BlueLabel

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cloudred is a web and interactive design studio based in New York City. We primarily work with non-profit, city government, and clients that are interested in doing civic-minded work. I’m the creative partner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

We have an existing client that needed an Android app so we reached out to Blue Label Labs for the programming aspect of the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided Android app development.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

We looked at other agencies but I knew Zach Drew [Head of Business Development] from Blue Label Labs personally and saw the work they’d done. We could tell that they knew what they were doing.

How much have you invested with Blue Label Labs?

Confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took 2 or 3 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The client is really happy with the app. I don’t have any stats because they haven’t fully marketed the app yet. The conversion percentage is really good.

How did Blue Label Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The project came in on budget.

What did you find most impressive about Blue Label Labs?

I was really happy working with them. They were very knowledgeable.

Are there any areas Blue Label Labs could improve?

There were times it was hard to get a hold of them when they got busy. I think that’s pretty normal for development firms.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an entrepreneur that was looking to develop a small mobile game.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

I needed a partner who could build my game.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I went through a lot of research. The main problem is that most developers only work on complex and expensive projects, which makes sense, but my project wouldn't have been worth their time. Also, the communication with a bigger company was poor. Blue Label Labs had the perfect size and stood out in terms of communication. They were willing to work with me over a few months' period.

How much have you invested with Blue Label Labs?

The cost of Blue Label Labs' work was between $20,000 and $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project has been completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The feedback has been generally positive. I didn't necessarily build the game in order to make a profit, it was more of a passion project meant to give me experience with the development process.

The game has had around 1,000 downloads at this point. It hasn't had a great success, but it was worth building for the experience itself.

How did Blue Label Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication with Blue Label Labs' team and principals was excellent. They were all available whenever I needed to talk, which was very nice.

Are there any areas Blue Label Labs could improve?

A point of annoyance, in the beginning, was figuring out how much the project would actually cost. The negotiating process could have been a bit clearer. The game itself was pretty well done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is BridgeEdu, an education startup that creates products to help students overcome barriers to their education and continue to raise persistence levels in schools. I am the CIO and VP of product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

What we are focusing on right now are two problems that higher risk or high promise students face—financial aid and being prepared for college. Our company has two products. The first is an on-campus program to help students succeed in their freshman year of college. We provide them tutoring, co-curricular activities, resume writing, and linking work and employment to their education to get them to stay in school. The second product is an app that we have built to help students navigate the complex financial aid process so that they can afford school. The app consists of guides at the federal, state, institutional, and scholarship levels.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I have worked 16 or 17 years in the IT area in traditional desktop and backend systems, but this was the first time I created an app. We didn’t know how it should look, if it should be a game or a guide, and what would it take to develop it. I did a quick RFP [request for proposal] and decided on Blue Label Labs as a partner to do this. They guided us through the process of creating an app by helping us define the user experience, documentation, coding, QA, production set up, look, and brand.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I didn’t want to do a full RFP, so I got recommendations for 3 different professional services, and Blue Label Labs was one of them. I sat with all 3 and said, "this is what we are trying to do, and here’s what we’re thinking for the scope." I spent a couple of hours with each team and had them provide their proposals and time estimates of what it would take to build the app. Through years of software development, I know that whatever you think it’s going to be, it’s not enough because things come up. I thought Blue Label Labs asked really good questions about my scope and they challenged me to think about what truly was my goal and what the scope should look like. They did a decent amount of work during the sales cycle to try and understand as much as they possibly could of what I wanted to do because they really hold themselves accountable for the price that they give you. I told everybody I had a set budget with some contingency money included. Blue Label Labs ultimately was the one that convinced me that they had put the most thought into their quote and that the quote was most realistically close to what it would end up costing.

How much have you invested with Blue Label Labs?

