Begin Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the producer of Live Marketing, a company that specializes in live and virtual events like trade shows and big meetings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin to develop and design a game that would be hosted on a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Begin helped us create a web-based game that users will be able to play at trade shows. Initially, we gave them the script and some general guidance for how we wanted it to look. Then, they took our guidance and designed all the gameplay pages and the UI.

After we approved the designs, they started the actual coding and development of the game. This process included creating all of the interactions, integrating sound effects, and placing different animations. Eventually, Begin delivered a website where we could play the game and interact with it.

This game was created for a Canadian-based train shipping company that specializes in cold chain logistics for temperature-controlled products. The game allows users to try to find the correct temperature for the product being shipped, and it shows them little, fun animations depending on whether they get the correct answer or not.

What is the team composition?

We interacted primarily with four people from Begin, but there were five people involved in the project. Their team included Cody (Co-Founder), Seth (Project Manager), two developers, and a designer.

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

I’m relatively new to Live Marketing, so when I joined, they just told me that Begin was the company we were working with. I believe that my company had already worked with them in the past, but I don’t know how they found them; I only got introduced to them and took it from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just above $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in September 2021, and the project took about eight weeks, so we finished it towards the end of October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m very happy with the quality of Begin’s work. They delivered a clean design, exactly what we asked for. Additionally, the game works smoothly and as expected.

We haven’t implemented it in an actual trade show yet, so I don’t have any feedback regarding user engagement. However, I see no reason why it wouldn’t be a hit.

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, Begin’s collaboration was very smooth. They provided very clear expectations for the timeline, and they were constantly available communication-wise. Overall, I really enjoyed working with them.

We mainly communicated via email and video calls through Google Meet. If we had quick questions, we also used Google Chat, and we shared documents through Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Begin delivered the exact product that we wanted them to provide. We established our expectations and goals, and they completely met them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the design phase, the turnaround time for some of the revisions was longer than expected. However, I don’t know what was happening behind the scenes, and maybe they were busy with other projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a lot of clear communication with Begin. They do a great job asking for clarity when they need it, so just try to set frequent check-ins.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I represent Cannin, and we’re a cannabis industry investment financial environment. We give investment-related advice to our members such as technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and trading advice.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin to help us with our web development and automation needs for a lot of our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were following hundreds of cannabis and hemp stocks. As a result, one of the things we requested from Begin was to develop a bot we could use to make predictions on whether a stock price would go up, down, or stay the same the next day. In the end, they’ve created several predictive algorithmic bots for us. A lot of it deals with coding matrices, which happen in an automated fashion each day.

Eventually, our product is going to be on a web-based app where our users are granted access via a dashboard. It is also where information will be synthesized daily and disseminated to our members electronically through email. Overall, they’re in charge of design, development, and testing efforts.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with their founders, and they communicate the goals and timelines of the project. We also collaborate with their team of engineers who are in charge of the actual execution of our products.

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

We found them locally.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had limited small projects, but they’ve met our expectations in each of those projects. In comparing and contrasting them with other vendors, we believe their strength over other competitors lies in their ability to communicate to us their hurdles and progress.

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they’ve been doing very well. We use emails, phone calls, text messaging, and video conferencing to communicate with each other.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Begin’s organized approach sets them apart. They ensure that they understand the scope of work they need to do prior to coming up with the timeline and quote of the project. On top of that, they ensure that they’ll do things the right way. Then, in cases when they have to change plans, they communicate why we have to do it and explain what the new execution would be.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind on areas they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just give them the information they need so that they could do a good job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a product manager at a mixed reality tech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our tech has a software component, and we wanted Begin to help build out a website to assist with that component — mostly providing users a way to upload, manage, and share digital assets. Our goal was to get a prototype up and running for us to evaluate.

SOLUTION

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

With the help our our main web agency we selected them. They serviced tech we were stuck in (Django), and had some more modern approaches that would help us move to more modern tech (Node).

