Active Bridge

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing specialist of Red Jumpers Agency

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I’m an executive manager of Red Jumpers - a partner network of European tech companies. The goal of our company is to create a collaborative environment for mid-sized IT organizations so that they can acquire new customers, exchange projects and expertise, and grow their businesses with the help of our platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Active Bridge to accomplish?

• Active Bridge has deployed a Ruby expert to augment a software consultancy's team. They help the client develop and implement new features to their ecommerce customer's platform using a Ruby/React stack.
• We have an Ecommerce client who demands Ruby expertise while scaling its business. To meet the client's expectations in terms of quality, culture, and budget, we applied to Active Bridge

SOLUTION

How did you find Active Bridge?

Referral

Why did you select Active Bridge over others?

Pricing first our budget, Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Company values aligned

What was the size of Active Bridge’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

The scope includes assisting the client in developing and implementing new features to its ecommerce service offering based on the Ruby/React tech stack.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Customer quote about Active Bridge developer: "Just wanted to tell you that we are very pleased with the developer's work, he is very communicative and professional Great work!"

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

From the client's side, the projects are driven with Agile. Active Bridge supports its resources with valuable knowledge transfer and does continuous project performance checks together with us. Communication with account management is always smooth.

The client has daily meetings with their developer, where the developer fills the client's team on the progress and asks questions. They typically communicate via Slack and email and use Atlassian and Jira to track sprints.

What was your primary form of communication with Active Bridge?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

They are easy-going, communicate well, and deliver quality work on time which is critical for any business. Additionally, their team is motivated and engaged.

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

I liked everything

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a visual commerce and marketing company. We leverage user- and customer-generated content for retail businesses to help them drive value within their e-commerce sites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

Initially, we needed a dev partner to update our existing platform. However, after engaging with Active Bridge, we decided to build a new app from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Active Bridge is building an entirely new web app, using JavaScript and Ruby on Rails. The main goal is to integrate it with Facebook, Instagram, and other similar APIs. We provide the wireframes and design, and Active Bridge manages all of the dev for the client-facing app.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with three or four people; it changed depending on what we needed.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

We found them on Upwork. I met with the founder and then some developers, and they had a good reputation, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested considerably and will continue to do so given the beyond satisfactory results.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They meet our milestones and achieve goals to the best of their ability. I haven’t been disappointed yet and would’ve stopped working with them if I didn’t have confidence in their code.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

We have regular meetings to track progress and determine next steps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a professional team with high-quality code, competitive rates, and an efficient workflow. Unlike many other companies, they understand our business needs and work hard to quickly find solutions to problems. They’ve saved us a lot of money and time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Despite speaking different languages, they have always worked hard to communicate to the best of their ability and as a result, always delivered top results.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Put together a brief to help them see the big picture both written and visually. Give them the flexibility they need to work in their own way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager at a software organization. I’m in charge of the developers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

We needed developers to handle some of our back- and frontend needs for our software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Active Bridge worked on whatever features or resources we needed developed. We used a wide variety of technologies, including JavaScript, Chrome extensions, and HTML. We also have websites written in Python and PHP, as well as server APIs in the same languages.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

My company began working with them before I was hired.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $100,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re happy with their work and have no reason to doubt its quality.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

I do the project management, and Active Bridge is probably subpar when it comes to being proactive. Now that the person we worked with has changed, they require more direction than before. We have to carve out specific tasks for him, and he requires more time with the tech lead than our other developers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like if they provided more developers, so we could better augment our team. We need more developers right now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the chief technology officer of Mediprocity Inc., which is a tech startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

We’re a small organization so we needed help augmenting and adding extra talent to our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They primarily work on our systems built in Ruby on Rails. The scope expanded to them providing help with Node.js and AngularJS as well.

What is the team composition?

The main point of contact is Eugene [Korpan, chief technology officer, Active Bridge], and there have been at least two developers assigned to our projects.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

I’ve worked with them on previous projects. I believe a friend of a friend first put me in touch with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work began back in 2016, and we’re still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t give a specific number in terms of increased conversion rates, but they for sure made our stuff work a lot faster.