Our app investment was between $250,000 - $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Blue Label Labs in April 2016. The version 1 for Android launched on October 1st, 2016. The iOS version 1 launched November 15th, 2016. Version 1.1 for both iOS and Android launched January 18th, 2017. As of the 1.1 release, that finishes the scope of work that we had identified in April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our app is currently a pilot. Although you can download it from the App Store, it’s really meant to be sold to schools, and then the schools give it to their students for free, it’s not a retail app. Some school systems have a very long lead time. We are in a pilot in 10 different schools, and we are working with counselors to get it to students. The overall feedback of the look, feel, and information provided has been extremely well received both for students and for counselors.

We show it to people in the education industry, and they are blown away by the tone of our videos. They like how they resonate with the students, how easy it is to navigate, how we explain financial literacy concepts that previously students weren’t able to understand, and the way we broke it up into missions with defined starts and ends. I think people appreciate that because it is a long process and breaking it up into smaller chunks is always helpful.

How did Blue Label Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Blue Label Labs did a fantastic job. They are in New York, and their development team was in India. I would say that I didn’t feel that at all. As a customer, that’s what you want. You don’t really care where your development is being done. I feel like their project management set the expectations well. They followed through with commitments well and communicated next steps and timelines well. They made the backend development and QA efforts almost immaterial. I never had to talk to a developer. Everything went smoothly with the project management team. To me, that was a very good feeling to have, that I could just go to my one point of contact, and they would handle it from there.

What did you most impressive about Blue Label Labs?

I can’t necessarily compare them to other providers because I don’t have the experience as far as to app building, but I can compare them to other consultancy teams that I have worked with. I felt that they were innovative in terms of how they approached the problem, how they encouraged us to build paper prototypes, and really go through the app before we did any development. They created these insanely large screen flow maps, and we put them up on the wall. There are almost 500 screens in the app, and I had every single screen and arrows going to and from every screen based on what actions they took up on my wall. I was able to modify the user experience before we did any coding. I don’t know how differential that makes them for their ability to prototype that, but I appreciated that that was the process they took with it.

Are there any areas Blue Label Labs could improve?

Blue Label Labs could have had more transparency and communication around actual burn rate vs budget. However, I can't get too upset. Although the project management and requirement scoping went over budget, Blue Label stuck by their original estimate and did not bill me the overcharges. My scope of work did not change but did require more effort than they originally thought.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our app is an app that connects people to other people in order to get recommendations. If you’re looking for a restaurant or bar in another city, you can connect with people for recommendations instead of searching online.

I’m co-founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

Our first developer built an app that wasn’t built to scale. We needed a development firm to take over the app, stabilize it, and release it to the public. We didn’t have a technical cofounder.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They fixed a lot of the issues and gave us technical advice. They helped us understand the types of technologies we were working with and why some are better than others.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I found them through review websites. I was looking for a New York-based shop. I had a meeting with Jordan, their COO, and a product manager. Later I met Bobby [founder and CEO, Blue Label Labs] and I really liked the team. They were tech focused and business minded so we were able to talk to them about multiple sides of the business. I looked at some of their previous work and it was really high quality, which made me comfortable working with them. They were honest about the cost of the project and wanted to at least help us stabilize it if we didn’t have the funds to totally rebuild it in the beginning.

How much have you invested with Blue Label Labs?

We spent between $10,000 and $50,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2015 and the project was completed in October 2015. They continued to work with us through part of 2016, and then we were able to bring on a technical co-founder to bring the development in-house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

They were able to help us get the product to market in a way that we were proud of. They were open-minded and creative in coming up with the right cost effective solution to meet my objectives, even though they would’ve preferred to rebuild everything in the beginning to meet their standards.

What did you find most impressive about Blue Label Labs?

They communicate really well and delegate the work well. Jordan is more on the operational side and Bobby is the lead tech person. They were always responsive and had a dedicated product manager who was always helpful and willing to meet to clarify any questions we had. It was really helpful to have someone who understood the technical and business side of things.

Are there any areas Blue Label Labs could improve?

