them to and even improved on that.

They came as the top of the pack. I was expecting top notch work and that’s exactly what I got. And that’s exactly what you want at this level. You want predictability with what you’re going to get out of the experience. They live up to the billing and I couldn’t be more pleased with them and their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints. We invested a fair amount with them and I’m very impressed with the result. The app is beautiful and functions flawlessly, and despite (or perhaps because of) the technical complexity for users, it operates very simply. On the user side, it’s three touches to order a meal. On the restaurant side, it's three touches to field an order. But there’s so much underlying sophistication between the friend finder, the charitable mission, the moving food trucks, and the live swapping in and out of food. I put a lot of challenges to them and they were able to meet those challenges.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As a general matter, I would recommend coming as prepared as you can. Know what you want and don’t leave too many variables to work out on the fly. Fortunately, I had a very clear vision and they were able to execute on that vision. But I would imagine going into a circumstance like this without that much clarity is just a good way to rack up a lot of expenses. If you put diligence in at the beginning selecting a vendor and in platform development and vision, you do yourself a lot of favors.  But the best advice I could give to potential customers is to become actual customers -- 3Advance will get your job done!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the legal defense director at a nonprofit organization that provides free legal assistance to journalists with any First Amendment- or Freedom of Information-related issue or question. We write briefs in favor of journalists if they’re in a court case, provide free legal assistance through our hotline, and produce a number of publications to help journalists understand their rights.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance?

We were looking to create a more professional site to allow journalists to manage their Freedom of Information requests, including submitting them electronically to agencies and receiving the responses from agencies through the same process. We had a very simple repository version that had been put together by me years before in PHP, but we really wanted a more professional, robust version. The old one didn’t handle email directly, for instance; it just let you store and catalog PDFs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our old system was probably 15 years old and was very simple, so they really started from scratch. They used a better server setup and a better database backend. They tied in a bunch of other services, too. It was a complete professional project. They developed something really unique. I don’t remember how often we had meetings, but they were always very receptive to talking about the features we wanted. It was definitely a back-and-forth process where we had input and could talk about changes.

Paul was running a pretty small shop at that time; I don’t know how big his organization is now. It was primarily Paul and another programmer there that we were working with.

How did you come to work with 3Advance?

We had talked to a number of groups who knew people who did this, and another media client had worked with them and recommended them. We talked with them and thought they were a great fit. They also had some impressive clients. We’re not programmers and we don’t deal with programmers a lot, so we weren’t necessarily sure what the market rates were, but the rates were very reasonable based on everything we were hearing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We probably began working with them in late 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Feedback from users has been very positive. It was our first professional site; our old site was very static, and on this one, everything is updated without having to refresh a single URL. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes JavaScript or jQuery kind of stuff that we hadn’t had on the site before. It now has a much more modern look than what we had in the past. The response is very good. The site is a free service for journalists and the feedback from journalism groups is very positive because we need to go into newsrooms and convince them that this is the place they should use to store their news gathering information. It had to be both professional looking and secure.

How did 3Advance perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive and they were always available, so it worked out very well. They’re very friendly people, too. We went to one of their office functions for a happy hour, and they’re a very social bunch. In terms of project management tools, we did everything through GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about 3Advance?

There was certainly nothing surprising in a bad way. It was our first time working with GitHub, so that was unusual for us, but it worked well. I appreciated that there were no real surprises because you almost expect things to go wrong in these scenarios.

Are there any areas 3Advance could improve?

I didn’t have any complaints.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of an organization called TeamBuildr. We’re a strength and conditioning software company, on which high school and college professional strength coaches, as well as trainers in boxes and gyms, can monitor and provide programs for athletes. You create your training program online, it gets distributed to the athletes on your team, and they fill it out on their phone or computer. That data then goes back into the system, where the coach can report on it and make changes to the program based on what he sees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 3Advance?

