Beetroot AB

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Engineering at Webforum Europe AB. We’re a Swedish based company with ten employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

We’re a SaaS company, and we’ve been developing our product for many years. This development primarily happens offshore in Ukraine. It’s a never-ending process to build new features and continuously improve our products. This is where Beetroot AB comes into play. We hired them for technical staff augmentation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beetroot AB provides full-service IT staff augmentation. They help in recruitment, office space management, and HR services. Their team also handles the equipment that the staff needs including computers, the Internet, and so on.

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB?

They seemed like a really good company to work with. Although they’re primarily located in Ukraine, they have a Swedish founder and a Swedish office as well. We received a good offer and moved our business over to them back in 2015.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $1,000,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in November 2015, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their staff has more or less become an assimilated part of our team. I’m their manager, and we measure success metrics based on internal definitions. Overall, I’m very happy with Beetroot AB’s delivery of top-quality candidates. In our time together, there has been an extremely low level of turnover in personnel which is an important success factor for us.

There’s always been strong ease of integration. Over the years, Beetroot AB has managed to find ideal candidates who meet our requirements and complement our culture. Their team is easy to work with and remains in-tune with our needs. This ongoing project is always moving and progressing.

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

We are currently not using Beetroot services for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our Beetroot staff have expressed happiness toward their work environment in Ukraine. We find it easy to work with the candidates brought in by Beetroot AB. Beetroot AB’s HR services are also very notable. Their services mitigate our day-to-day HR efforts and allow us to focus on building the product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, their team produces great work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a genetic AI platform that can create and interpret genetic maps using machine learning and various algorithms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

Their team helps us with full-stack development, addressing an array of challenges across the frontend and backend of our web applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Beetroot AB team works with all kinds of scientists, including physicians and geneticists to incorporate their work into our machine learning algorithms and then integrate that into the product. We train and onboard their members and then they integrate with our team from there.

They work directly with our team members so that all aspects of the frontend and backend flow smoothly together in the final solution. The frontend is built using Angular and the backend involves Python and a lot of different databases.

What is the team composition?

There was only one member of their team working with us for a very long time, but now we have about 10 individuals in total.

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB?

Beetroot AB stood out from the hundreds of offshore companies who contact me because of their focus on being data-driven and really explaining the process behind their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $300,000 total over the course of our work with Beetroot AB.

What is the status of this engagement?

The beginning of our work with them was about 2 years ago, around early 2018, and we are continuing to work together today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The individual performances of various developers vary, and we tend to track those on a more individual basis, but overall our engagement with them has been very productive. Our team has been very satisfied with the quality of their work as a whole.

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle all of the project management on our side, but they tend to do a good job of staying on top of deadlines and helping us to meet all of our project milestones as a company, which we really appreciate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a great startup culture because of their small team, and that allows them to be very attentive to detail in their work. That dynamic also allows them to have a very cozy feel, which makes them very easy to work with as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not sure that there’s anything I think they should do differently. Hiring is something that they will do more of as they continue to grow, but It has not caused us a lot of problems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of a financial services company that provides financial intelligence software to small businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

We wanted assistance in developing a product that would help our customers with day to day financial operations such as bill payments and expense tracking.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beetroot AB used Node.js to develop the software with our desired features. The developer we worked with also helped integrate an American accounting software that we use. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with one developer from Beetroot AB. 

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB? 

The CTO of our company worked with them at a previous company. We interviewed one of their developers, and he seemed like a good fit for this project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in either May or June 2019 and completed the project in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We onboarded our developer quickly and he helped us accelerate our timeline. He was very motivated and worked hard to produce a good product. This project was very important for the company and Beetroot AB contributed a great deal. 

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

Beetroot AB provided us with daily updates about the project. We had a designated Slack channel that we used to communicate. I only have good things to say about the quality of their project management skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were able to form a strategic partnership. They’re very attentive and try to help wherever they can. They didn’t try to upsell us or push for additional services that weren’t necessary. They did exactly what we wanted. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice if we could’ve gotten started on the project more quickly after we first made contact. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s beneficial to make sure that their developers feel like they are a part of your company, even if they are working remotely. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a restoration ecologist for Land Life Company, a nature restoration company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

We use technology to make restoration more efficient and cheaper at scale. We started using drones and UAVs to do a lot of mapping work; it takes a fraction of the time and just 1–2 people. As we did this more and more, we reached a stage where we wanted to develop machine learning algorithms to take it a step further. This would enable us to get measurements and metrics, such as the health of the trees, the geolocation, how fast they’re growing, etc. We needed a company to help us develop the algorithms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beetroot AB developed machine learning algorithms that we use to process drone images and classify various objects. We finished the first phase of the project successfully; now, we’re in the second phase.

