Appstronauts

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Uxtivity

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We create new high-converting Shopify and WooCommerce stores and we increase revenue for existing stores without spending any money on traffic.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improving the functionality and code cleanliness of the custom plug-in responsible for the site's key integration with the external API
• Effective support in improving the implementation to a pixel perfect state

SOLUTION

How did you find Appstronauts?

Referral

Why did you select Appstronauts over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Appstronauts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of the project was to analyze the existing plug-in integrating the website with an external API, improving its functioning and efficiency, as well as adding and repairing some functionality.
Additionally, apart from repairing the plugin, the scope included improving the implementation from a project perspective, primarily supplementing the implementation of some components in accordance with the adopted design system and improving the implementation in those places where it was done incorrectly by other contractors.
This entire scope was completed in a very short time, providing comprehensive updates and feedback on individual tasks, which helped to complete them efficiently and without unnecessary iterations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Efficiently delivered, well working, optimized and as designed custom wordpress website product.

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

Communication was efficient, fast and comprehensive, minimizing the necessary contacts to a minimum.

It allowed for the feeling that the project was in good hands, and that there was a good understanding of the problem and the business on the other side.

What was your primary form of communication with Appstronauts?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their reaction and action efficiency were most impressive.

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

Nothing that I noticed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of SD of an e-commerce company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company primarily focuses on supporting e-commerce operations targeted at Poland and Eastern European countries. Additionally, it is responsible for developing and enhancing the company's website for the Polish market. The team also ensures software compliance with local legal requirements for e-commerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Assistance in building custom solutions
• Acceleration of the development process

SOLUTION

How did you find Appstronauts?

Referral

Why did you select Appstronauts over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Appstronauts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Developing and maintaining user interfaces
Ensuring responsiveness and cross-browser compatibility
Integrating frontend with backend APIs
Optimizing performance and enhancing user experience
Implementing accessibility best practices
Debugging and troubleshooting UI issues
Managing databases and ensuring efficient data storage and retrieval
Creating and maintaining APIs for frontend integration
Ensuring system security and performance optimization
Implementing authentication and authorization mechanisms
Monitoring and debugging backend services

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

System Performance & Reliability – Ensuring fast response times, minimal downtime, and efficient resource usage.
Code Quality & Maintainability – Writing clean, well-documented, and scalable code that follows best practices.
Feature Delivery & User Satisfaction – Successfully implementing features on time while ensuring a smooth and engaging user experience.

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

Our company has been working with them for over four years. We are satisfied with the quality of their work.

What was your primary form of communication with Appstronauts?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

People

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

I have been unable to locate any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO/Founder of Big Beans Production

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are organising coffee events for clients & partners worldwide. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build online presence
• Improve processes
• Boost our sales

SOLUTION

How did you find Appstronauts?

Referral

Why did you select Appstronauts over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Other

How many teammates from Appstronauts were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• API development for our coffee shop in Warsaw
• ecommerce presence
• Mobile & Web app development for events management
• integration with CRM (PipeDrive) & other communicators to enhance communication within company & partners

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• we were able to serve event with 10k visitors and serve more than 10k coffees during the 8h event
• each coffee was individualised with photo of the visitor
• we managed to improve our CRM / metrics / leads management
• we have dedicated app to manage events / clients / visitors

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

• there was a dedicated PM on Appstronauts side
• we communicated via Jira / Slack / Gmail / Gdrive
• it was very modern and very good - responding to this what we needed

What was your primary form of communication with Appstronauts?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• relationship with team members
• they care about my business
• not trying to sell and implement something that is not needed at all
• I really liked approach of development of MVP first

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

• we're still collaborating and for now - I don't see any

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CALDO Group is a distributor, operating on the Polish market. CALDO delivers the complex solution for HVAC installation companies, offering them more than 250.000 products (ventilation & AC systems, technical insulation, passive fire protection, and more). I am responsible for Marketing and Product development. In that project I acted as Product Owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts, and what were your goals?

We hired Appstronauts for Web development. Our previous website was very outdated and we were searching for a company, which can help us with not only choosing the right tools, but also support us with consulting.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched for web developers for more than 5-6 months, online and thru our business network. What convinced us to start with Appstronauts is: 1. great communication and technical support, especially during all the time we were negotiating (in the same time other company was responsible for web design, we really appreciated all Appstronauts suggestions) 2. Appstronauts' experience, also in big Apps and E-commerce projects 3. recommendations from IT leaders

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Key values for us were - security, scalability and no tech debt. Choosing the right technology was crucial and we got a big support from Appstronauts. After the kick-off meeting, where had the opportunity to meet the team and discuss all the details (communication channels, roadmap, milestones and data needed from our side), they started their work. Once a week on a videocall they report the results, every two weeks they sum up the results and plan their work for next two weeks.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A project manager was our first point of contact, apart from him, there were 4 Fullstack Developers and 1 Quality Assurance Engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Not yet, as the website launch is planned for the beggining of 2023.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Very responsive. Daily, contact thru Slack and e-mail (our preference) Weekly, videocall. They sticked to the planned roadmap, with no exceptions.