Active Bridge is great, and super talented.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great and very self-organized. If they run out of things to do, they can figure out how to keep themselves busy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They just really know what they're doing. They set expectations, and then they meet them and exceed them over and over and over. They even went beyond what we originally asked them to do. They adapted, learned, and picked up more projects.

I've been using them for years, and I'm not going to stop anytime soon.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't really think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Foundersuite, a software platform for startups that need to raise capital or manage investors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

We were still in the process of building out our customer relationship management for fundraising, as well as our investor relations tools. In order to increase our speed and productivity, and therefore help improve our users’ experiences, we needed additional engineers to work on the end product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed a shop that would be able to work on Backbone Marionette with the JavaScript Framework and Ruby on Rails, which was an uncommon ask, and fortunately, Active Bridge was able to provide that expertise. Our collaboration began with a weeklong trial project, which they offered to complete for us at no charge. When that was successful, we started with a short, two-month contract and extended it when they continued to deliver what we needed at the quality we had come to expect.

Foundersuite’s high-level strategy comes directly from me, as the CEO, which I form through extensive conversations with our user base. Once a plan or need is determined, it gets fed to our product manager, who turns it into user stories (in Agile). Then, the product manager collaborates with Active Bridge’s engineer on completing the specific development tasks necessary to make the feature or fix happen. During that process, I usually spend a decent amount of time talking directly with the engineer about the specifics of certain features or bugs.

What is the team composition?

Our developer is Igor Bilan [Rails Engineer, Active Bridge], and he is the only one from their team with whom we collaborate.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

I found them using Clutch’s database, initially by searching for the type of services I needed, filtered by location. Through Clutch’s site, I reached out via email to a number of companies and explained our requirements. Of the companies to whom we spoke, Active Bridge was the most responsive. They were also one of the few shops that could handle Backbone Marionette, which was one of our non-negotiable requirements.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have invested somewhere between US$25,000-30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged their services in August 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The only kind of measurable results that we could demonstrate would be the number of development cards that Igor has completed. During his time with us, he has completed hundreds of project development tasks, although I do not have an exact number.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

Igor collaborates heavily with our product manager, and they interact on a frequent basis. Both of them learned English as a second language, so their effective communication is particularly impressive considering that neither is speaking in their native tongue. Igor is also excellent about providing us important bug fixes—and similar help—during times that are not regular office hours for him in Ukraine. I have reached out to him for urgent assistance on weekends and even Christmas day, and he has always gone the extra mile to resolve our issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

After our earliest interactions with Active Bridge, we felt that they were responsive, their qualifications were good, the pricing was within our budget, and they were available during our timeframe. The overall quality of the work is high, and Igor is both disciplined and conscientious. His willingness to assist us outside of regular business hours is what has truly stuck with me, and is one of the many reasons why I have chosen to continue our work with them. They are also very affordable, especially when compared to domestic firms.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be beneficial to our process if we could have a quality control procedure built in through Active Bridge providing us with two engineers. However, I recognize that is a factor of our limited engagement with them rather than being a fault of theirs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a Software-as-a-service company building an online marketplace. My role is head of product development. I oversee our development team which includes Active Bridge and another company, as well as the design; I connect designers and developers together and manage the production of code.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

Our goal is to use the development of new features as part of our marketing. We looked for a team that could work quickly without sacrificing the quality of code.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re a Ruby on Rails based company, hosted on Heroku. We use a standard Agile methodology, and Active Bridge fits right into that. In terms of technical expertise, we rely on them to help us establish best practices around how we’re implementing and documenting the code.

What is the team composition?

They are certainly experts in Ruby with a team built entirely of full-stack engineers. This means that we don’t have to give the backend to someone and give the database and JavaScript work to someone else; anyone on Active Bridge’s team can perform any of the tasks we assign.