What is the team composition?

There’s one senior developer, one junior developer, someone on their business end, and someone from their accounting department. They’re onboarding another person as well.

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB?

They got in touch with us about a year ago and briefed us on their capacities and how they could help. A couple of months later, I got back in touch with them. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with them. I explained our problem and what we expected in terms of a solution. We had a couple of meetings to figure out what kind of help we’d need from their end. 

They got back to us with what they thought we needed. They walked us through a timeline, what to expect, and costs. We then signed off on it after a 1–1 ½ months of negotiations.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent €40,000–€60,000 (approximately $44,000–$66,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve started using the product, and it’s considerably changed how we do business in terms of getting new clientele and being able to expand the scope of our operations. Beetroot AB’s work has allowed us to go a step further than just doing the mapping work for clients; now, we can also give them the ability to track trees that they plant in real-time and integrate that into our maps on an online platform. For example, if you planted 100 trees, the algorithms they developed would give you an exact location of those trees, and then you can measure the trees and see how they’re doing. We’ve been able to take it to the next level.

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints about how they manage the process. They’ve done really well and delivered what they promised. There’s a lot of transparency. They’re realistic about what we can expect, and they’ve tailored the product to our needs.

They use a common online system to update us as each phase is completed. The system also lets us know the tasks of the week, the number of hours they’ve worked, and the costs incurred. It is very detailed and broken down in such a way that we can really understand what they’re doing. It feels like they’re working within the same sphere because we constantly know what they’re up to. We can reach out to them at any point. It’s been handled really well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m pleased with them being able to deliver the project on time. Compared to other products on the market, I’m very pleased with what they delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a small company and could give us more discounts. We’re happy with the quality of work, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with what you want. If you’re not clear, have a lot of discussions beforehand so that both parties know what it’s going to take. Be realistic about expectations. We took a lot of time to make it absolutely clear what it was that we wanted.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Briteweb is a Brand, Digital and Marketing agency who works with social impact companies. I am the Director of Project Operations and manage all the resourcing at Briteweb

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Beetroot AB?

Initially, we hired them to be the developers on all our support retainers but it quickly led to more resources being needed for developing websites.

What were your goals for this project?

Having a dedicated resource to tackle all our incoming support so we could serve our clients better

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have worked tried working with a lot of different development agencies in the past and did not have great experiences. Beetroots values align with Briteweb and we were really interested in the investment they make in their employees through education.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

One dev is dedicated to our large support department servicing anything from bug fixes to larger changes to the client's websites. The other devs we have used complete the backend, front end and integrations for Wordpress websites we build.

What was the team composition?

Singular developers working on various projects and support retainers. They work very well with our Project managers, strategist and other in-house developers. We are able to scale up and down depending on the demand we have in our business. We have a couple full-time developers who are a part of our team now but we also have used developers in a T&M capacity to fill any gaps we may have for a shorter term,

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Beetroot has been such a pleasure to work with and are very fair. They always solve any issues we may ever have very quickly and in a fair manner. The developers are highly skilled and are very hard workers. It has done so much for our business from a client satisfaction standpoint of being able to move through tickets and projects faster with these skilled, dedicated resources. It also has helped our bottom line significantly to be able to have the Beetroot developers on monthly retainers and be fully dedicated to Briteweb.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Beetroot has been quick to pick up our communication and development process. We had an instance with one developer that didn't suit our needs and Beetroot quickly solved the situation and found us a new dev. The timezones come with its challenges but again, Beetroot was able to adapt and come to a compromise when we need video meetings and adjust their schedules accordingly.

The language sometimes is an issue but I think all the other attributes outway this small thing. They just do great work and are always so eager to please us. We use, Gitlab, Slack, Trello, Accelo and email

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are just on top of everything from invoice breakdowns to solving any issues that may arise. They are willing to invest new parts of their business to strengthen the partnership they have with us. The entire team from sales to support to development have been a pleasure to work with.

