Crema

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

 I run product and technology at a large consulting company that serves clients on a large variety of management topics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crema?

We frequently need to build assets that help clients solve different challenges that they're facing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They help create our applications, with a Ruby backend and React frontend. These are mostly related to organizational design, talent, and other things of that nature. Crema helps build applications, and they've been a partner of ours for two and a half years, helping us in building different apps.

What is the team composition?

We work with 10-12 people from their team. Each team has three developers, a designer, a product manager, and a QA specialist. I also have one point of contact that manages the entire project.

How did you come to work with Crema?

After seeing the prohibitive prices in larger cities, we decided to move our search to smaller cities with larger populations, which led us to Kansas City and Crema. They came highly recommended so we tried them out for a small project. We really liked the results and ended up moving a lot of our development projects to them afterward.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We recently let go of a vendor because of the stark contrast in how they are versus how Crema is, in terms of collaboration. They have unique flexibility with how they do work; a lot of companies that we've worked with have very strict, regimented process of managing the development cycle, and sometimes we need to work more flexibly than that.

How did Crema perform from a project management standpoint?

They run everything that's required and are very transparent, while also being able to handle 90% of the issues that come up. Things only get elevated to me or my team when there's a real issue to address; they're great about addressing the vast majority of things that come up, like timeline shifts. They've learned our domain enough that if something ends up being complicated or taking longer than anticipated, they're good at recommending solutions. They can usually do that independently, without having to have too much back and forth with us, which we find a lot of value in. We need to be able to respond to some client needs that are more immediate. They're really adaptive and responsive to what's needed.

We use Jira, Slack, and regular meetings to keep in contact. They really work as an extension of our team. We do in-person meetings once a quarter that's having them come out to where the majority of us are in LA.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're exceptionally trustworthy. There's an ample amount of transparency and we have a lot of trust between our teams, which lets me know they're always going to do the right thing. There's never any feeling like you don't have the information, and there's never a “negotiating with the vendor” type of dynamic. It's what we most appreciate since I don't have to worry about if they're doing the right thing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would love for them to get bigger.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to invest in a personal relationship. The more information you can give them about the problems you're trying to solve, the better they will be able to be at anticipating your needs. We give them access to our problem, which is why we work so well together. Establishing that relationship from the beginning is so critical.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a global information services provider with headquarters in Switzerland and the U.S. I lead the managed services architecture team in order to design, architect, and deliver services to our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crema?

We needed to provide our existing clients a valuable portal that allows them to access an overview of their security posture and quickly respond to security alerts or incidents.

While our development team was able to create the portal, we had difficulty communicating to our clients the value that we were bringing them and making sure it was easy to use. We were seeking a development team for help with user experience, UI design, consulting, and engagement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crema’s team worked closely with our development team, who oversaw the backend, to speed up the development of the platform. Crema used standard javascript libraries, including AngularJS. Their involvement helped our team build out the frontend of the solution quickly. Their UI developer was able to turn our design into a working user interface.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two UI developers, a project manager, and an UI developer.

How did you come to work with Crema?

An organization based in Kansas City, who we have a close relationship with, recommended Crema. We had only been looking at a few other options.

How much have you invested with them?

Over $100,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Crema since mid-2016 to early 2017 and continue to work with their UI/UX team on retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're extremely satisfied with the design, usability, and overall look of the portal. Clients have commented that a key reason they chose our services is because we were able to clearly communicate the value of the portal and client’s overall security posture. That’s all thanks to the great effort from Crema and their team.

How did Crema perform from a project management standpoint?

They were fantastic. To be quite honest, the project manager that we worked with was probably the best project manager I've ever worked with. Despite having extremely tight and ambitious timelines, Crema was able to deliver on time. I couldn’t say enough good things about the team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The entire team took a lot of time to understand our business, our core consumers, what we were trying to deliver to them, and how we needed to communicate our value. They asked questions that helped us visualize how we wanted to communicate to customers. The process helped identify other areas for improvement internally. Drawing out exactly what the product needs to be is something they’re fantastic at.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s difficult to think of anything. The costs are higher than some of their competitors, but it’s absolutely justified.

Company Responses

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and founder of an on-demand marketplace application that matches workers with companies that need them. This can be for as short as a 4-hour bartending gig on a Friday or as long as a 4-month warehouse or HR professional gig. We’re like Uber but for other types of jobs. A company posts the job, our algorithm matches the appropriate user, and that user gets a push notification on their phone. When they hit “Accept,” they get that job—no interview needed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crema?

