Sunbytes

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of C2C Platform Co., Ltd.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

C2C Platform Inc. is a Tokyo-based technology company that develops and operates multiple online matching and marketplace platforms with an engineering organization across Japan and Vietnam.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Identify security vulnerabilities in our product via penetration testing.
• Get a clear, prioritized report for remediation and our IPO security audit.

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

Online Search

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

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

Scope: Penetration testing of one of our production-grade products, conducted in a dedicated test environment. Testing covered the web/API layer as well as the iOS and Android mobile applications, with assessment mapped to OWASP Top 10 / API Top 10 risks:

A detailed penetration test report with all identified vulnerabilities, each rated by severity and prioritized for remediation. 
Clear reproduction steps and remediation guidance for each finding. 
Support in clarifying findings and framing the report appropriately for our IPO security audit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. Detection: identified and documented all vulnerabilities across the web/API and mobile (iOS/Android) layers, each with a clear severity rating.
2. Remediation: completed remediation of all identified findings based on the report's guidance.
3. These two — detection and remediation completion — were our KPIs for the project, and both were fully achieved. 

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

Their project management was reliable and well-organized. All deliverables were provided on schedule, and communication throughout the engagement was clear and responsive. When we had questions about specific findings, they responded promptly and explained the technical details in a way that was easy for our team to act on. They were also flexible in accommodating our needs around IPO audit timing and reporting format.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What impressed us most was the depth and clarity of their reporting. Rather than just listing vulnerabilities, they provided practical, prioritized remediation guidance that our team could act on immediately. They also understood the context of our IPO preparation and framed their findings in a way that worked well for audit purposes. The combination of strong technical skill and clear, business-aware communication is what set them apart.

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

Honestly, there was very little to improve. If anything, slightly more frequent progress updates during the testing period would have been even better — but critical issues were shared with us promptly, so this is a very minor point and did not affect the quality of the final deliverables.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at a Sports Event Management Software Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The #1 tool for organizing sports events. With us, you can arrange everything from registration to bib numbers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improving security posture of our software suite, testing new authentication layer, verifying security measures.

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

Referral

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

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

How many teammates from Sunbytes were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Sunbytes conducted a security assessment on our SaaS application. Sunbytes delivered a report outlining all identified and classified vulnerabilities and deficiencies in security measures. Before and the actual execution of the pentest we had meetings to align our goals and expectations. After the pentest we discussed the findings in the report. Sunbytes made sure that everything was clear to us and offered further services and assistance, such as a retest or consultancy services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. The delivery of a high quality certified and standardized pentest result, based on manual and automatic pentest efforts covering a wide range of (possible) security vulnerabilities.

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

The overall project management was great. The communication was clear, the expectations were right and the project was executed according to the schedule. Sunbytes was also very flexible to take our schedule into account.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

Virtual Meeting

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

We were impressed by the vulnerabilities that were discovered. We can tell that the pentesters digged deep to discover the vulnerabilities, and not just a surface scan.

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

We are very happy with the services, and don't see areas that need big improvement. We liked to receive updates about the progress (i.e. once or twice).

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager of Recurrent Ventures

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We’re a digital media company for passionate audiences; with social responsibility at the center of our storytelling, our trusted household name brands meet people where they are and grow with them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• CMS Migrations
• Website Development
• DevOps Engineering
• QA Engineering

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

Referral

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sunbytes were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Sunbytes software engineers handle bug mitigation, SEO improvements, and feature development of our WordPress-based CMS. They also maintain websites on older systems, waiting for migration to our common platform. Sunbytes' scope of work spans 10+ news websites with over 60 million monthly unique visitors. Their key deliverables include but are not limited to completing engineering sprints on time and in scope, ideating SEO improvements with PM's, and expanding our common platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Once we involved Sunbytes in our codebase and project we saw measure improvements in the following: Better stability on notoriously unreliable sites, an increase in search rankings, and completion of product development at a more efficient rate.

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

Project management is one of the key services that Sunbytes provides. Since Sunbytes works opposite time zones to Recurrent, we have a dedicated Sunbytes Project Manager who makes sure Sunbytes Engineers stay on task and unblocked. Sunbytes project management also contributes to road mapping and project planning, collaborating with Recurrent to ship products on time. Sunbytes regularly responds to urgent business needs and goes out of their way to make sure we accomplish what needs to be done.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We are impressed with the skill set the Sunbytes engineers have. As we have onboarded more Sunbytes staff, they get brought up to speed at an incredibly fast rate and hit the ground running, eager to learn more. Their engineers also have a wide breadth of knowledge. Engineers are experts in multiple areas of web development, and that provides us with a well-rounded knowledge base to pull from.

