CodeBranch

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of DAWn Audio, a music technology company bringing cloud collaboration to the music industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CodeBranch?

We needed help to get our app to the point where we could roll it out to users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We've worked with CodeBranch on custom software development. They've handled the development of our app and the project management associated with it, and they even helped us scope out the project initially.

After we decided to go with CodeBranch, we provided them with a product requirement document detailing what we needed the app to do. After that, they started a recruitment process to bring in a developer that could meet our needs.

Then, CodeBranch presented various candidates. We chose one of the candidates to work for us as the developer for this product. Since then, we've been working with that developer. As part of their service, CodeBranch's team has converted our product requirements document into technical specifications and requirements for the developer to use.

As for the development languages, CodeBranch's developer has mostly used C++ with JUCE as the framework for audio app development. Currently, our product is a desktop app for MacOS and Windows. However, we have an in-house developer working on the desktop app. CodeBranch's developer is strictly focusing on the audio app, which is separate.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with three teammates from CodeBranch, including a project manager, a tech lead, and another person who supports project management as well. Separately, CodeBranch has recruited developers to work on our project based on our needs. Thus far, we've worked with two different developers.

How did you come to work with CodeBranch?

One of CodeBranch's team members reached out to us via LinkedIn when we were looking for new developers.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since August 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since working with CodeBranch, we've definitely saved money. As a comparison, we worked with a US-based development firm a couple of years ago and spent around $75,000. We've now been working with CodeBranch for almost a year and spent a similar amount. We've also saved time by bringing senior developers for that price. However, this is a new app, so we don't know how much time we're actually saving.

CodeBranch has definitely exceeded our expectations due to their adaptability. They've been able to work through different situations and offered solutions whenever issues arise. The first developer that they recruited for the project was underperforming, so we eventually had to let them go. However, that isn't a reflection of CodeBranch's team, as they bring those developers as external contract-based workers.

How did CodeBranch perform from a project management standpoint?

CodeBranch's project management has improved over time. Initially, we had good communication, but there were a lot of issues and delays that weren't always being communicated ahead of time. In the last few months, we've established a much better workflow, and we've been working very efficiently.

We use Coda for project management; they're the ones who presented that tool. We also use Slack for daily communication and Google Meet for our meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've loved working with CodeBranch's whole team.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Set clear expectations on how you want communication and team management to happen. Moreover, try to mitigate the risk of bringing in new developers by having a few different candidates.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CIS - Chief Information Security Officer of KIGGU

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Kiggu is a leading cybersecurity company that offers an automated platform to simplify consulting processes in ethical hacking, vulnerability analysis and management, vulnerability scanning, web application services, web application scanning, static, and Spearfish code testing. Kiggu artificial Intelligence platform was created years before AI was a popular term. 

Its algorithms, automated bots, and code-automated processes provide an improved and efficient testing experience. Additionally, we continue to innovate and add new services to our platform to stay ahead of the growing threat from cyberspace and protect our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Code Branch to accomplish?

• Manage the project and the developer team
• Quality code reviews
• Code reviews at the cybersecurity level

SOLUTION

How did you find Code Branch?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Code Branch over others?

• High ratings
• Experience and Quality

How many teammates from Code Branch were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope is to carry out the project management (CLOUD, WEB, MOBILE APP), coordination of the developers team, ensuring that the QA is done successfully and the static code review tests. Additionally, support the UX/UI design team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Through the ClickUP platform we were able to track and successfully deliver CODEBRANCH.

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

The project management was completely successful and the deliverables were delivered on time. They responded to all our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Code Branch?

In-Person Meeting

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

The work team and the experience they have is the most surprising thing about CODEBRANCH, we really like the attention to requests.

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

No, nothing to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a software business founder and engineer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I enlisted CodeBranch in an exploration of a web3 proof of concept application for potential submission to web3 accelerator programs. My goals were to efficiently build a well designed web3 frontend and smart contract that would illustrate the use case while mocking out more complicated parts of the business logic for implementation down the road.

SOLUTION

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

I had known the founders of CodeBranch for some time and had engaged in several discussions over the course of a year or so about potentially doing business together. Both David and Jorge were great communicators, very patient and responsive in all of our discussions and I felt comfortable that they understood the objectives of this project.

