Bitflow

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Iam an associate of the search and selection team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking a software development company capable enought to understand and help us to co-create together our idea. We had some kind of idea of what we wanted but we didnt have a clue of how was the best way to do it. Thats why we needed a software development company but even more we needed a strategic partner we could trust and receive feedback.

SOLUTION

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

We talk with different companies before choosing Bitflow. We tried to cover a big range of possible candidates. We met with each one, gave them a picture of what we were planning to do and wait for their proposal. Bitflow was very prfessional since the beginning. Our first impression was very good. They introduced themselfs show us their background and capabiities. Gave us a very quick response with the proposal. The pricing was really good but even more the quality and trust they transmit us was definitly the key decistion factor.

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

They introduce to us he methodolgy they where going to use for the project. They introduce us to the team that was going to work with us. Then we started with the discovery phase. After this phase they buit a very detail document with all the features and functions our project was going to contain. They set up weekly catchups to talk about updates and doubts. They divide the work in sprints. It was very easy to follow the project.

We had our own slack channel to communicate directly with them with quickly response. They suggest us the best technologies to incorporate to the project and they were always align with our objective. They where always open to any suggestion we made.

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

We had 4 persons working for the project. We had:

Juan I. (project manager)

Matias (Tech Lead)

Juan P. (UX/UI Front end developer)

Martina (Test lead)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launch the project in time. Everyone said it was better than what they could imagine before. It overpassed expectations. We didnt find major bugs it has a very solid performance. Our clients are very happy with the platform they found it of great value.

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

The project was very easy going. No frictions at all. They always were very proactive and looked for solutions rather than complain. Their communication was also excellent. I had direct contact with the tam through a slack channel. The resopnse time was very fast. We also shared a google docs with comments and suggestions where we tag each other whenever we had any doubt.

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

The premium service they deliver. Its tailormade and they get involve in your project. They are not the common Software factory that want to deliver products fast no matter what. They really want as you to deliver the best product. They are very professional and best of all good people.

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

I dont have any improvement feedback.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Co-Founder and CTO of HOKALI, an on-site sports lessons marketplace that connects sports enthusiasts with coaches. We are currently based in San Francisco, CA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hire Bitflow to build the marketplace from scratch. A product where coaches could sign up to our platform and offer their coaching services, then people would book lessons with them. Both users would be able to manage bookings.

SOLUTION

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

Before choosing Bitflow I had interviews with many other Software Development companies, but it was with Bitflow who I connected the most during conversations. Also, they were recommended by a colleague, founder of another startup which was acquired by the KAVAK a marketplace for buying and selling used cars. Bitflow developed the product that got acquired by KAVAK.

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

They provided a great team with backend and frontend engineers, a designer, and a project manager with deep knowledge on product and software architecture. The entire process and experience went really smooth, we started off my defining the scope of work, data architecture, data relations, and data structures. After that we moved with the backend development and frontend. At last the designer helped us define not only the user experience but also ensured on our branding.

As a result, we've built a two-sided marketplace for coaches to sign up and offer services and for people to pay and book for their lessons. And also, an Admin tool so our Support Team could manage daily operations. The technologies that we chose for the project were the following:

• AWS Services: S3 databases and Amplify to host the applications
• Backend with Node Js
• Frontend with Next Js (great assets for SEO positioning)
• Twilio for SMSs to coaches when new bookings
• Mailgun for all email communications on bookings
• Integrations with Google Sheet for operational use

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

There were two backend engineers, one frontend engineer, a designer who also participated on frontend engineer as he was highly skilled with coding as well, and a project manager with deep knowledge on product dev and architecture (graduated from a top engineering school)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch on time and deadlines were accomplished. We worked well on prioritizing features in order to hit deadlines on time. After releasing, fixing bugs was not an issue as we have defined a turn over process for issues with the platform.

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

Communication was always flawless. We had bi-weekly meetings on standard weeks, some we had to take more meets in order to advanced quicker on definitions. Bitflow was very dedicated and did not have issues on accommodating to needs. As per tools we used Slack for internal communication and Jira as ticketing system to track process and development.

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

I really appreciated the communication and transparency of the team. They're great people that care about the turnover of the project. They worked really close to me, shared advices and best practices.

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

Not really, what we scoped on the SOW was delivered on time and maintained after going live. We kept working with Bitflow after the release of the first product.