We were an idea-stage company. Our original interaction with Crema was to work on product definition for our MVP [minimum viable product]. That relationship subsequently transitioned into evaluating different ways of building that app, including either building a full team internally or hiring a different kind of technology company. We ultimately ended up hiring Crema to do the product build as well for our MVP. We built our relationship with them to the point where we both took a significant amount of ownership in the product. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did something with them called an ideation session. The goal was to get, from my perspective, additional engineers to estimate how difficult the product would be to build, figure out what type of product we should build, scale it back a bit, and get an external set of eyes on the features to figure out what our core MVP could be. Subsequently, post go-live, we transitioned quickly from that market-ready team to re-subsidizing our labor internally with employees that used to be handled by Crema. We went from them being our whole product team down to just having some resources for a couple days a week. There are very few full-time resources on the project now. They helped me with everything from new hires to transitioning the knowledge base from them to my new internal employees.

There was a UX designer, a product strategist, a project manager, an iOS developer, an Android developer, a web developer, and a backend Ruby on Rails developer. At some point, we had an extra frontend React web developer and an extra backend Ruby developer. Our core team was a person per discipline—Ruby, React, iOS, and Android. We subsequently decided to rebuild our mobile platform on React Native, so we just have a React Native resource now building on Android and iOS.

How did you come to work with Crema?

I had a friend that sold a company to Facebook, and he’s now at Airbnb. He’s smarter than me, so I reached out to him asking which outsourced companies he’d recommend. He mentioned two firms—a Midwest company and Crema. I’m pretty upfront and like working with people who are humble. We chose Crema over rebuilding the product alone or outsourcing it to a different company because they were an established team that would allow me to get the product to market as quickly as possible, which was our main goal.

How much have you invested with Crema?

We’ve worked with them quite closely to establish a structure that works for both of us. I can provide their card rate, but I am uncomfortable disclosing our relationship with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November of 2015. The first product launched in July of 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product has never been rejected from the App Store on any submissions. That first time you submit a product, it can be scary. There are these horror stories of companies having products stuck in limbo. It’s amazing that we always ship a product every 2 weeks. They’re very good at allowing me to iterate fast.

From my perspective, the most beneficial thing for me, as the co-founder of the company, is that I rarely get to spend enough time on the product as I’d like to since I have to go fundraising for a week or work on a new partnership. Before, I had internal hires that could replace me during those early months where you can be pulled in many different directions. I knew that I could go away for a week and that the product would continue humming along and they’d execute what I wanted. In the event that my absence would have made a material difference for the product, they would find a way to get in touch with me and make sure that the right thing was delivered.

Crema is great at pushing me to do the right thing for my company as opposed to the right thing for them. That React example showcases this: they originally had 2 resources on the project to build 2 different apps that did the same thing. Because they’re such a small agency, when React Native came out and started to gain traction, they were able to champion that the firm should use it, get approval from the owners of the company that it’s now framework-based supported, and then pitch a project to me that allowed me to reduce my monthly spend and ship a product that can be built faster.

They’re uniquely small enough that if they see something beneficial pop-up, they’ll recommend it, as long as it’s right for me and regardless of their long-term billable hours. In a startup, cash is king.

It’s a trust thing. Working with contractors can be stressful, especially some of my other products. When I make a requirements document, it’s literally built exactly how I write it. Crema, however, does a pretty good job of knowing when I’ve mistyped a requirement, knowing when to push back, and knowing when to ask me a question to make sure that what they’re building reflects what I want.

How did Crema perform from a project management standpoint?

There’s a specific resource on my team who’s our project manager, and he’s incredible. I wish I could poach him, but it’s quite clear that I can’t.

They hit every deadline. We’re Agile, so there aren’t hard builds that we’re trying to release. I know when people are going to deliver during a week, and I’m made aware during every sprint if we’re going to hit it. If they’re under risk, I’ll get a yellow light. I always know what’s going to be shipped. If for any reason the product that’s about to be shipped isn’t exactly what I think it is, they’ll let me know up front and give a solid reason why (usually because I added scope).

What did you find most impressive about Crema?

They have a strong product team, as opposed to just developers. Often, a company is quite strong in development, branding, user flow, or UX, but they’ve been a delightful mix of all that. It’s a product team for hire as opposed to a development team or UX team for hire. Having everyone who built the product, especially in those early days, are all around the table at the same time is significantly better than trying to piecemeal a team together between a branding firm and a development shop offshore. That’s been the main difference. I’ve never had a full product team for any product I’ve worked on before.

Are there any areas Crema could improve?

When I first started, Crema’s QA wasn’t as solid as I was used to. I actually gave them that area of improvement, and they hired a new resource. They listened to my feedback and improved.