I built the program using Bootstrap, so it was flexible on the web. I did the backend databases and the frontend with Javascript/HTML5, so it was okay, but it had limitations, especially on Apple devices. When we had built up enough funds, we decided to approach a company about building our iOS app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We already had a web platform that I had styled over the years, so they built our iOS and Android apps with that style in mind. They did a great job with it. They made some tweaks, and they have a designer on staff who suggested how we could make everything look nicer on the iPhone. Obviously, the iPhone has its own look that goes along with its apps, so we tried to bring our style together with what they knew about iPhone apps.

One of the major issues that we addressed was caching data. One of the major problems in our industry is that a lot of gyms are underground or have terrible Wi-Fi or cell service, so we needed athletes to be able to download their workout before they go to the gym, complete their exercises, and then have their data upload to the cloud or our database once they were connected again. Once we did the iOS app, we moved on to Android. Their Android developer was able to take a lot of the Apple code and streamline the process, so it went much faster. But in both platforms, the key features were offline caching and push notifications, which we did with 3Advance’s Play Pusher service.

Their team included Paul, their principal, then Mark and Rob, their iOS and Android developers, and Chloe, their graphic designer.

How did you come to work with 3Advance?

We met Paul four or five years ago at the D.C. Sports Tech meet-up. We exchanged information and we’ve been in touch ever since. We would go out for drinks every once in a while, so when we were ready to get our app developed, they were our first call. We did look at other teams, but we liked that 3Advance was local, and we liked that we knew them personally. We did get some quotes from some others, and even if they were close in price, they weren’t going to be able to offer the same relationship as 3Advance. We knew their current apps were very well done and looked really nice, so we got together and we brainstormed. They got what we were trying to do; we went through our whole program and they told us what they’d be able to work on. At the end of the process, they walked us through setting up the iTunes Connect and Google Play accounts, but after that initial setup, they’re the ones who release the updates.

How much have you invested with 3Advance?

We invested around $65,000 over the course of the last year for everything. Part of that was to go back in after everything and rewrite some of the iPhone app to match the version 2.0, and they’ve been working on that for a few months. We’re currently adding some new features as well, so it’s been an ongoing process. I would say it was about $30,000–$35,000 for the initial iOS app and $25,000–$30,000 for the Android app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The way we go about selling our product is that we target coaches, athletic directors, and trainers directly, and they add their clients in, so one football team could have 100 users. That being said, we’ve had over 25,000 authentication tokens since we launched the iOS app six months ago. Prior to the release, the main selling point our competitors used against us was that we did not have a native app. The 3advance team helped us eliminate that conversation entirely and has placed us at the forefront in that department thanks to their work on offline data storage.

Regarding ratings, we haven’t gotten anything less than five stars, except one person who gave us one star because we hadn’t moved some features from the web platform over to the app yet. But we’re working on that now. We’re lucky enough that the strength and conditioning community, especially the coaches, were more than willing to beta test for us, and 3Advance was really helpful in getting people set up for beta testing. We got tons of great data from that, and 3Advance made the fixes and got a new build-out right away. It was a good process, for sure.

How did 3Advance perform from a project management standpoint?

We used GitHub for error tracking, plus a GitHub extension that allows you to create boards where you can drag tasks into categories based on their degree of completion so that we could stay on top of that. We did have a meeting every Friday, but they also added me to their Slack channel so I could reach them there whenever something came up. Closer to the end of last year, we started using Notion to keep track of any API-related issues; before that, we used Postman. I think our Basecamp stuff might be moving over to Notion as well, but we used Basecamp in the beginning.

Are there any areas 3Advance could improve?

I'm probably not the ideal person to answer this question since 3advanced helped me so much as a developer. I really doubt there is anything they could improve at this point, but I know Paul is consistently looking for ways to improve/streamline the development processes, which is great. Like our company, 3Advance is growing, which requires us to alter processes, systems and project allocation to account for increased business. Paul handles this well and communicates with us about changes of software, developer availability, etc. Aside from minor growing pains that all successful businesses face as they grow, I have nothing but great things to say about Paul and the team he has assembled at 3Advance.