Other vendors weren't as skilled, had bad communication and many times we end up having to redo the work that they did. Beetroot is far beyond other agencies we have worked with from a skill, communication and issue resolution perspective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think we have ironed out most of the kinks we were experiencing at the beginning of the partnership but that is true of any partnership. We will continue to strengthen our partnership with Beetroot and continue to expand the team we use on our projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Studio Bovenkamer, a Dutch company that develops websites and provides UX, design, and development consultancy services. We specialize in WordPress.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

As a self-employed developer and designer, it’s hard to keep up with my growing client base. I wanted to do less development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beetroot AB provides development support. They mainly do frontend development and then a little bit of WordPress backend development. We initially did two proof of concept (POC) projects. After those were done, I decided to hire one of Beetroot AB’s developers full-time, and I’ve been working with her for a year-and-a-half. 

Our process is that I send wireframes and a web design to the developer and explain the clients’s requirements to her. The developer then implements the web design into code so that we can use it for WordPress. She does the whole technical realization and creates fully functional websites. If any of my returning clients need to create some new functionality, add to their website, or require maintenance, Beetroot AB does that. 

What is the team composition?

I currently work with one full-time developer. For the first two projects, I worked with junior developers, a developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB?

Beetroot AB emailed me and proposed doing business together. I got in contact with a sales manager, who explained to me how they did their development and what their main processes were. What was appealing to me was that they worked almost the exact way I did; they used the same techniques and took the same steps.

My primary concerns were whether they’d deliver high-quality work and maintain a healthy, communicative relationship, since I’m in the Netherlands and they’re in Ukraine. 

How much have you invested with them?

The first two projects were on a fixed price base, but I can’t remember how much that was. Since hiring a developer full-time, I’ve spent $2,000 a month, or between $36,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with Beetroot AB on the first two projects in 2016. There was a gap in our work together, and then I hired one of their developers full-time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve outsourced 75–80% of my development to Beetroot AB, which allows me to pay more attention to my clients and build better relationships; I can be a better account manager. Beetroot AB's deliverables are functional and reliable.

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management only applies to the first two projects we did; now, I manage the projects, and the full-time developer is only concerned with development. I handle all of the planning and communication with clients. 

They’ve delivered on time and within budget. Beetroot AB’s main selling point is their ability to communicate. Their team has good English, and they have the same ethos. For the first two projects, we had a bit too much communication; we were still building up a new relationship. We use tools to communicate and bridge the gap between designer and developer. I’ve enjoyed working with a team from a different country; it’s fun to train them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They bring dedication, communication, and price to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they could become more technical and have more knowledge about security in development. Their skills could go beyond just frontend. However, this only applies to my developer right now, and she’s grown a lot over the last year-and-a-half of intensely working together. Beetroot AB offers internal trainings and teaches their team English.

Any advice for potential customers?

Give them the benefit of the doubt and try them out. Outsourcing can be scary, but these guys are trustworthy and reliable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Cpart Digital, a software house.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

We needed staff augmentation for our software house. We were having trouble finding good developers, and as a young company, we couldn’t compete with big companies in terms of salaries and budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beetroot AB provided backend and frontend developers. We had interviews to decide who we wanted to work for us. Our company has a variety of digital products that include web and native applications. We mostly use .NET, .NET MVC, Angular, React, JavaScript, and CSS technologies for development. For mobile, we generally use native iOS or Android code, using Java or Xamarin.

We have a physical product, and then about seven or eight digital products. Those are in the form of mobile apps, dashboards, and portals. The design work is primarily done in-house, but their team has provided some assistance with that.

What is the team composition?

We started with one or two people, but that number has evolved over time. For the last year, we’ve had about ten developers. We had a UX/UI designer for a short time as well.

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB?

I got in touch with them and decided to have a meeting in Israel. It is better to start off slow when working with a new company, so we started with one developer. The whole HR process was excellent. They found the candidates that we interviewed.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend between $300,000–$400,000 per year. We pay them on a monthly basis using a personal employee agreement. The final cost for each developer depends on their level of experience.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Beetroot AB started in April 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I enjoy that we have an evolving relationship. As we’ve gotten to know each other, it’s become a more personal relationship. There are a few challenges due to the fact that we aren’t sitting in the same room. In terms of professionalism, it was the same as having in-house developers. The distance can be an issue when in-person meetings are necessary. We also had to learn about cultural differences we weren’t familiar with.

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

We treat Beetroot AB as part of our team. Their communication was great. We travel to Ukraine pretty often, and their whole team is engaged with our work and company. They’re involved in company meetings.