We have a project manager and a six-person full-time team on their side. Their manager is overseeing all our developers. He is our main point of contact, helping us assign tasks as we go, reviewing pull requests, and taking care of the whole process.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

We found them through a company we’ve used. Active Bridge is a subcontractor for that company and was recommended by them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Active Bridge in the beginning of May 2017. We have an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of how our projects are set up with developers who connect us to Active Bridge in a subcontracting model, any metrics will reflect more than just their team; they would be a project overview. I can’t point out specific numbers for Active Bridge alone.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been happy with their project manager’s work in particular. I have the sense that Active Bridge allows its staff to take on the management job on their end, while our PM handles team management in particular, including the technical management of the developers. He’s been thorough and organized, with a full scope of the project in his mind. He’s been able to do this well while also developing code himself. I can’t speak about Active Bridge as a whole, but our particular project manager has been fantastic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our team has been fully dedicated to this project even though they are outside contractors. It feels like an internal team, which we greatly appreciate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issues we’ve had have been in terms of communication. We speak English, which is a second language to them. This can sometimes get in the way. If there’s anything they can do to cross-check and make sure that no miscommunication happened before the work is done, it would be good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at a marketing platform. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

We were trying to build a two-sided marketplace, both on the frontend and backend. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked them for a few years now on development within one product. They provided us with a technical team who were our developers. They worked with us on the frontend and backend level and provided us with advice. For the backend, they work with Ruby on Rails, and for the frontend development, they've used HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

What is the team dynamic? 

We work with them every day. We had two frontend and backend developers, and a technical lead, who later became the CEO of the company. I was satisfied with everyone.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

We found them online.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent in the range of £50,000 to £60,000 [$65,800 to $78,900].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2016, and the project is ongoing. We will keep working with them for a long time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We aggregate influencers, which are people who have lots of followers on Instagram and Twitter. At the moment, we have a total potential reach of 10 million people. We’ve worked on more than 50 campaigns and worked with more than 30 brands.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

I am in charge of project management as we didn't work at the project level with them. They are our providers for the technical components, so they are not completely responsible for the project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are always ready, and they’re prompt in responding to questions. I think they are a good solutions tool. If you’re interested in existing technologies that are reliable and stable, they are pretty good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they could do better at frontend development and in their understanding of relevant usability patterns of the user. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a digital startup that’s like Airbnb but for luggage storage. We allow travelers to leave their bags and luggage at our host locations so they can enjoy their day, without having to carry their luggage. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

Between myself and the other two co-founders, none of us is technical. Since we’re a solutions company, we needed a solid tech platform to let people book appointments, find spots to leave their stuff, and communicate. We asked Active Bridge to develop our web app. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked prior to launch with Active Bridge. We had the designs, but they were just for sketch files. They made our vision real and created a brand-new platform for the web app.

Since most people use their mobile phones, we designed the app for mobile viewing but made it accessible through a browser. We handled the UX, while they did the backend and frontend. They coded the product using Ruby on Rails. They’re working currently on our SEO.

Active Bridge provided a team of three people. Alex, their CEO, has been the major front of communication. Another Alex [RoR Developer, Active Bridge] developed the app, while CEO Alex ensured everything was working correctly and made adjustments. Darya [SEO & SMM Manager, Active Bridge] is working on our SEO.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

We had a job listing on AngelList describing the work. Alex reached out to us to express interest, and we had a Skype call. We checked their work and noticed their website is really well done. Active Bridge was the best among the candidates that we found.

We were hesitant about working with someone from Ukraine, but they had clients in the US. I asked Alex if he could send some referrals, whom I called. (One was here in Brooklyn, and the other was in the UK.) Both companies were very happy with Active Bridge’s work, so we decided to move forward with them.

How much have you invested with Active Bridge?

We had a unique setup. Since we were looking for a co-founder and are an early stage startup, we gave them equity. To do the same work in the US would cost at least $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2017 and launched the product in May. We’re still keeping them on board for SEO. We always have development improvements to do, so we’re constantly updating the website and adding new features. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s hard to measure statistics or metrics since we only launched a month ago. However, we had 20 host locations sign up on the platform to accept people dropping their bags and luggage. Also, 95 users have signed up to use our services.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. Alex was the communication head, and everyone stayed informed. It was really easy to communicate using Slack. We tracked their activity on Rollbar for simplicity. We also used Trello to manage tasks.