If I wanted to talk to a specific developer it wasn’t always easy because of different time zones and having to go through a project manager. I think that’s a criticism of the industry.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

GamerCal is a mobile iOS application that was designed by me with the idea to help mobile gamers keep track of all the different events, sales, etc. across all the games they play. I’m the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

The games have different events going on to keep the users’ attention. The challenge was to keep all of these events organized and translate them to different time zones across all the games. I had designed a prototype and I needed someone local to help me design and develop the app while on a limited budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a collaborative effort.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I found them online. They had great reviews and were local to me. I was looking for someone who could provide constructive criticism and brainstorm with me. I interviewed 3 or 4 companies and Blue Label Labs was the most balanced in expertise, budget, and interactiveness throughout the process. They offered great feedback.

How much have you invested with Blue Label Labs?

I’ve spent between $50,000 and $200,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in May 2016 and we released the product in January 2017. They’re still working on maintenance of the app and will help me with any enhancements I make.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I have a few crash reporting software development kits installed. The app has never crashed, which is awesome. We’re up to 50 users and we’re starting to do marketing efforts. Most of the feedback I’ve gotten is positive. People like the design and the flow. It’s been well-received and Blue Label Labs helped me figure out ways to keep users coming back.

How did Blue Label Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

It took longer than I expected but I couldn’t be happier with the product. I had a project manager named Dulio who had a good balance of technicality and communication. He gave feedback on the ideas I brought to them.

What did you find most impressive about Blue Label Labs?

Bruce Morrison is also part of their team. He’s a business development guy and we’ve been brainstorming ways to enhance the product. They’re invested in helping the app grow and succeed. They responded quickly to bugs throughout the process. The way they collaborated with me was another strength they had.

Are there any areas Blue Label Labs could improve?

I think they could’ve done a little better on quality assurance. There were bugs I found that I thought they should’ve found. But anytime I found anything, they got it fixed quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization uses a social media app as a photo sharing platform. It allows people to collaborate around specific topics. Users can create any topic and then people can share photos and connect with one another. I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

We contracted Blue Label Labs to help us develop the platform because we did not have an in-house developer.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

It was a pretty long process because we wanted to be sure we chose a great partner. We compiled a list of all the developers in the New York area so we could meet with them in-person. They offered personalized service and offered a quality product for a reasonable price. We preferred Blue Label’s personalized service over larger companies. The founders were very involved in the project at Blue Label Labs.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent between $50,000 and $100,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We launched in October and are pursuing the NYU market. We recruited a few ambassadors and had between 50-60 people on the app, after which we ran into problems. We are currently reevaluating to see if we want to continue.

What did you find most impressive about Blue Label Labs?

The best thing about Blue Label Labs is working with the founders themselves, Bobby Gill and Jordan Gurrieri. I really appreciated that. Whenever I had an issue, I sent a message to Bobby and he immediately replied. Even the project manager who I worked with was very responsive.

Are there any areas Blue Label Labs could improve?

Initially, when we worked with them we didn’t have the strongest designer, Blue Label quickly replaced them. Other than that it was fine.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company provides funding to small businesses. We do this for both our online channel, our website, and we do it through our telephone channel as well.

Part of the value proposition that we offer is that our customers have a better experience going through the process of applying for business funding with us than they would through traditional banks. We try to make the process easier and quicker so folks can get a decision within minutes, sometimes in real time as they're applying or after they submit their information, otherwise as soon as possible thereafter.

What is your position?

I’m the Chief Technology Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

In addition to the website and the telephone experience, we wanted to provide customers with a mobile experience as well. Being a relatively small company, we didn't want to make the investment in bringing on technology staff to implement our mobile experience or take time away from the teams that are providing the technology to develop our web services and other internal systems.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Blue Label Labs was able to work closely with our team so they could help us get that first version of our mobile applications out there. It is something that we will probably work with them over time to bring the ongoing development in-house.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

We spoke with several firms and the things that appealed to us about Blue Label Labs were: one, they had a number of references that we were able to speak to that also spoke very positively of them, and the model by which they would do the development seemed to fit well with the way that we approach things. We use an actual development process ourselves and we were trying to understand how we would engage them in both the design and the code testing. That process aligned well with how we do our development.

