FarShore

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a fintech app startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

We needed help with mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially reached out to FarShore with a specific plan for the app. We’d drawn out some designs and had a detailed list. One of our requirements was a portfolio feature that showed the user’s net worth. They gave us the designs very early on. They built a few other things, like the newsfeed, but they didn’t do much after that.

What is the team composition?

We switched managers three times. First, we had a manager based in the US. Then, we had two low-tier managers in Croatia. We also had two developers in India who also switched over. 

How did you come to work with FarShore?

I talked to 12 different companies and found them through Instagram. I thought it’d be worth talking to them because they claimed to work with larger companies. Moreover, they seemed to know what they were talking about when we spoke. The CEO was charming and likable, and he was excited about the idea. He gave us the timeline and budget, which was within our possibilities.

How much have you invested with them?

They initially quoted us $67,500, but we ended up paying $98,915.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was supposed to be a 3–5 month project. We started working with them in October 2020, and the project dragged out until June 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

Initially, they gave us a short timeline, but they slowly set it out to take 2–3 months more than anticipated. They said it was common to get timelines extended, and we were okay with waiting more. However, they made no progress during that time. For the past two years, they repeated that it’d take 2–3 more months and would be more complicated if we switched developers because they wouldn’t know the backend. In reality, they didn’t even have the same developers working on it, so working with someone new would’ve been much easier.

We continuously reached out to the CEO because we didn’t see progress. They assured us they were progressing on the backend, but we couldn’t see it. Then, they asked for more money to get things done, but none of the extra payments helped. Also, they didn’t tell us that they switched developers. We only found out when we asked to speak to one of them because they didn’t put everything in one repository. When we tried to get the code, they’d separated it into four different places, which wasn’t useful.

In the end, none of the goals were met — they didn’t deliver the product.

How did FarShore address the challenges that arose?

Their approach to business was very scam-like. They charged us over $23,000 for a feature they claimed would be more work than anticipated. In total, we paid over $40,000 for that part of the app. They kept saying it’d be more money to work on it, and we later found out that they hadn’t worked on it at all.

Then, the CEO said they’d compensate us, but we had to sign a disengagement. We signed, but he didn’t respond to a single email after we did. However, they tried sending us more bills. 

Also, they made us sign a document at the beginning saying we owned the code and app, but when we asked to see the repository, they told us it’d cost $2,500 more to have access. We weren’t allowed to see it, so we had to contact a lawyer. Finally, after threatening them enough, they gave us access to the repository. However, they also tried to make us sign an NDA. Clearly, they weren’t used to getting a lot of pushback.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

Their impact was really negative. If we’d known we’d spend $100,000, we would’ve hired someone who could’ve delivered all the work or be an employee. For $100,000, many people would’ve finished in a better time, even for a lot less than that. The person we’re working with right now is not charging even close to what they charged us.

The most significant inconvenience was that we only had $120,000 in funding. Part of that money could’ve gone towards our marketing budget or a reasonable development. Our company would be in a totally different place if we had our app in the App Store and a marketing budget. For now, we hope to do another big round of funding soon.

Nonetheless, our biggest loss was the time and mental toll of the ongoing battle with FarShore. We tried to get them to do the work, and they just made us feel we were crazy. We had other things going on in our lives, so we didn’t need such a negative working relationship.

How was project management handled?

We continuously asked the project managers why they didn’t download the app to check in on it. They said it wasn’t part of their job. The CEO told us he’d download it to see the progress, but he never did. In general, the project managers didn’t know enough about coding and the languages to be helpful. Also, the developers in India didn’t work the hours that they claimed they put in, so we don’t know who lied or at which level.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

The best part was the designs they delivered in the first two weeks. They were very similar to what we wanted. The person who designed it did an excellent job. If we could’ve gotten the designs for $20,000 and then stopped working with them, we would’ve done that.

In what specific areas can they improve?

They need to work on product delivery. I know they’ve developed apps for some people, but from following their accounts, it seems like they don’t actually release that many apps per year. If they’re working with all the people they claim to be, then they’re not releasing a lot for them. In all the time we’ve worked with them, they’ve only released one application.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Upwork is a great resource to connect people with developers individually. It’ll save you money if you need it; you can hire an employee if you have a big budget. Also, it’ll help you get a better product, meet your timeline, and check on the development. We interviewed 20 people from Upwork, and 12 of them were more competent than anyone we’d worked with so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a technology startup that offers SaS in the marketplace platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

We were having issues with our previous tech partner, so we were looking for someone to provide us with custom software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I initially brought FarShore in as our QA team, but we ultimately ended our partnership with our previous provider and made FarShore our primary development partner.