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

I brought fully spec'd out designs (Figma) to the project, as well as committing to handling smart contract development myself. CodeBranch provided frontend (React.js) web3 development (wallet interaction, design implementation, client-side state management, etc.)

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

2 people from CodeBranch worked on the engagement - an engineer responsible for implementation/planning/discussion, and David as project manager/overseer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to deliver a fully functioning Proof of Concept in a number of weeks. The frontend was well implemented from a design-standpoint and worked quite well with respect to being responsive on different devices. As a somewhat intermediate JS engineer myself, CodeBranch also worked to educate me in addition to implementing, which was extremely valuable in allowing me to maintain and iterate on the codebase beyond the project's conclusion.

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

Communications happened predominantly on Discord. There were weekly touch points, check-ins, and project management was handled using Trello.

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

The greatest feature about working with Code Branch was their responsiveness to feedback and communication. David, in particular, worked tirelessly to make sure the team's efforts were directed in the right direction, a special challenge in a proof of concept project where there are a lot of decisions regarding what is a 'must have' vs. 'down the road'.

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

Related to the above feedback about the challenges of a proof of concept build, there were a few instances in which priorities were misunderstood and unnecessary features were implemented, but David and team were very good about uncovering these instances quickly and rectifying.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a B2B software marketplace

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had worked with agencies previously as well as a recruiter most recently before that. When our old agency wasn't working for us anymore we decided we wanted to have a full time engineer and found one through a recruiting service. The problem with a small in-house engineering team is that if your lead engineer leaves, its a huge pain.

SOLUTION

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

What CodeBranch offered us was the consistency, performance, dedication and level of care that an in house team member offers with the scalability and service of an agency which was the perfect combination for us and one I'd highly recommend for others.

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

We have scaled our team with Code Branch to now have 2x senior and 2x junior engineers as well as a lead engineer who serves almost like a part time CTO. We work on a continuous basis (both in terms of the project and actual deployments) so the process we have opted for is bi-weekly sprints with our team who is dedicated full time to the project.

I create the requirements and designs and then our project lead jumps in to create dev tasks and estimates for the project that our team reviews and approves. Once we green light a given project our project lead then assigns dev task and requirements to developers along with internal QA to create a balanced and manageable workload for each team member broken into clear deliverables.

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

We work with 5 members of the Code Branch team: 2x full time dedicated senior engineers 2x full time dedicated junior engineers 1x part-time project lead (aka light weight CTO + project manager)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our project is ongoing and continuous and the team has built tons and tons of successful features for us over the past year or so that we've been working together. One that comes to mind is our memberships portal which previously we manually handled both in terms of billing and also in terms of activating membership features on member accounts to unlock them.

What's really unique about Code Branch is their level of care and depth of business context. They don't just serve as contractors who are there to do what they are told (which is a problem I've had with agencies in the past) but they serve as a true business partner both to poke holes in your requirements, propose better solutions and even provide unique insights and ideas without being asked about them.

In the case of our memberships portal, we always thought this would be too much of a pain to build but the CB team not only came up with the idea on their own but also put together all of the db design, requirements and then presented why they felt it would add significant value to the business. They did such an outstanding job that we prioritized the feature and they couldn't have been more right.

Not only has automated tons of the manual tasks required to manage the memberships side of the business but it also also made sales exponentially easier unlocking product led growth and self service for us in a way that we just didn't have before. This is just one of the many examples where the CodeBranch team has been an invaluable resource for us.

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

The team is flexible and will adapt to your project management workflow and style. That said, we have led the charge on project management and I would definitely recommend you do the same if you end up working with them. Project mgmt definitely started out as a weakness but we have implemented new processes to continuously chip away at improving the process to the point where we now have a really well defined process that is working really well:

1. Document project detail, context and requirements in Coda
2. Create dev task and estimates and assign tasks to engineers
3. Ensure that you also include internal qa in estimates to improve consistency and delivery
4. Setup automated daily standups (we use Geekbot) for engineers to report progress, priorities and blockers to keep the team aligned
5. We have Monday and Friday checkins (via Geekbot) to report on project priorities, blockers and progress to keep communication fluid and easy
6. Communicate for any non-task related or urgent items in Slack

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

Their ability to really go above and beyond and serve not as an outsourced dev shop/agency/contractor but that they are a true business partner.