Finally, I think they provided a good value proposition. A lot of firms, I think, wanted to do a little bit more overkill than what was necessary, or than what we were asking, but they wanted to do it at a materially higher price than what we saw from Blue Label Labs and other firms that actually had made our final cut. That value proposition plays a big part as well.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Our app was between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Ongoing, but will eventually work to bring the development in-house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Basically it's just a Version 1 of our mobile application that we wanted to get out. After Version 1, we worked with them to build two more point releases, so I guess we're on Version 1.2 now of our mobile experience. They were able to provide both native iOS and Android versions, which was something that was important to us to give us full flexibility for future development.

Actually, we operate two websites. We had a great experience with the first and so we've engaged Blue Label Labs to build our mobile apps for our second website, doing a fairly similar type of customer experience. We'll be launching those in the second quarter of 2016.

The success is that we like the work, both the engagement model and their great value proposition, so much so, that we did a couple more point releases. We've now engaged them to do the mobile app for our second website.

What distinguishes Blue Label Labs from other providers?

For one, there's very low bureaucracy. We're working with the leaders in the organization who are also the "doers", and I would say it's the same way in our organization. They're very well aligned to small, mid-size companies, where you don't have layers of bureaucracy in the company and so you're not looking for a partner that's going to be adding to that. A nice streamlined process; easy to get answers to questions. The billing is very on target; they don't say one thing and then try to bill for a lot more than they had estimated. They just work well with the people at every level here, from relatively new developers to people that are fairly senior.

Is there anything Blue Label Labs could have improved or done differently?

I think it's been pretty good lately. I think that in the beginning there were probably a few times when we wanted a little bit more ongoing information, just from a status perspective. Over the months that we've been working together now, we've gotten to a point where I think we're happy with everything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Planet 911 is a self-protection app that deals with protecting yourself. It records the audio and video around you, calling 911, alerting your emergency contacts, storing audio and video in the cloud. It also has a timer on it for kids and college students to walk in between dorms or if they’re going someplace else.

What is your position?

I’m the inventor and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

I needed an iOS app developed with multiple functions. The app they built has two levels of alarms. There’s level one which sends a link to up to 10 contacts with your GPS location. They click the link and when they do that, it opens up the actual satellite picture of where that person is as well as giving the address. Level two is straight to 911. That GPS location is what the 911 centers are struggling with. For either level one or two, a viewing screen will come up so they can look and see what the user is seeing.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

It’s only available on iOS right now. We’re trying to raise money to do the Android version. I’ve got several versions ready to go. I just need to raise money.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I found Blue Label online. They were the quickest to respond to my inquiry and they were very helpful from the beginning. I’m not a tech savvy. I just got on the phone and they were the first to call back, so I went with them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The app has cost a total of $105,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The current project is complete but we look towards the future to potentially work with them on the Android version of the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I built the app because there’s no place safe on the planet, and our app works in 247 countries. It will call the emergency number for whatever country you’re in. We’re in 42 countries. We’ve been up for almost two months and we have 1151 users. It’s a free app. If something happens to that person and they don’t make it, the hope is that the audio and video that has been recorded will be stored in the cloud so they can go back and look and try to get any evidence of that person’s last few minutes. Everybody can’t carry a gun but most people have a phone.

I have another company running my SEO [search engine optimization] campaign. They’re doing a great job for me. The biggest thing is app store reviews. I’m 4 stars plus in the app store. I’ve got 20 great reviews. We have had multiple interviews and publicity that came out of Blue Label Labs. It’s helped us grow. I’m sometimes getting 20 or 30 people a day which they say is very good. 

What distinguishes Blue Label Labs from other providers?

Blue Label Labs is really easy to work with. They’ve got an amazing team. I feel like they’re honest with me and I highly recommend them.

Is there anything Blue Label Labs could have improved or done differently?