The only thing that would be beneficial is spending more time on internal tools before a product goes live, but that would have pushed back my delay. They could emphasize internal tools for the company more, understanding that we’ll have users within our organization who should have tools before the product goes live.

I really don’t have anything negative to say or big areas of improvement for them. They send me forms every month to see if there was anything they could do better. They’ve fixed everything I pointed out. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of HipHire. The best way to think about the company is as a Match.com for part-time blue- and white-collar jobs that tend to have high turnover in industries like restaurants, retail, and logistics. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crema?

We wanted to find the right company that could interpret market research in order to focus and build the right product based on my 14 months of data. It wasn’t the traditional "I have a problem. I'm hoping you can help me solve this. Here's what I think the solution is." I had already derisked a lot of the typical things that a firm might be concerned about. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crema provided a frontend and a backend engineer, a product owner in charge of product design, and a project manager, so it was roughly five people over the course of this initial stage. In the early stages, the product architect helped deconstruct all of the research I had done and the validated concept I came up with and put together what we thought the initial solution would look like.

To them, the most important thing was less about the tech and more about ensuring that we're building the right minimal viable product (MVP) out of the gate that will solve the problem and allow me to get traction. It wasn’t something to put out there with missing things and traction issues. They were really focused on making sure that I had a viable product that could start functioning from day one. It didn't have all the bells and whistles, and we didn't need all that; it just needed to be the MVP, and that was important.

What they built originally for me was a web platform. It was mobile-responsive because I have a marketplace business with a side for businesses and another for job seekers, so it needed to respond to the technology that both of those types of groups tend to leverage when looking for part-time jobs. The technology was important because I wanted to make sure that we were leveraging not the latest and greatest but were using a core technology that we're going to be sitting on for the next five or six years, and that was their skill set and strength. It wasn't leading-edge, where 1% of developers were using the platform, nor was it an older technology that's been around for a while. I know it was built in JavaScript, Heroku, and a couple of other technologies.

The solution was more about the vision and understanding user functionality. That's where I feel Crema is very strong. It's not just fixing the leaky pipe and then realizing there's another leak further down. They’re able to see the bigger picture and understand what you're trying to accomplish to make sure that it’s being incorporated into the design. That's also important because, as they see the bigger picture, they know how things are going to expand, change, and adjust, and we've accounted for that in the design. It's like we've looked at the five-year picture and shrunk it down to one year, but as you grow and build and add on, this is going to expand into that five-year vision. A lot of companies just fix for now. Then, as you push the rock down the road, you keep dealing with the problem.

How did you come to work with Crema?

For me, it's all about the people that I work with. I find the tech and design the easy part. I really focus on companies and people that I want to spend time with. Crema’s culture is something that's really important to me since my own background is naturally drawn to strong, culture-driven leaders and companies. That tells you a lot about a well-run, put-together organization versus just a team of people.

I had met the owners of Crema through various social and entrepreneurial events here in Kansas City, so we already knew each other. I had touched base with several other design firms, but I knew the reputation of and the quality of work produced by Crema. I always had intentions to work with those folks, and there was never a reason not to.

How much have you invested with Crema?

We did things on a fixed cost, and then our support contracts were annual fixed cost. I know for our support costs, Crema was initially designed to be the tech company until you were able to build up your own tech firm, and then they're able to hand you off things and you can take it from there. They limit their support, at least at that time, to a set amount of hours a month. If you want more than that, it's probably time for you to build your own team and start taking things over. We had a contract that was probably $2,000 a month that included 15 or 20 hours of support that we spread out over a year.

In terms of the bill, we just broke it down to one fee for the whole thing. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in December of 2014. There was about a four-month design process. We had to ramp up in January and then ramp down prior to launching. We pushed dates out, so they were done way before June of 2015. We deployed the web version in mid-June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the product is the most important thing, and we never had anything break on the website that kept people from doing stuff. All of the functionality was extremely well tested and deployed. We were never in bug-fix mode. We were always ahead doing feature enhancements and improvements as part of the support contract. In the support contract, for small features that were already there, we would make slight improvements based on analytics and user feedback. Then, we might build and budget in smaller projects when we realized a feature was missing, and Crema would work that into their Scrum process.

The biggest comment I always got from our customers is how well it worked. Look and feel was not as important as making sure that it was reliable, did what it was supposed to do, and people didn't just get hung up anywhere inside of it.

How did Crema perform from a project management standpoint?