Some of the tech they’re using to revamp our software are AWS, React, and Node, and they’re currently working on syncing Google Calendar, a login and registration process, and some widgets for our small white label customer.

We’ll continue to use them for QA and general IT support and maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We first worked with four QA testers, but we’ve since hired a project manager, frontend developers, and backend developers.

How did you come to work with FarShore?

I came across FarShore through an accelerated group called Techstars.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in April 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been able to hit all our deadlines since bringing in FarShore. The team is highly efficient, and they’re not afraid to speak about our areas of improvement and provide suggestions to improve them. 

They’ve given us some great recommendations to help better the process so they’ve been very instrumental in keeping the project on track.

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

I give them an A for their project management skills because they do a great job and are worth the money we spend. There has never been an issue they can’t rectify and they identify solutions almost immediately.

They also have great communication management because they can openly interact with us despite our timezone differences. Slack is our main form of communication and we use JIRA to manage the entire project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with JC’s (CEO) ability to understand our pain points because it enables them to bring value to their strategies and solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I believe the area that they’ve been working on is their billing cycles. Their accounting process can be confusing, but I think they’re making progress with making it more streamlined.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more you tell them about your needs and expectations, the more efficient the development process will be, so I advise you to onboard all your pain points in the initial conversation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

TAGALONG is an online platform that enables amateur athletes to connect and train with professional athletes. It serves as a one-stop-shop for pro athletes to run a coaching/advice business without the hassle of creating an entire business/brand.

I am the Director of Media & Partnerships. I mainly manage all things media-related, pro-athlete management, and partnerships.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire FarShore?

We hired FarShore to strip down our original V1 iOS mobile application, and rebuild a brand new 2.0 version with features that were either not working properly and were inexistent.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to have a simple and functioning application to launch to the Apple Store and enhance the user experience while using the application.

SOLUTION

How did you select FarShore?

We had multiple meetings discussing their past work and the scope of our project. After comparing them to other project managers (3 others), we decided to select them based on their primary location (Chicago - U.S. Based), their eagerness to work on this project, their vision, and their price range.

Ultimately, our CEO/Founder decided to select them over anyone else.

Describe the project in detail.

After selecting FarShore, we gave them access to our codebase for our original app, had them assess what was salvageable, gave them our wireframes, and delivered the scope of work and needed features.

My role was to help oversee any missing features, UX/UI info and keep track of project progress. We had a small communication oversight where we assumed that the development team had a laundry list of must-haves that did not need to be mentioned when producing an application basically from scratch.

This lead to a few back and forths that cost us time. They definitely helped us put to life our wireframes, design, and flow. This app is an iOS-only app written in Swift and No.js and is not connected to a website/desktop version. Application and backend development were the only services provided.

What was the team composition?

Three people were mainly involved. The U.S.-based project manager, the Croatian-based product manager, and the Croatian-based lead developer. The rest of the development team has increased and decreased throughout the project. We did not know who was on the rest of the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We do not have objective data to tie back to the product but subjectively, the product met our new feature demands, design, and versatility. The simpleness we demanded was met but is still lacking in user-friendliness and flow, which will be worked on by our internal team.

The final app did have flaws and bugs, which were slowly worked on. Due to the time requirement expanding by 2x, I believe that the features were created but were not robust.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

From a project management standpoint, the whole team did a good job communicating and managing expectations. I believe that the first month could have been utilized better from their end such as asking more questions about smaller details that clients who do not have a development background might not know about.

We used Harbor to oversee sprints and feature updates. The team was always accomodating toward our feedback and requests. Most of the time, they were honest about timelines and expectations. No language barrier problems.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The project and product managers were extremely responsive and were great to work with. We built a great working relationship with them which allowed us to enjoy the project.

When asked for feedback, honest opinions, and helpful solutions, they always met our expectations, which is makes them superior to other companies.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I believe the biggest room for improvement is the assessment of the scope of work. We were initially quoted at around 3-4 months, but the project lasted 8 months.