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

While minimal, I do think that Sunbytes can improve its ability to forecast the level of effort it takes to complete tasks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of SandGrain BV

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We make an immutable "electronic barcode" for IoT end nodes, supported by a central cloud platform for globally unique identities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To develop our cloud platform software
• To hire and manage the team

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

was contacted by Sunbytes

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• TaaS business concept

How many teammates from Sunbytes were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Sunbytes does integral development of our Azure cloud platform, based on our high level architecture and functional requirements. This includes the full development flow, from architecture, security reviews, back end development, devops, quality testing and documentation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Already after 3 sprints functional prototype of the platform and service, which is extended with every sprint. Functionality proven to be correct in verification tests with prototype hardware.

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

There is a dedicated project manager, who takes care of all internal team alignment. So far delivery very much in line with expectations. Good alignment with our internal product owner, very responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their commitment and engagement are impressive. Purely based on mutual trust Sunbytes started to assemble the team at their own risk even before we had our seed investment signed. When that happened we could make a flying start. Also the way they organize the Teams-as-a-Service is very effective, where we were especially impressed by their rigorous hiring process to select the best candidates in a very short term.

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

Not really, although any solution that gives more co-location of the team members improves efficiency further. At this moment people are still very scattered across multiple countries. But I realize that is a compromise vs. speed of hiring and quality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Empire Software Holdings, the tech arm of a publishing company. We build software primarily for in-house use, but we also build software and SaaS tools to sell to the broader market in the digital publishing space. We create content management and advertising solutions, as well as other solutions for the various aspects that come from digital publishing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sunbytes?

Initially, we wanted to scale our engineering teams efficiently and cost-effectively, especially within niche areas like WordPress development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Sunbytes provided us with their PHP and JavaScript expertise on a full-stack development approach, specifically on the PHP side. Their WordPress experience was a major plus, and we soon discovered their ability to think outside of the WordPress context regarding app and software development.

As we continued working with Sunbytes, we hit other use cases. Now, we’re growing our team in-house and abroad, ensuring that we have enough engineers to tackle the development challenges that arise.

We have a pretty large organization, and Sunbytes is now one of the key parts of our operations. They’re integrated into our product and our regular software development lifecycles, and they handle a lot of operational tasks on top of the specific areas of expertise we hired them for.

Their approach has been pretty flexible, and they’ve integrated very deeply into our organization. As they act as part of our in-house team, we never exclude them from any day-to-day decisions.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked directly with eight people from Sunbytes, and we’ve received support from another 4–5 people. These people don’t work directly with us, but they’re communication liaisons from the Sunbytes’ side.

We initially started working with a single engineer, and their involvement was pretty straightforward. As we’ve grown, their team has become larger, and we expanded the number of engineers. Aside from developers, we also get DevOps help from Sunbytes as well.

How did you come to work with Sunbytes?

I did a pretty broad, worldwide exploration, looking for various offshore and onshore options in the market. The key factors I was looking for during that search were a specific skill set and a great level of dedication. I was also looking for a smaller boutique shop that would treat us as a priority.

Most of my search was through Google, during which I identified a couple of key players inside that market that would fit our needs. We found Sunbytes when we were exploring the Asian market. We had an interview process with them and various other competitors worldwide, and we narrowed our options down. Ultimately, we chose Sunbytes, and we’ve been working with them ever since.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent over $500,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020, and our partnership is ongoing. We’ll continue working with them for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest success metric is the code development throughput that Sunbytes has helped us achieve. Our organization is growing rapidly, and we’ve gone from eight to 220 in-house staff members across multiple companies within a year and a half, not counting the resources that Sunbytes provides us. We’ve been able to sustain that growth, keep our clients happy, and keep our business profitable, and Sunbytes has been a big part of that; we wouldn’t have been able to expand without them.

How did Sunbytes perform from a project management standpoint?

Sunbytes’ flexibility and onboarding timeframes are very helpful. Whenever we’ve requested extra help for one of our various projects, they’ve been able to identify resources and get them up to speed very quickly. The average onboarding time takes 4–5 weeks, which is below the average of other development companies I’ve worked with.

As for project management, we use Jira to manage the tickets and workflow, and we have some of our own GitHub infrastructure set up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication and collaboration with Sunbytes’ leadership are impressive. We’re capable of having very open and honest conversations, which help us identify areas of improvement and, ultimately, get results.