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

Consulting, they were not responsible for the design, but supported us with many useful features and solutions. They have the IT know-how and business awareness.

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

For now it is hard to say, we will see when the website is on-line.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a senior Manager in a big MNC, specialised in offering Gas&Oil products and services around the world. I am responsible for internal projects delivery which are later used by most of our employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts?

We have hired Appstronauts in order to speed up and boost our development needs. We had several projects waiting in our backlog and faced resources issue. That is why we have decided to hire external consultants

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

We made a market research in terms of our tech needs, technology stack and product requirements (defined by PRL & product pages) and found them on internet. As they had positive feedback based on this what we needed, we’ve reached out to them and started relationship.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

As I’ve told before, I’m responsible for internal Operations, Facilities, HR & Backoffice internal projects. That includes: mobile, web, admin, dashboard reporting panel. There are several projects connected by API. We’ve started with API development, which was ready after 3 months, then rewrite our main web application. Currently, we are focusing on mobile apps. Project was divided into milestones & Agile sprints according to our needs.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We were talking with 3 vendor companies, but none of them was such proactive as Appstronauts. They are professional, taking-initiative, very proactive. We had a feeling thath their dynamic execution is something that we really need. They have proposed us a team consisting of 6 members ready to join us within 4 weeks. Recruitment process:

• Short call with consultants (HR-check)
• Tech-check with our software-development-leader

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We successfully delivered .NET API including web-platform (Angular) and currently are working on mobile apps. What is more - whole infrastructure was migrated to MS Azure.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They really had a lot of questions - but I realised that it is really important to understand our business. We had daily calls & weekly summaries, DEMO day once a month.

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

We are impressed by their approach, professionalism, confidence, and agility. I haven’t met that before.

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

deliverables & communication. Everything was in ‘hurrayy’ mode, as we had to meet specific deadlines. When we meet expectations and deliver projects on time I was shocked about huge amount of work done in small period of time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Product Officer of FCapp, a Poland-based company building tools integrating and digitizing the football community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts, and what were your goals?

As some of the key features of the app were rushed by our previous collaborators, we needed Appstronauts to fix, or in some cases redesign, some of the features. On top of that, the app was poorly optimized, causing our cloud hosting costs to skyrocket.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We needed a vendor that would match our stack and offer us a small team to make the necessary adjustments within our budget. After being recommended Appstrounauts and discussing the terms, we have decided to collaborate.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

After 2 discovery calls, we have granted Appstronauts access to a ClickUp board with the tasks specified. Outside of ClickUp, we would would communicate via Slack and during weekly summaries. The team was divided into 2 - one part was strictly DevOps, getting our cloud costs to a manageable level, the other was focused on improving the app's features.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We were working with a PM on the Appstronauts' side, along with a devops engineer, 2 backend developers, and a frontend developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our cloud costs has decreased to one third of what they used to be prior to Appstronauts' changes. The latest app release has all of the most critical bugs fixed and the key features are up and running. Our support team has had noticeably less work with manually fixing and explaining various issues on the app.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Weekly Google Meet meetings, Slack for urgent communication, ClickUp kanban board (our suggestion) for planning and commenting.

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

They were extremely quick to find and fix bottlenecks and define the critical changes that needed to be made for the app to work as intended.

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

Communication could've been better to avoid information assymetry, but nothing major.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder of a mobile app to find and host real life events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts, and what were your goals?

I trusted Appstronauts with the development of my app both for iOS and Android

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

they were competitive on pricing, reactive to my email and I had a very good contact with them. They seemed trustworthy and caring which was the deciding factor in the end.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

I provided wireframes and tech specs documentation. They took care of back end (Python) and front end (Flutter) developments. We had 2 weekly meeting for the 5 next months to make sure we kept on time and budget.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were at least 5 people deeply involved: COO and PM, 2 developers, 1 tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Not only the app was launched on time and budget which was the main initial concern with all the initial features completed, but the quality of the project was as high as I expected.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The project management was key in the success of the project. The bi weekly meetings, as well as weekly release of a test version proved to be absolutely instrumental to staying on tracks

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

Definitely the involvement of the team. Everyone deeply cared about the project and it showed in the result.

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

Make sure to keep the excellent communication at every step of the project. When we tried doing slightly differently after the launch, it worked less well than with strict planning and communication that we had earlier.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are the biggest sporting goods retailer in Europe. My role is: Head of UX & Development in Poland. I’m responsible for innovations and delivery of new technologies into the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts, and what were your goals?