The other area is helping the client determine parts of the scope of work that might be assumed but not always introduced such as UTC (time zone) implementation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of MeterGenius. We build mobile apps for energy companies to help them better communicate with their residential customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

We wanted to create a good visual customer experience through web and mobile apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FarShore helps us develop both iOS and Android apps, and they've done some backend development for our web application. They use PHP for some of the backend development, Objective-C for iOS, and Java for Android. They help with the frontend design of the pages, executing the designs that we create.

For one of the projects, we built a mobile app where customers can log in and see rich detailed usage plots. FarShore helped us with the development of that. We also have other tools that customers can engage with, such as answering questions about their electricity consumption.

What is the team composition? 

We work with Ivan (Technical Project Manager) and Luka (Architecture Team Lead). We’ve had various engagements with FarShore, and each time we have a few dedicated Android developers, mobile developers, and backend developers depending on the project. Throughout the entire process, we’ve worked with Sky (Managing Director of US Operations). 

How did you come to work with FarShore?

I came across them when I was in grad school at Northwestern. They were working with the entrepreneurship program there and providing services to entrepreneurs who were launching digital companies.

I became acquainted with them there, and they did some pro bono work to get started. We liked the work that they did and the team, so we kept working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $400,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them for six years, beginning in the fall of 2014, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Customer engagement was the key metric, specifically the time spent using web and mobile apps. For our customers, it was a little over 20 minutes per month, which was 3,000% higher than the industry average. 

We really wanted to develop a web and mobile app that engaged residential customers and gave them value so that they would spend time using it. That’s exactly what we got with the help of FarShore.

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

Things have been good in terms of meeting deadlines. We typically get estimates to begin with, and then we start the work. The team is always very communicative if there are ever any obstacles. We have weekly standing meetings, and the communication has been great. 

Sky has been fantastic at helping us communicate with the FarShore team that’s offshore, as well as with the executive team here in the US. She’s very organized and detail-oriented, and she’s helped us maintain a relationship with the developers. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their work is detail-oriented. They’re also responsive and do everything in a professional manner. We were a little apprehensive at first about working with a team across multiple continents, but Sky does a really good job of managing those teams. 

There aren't many communication barriers or timezone problems. I’m very impressed with how flexible they are with our hours and ever-changing demands.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One issue that we did have, is that there was quite a bit of turnover with the teams. Even though they did a good job of trying to keep continuity as far as the team goes and trying to keep projects flowing as smoothly as possible, there were some issues with tasks being dropped or taking longer to be completed.

There’s a natural onboarding time that happens when they change developers because it takes some time for them to get up to speed with our projects if we’re expecting them to jump in the middle.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define the tasks clearly to begin with. As long as you’re clear with them about what is expected during the tasks, everything will work out fine. The more organized we’ve been as we’ve developed and defined the tasks, the better each project has come out and with fewer delays.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Bee Mortgage App.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

We needed software engineering skill sets and leadership in terms of project management. We had everything on the frontend developed, we just needed a talented team to work hand-in-hand with our teams and code out the architecture according to our specs and backlog.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FarShore provided an iOS and Android mobile engineer who coded out the architecture. They also provided advisory services. When we couldn’t figure out logic sequences to capture the UX we were after, Nick (CEO & Founder) and JC (President) stepped in.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a total of 6–7 teammates, including Nick, JC, a project manager, and iOS and Android developers.

How did you come to work with FarShore?

FarShore reached out to me via a cold email. We did some online work with them, and we also talked to JC who was very impressive. We rolled out a limited job scope, and when we were impressed with them, we transferred all of our development needs to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in May 2020, and our engagement is ongoing. The Android app went live in May 2020, and the iOS app went live in August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our internal QA specialist was very impressed with FarShore’s work. We’ve also seen a lot of downloads of the app since it went live, and we’re getting a lot of positive consumer feedback.