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

Project management was something that took pushing and implementing new processes on our end which we expected would be more driven by the team and what works best for them from past experience.

That said, we have developed some really solid processes and things are super efficient and fluid now so if you're considering CodeBranch feel free to ask them to connect you with us and I am happy to show you our process so you can clone it or just learn from it before you setup your workflows with their team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CFO of the company. We are a electrical network supplier for construction companies. We have been developing technoligy solutions to diferentiate our offer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired CODE BRANCH to gide us choosing the best technological solutions and then to develop a custom ERP for our projects. Besides coding they worked as our CTO which was great due we are not a developing company. They met fully all our expectations.

SOLUTION

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

We chose CODE BRANCH based on the services they offered. It was great that from the beginning they guided us in the tech world, So we never felt alone with our project. The budget wa very competitive due all these added values the gave us.

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

Scope: Was to develope a custom ERP for our company. Technologies: .JS / React / Node.js 1) They chose the best technologies to make our product. 2) They designed the solution and splitted it on deliverables. 3) They created an schedule and asigned the tasks to diferents periods of time. 4) They executed the plan on the schedule.

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

5 people worked on the project. 1 CTO 2 Senior Developers 2 Junio Developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are able to launch the project within the second month, with initial capacities. Along time CODE BRANCH's team kept delivering features to the platform which made it more robust every day. The team was always aware in case something didn't work as we expected so they can correct it ASAP.

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

The project management was great because they were able to deliver on time and to measure the team's performance daily so the delays were overcome quickly.

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

CTO service, Staff Background, Commitment and schedule fulfullment.

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

Our experience was great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of an electrical solutions company. We do electrical installation in new hospitals and healthcare facilities. The construction industry is really complex because there are lots of supplies and labor involved, so we needed to create a custom solution to help us with operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To develop our budget control system. This applications sits on top of our ERP and help us quote with unitary price analysis, helps us buy supplies and control budget.

SOLUTION

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

We like the way codebranch approaches business in terms that they became a part of our company and at some point they were suggesting features and discussing solutions rather than passively building our requirements.

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

Initial meetings were the most difficult because we had a vision of what we wanted but we didn't know how to achieve it. So we had about 3 sessions trying to figure out the best solution. After those sessions we had an initial requirements draft and they started to provide mock ups and wireframes. Each feature set had an estimation on time and they try really hard to commit to deadlines, we had two weekly meetings and bi-weekly deliverables.

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

There was an initial contact with the sales team, and after that it was mostly technical the dev team they set up for us was composed of 4 engineers, 3 full time developers and a partial time architect and project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We manage to get our projects in control, now we have a tool that allows us to quote projects faster and also control supply operations.

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

There is no daily standup but a daily report of blockers, advancement and issues. The PM has two meetings with us at the begining of the week and end week. There is a biweekly meeting to review what was delivered. Engineers send their work to a staging server and we review and approve to go to production, depending on what they were working this happened daily or a couple times a week.

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

I really liked their approach and they have become a part of our team.

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

There is room for improvement in the strategy they have to estimate projects. Although the experience was positive there were times where we experienced some delays and deviations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I manage custom software development for the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a platform that would manage and drive the tools we are currently developing.

SOLUTION

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

Started with Code Branch with a small project and was very pleased with the results.

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

TBD

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

I work with the project manager and the technical lead on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

THe project has been progressing on schedule up to this point. We have not arrived yet to the point where we can assess the project deliverables.

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

Weeklu meeting in addition to daily updates give us visibility on the status of the project to be able to deal with any blockers effectively.

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

Software development and project management tools are used very effectively.

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

Project specifications and requirements could have been more complete before we started the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Code Branch?

OS-SAST APP SECURITY TESTING CODE REVIEW

SOLUTION

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

Quality, experience, certifications, they are the best.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Automated SAST using state of the art automated tools that use large database of software bugs and best practices Manual SAST that helps to: a. Identify if automated solution presents a false positive. b. Identify business logic flaws. c. Identify easter eggs. d.Identify logic bombs.

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

We worked directly with 3 developers testers and 2 manual testers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The results are confidential, but we can say that it was a great success.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was quite effective, they finished according to the agreed schedule and with international quality standards.

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

They have the certifications to be able to develop their services expertly.

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

No.