What did you find most impressive about Active Bridge?

They’ve excelled in several areas. First, the night before we launched, a feature wasn’t working. Although we have a time difference, Alex stayed up all night and fixed that feature so we could launch the next day. That showed me that they’re really committed and hardworking.

Before partnering with Active Bridge, we worked with two other developers. The first developer didn’t work out. The second developer seemed unwilling to act as a co-founder. Alex and his team communicated well and knew what they were doing. They could also explain the work clearly, which really made them stand out.

Are there any areas Active Bridge could improve?

Honestly, they were great. We had no issues. The only tension we had was before the launch, but Alex stayed up all night to fix it. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and president of Def Method, a software consulting company that provides custom solutions for complex concepts. We work on projects that require more than what can be done with WordPress or Wix.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Active Bridge?

Generally speaking, the challenge is trying to lower our price point in New York City. We do so by offering quality offshore services and matching them with our own Agile development team in NYC.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I would describe our relationship with Active Bridge as more of a partnership model. Active Bridge is primarily, if not entirely, a Ruby on Rails development company. That is part of what we offer. We will often collaborate with Active Bridge whenever we have a need for software engineering services of this type, especially those with specific frontends like AngularJS or ReactJS. They work in much the same manner as we do with stand-ups, iteration planning, test-driving code, and so on.

Active Bridge shares the same values as our own engineers. We have been working with Active Bridge for over three years, and have used well over a dozen of their engineers. Typically, we would use 1–4 coders on any given project.

How did you come to work with Active Bridge?

We found Active Bridge by chance. Eugene, their CEO, worked with me on a project. Back then, we were both software engineers and worked closely together. He and I hit it off right away. As our engagement came to an end, he told me that he was starting a development company, and I told him I was, too. We agreed to try out a partnership. A month went by, and an opportunity came about. We tried out some of Active Bridge’s engineers, and they proved to be really talented.

How much have you invested with Active Bridge?

The cost of Active Bridge’s work has been $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Active Bridge around April 2014. We have an engagement with them right now. We are working with four of Active Bridge’s engineers on a startup project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a company providing outsourced services in New York, I get pitches half a dozen times a week from different companies that want to work with us. We continue to use Active Bridge because our customers enjoy working with them. Our projects are almost exclusively done on a two-week basis. We don’t sign long-term contracts that lock customers in. Anytime we use Active Bridge, a customer will be able to express their like or dislike of us by simply saying that they want to end the engagement. That said, we’ve had engagements that have lasted for two years or longer that involve Active Bridge. This is a testament to how well they work.

How did Active Bridge perform from a project management standpoint?

They typically do not manage our projects since we offer our own resources. Their CTO is a former engineer and happens to be an excellent manager. We speak daily when working on projects together. When the quality of work isn’t to our liking, Active Bridge will immediately make changes in either the engineering or the business side in order to rectify it. Thankfully, those instances are few and far between.

What did you find most impressive about Active Bridge?

Active Bridge is a flexible team that communicates well. The entire engineering staff understands English. They align hours in order to counteract the seven-hour time difference and meet the US Eastern time zone.  But, the thing that separates Active Bridge from other companies is an interest in test-driving code. That is not something that we often see.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of a web application that allows company owners to simplify their business management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Active Bridge?

We’d already developed a Chrome extension in-house that worked with our app but needed resources to support us with ongoing improvements.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to continually add new functionalities and improve our product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Along with our lead developer, I interviewed their founder. They worked with us for a test period and demonstrated a great knowledge of the development process.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They came into an environment in which we’d already developed the Chrome extension. We required them to work with our lead developer, follow company best practices and guidelines, and contribute on an ongoing basis.

What was the team composition?

They provided a developer to work on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They helped to greatly increase the extension’s consistency as we released new features.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I was responsible for the project management. Although they were based in Ukraine, we had no issues with the language barrier. We coordinated using Slack, GitHub, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They assigned a contact who was easy to work with. He provided consistent work and excelled at overcoming challenges.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. Overall, I was happy with their work.