Acendeo

BACKGROUND

I am the Head, People & Special Operations of UP.Labs

UP.Labs is a first-of-its-kind venture lab unlocking the future of transportation and mobility. We work with global corporate partners to identify the most pressing challenges that they, and broader society, face. Inspired by these complex problems, we launch startups built by proven entrepreneurs, product leaders and technologists that use their agility and talent to develop transformative solutions. After these companies have matured and proven market fit, our corporate partners are able to acquire them, reaping strategic value while enriching their culture and core business. We believe this to be the shortest road to a faster, cleaner, safer, and more accessible future

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

• Prop up multiple portfolio companies after our venture fund approved investment.

SOLUTION

Knew personally

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

6-10 Employees

Acendeo sourced and screened engineering candidates for our portfolio teams and coordinated onboarding once placements were made. Separately, Brad and Nelso advised us on compensation benchmarks and the full cost picture — entity, legal, accounting, tax — for a Mexico City office, and reviewed resourcing, timeline, and vendor pricing on a product we were building internally.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Placements landed and stuck. The market guidance saved us from budgeting a LATAM office on bad assumptions, and their read on our build quote confirmed we weren't missing something material on cost or timeline before we committed.

Direct access to the founders the whole way. Onboarding logistics were handled cleanly with our internal ops and IT.

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

They tell you when the answer is no. On one search they'd interviewed several candidates and came back saying none of them cleared the bar rather than putting a body in the seat. That's rare in staffing and it's the reason I've kept coming back to them for years — including for advice on things they weren't being paid for.

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Engineering of a technology company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a fast-growing tech company expanding through strategic acquisitions and developing multi-platform software solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Acendeo to accomplish?

• Staff senior-level engineers across multiple technology stacks (C#, Java, React, Data Engineering) following a period of rapid acquisition growth.
• Reduce the time our Engineering Managers were spending on recruiting instead of building.
• Control staffing costs without dropping the quality bar on Developers.

SOLUTION

How did you find Acendeo?

Referral

Why did you select Acendeo over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Acendeo were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We were scaling fast through acquisitions, and every company we brought in had a different tech stack. We needed Senior Developers who could drop into fragmented environments and contribute quickly, across C#, Java, React, and Data Engineering. Acendeo handled the full sourcing and vetting process, delivered candidates matched to our specific stack requirements, and placed them into our existing teams with minimal ramp time. The scope was ongoing staff augmentation across multiple product lines, not a single project with a fixed end date.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We replaced 2 outsourced developers with one Acendeo Engineer and came out ahead on both cost and output. The Developers were productive fast, which meant our Engineering Leads could stay focused on product work. Recruiting overhead dropped. We have continued to scale the engagement up and down based on project demand, which we could not do with traditional hiring.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their process was faster than anything we had used before. They came back with qualified candidates in 7 days, and those candidates were matched to our actual stack, not just keyword-matched against a job description. When we needed adjustments, they responded fast. No back-and-forth, no delays. Communication was direct, usually through Brad or Nelso, which made it easy to adjust quickly when priorities shifted.

What was your primary form of communication with Acendeo?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Two things. First, the quality of the Developers. These are senior people. They came in knowing the tools, asked the right questions, and got up to speed without being managed through it. In a post-acquisition environment where our internal teams were already stretched, that mattered a lot. Second, the no-upfront-fee structure. We did not pay anything before seeing the Developer work. We evaluated first, then committed. That is a different risk profile than what most staffing firms offer. Time zone alignment was also a factor. Standups happened. Blockers were resolved the same day. It felt like working with a remote US team, not an offshore arrangement.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Acendeo could have done differently?

The initial intake could have gone deeper on some of the stack nuances specific to our post-acquisition setup. Not a major issue, and they adjusted quickly once we gave them more context. If your tech environment is unusually fragmented, go in with specifics.