I can’t think of one time that we’ve had problems. It’s been relatively smooth. They did what they said they were going to do. They got the app out in a timely manner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I don't have a company. I was doing this as an individual who loves music theory.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

I just wanted to try something I had never done before, and that led me to create an app.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

It was not a big project. To my mind, it was fairly simple, but got a little more complicated since specific knowledge about music theory was required. I'm not sure if I can name all the services since I was not familiar with anything that was done. Basically, everything from scratch to the final product was done by the Blue Label team.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I was trying to find companies on the Internet and contacted a few without getting any response. I remember reading an article where this company was mentioned as having a good reputation. I contacted them, and I got a very friendly response, which I valued highly. I felt that even though I didn't know anything about making an app, the Blue Label Labs's team was there for me and tried their best to understand what I wanted them to do.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

This project was in the range of $10,000 to $50,000

What was the timeline of the project?

The complete project duration was approximately six months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The app is ready and in the App Store. It is pretty much exactly what I wanted.

What distinguishes Blue Label Labs from other providers?

This was the first time I have done anything like this, so I won't be able to offer a comparison.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

In the beginning when I described the app, I wanted to know if they were able to do it. I got an answer that it was possible. The only problem was that no one on their team had any knowledge of music theory. That meant that I actually had to teach them all the basics, and it took quite a while to make them understand some of the things. If they had had someone who already had this knowledge, it would have been much quicker, easier, and probably less expensive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an iOS mobile app that connects travelers to like-minded local people in different cities so that they are able to get recommendations for things to do. 

What is your position?

I am CEO and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Blue Label Labs?

At the time we started working with Blue Label Labs, we didn't have an in-house developer. I had originally hired a freelance developer to build a prototype of the product for us. It wasn't the best quality. So, instead of trying to find another freelancer, I wanted to find a more reputable development firm. We came to them with existing code base and prototype.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Initially, we were just trying get something out [a minimum viable product] to get feedback on. It wasn't the easiest project in the world because we asked them to take over an existing code base that wasn't built that well. We needed Blue Label's help to stabilize it. The product BLL delivered wasn't completely built from scratch, but it required them to get up to speed on the existing code base quickly. We did have them implement some new features.

How did you come to work with Blue Label Labs?

I talked to a few other agencies. I had met with Blue Label's leadership to talk about the project, and I liked working with them. They're very technical, but they also seemed to understand the business side of things. They had perspective on SEO [search engine optimization] as well. For me, it was wanting to partner with somebody that wasn't just offering the technical side, but also offering inside information like technology strategy and how to think about the app in terms of an overall business.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

For Blue Label's services, we are spending in the range of $10,000 to $50,000. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've gotten a bunch of feedback on the overall concept and how that product reflects the concept and what we're trying to turn into an actual business. We first released an MVP version in October [2015] and, based on that, we implemented a new feature to it in February. Since then, we have brought on an in-house developer, so we redesigned the product, and we're just finishing up some usability tests on that. We're rebuilding the app from scratch because we don't want to continue to deal with the buggy legacy code from the first freelancer.

How did Blue Label Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Most development firms will have project managers who facilitate between you and the developers. If you want to be involved in the development, project management adds a layer of complexity. I liked working with Blue Label because I was able to interact directly with my developers. From a communication perspective, that was awesome.

What distinguishes Blue Label Labs from other providers?

For me, coming from a nontechnical background, the most important thing was being able to understand the rationale on why we were doing certain things in terms of development and the full implications of new features and Apple system updates. Being actually able to talk to somebody who could communicate business rationale for certain things as opposed to just a pure technology perspective was important. 

Is there anything Blue Label Labs could have improved or done differently?

There were occasions where I would have loved to do certain things to make the app perform better, but then I'd rely on them to say it might be more cost-effective to do it a different way. There were spots where they saved us money for sure. When we first gave them the project, the previous freelancer was costing us $1,000 a month for servers. I didn't have any perspective on whether that was a lot or a little. Once we got Blue Label involved, they changed that right away and saved us hundreds of dollars a month. Having technical advisors was so helpful for me.