Together, we’ve figured out other ways to go, and they’ve been with us along the way. This approach has also helped us manage the team efficiently, even though we’re in opposite time zones.

Additionally, Sunbytes’ WordPress expertise is also impressive. We didn’t have a lot of in-house experience with WordPress when we started working together, so working with them as part of our own team has been great. Our direct collaboration is very important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest challenge of working with Sunbytes was figuring out how to handle the different time zones. However, they were very flexible and willing to work in our time zone. That was the biggest improvement we were looking for, and they were able to adjust accordingly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk directly to Sunbytes’ leadership and be honest about what you need.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a project manager in 'digital counseling'.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed ongoign support and development in Online Dossier, a product that was already used for client communication. The goal was to make it the production system for all of our professionals, to register their work and realize that clients always have access to their data.

SOLUTION

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

The project leader knew Sunbytes/Simplefly form a past project.

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

As a project manager I am mainly working on the user side. I cannot answer this question.

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

The team grew to one project leader and four developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had happy professionals and clients. And that's what matters to me.

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

We have a team where FUN is one of the things that comes to mind. Also, we have very short lines; When we contact each other, it usually takes less than five minutes to respond and react.

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

Together, we grew into a partnership. I knew I had to teach them about social work, they knew I am a social worker with a little technical knowledge that needed to grow.

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

We sometimes had difficulties in getting a realistic scope. That has improved last year.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of JancisRobinson.com Limited, a media company that provides wine reviews.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sunbytes to accomplish for JancisRobinson.com Limited?

We hired Sunbytes for software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sunbytes works on our website, including the frontend and backend systems, in close coordination with our US and EU teams. The developer has grown with the business and has specialized knowledge.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 teammates from Sunbytes.

How did you come to work with Sunbytes?

Someone referred Sunbytes to me. We chose them over other options because their pricing fit our budget, they were a great culture fit, and their company values aligned with ours.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $200,000 to $999,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sunbytes in January 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sunbytes has relaunched our website. Since then, our site speed has increased, our revenue has gone up by 25%, and our users continue to climb. Overall, the team has exceeded our expectations.

How did Sunbytes perform from a project management standpoint?

Sunbytes always delivers on time. We communicate via email and a messaging app.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sunbytes' ease of communication and efficiency of project work are impressive. The team is very smart, reliable, and independent — they're the ideal partner for us. Moreover, they have an excellent developer with brilliant English communication skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive for MethodeMeter

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

MethodeMeter is a platform that supports schools in exploring, choosing and effectively applying teaching methods.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• privacy-safety

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

Referral

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Sunbytes 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 pentest of MethodeMeter was to execute a black box penetration test where the pentesting party had little to no knowledge of the environment they were testing. All that was provided was the URL to the website. The goal was to find vulneabilities on site level, within the used framework and in the hosting solution.  De results of the pentest where usefull and supported the development team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy.

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

Sunbytes communicate clearly and guide you through the process step by step. Ensuring you can easily follow along. They provide a clear summary of their findings along with an action list.

The team is flexible and actively thinks along with you, ensuring smooth and pleasant collaboration.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their commitment, engagement and skill sets are impressive.

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

-

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of 3Rs Centre Utrecht

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We facilitate researchers in their efforts to replace, reduce and refine experimental animal use.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Reprogram a database
• Migrate all information from old database to new database
• Upgrade the user experience of the database

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

Referral

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Sunbytes were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Reprogramming of a web based database from a unconventional CMS to Wordpress followed by the migration of the database content. Lastly, the database user experience was ameliorated.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All targets were met in time.

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

Excellent. Frequent feedback sessions, realistic planning and on time finalization.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their personal approach was impressive, and the project was really done together.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a Manager at Topicus

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are Topicus. We connect technology, platforms and data. For healthcare, finance, education and the social domain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Recruitment

SOLUTION

How did you find Sunbytes?

Network

Why did you select Sunbytes over others?

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

How many teammates from Sunbytes were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Sunbytes helped us finding suitable candidates for our open positions. Their expertise helped us to quickly fill multiple open positions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Via the partnership with Sunbytes, we have been able to hire some of the best talent. Our team is now stronger than ever.

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

Sunbytes has put a lot of effort in understanding our needs by having in-person conversations and most importantly, by asking the right questions. I never had to wait long for responses and we filled our open positions quickly.

What was your primary form of communication with Sunbytes?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The technical skills of the staff involved in the recruitment process and the understanding of the market.

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

I have no improvement suggestions at this moment.