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re pleased with their project management. Nick and JC are very hands-on, and the project manager stayed on top of the development scope and sprints. We use Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to our previous partner, FarShore actually delivered. Their ability to work with me and our team and translate our vision is great. It was a challenging project, and their team provided brain trust. The last team we worked with on Upwork couldn’t figure out the logic. I was impressed with FarShore's process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I was happy with their service. We’re going to give them more business.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an IoT startup developing a hardware product that interfaces with a cloud-based system and a smartphone app. The three elements work together to deliver features and benefits to the consumer. I’m one of the company’s two founders, and I’m in charge of the product side.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

Neither I nor my co-founder had a technical background, and it was just the two of us at the time. We were looking for a company that could become a real partner in taking on the development side. It was hard to define what we needed, and we didn’t even know what the challenges were going to be.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FarShore worked hand in hand with us to take our raw idea and turn it into functional software. They developed the iOS app and will be developing an Android version as well. They also developed our AWS backend, as well as an Amazon Alexa Skill, which was unique back when we started with them.

What is the team composition?

JC (President) was our main contact in Chicago, Tom (Senior Relationship Manager) helped with the high-level strategy and deep thinking, we had a team of four people in Croatia architecting the whole thing and managing the project. 

There was a flexible team of programmers based in India. We had a lead on the graphic implementation and one programmer for coding. As needed, they were able to bring team members in and out of our project month by month to accomplish our goals.

How did you come to work with FarShore?

We vetted a lot of companies, and FarShore was one of the few that had the ability to develop a skill for Alexa. They reached out to us initially, but we didn't respond at first.

A couple of different options fell through, and we were looking at people and organizations we knew. Something about FarShore’s email stuck us, so we reached out. We ended up meeting them, and they just seemed to understand what we were trying to do, beyond just the technical aspect of the thing. They saw the big picture, which was important for us. Often, technical people get bogged down in the details and ignore the overarching goal. They do one thing very well, but it doesn’t accomplish the goal of the project.

FarShore also had a team of architects, developers, and project managers across the globe, so they could do a great job executing the technical part. Another big reason for engaging with them was their ability to flex their staff to meet our needs. This would’ve been impossible with in-house staff, and really difficult to do with other companies we considered. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve paid them less than $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first contacted them in March 2018 and wrapped up in December 2019. We had a big push to get ready for CES, which was in early-January 2020.

We’re not billing them regularly given the phase of our project, but they’re still involved with us. As we move into the next phases, we’ll start the billing cycle again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There was no way we could’ve done it on our own, but we now have a working app with Alexa Skills. All the elements of the system that we’d dreamed about are now a reality. I don’t know what metric this represents, but it’s a big deal for us.

We’ve shown it to a lot of investors, who were tight-lipped about giving praise given that we put them in a compromised position on the negotiation table. We’ve also shown the product at CES in Las Vegas, as well as at the International Home + Housewares Show. We got rave reviews from consumers, and we had tons of writeups in blogs and websites.

The way the public sees it has been incredibly positive, and that can only have to do with FarShore’s work. Anecdotally, people love the app and how simple it is, and FarShore played a huge part in that.

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

They were on-the-ball and delivered the things they promised. JC was always available for us. We had biweekly lunches with him to keep up to date on everything going on.

It was great to have a local connection to make sure things were going well. Going the other way, if there were any concerns from his team, he would let us know in person. Especially with how the world works these days, with so much development labor being outsourced overseas, it’s nice to have a face-to-face point of contact in our city.

The project management from the team in Croatia was great. The time difference made it a bit difficult, but we always had weekly standup meetings, and they were great about updating us on everything.

We set up a flexible retainer with them, based on the number of hours needed to accomplish something, and they brought people in as needed. They could bring 100 people in if we needed something really fast for a presentation. If we were waiting on something from the hardware team, FarShore could pull members off.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A lot of providers can create a beautiful-looking app or website. That’s standard at this point, in the tech software world. What FarShore does is really to build a deeply functional product, whether it’s an app or a website. Given the amount of data transferred between the app, our hardware, Alexa, and our servers, we were having trouble finding providers that could build a functional product, not just a pretty one. FarShore delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At times, it seemed like things took longer than we expected them to. I remember the subject of a lot of project management meetings being things that were supposed to be done the past week but were still being worked on. I don’t whether that was a communication issue, FarShore being too aggressive with estimates, or just us not understanding the process. It should be mentioned that this is the first tech project we’ve done.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

My advice is to engage with their owners. They have a lot to give, and that sets FarShore apart. I’m sure we’d still have an awesome product with just the teams in Croatia and India, but what set them apart was the time invested by the team in the US.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently the owner of an enterprise software consulting firm. I mainly do design and some build on a project basis.