When it was a smaller group, everything was managed from here. Now that the group has grown, we have two team leaders who function as development project managers. It isn’t the most structured process, but we found our way to make it work and are happy with the results we have at the moment. We use Skype or Google Meet. For communication, we use email and Jira in terms of the agile and development cycle.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While there were differences with them being in Ukraine and our company being based in India, I haven’t had such a positive relationship with another company. It has been working well so we never had to look for anything else.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Beetroot AB is pretty good at what they do. We aren’t familiar with the Ukrainian market and laws of employment. It would be nice to know certain things upfront when we’re looking at a budget for next year. Their team tries to make it more transparent. After we had a conversation with them, we created a spreadsheet and yearly plan for decision-making.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Without even thinking twice, I would recommend them. For every new project we had, I didn’t want to replace any developers. I wanted something stable and on a long-term basis. Treat them exactly like you treat your in-house employees and go visit their office. We’ve gone in the past, and this year we haven’t gone enough, and I feel different. It would be good to visit them once every quarter.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a travel technology company. We support airlines, rail, bus, and ferry operators with various services and applications. I'm the COO and a stakeholder. I am responsible for our delivery capabilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot AB?

We needed more resources and a more flexible model. We wanted to scale up and down quickly and easily while maintaining the quality of developers at a lower price.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our arrangement was fairly simple. We sent them the types of resources we wanted in terms of knowledge and cultural fit. They screened and interviewed potential candidates, then we sent qualified candidates tests. If they passed those tests, we interviewed them and negotiated the price.

Beetroot managed all the HR, equipment, and office needs for the developers we hired. They ran project management and communication tools, and they took care of any termination procedures as needed. We invited them to join our kickoffs, and we went for a full engagement with them.

What is the team composition?

We had a key account manager, but we also had extensive interactions with the founders. We had an HR person in Kiev and another in Odessa, and we worked with QA specialists and developers.

How did you come to work with Beetroot AB?

A friend of our chairman recommended them. We considered companies like them, so we went for them after that recommendation. They were very pragmatic, and not at all stubborn. They were flexible and willing to compromise.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent more than $500,000 USD over the course of the engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018, and the partnership ended in May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They represented a large percentage of the people working for us. Their developers helped us move to AWS, which decreased our costs and increased our server stability. One team worked on an old ecommerce platform and almost doubled that revenue stream. They also managed a complete sales and reservation platform that now represents millions of dollars in revenue. They were absolutely crucial to our work, and they made a difference in every department they staffed.

How did Beetroot AB perform from a project management standpoint?

They were proactive, and they worked very quickly. Our key account manager was always reachable by text, and our HR contacts usually responded within a few hours. Communication was very good, and I had an excellent experience with them.

We communicated through email, Jira, Slack, and GitHub, and I visited their offices two or three times a year. We're very familiar with them, and we spoke daily with most of the developers we worked with. They were as integrated in our operations as our on-site team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very adaptive, and they could work with many different commercial models. If the deadlines were very short or somewhat vague, they were flexible and worked to meet our needs. The people they hired were all top-quality, and they made their consultants feel at home in the projects they supported. They had very little turnover, and they earned the loyalty of the resources they found.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have anything they should improve. It might be possible to find better offices or lower prices, but they did everything really well. I have nothing to complain about.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of a digital agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Beetroot?

Beetroot provides staff augmentation for development services, helping our team fulfill the requirements of various client projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Beetroot provides additional development support for client projects involving WordPress sites, which entails HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They integrate with our team to build out different features and functionality as needed.

What is the team composition? 

Depending on our needs, we'll have anywhere from 2–5 developers working on deliverables for our clients including some project managers. Most of my interactions are directly with the owner. 

How did you come to work with Beetroot?

We researched and vetted about 11 different agencies specializing in WordPress development, and Beetroot stood out as the best. We were impressed by their portfolio of work, initial discussions, and how they performed on some small development tests. After a 90-day rigorous interview process, they had exceeded our expectations. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested between $120,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has been exceptional and even challenges my own in-house developers. They provide lots of valuable feedback throughout the engagement, which sometimes helps us improve our own processes. Thus far, their track record has been perfect both in terms of adhering to our standards of quality and timeliness of delivery.

How did Beetroot perform from a project management standpoint?

They work seamlessly with our team–you'd never know they were outsourced. They're also extremely professional and diligent in the work they do. We have standup video meetings with their team on a daily basis. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness, communication, and ability to integrate with our team so well sets them apart. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They have a great business model. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be explicit in project requirements and learn about the different expertise of their staff. Beetroot categorizes their team into different tiers, so it helps to be aware of those differences in order to ensure the right staff are assigned to the project.