That is one thing they are the best at. They assign you a project manager, and we would talk at least three times a week. I always knew what was coming up in the next sprint because we would always talk about in advance. They always hit all of their deadlines. They were completely open and transparent. I can't say enough good things about their project management. That is something that's so missed, and I think they're just hitting it perfectly and are only going to get better at it.

What did you find most impressive about Crema?

I haven't worked with a lot of other vendors. But, the difference that I see, which comes down to the technology design, is that people are only able to fix one problem. There was a recent issue that came up that I worked with another company for. They deployed a fix, but then it took me two days to deconstruct it and say, "Here's the bigger vision. This is really how it needs to work." This other group is made up of surgeons in terms of programming, but the vision process falls more on my shoulders.. In look and feel and other things, I think we've reached a little bit of parity in today's web and app development. The way Crema approaches design—thinking about the bigger picture, project management, and culture—is really where they have an advantage over companies looking past that.

Are there any areas Crema could improve?

That's a hard one. It may be their level of expertise. I was working with some of the newer employees, so take that for what it's worth. They were probably not as efficient, but they had other experts inside the company to fall back on. It's like you might have a new guy out of college working on your car, but he always had the 20-year mechanic to ask questions. None of that ever revealed itself in terms of design or deployment. That was taken into consideration on the bid estimate because it was giving an opportunity for newer folks to work on new technology.

I'm completely transparent. If I know there's a problem, I'm always happy to make other people aware of it. But, to be honest with you, it's hard to throw rocks at these guys. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product management at Lineal. We provide eDiscovery and legal technology solutions using our proprietary Amplify platform to help law firms and corporations efficiently manage and review large volumes of electronic data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Crema to accomplish for your legal technology project?

We hired Crema for new product design and prototyping.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crema has designed a new AI-driven system for legal services and review. The team has been responsible for UI/UX design.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 teammates from Crema.

How did you come to work with Crema?

Someone referred Crema to us. We chose them because they were close to our geographic location, their pricing fit our budget, and their company values aligned with ours.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Crema in January 2023, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Crema has made progress through design iterations of the major functionality of the new product. We’ve seen positive user and stakeholder feedback and a quick turnaround time for implementing changes in the prototype based on that feedback. We’ve completed two feedback cycles, and the average turnaround time is two days for each cycle.

How did Crema perform from a project management standpoint?

Crema delivers on time and is highly communicative. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with Crema’s ability to take abstract ideas and suggestions and turn them into reality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Crema could keep a fully functional prototype running as each feature is reviewed so that there’s always an end-to-end prototype available with the features that have been signed off on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President and COO of Mylo LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Mylo is an award-winning digital agency amplifying insurance for to protect what matters to small businesses and individuals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Crema to accomplish?

• Facilitate workshop to engage leaders on product and engineering execution excellence.
• Evaluation of Agile methodology

SOLUTION

How did you find Crema?

• Referral

Why did you select Crema over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Crema were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Facilitate and create engaging discussion for product and engineering leadership in a workshop to strengthen alignment of goals and improve team communication to increase project execution velocity and quality.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project is still ongoing, but immediate increase in engagement and accountability of team members.

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

All deliverables for the project have been delivered on time and they are very responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Crema?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Culture and energy. It felt like they were becoming members of the team and truly understood our needs.

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

None that come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the SVP Digital Strategy of a financial services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Credit Union

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Crema to accomplish?

• Paint a Vision for our Front Line Employee Experience Transformation

SOLUTION

How did you find Crema?

Worked with Crema in Past

Why did you select Crema over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Crema were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Identify Guiding Principles for North Star Employee Experience 
• Through the use of Process/Stories, define the Conceptual UI/Vision for the North Star Employee Experience

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A vision and presentation that helped provide guide posts for future vision.

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

Project Deliverables were delivered on time. Communication was easy and always felt in touch with progress of the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Crema?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Bring a Product Mindset and push us beyond our normal “thinking”. They help facilitate a process to understand and paint a picture of a transformative vision.

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

No areas of improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a management consulting firm 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crema?

To assist with the product design of the project management platform and incorporate the brand standards into a digital project in Miro.

What were your goals for this project?

To have a product ready for market within a month that was usable and aesthetically acceptable.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crema?

Refered from the software vendor Miro.,

Describe the project in detail.

Very short engagement

• 4 weeks
• Strategic discussion to develop Scope
• 4 iterations on deliverables
• final review and sign-off

What was the team composition?

Founder, Marketing department and Crema

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Complete on time and on budget. Exceeded expectations on quality of scope.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. They have timely responses and proactive planning.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to take very ambiguous scope and a tight timeline and budget that delivered results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Contracting and payment were painful due to international realities.