When I worked with FarShore, I was the CTO of Farmer’s Fridge, a touchscreen kiosk POS company that sells freshly made food. They primarily sell food in high-traffic areas, like large office buildings and airports. I was responsible for the entire technology roadmap, everything from the embedded system that runs on the kiosk, to the cloud-based backend that tracks sales during the day and handles just-in-time production ordering. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

We had a really small internal team, and my background is more in backend development. I’d been involved in web mobile projects as a project manager, not based on my skillset. We needed to either hire, train, and get an internal team up to speed, or look for a contract solution. Time- and budget-wise, we didn’t have the bandwidth to do the internal option.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FarShore handled a relatively small web component, updating the existing website to plugin to the backend infrastructure so people could get real-time information about what kiosks were open, what stock was available, and things like that. 

The bigger part of the project was developing an iOS and an Android app that gives customers real-time status information about the products available in the machines. It also has sales promotion and marketing features, such as giving customers coupons they can use. When I was there, I don’t think we got to the point of actually enabling customers to purchase through the app, but I believe they have added that since then.

The iOS side was in Swift, and then the Android side was Java. I did the architecture of the app, providing the app flow and all of the wireframes. They worked off of a relatively well-specced problem.

What is the team composition?

The project continued on significantly after I left, so I believe the team expanded. However, during the time I was there, I worked with an iOS developer, an Android developer, and an architect project manager. We worked with three full-time equivalents per month.

How did you come to work with FarShore?

I talked to about six offshore shops, and they were the first ones that I felt were convincing in terms of technical competence and some reasonable alignment to best practices I was familiar with. I wasn’t convinced some of the other companies would be able to execute well.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $15,000 a month, so during my time there, it ended up being about $150,000 of billable.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in April 2016, and my involvement ended in January 2017 because I was no longer with Farmer’s Fridge. I think that project continued for at least another couple of years, but I can’t speak to that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, I was satisfied with the development. This wasn’t my first project with an offshore firm, so I didn’t go in expecting the same process you’d get domestically from an internal team. We gave them a relatively well-specified problem, and they executed. The project was completed in the time we expected. 

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked in weekly agile sprints, which were very predictable and consistent with what we were used to. We had weekly calls so we could know what was getting done the next week. The process was very transparent.

We had very little direct communication with the developers, who were typically in India and sometimes Croatia. I almost exclusively dealt with JC (President) on the business side or an architect on the project management side.

They had an internal board for issue-tracking, and they typically adapt to whatever the client uses. I believe we used Trello or something with more of a Kanban structure. They would interface with our board, but then I think they were plugging it into their internal one. We didn’t adapt to their PM structure; they adapted to ours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In general, they were definitely on the upper-end of technical proficiency. One of the hurdles with offshore firms is that you don’t know what you’re getting on the development side, but what FarShore advertised is what they delivered. They were good at development and communication, so when we did have issues — which you always do on a longer-running software project — they were definitely quick to make changes and resolve things. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing would be making sure you avoid staff changes. We had an architectural change during the project. We actually ended up with someone we liked better, but I think having consistency of staff in projects like that is pretty critical. Changing an architect can be a risk; in our case, it ended up working out better, but I was initially a bit concerned. 

Any advice for potential customers?

In these situations, you need to talk to multiple firms. I’d definitely put FarShore on the list of firms that you talk to, and then see whether what they’re giving you resonates with your needs and thoughts. There are a lot of things that they do well, and if it’s something they don’t, they're always forthcoming. It’s good to have that kind of trusted partnership, and I think they’re definitely on a shortlist of firms that can do that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder and current chief executive officer of a third-party life insurance operational exchange.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

They are one of our main development partners in the technology space of our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team helped us to build out the initial architecture of what we’re doing, as well as the initial phase of building out the features supported by it. That included the backend coding and elements of the frontend design as well. The platform was all originally built on Rackspace and has utilized a lot of different technologies over the years.

What is the team composition?

They provided a team of about ten people to work on our project, including our main point contact who is one of the partners at the company.

How did you come to work with FarShore?

We found out about them through a word of mouth recommendation from someone we trust based on how well that project had gone for them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the relationship has been around $60,000–$70,000 so far. We started out providing ad hoc compensation for the work they were doing and have more recently moved to a monthly retainer structure instead.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership started around January 2019 and is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have accomplished incredible things for us and have really helped us to get our business model up and running successfully. Everything that they’ve designed is very versatile, and they have continued to surprise us with the range and depth of technologies in which they have expertise. That flexibility makes them incredibly easy partners to work with.