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

We had an old site that we wanted to get updated. We initially asked them to build out a new site using many of the patterns of the old site and to accommodate a list of changes we provided to them. Users should be able to upload, share, and download assets from this site. We had a weekly meeting cadence. We would provide them with spec, and they would provide feedback and consult with us before implementing.

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

• Joe Gardner - Back end developer
• Cody Sherman - Front end developer
• Brandon Frisch - Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We intended to go live with an internal beta of this site. We are still not in a live state due to some challenges with how asset uploading is handled and how UGC is uneditable. A lot of our challenges also came from our own internal organizational shuffling.

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

Begin was very responsive and open about communication and was always eager to share progress to ensure we were on the same page. They also used Click up and invited us to their boards, and provided screenshares to show progress. We have a shared Slack environment as well.

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

They were very straightforward and communicative about practically everything: scheduling, expectation setting, defining what will and won't get done. They were very helpful in advising on choices that we needed to make.

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

We ended up spending much more than the initial estimates. While project progress and timeliness was communicated often, I feel that assessments of costs (& how that compared to the initial estimates) weren't raised by Begin as much as I would have liked. We ended up going over estimates by over 50% due to work not uncovered during estimates or reviewed during development.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as an executive producer for an event marketing and production agency. Since March 2020, we've been exclusively producing virtual events and digital offerings in substitution of non-virtual events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We had a client that formerly did in-person workshops, and they wanted to create a virtual one. We needed a partner to build out that virtual workshop for our client.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Begin, LLC developed a virtual workshop platform that made it easy for participants to join, use their webcams, and chat. They also created a web-based tool that allowed participants to collaborate, such as through whiteboards.

They built the platform using WordPress because our end client wanted to be able to easily duplicate and set up workshops on their own. WordPress made it easy for them to log in to the backend. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Brandon (Managing Director & Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

We found them through a common acquaintance. We met with Begin, LLC and told them about our project needs. They just seemed like a good fit and they were in our budget, so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around December 2020, and the project was completed in February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered exactly what we asked for. Our end client was also satisfied. 

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We used video calls, phone calls, and email to collaborate. They were very good at project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Begin LLC was very responsive and good at communicating. They were very eager to please us and make sure we were happy with the product. They went the extra mile to make sure that the end client was comfortable with everything that we were handing off to them to do their workshops. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd say they were great to work with as a first-time collaboration, and I would recommend them to anyone who's looking for a new development team. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is called Wellness Data Solutions. We primarily work with businesses, and we also offer a direct-to-consumer product that is in the shape of a customized score that we enter into a database. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

Before talking with Begin, LLC, we worked with another web development company that didn’t perform according to our expectations. In relation to that, we thought there could be a better way to do things. As a result, we started talking with Begin, LLC on how to automate and scale our process.

When we talked to the team, they came up with a good idea. It may not be the cheapest one, but it was definitely the direction we needed to go in order to develop our data entry and storage platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had this unique way of presenting medical data to people, and depending on the type of risks they presented, we had to file folders of that risk with verbiage. Then, we print it all out. If a person had X, Y, and Z risks, we grab the X, Y, and Z folders, print them out, staple it together, and hand them to our third-party stakeholders.

We wanted a process where we can enter data into a database and get a cool report printed out after. On the B2B side, we can aggregate all that, take all that data, compile it, and then present it to the population manager in terms of the identified dashboard which the team also created for us. 

They suggested building a robust data entry and storage platform. Moreover, they were in charge of making the frontend look really pretty. Then, once we finish the platform, they would eventually do API so that some businesses or other places could call our database. Everything took a couple of months to finish and required a lot of back and forth. In 2017, we finally had a workable product. 

Over the last three years, we’ve been doing little tweaks and modifications on our platform based on the insights we’ve gained from working with other businesses. We often see things that we like to add to our platform and we give the drawings of how we want the output to look to Begin, LLC. Then, they do the coding process.