We needed to outsource some works related to the frontend frameworks (mostly Svelte / JS tech stack). We expected to hire additional team members for the implementation of our new e-commerce store. We were searching for a vendor company which could help us in this area of expertise. Our goal was to deliver flawless web (RWD & PWA enabled) e-commerce sites for the largest sporting goods retailer in Europe in a new modern, frontend technology. The main goal was to change old-fashioned tech stack and rewrite the code to Svelte framework.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a vendor who would very quickly provide us with developers specialized in some frameworks / technologies. As Appstronauts have certified specialists and an excellent portfolio of such projects, we have decided to cooperate with them. They are very experienced, have a lot of knowledge and are added value in the whole project - that’s something that we were looking for.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We needed to increase the users engagement who were not satisfied with our site. We have decided to change our large e-commerce frontend stack to one of the latest & “light” technologies. Appstronauts team helped us with the frontend of the application. While delivering the apps Appstronauts team used continuous integration and continuous delivery. It allowed for earlier bug detection and serious cost reduction, what is more - we were able to see the “real” progress of business results.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consisted of 3 people: 1 Senior Tech Lead, and 2 fullstack regular developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Thanks to Appstronauts team’s support, we were able to finish the project within the time & budget limits successfully and meet all of the business goals / KPIs / objectives.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project was organised in Scrum / Agile. We have started each day with the daily, planned the whole works together. Most sprints resulted in a new version release (which was live). We have used some tools to communicate with the team, organised a meetings, daily calls/ status calls. The communication was really awesome, and we are very happy to cooperate with the team in future projects. Honestly, we are still cooperating.

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

Very easy to cooperate and onboard; talents from the market, easy about setting the business cooperation

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

Much wider selection of developers with SVELTE framework

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the company that provides consulting and software development services. We specialize in developing web and mobile applications, mostly for clients from USA, Poland, Singapore and Thailand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts, and what were your goals?

We needed help in developing a mobile app project for one of our clients. We took over the existing codebase and since Ionic & .NET aren't part of our tech stack, we reached out to Appstronauts for support. We needed 2 full stack developers specializing in these technologies in order to implement required changes and meet the release deadline.

SOLUTION

How did you select Appstronauts and what were the deciding factors?

We performed a research on polish companies that specialize in Ionic & .NET. This stack has been a core of Appstronauts projects for a long time now and they have built a solid expertise around it. Their experience and competence definitely stood out and were the deciding factors.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The mobile app was originally developed by a different team and was already in the app store. Our goal was to add some new features and perform a minor redesign of a few screens. We have worked on the project for 3 months.

Appstronauts supplemented the team on our end (consisting of PM, QA and a designer) with 2 full stack developers. The scope of work included changes to the backend code (written in .NET) and the mobile app (TypeScript & Ionic), all lying in client's infrastructure on Azure.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with two full stack developers: senior (who effectively became a tech lead) and regular.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The team managed to complete desired scope under the budget and before the deadline, so we had a chance to include an additional 1-week "polish sprint" with some extra changes before the release, which brought extra value to our client business. I'd look for a reason of that fact in Appstronaut's competence and proactive approach, which makes them work in an effective manner.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

The project was managed and led by a manager from our team. We used Jira for project management and Confluence for documentation. We worked in two-week sprints. Our standard process included daily standups and demos for the client at the end of each iteration.

Appstronauts team stayed on top of things by following the process and bringing great value to the project. Our account manager at Appstronauts also made sure that we're satisfied with the engagment, by checking in frequently and being ready to address any concerns we might have.

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

Except for the obvious expertise in the area, they've proactively made sure we are satisfied with their work every step of the way.

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

Not that I can think of. We've managed to set expectations and adjust the process of communication very early on, which - I believe - set this engagement up for success.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Owner, hired by company to digitalize the world of Medical & Health services. I am responsible for implementing new technology projects in the company. Those services and this business area grows very fast, so my job is very important.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appstronauts?

We have hired Appstronauts in order to develop us to extend our inhouse team, bring new knowledge, quality and forces to develop a fresh mobile application that will be used by our workers.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals of the project were to develop MVP, release it to the market, sell more services and grow instantly. Currently, we are working on new versions of mobile application, what is more: we started new API and new web application development.

SOLUTION

How did you select Appstronauts?

We read opinions and articles on the internet, contacted them and checked their tech knowledge by interviewing their developers. They matched perfectly, had great communication skills and became a leaders of our project.

Describe the project in detail.

There is mobile application, developed for both platforms: iOS and Android thanks to cross-platform technologies, cloud hosted API and dedicated web panel. Appstronauts was responsible for planning and working on mobile app, but their support in API & web development was also much appreciated. They have great: geoloc knowledge which helped us a lot.

What was the team composition?

The team consist of: senior fullstack developer, senior backend developer and mobile developer. We scaled up Appstronauts engagement from 1 to 3 resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have developed first MVP within 4 months and launch it on the market. Now, we are scaling it up by adding new functionalities, features. Thanks to the new mobile app we achieved the profitability threshold and are can scale up the business.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I am amazed about the cooperation between our teams. We are using Slack, Jira, Bitbucket on a daily basis. What is more - Appstronauts implemented us CI/CD tools, Scrum and we are working Agile at this time! Cooperation looks very professional and well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their engagement, professional skills, high level of knowledge, and quality of works are excellent. We also noticed, that they have great - open communication.

Are there any areas for improvement?

At this stage - I don't see any improvements. We are working very closely and I hope to cooperate with them in future projects! Glad to recommend them!