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is extremely accessible to reach at any time of day. They structure the process out really well, building in weekly updates on all the progress we’ve made toward specific deliverables. We had meetings to discuss both what we had completed and how the plan might have changed going forward as well, which really helped us to stay on track

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a startup company, they’re great people to work with because they will always have your back. They really believe in a collaborative project and will work with you to accomplish your vision no matter what that is or what changes it requires after you’ve started the project. We’re getting ready to do a massive next phase of the build and have no reservations about continuing to work with them going forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I don’t see how their service could be improved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To really fully take advantage of their skill set, you should allow them to partner alongside you on the project. They can build whatever you want ad-hoc, but they are a far more full-service agency than most other vendors in their space.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an electrical engineer at a national laboratory.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FarShore?

We’ve been working on a new technology for vehicle charging that allows non-network charge stations to be integrated into the smart grid. We partnered with FarShore to help us develop the product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FarShore came on board to develop the front- and backend and the dashboard for the technology. We’d envisioned what we wanted, breaking it down from a UX standpoint. We collaborated together to design each page of the platform, and all the details of how it would look. The team used PHP, Linux, and CSS, for the most part.

From there, the team built out the frontend. They then got to work on the backend, and finally, developed a mobile app for Android and iOS.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with Sky (Managing Director) and a few other team members. 

How did you come to work with FarShore?

I got multiple quotes from multiple companies, but we ended up picking FarShore in the end because they were local, personable, and their proposal was the most attractive given our budget.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost about $175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in March 2019. We’re currently wrapping up the MVP, and we’re planning to kick off phase two shortly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone who looks at the platform is impressed with it. The feedback we get is fantastic. The MVP is very professional, functions correctly, and integrates well with our devices. We’re really excited about it. It was really cool to be able to take an idea and work with the FarShore developers to turn it into something that people can use.  

How did FarShore perform from a project management standpoint?

FarShore performed pretty well. They didn’t meet their expected timelines, but it wasn’t a problem because we understood that the project got more complex the further into it we went.  

From a project management perspective, we didn’t have any issues. If we did, I knew I could reach out to Sky to work it out.

We used Google Docs to track the project and Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their work was really high quality, and at their price point, it was unbeatable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A lot of their developers are really PHP based. It would be nice to see them expand into Node.js or other technologies to upgrade their capabilities. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more documentation you can have going into the project, the better off you’ll be. The project will go more quickly and smoothly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Tembo is an early-stage startup focused on providing security teams with real-time threat detection + actionable intelligence by analyzing movements and crowd behavior using indoor positioning. Founded in late 2018, we are developing out our technology. I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire FarShore?

We needed to lay down the exact design of our minimum viable product. This included investigating how the software would interact with the hardware, what sort of information we would collect, how we'd run analytics, and what features we would want to provide to our clients with our MVP.

We hired Farshore to help us with gathering the functional requirements and laying out a plan on how to build and test the MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

The document had to exactly describe how we would deliver the functionalities required by our clients. It meant understanding the hardware, the cloud architecture, the software design, and the integrated analytics. The document had to serve as the foundation for how we build out the technology.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was introduced to them through the University of Notre Dame about a year ago. Farshore did some work for me then to create design mockups of our web app and mobile app. They turned that around beautifully and were high quality, high fidelity designs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They did background research on the hardware system we are planning on using, the software and analytics engine, and the needed cloud architecture. They did further research on how we would need to test the system (as a proof of concept) once deployed and how the testing would inform the MVP development.

They laid out all the research into a really comprehensive, 20-page document that laid out exactly what the functional requirements of the MVP were and how we would build it out in order to provide those required functionalities and what the associated costs would be.

What was the team composition?

The project team consisted of an account manager, a project manager, a software architect, and a solutions architect. In addition, we had constant communication with Farshore's head of business development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The documentation has not only helped inform our product development process but has also guided our fundraising needs. We plan on using the document to further verify to potential partners and investors that we have a clear technology development plan put together by experts in the field.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was sufficient and efficient. As the project was not overly complicated in terms of number of moving parts, there was not much to manage.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Speed and quality of the work, as well as open communication lines.

Are there any areas for improvement?

N/A