Currently, we’re partnering with another company and the Begin team needs to find a different way to enable them to access our data. Our relationship has evolved over time, and there are instances where we go to them for technical advice. 

What is the team composition?

We work with three people from their team. Brandon (Co-Founder & Managing Director) does a lot of the organization stuff including approving the quotes. Then, we also work with Cody (Co-Founder) who’s in charge of the graphics, and Mark (Co-Founder & Lead Software) serves as our backend person. 

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

We found them through a startup co-op event in town. They were working out of that place and we had a business connection there. After that, we were introduced to the team. That’s after we had a horrible experience with another web company. We also went up to Chicago to interview another software development company. However, we chose Begin, LLC because they were local.

The team seemed to get our products and really liked what we do. We really felt good about them. Additionally, we weren’t sure if our platform was going to service a few 200–300 people or a million people, so we didn’t want to hire the bigger company. Most importantly, they were nice guys. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent in the range of $80,000–$100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement may have started in March 2017, and we’re still working together. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Begin, LLC delivers. When we started, neither of us knew how to plan a project, but the team has evolved as a company. We used to just throw them specific ideas of what we wanted and they developed it. However, that caused a lot of back and forth because the product wasn’t exactly what we wanted, so the beginning really cost more time and money.

We appreciate that they’ve gained a better understanding of how to build a quote and get a scope of services with very specific objectives. We’ve also improved at telling them what exactly we want. Overall, they’ve been pretty good.

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

A month ago, we had a project and they gave us a two-week window. The team has successfully completed that and everything works the way we expect it. There have been a few glitches, but they’ve been capable of jumping in right away and work on them. I also like that they stand behind their work and that makes me trust them. 

They have a good project management process. They’re also very clear on quotes, timelines, and scope of service.  However, as I mentioned, it had been a learning curve for both of us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with them with other tech companies because we partnered with other businesses and they just do a nice job of speaking to the product. They’re always right on point and they can speak “tech”.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The problems that I’ve mentioned have already been remedied including their communication problem and billing methodology. We used to do hourly and estimated hours, so we had a vague range of how much things were going to cost. They’ve really done a nice job of identifying their weaknesses and working to correct them. Above all, they’ve been transparent with us about issues that they were having, and they've always made sure that we’re on the same page. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear end goal and make sure that they get it. This is probably true for all tech companies — some things can get lost in translation. You may think you’ve already explain something, but things don’t end up looking as you visualized it. That’s why discussing things can clarify what you really want. 

Identify what you’re trying to get out of the engagement and determine how it fits the context of the bigger picture. In our case, we always knew that ideally, our system would be a widget that needed to be licensed or plugged into a bigger software tech-type system. As a result, from the get-go we went with that objective. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Provider Pool is a healthcare technology company based in Missouri. I’m the COO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We wanted to rebuild our technology platform to improve the UX design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Begin, LLC became an extension of our engineering team. We worked with a number of their developers on a fulltime basis. We provided the designs, and they helped us build, QA test, and deploy the platform. It’s a responsive web app built on the .NET stack. It’s a bit of an older stack, but it was used at our request, and Begin was comfortable with it.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 people from their team. Brandon (Co-Founder & Managing Director) filled the project manager role.

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

I asked for referrals on LinkedIn, and one of Begin, LLC’s founders got in touch. We asked for quotes and had a number of interviews with them and a couple of other vendors. We decided to take the leap with Begin, and we’re really glad that we did.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Begin in July 2020, and the first phase wrapped up in September. We’ll engage them again after we’ve designed the next phase of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform is used by hundreds of nurses around the country, and we’re incredibly satisfied with it. It’s been instrumental in helping us secure a round of funding. Our nurses love it, and we’re getting a really high NPS (Net Promoter Score). 

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked closely and collaboratively with Brandon, and every deadline was hit. We had very transparent, proactive communication, and I couldn’t ask for more. We used Trello for task tracking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provided cost-effective, high-quality work. They were reliable, and their communication was top notch. We never wondered where they were at with a task or worried about them not getting something done. In the world of development shops, that’s incredibly rare.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t comment on any areas for improvement because we’ve had a wonderfully positive experience with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Begin, LLC should be treated as a real partner, and you should be transparent with them about what you need. They’re incredibly flexible, so they can simply execute a project that’s already scoped out, but they can also be more of a thought partner and help you think through use cases and features. The more proactive and communicative we are, the more we’ll take advantage of what they bring to the table.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run a product development agency and i'm the president

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin for multiple different client projects involving web development and mobile app development

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for our main project with Begin was to build a mobile application utilizing swift, java, and react framework

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I interviewed a lot of vendors and Begin seemed like they were the most capable to get the job done

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project involved building two mobile apps for a client as well as building and maintaining their front end for their web platform. The Begin team was responsible for developing the entire app and front end on the client project. There were 3 developers from the Begin team involved that all did a fantastic job.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a senior swift developer, a senior java developer and a senior full stack developer that worked in Vue.js and node.js

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with Begin had a major positive impact on our business. They provided great work and we were able to work with the client project they were on for significantly longer then the original contract we had with the client.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The Begin team managed the development of the project and ran sprint meetings with the client as well as interfaced with their team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were able to hit really tight deadlines and would consistently work weekends if needed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope, working with them was great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a date night subscription box company that focuses on providing relationship-building products to couples.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

We were looking for a custom piece of software to help with some internal project management processes in order to increase our efficiency.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for this project was to create a custom piece of software based on our needs and design requirements and fast and as cost-effective as possible while still offering something that could scale in the future.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We learned about Begin, LLC through word of mouth and reached out with our product specs and designs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Begin, LLC was to take our ideas, designs, and functionality needs and create and optimize an internal piece of software to help us with our project management needs.

What was the team composition?

The project team had about 4 people, all of which we interacted with throughout the project. They were very courteous, well-informed, professional and each had fantastic communication skills which allowed us to complete the project on time and under budget.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final product Begin, LLC delivered overwhelmingly exceeded our expectations. Not only did they finish the project before our goal finish date, but they delivered a well-polished product with no bugs and minimal changes needed. They were very efficient and a pleasure to work with.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Having dealt with other development companies (and ones with a much larger team), working with Begin was a breath of fresh air when it comes to outsourcing development. They had a clear hierarchy of command and communication.

Each team member knew what their job was for the project and clearly articulated their role with us. We really had to force ourselves to come up with questions to ask because they had everything running and planned out so precisely.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Begin's efficiency stood out to us the most. They worked quickly and effectively. Communication was never an issue (especially with us being "non-technical") and the quality of work was never compensated. We will definitely be using them again for future needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There isn't much more that we could'be asked for. My only suggestion for those looking to work with Begin is to come in with a clear and precise plan for your project. Their team is very creative and great at problem-solving and us having a clear idea of what we wanted made the experience that much more enjoyable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

FourKites is a supply chain visibility platform, and we work with large shippers to help them get real-time updates across their different loads on truck, rail, and ships. I lead the digital marketing team for our website, digital campaigns, and paid advertising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We recently did a rebrand and created a new website, and Begin, LLC helped us to transfer our live network diagram to the new website, which involved transferring product APIs without taking the system down.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The complexity of the project came in with the design because we needed the plugin to remain consistent but also blend with the new website. Beyond just writing new API code and configuring the backend to handle the program, they helped us to maximize the responsiveness and optimize it for mobile and different screen sizes as well.

What is the team composition?

I had one main point of contact on their team and I know of at least one designer and one developer who worked with him on the project as well.

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

One of my contacts referred them to me, and we set up a call to talk about his experience and what the challenge was. It seemed like a good fit, so we decided to work with them from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent in the range of $4,000–$5,000

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from November-December 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From a value and cost point of view, Begin, LLC was able to save us a lot of time and money through their level of skill and professionalism. A lot of developers tend to go back and forth with things, and their team was able to get it right the first time, which I really appreciated.

We will have more data in a few months around time of use, but everything functions very smoothly and can be used in all of the ways we wanted it to, so we are very satisfied with the quality of their work in that regard.

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Our point of contact did a very good job of managing the project relatively independently. Once we explained our goals for the project from a high level, he worked with his team to take care of a lot of the details without having to come to us with a ton of questions about everything.

We gave them all of the deliverables upfront, and they did a great job of sticking to deadlines and getting things done on time. Any of the delays we experienced were on our end in terms of getting approvals or waiting on resources for the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They just have a really acute sense of professionalism. It was clear throughout the project that everyone on their team really knew what they were doing. Because they were able to incorporate all the best practices on their own, it saved us a lot of time and made the experience really great for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t really think of anything that would have improved this particular project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as the client has a clear idea of what they want done and communicates that well, the project is going to be cost-effective and successful.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CHASER is an event management platform that gives fraternities the tools they need to manage their events and ensure safety. I act as the CEO and project manager of CHASER. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin, LLC to develop our Web and Android platforms in vue.JS and supplement our internal development team. Further, they acted as mentors for us and advised us on certain decisions from time to time. Our company had just gone through a massive change, and we were scattering for developers. We're lucky we found Beg.in. 

What were your goals for this project?

We needed developers who could work with us to develop the platforms in a short 3 months. We were on a very tight time schedule, and we needed this done just in time for our launch. Every single other development company we reached out to said that it would take much longer, but Brandon (Managing Director, Begin, LLC) and the team helped us work through some features to pare down the time. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We went through looking for tons of development teams. We used Upwork, other freelance sites, and even walked around in our WeWork to try to find developers. Lacking in all of them was communication and clarity. Beg.in acted as a partner in our journey of creating the product, and they were the clear right choice the second we spoke to them over the phone. Brandon, Cody (Lead Frontend Developer, Begin, LLC), and Johnmark (Lead Software Engineer, Begin, LLC) were welcoming from the start. 

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Before we came to Beg.in, we only had developed an iOS platform. However, we needed two platforms (Android and Web) made for our August launch. The web platform needed to be a full event hosting portal (like Eventbrite) and Android needed to mirror the iOS platform. After we came to them with our needs, they quickly suggested that we use vue.JS in order to supercharge our development. We took their advice, and everything turned out well. In two short months, they provided the products exactly as we wanted them. 

What was the team composition?

Brandon was the coordinator with our team, but that doesn't mean that we didn't speak to the developers every single day. Cody and Johnmark (our developers) would Slack us daily with questions or concerns – all in the hopes that we were exactly on the same page about what they were building. The result was a cooperative development workflow that I've never seen before. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that Beg.in has had on your business?

We were about to have to push back our launch when we realized that we had to build two huge platforms in three months before summer was over. We were lost. However, because of Beg.in's efforts and desire to help us out, we made it happen. We're forever thankful to Brandon, Cody, and Johnmark. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Slack to communicate. Brandon would reach out to me personally regarding billing, and we would work from there. We had a big Slack channel where the Beg.in team would send updates, ask questions, etc. We would also frequently get on Skype calls to work through tension points. Getting to such an effective point was naturally a work in progress, but once we figured out a great system that worked for both the Beg.in and the Chaser team, the result was amazing. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their empathy and ability to cooperate with the team they're working with. Beg.in is not a development company that you just hire and forget about. Not one bit. Brandon, Cody, and Johnmark are knowledgable people that work with you to battle through the roadblocks present in every single startup. They spent the extra hours to ensure that we were super clear on what needed to get done. 

More importantly, any time we had a serious business strategy issue, we also reached out to them for advice. We're grateful to say that Beg.in helped us out so much. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at all. Beg.in knows what they're doing and they take care of their clients. Seamless experience!!!