Frame One Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a fintech company specializing in trade finance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frame One Software?

We needed someone to create our MVP and develop a custom frontend solution, so we involved Frame One Software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After introducing ourselves, Frame One Software showed us their offer. We signed NDAs and service agreements before showing them our prototype to get their feedback. When we confirmed that we could have them build the frontend and participate in the testing, they brought in a UI designer to make improvements and changes to how the screen looked like. 

Frame One Software had the architecture that they defined by themselves. At the time of engagement, I had already reviewed it and agreed to what they would use but subjected it to some changes according to my standards. All other functional requirements have been provided by us. 

What is the team composition?

There are, in total, three people who are assigned to this project.

How did you come to work with Frame One Software?

I found them online through LinkedIn.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $50,000 but we have a budget allocated to fund more than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since November 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We use quality as one of the metrics because we are in FinTech where any type of error is unacceptable. Frame One Software has done a wonderful job of ensuring that they know what they’re building. They also test thoroughly before handing over the work to us. 

How did Frame One Software perform from a project management standpoint?

The team has been quite involved and has dedicated their time to the project. There were times when they had to jump in and prioritize urgent tasks.

We communicated mostly online, using Messenger and other software to exchange information and requirements. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Frame One Software owns their business and can work full-time. They meet my requirements in terms of timely deliverables and quality work.

They’re not just knowledgeable in frontend development but also have a good understanding of the backend. This makes communication much better because, by having all these members, they are able to see the overall picture and not just the specific problem that they’re working on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now. I don’t see many problems with their team, but I will say that perhaps they could pick up more back-office work so I can dedicate more to them, but this will entail using a different language. Right now, we’re utilizing them for frontend development because it’s compatible with the skills they have. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You better know what you are asking for. Oftentimes, people think they know what they want, but they need to be very precise in software development. A developer will not just magically know what you want and come up with a product that solves every single problem. If you’re going to work with Frame One Software, you need to articulate the specific solutions that you need so that the work can be effective. 

They are very good partners, so if you have some good ideas, work with them around those, build a prototype, and enhance it as you go.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I owner and operator of a golf scoring company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frame One Software?

I didn’t have control over my own software, so I couldn’t make decisions on it. I partnered with another group and had the opportunity to create custom software for my business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a mobile-friendly website. It’s a scoring platform that allows golfers to enter their scores from golf tournaments.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people, but I primarily communicated with Chris (CEO & Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with Frame One Software?

I found them through a web search. I was looking for a company that would build a partnership with me and went through several providers’ profiles. I had numerous conversations with Frame One Software, and they seemed hungry for some work. Their price point also met my requirement.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on the project in September 2020 and we wrapped up about a month ago, in February 2021. However, there’s still some work to be done, so our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We used the software last week without any issues. It was our first live event, and it was a really good test run. The client was happy at the end of the day. Everything worked the way we wanted it to work, so it was a success. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Frame One Software

How did Frame One Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication was really good. They were available at any point to answer questions. Every two weeks, we had a standing Zoom meeting in which they updated us on their progress. Then they used GitHub to monitor bugs. As they rolled out different features, I tested them. Whenever I noticed an issue, I would notify them through GitHub and they would fix it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

For the most part, we followed the scope of work, but of course, some things came about during development that required us to make some changes. They adapted well and were able to implement what we were looking for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should make sure they understand the full scope of work before providing a quote.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure the scope is fully defined. Know what you want and be clear about what you expect.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a founder of fin tech start-up

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Frame One Software, and what were your goals?

I hired them to develop a trading platform for prediction securities up to beta version.

SOLUTION

How did you select Frame One Software and what were the deciding factors?

I knew the founder from school.

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

FrameOne Software first developed a demo version which was meant for presenting to investors, and then we agreed upon a development of the beta version of the same platform. Development included backend (calculations and accounting) and the front end (GUI).

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

Two people, the CEO and the co-founder.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

FrameOne met all the deadlines and came up with the agreed-upon deliverables as agreed.

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

Upon agreeing on the general timeline and deliverables, we had regular weekly follow-up meetings regarding the progress with their CEO.

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

One of the distinguishing features of FrameOne Software is their truly outstanding response/rapport they establish with their clients- they are constantly checking whether they are on the right track and whether the client has some different ideas they came up with in the meantime.

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

FrameOne Software is up and coming young start-up, and they are eager to prove themselves to their clients. So far, they have done pretty well, at least regarding my project. Bottom line, I did not see anything major (or minor for that matter) that would need to be improved upon- undoubtedly there is expertise, coupled with excellent customer intimacy.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a company called ShipperBee, and we’re a logistics technology company in Ontario, Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frame One Software?

We had just onboarded a new client, so we needed to build out a software integration between Zara’s systems and ours. We knew the technology, we just didn’t have the internal capacity, so we looked for experienced JavaScript backend developers and took a risk on Frame One Software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Frame One Software is developing an administrative interface for administering, watching the logs, and basically what’s going on in the system.

The way the software works is every five minutes or so, it checks for something called the manifest — this is a list of parcels that are being transferred to us. The software will check for it, download it, pass it for details and information, and then convert it into something our system can import and understand. Conversely, it would take information out of our system and transpose it into something that our system can also consume.

TypeScript is the primary foreign language that is running in the Node JS server, and the back of the database is a combination of PostgreSQL and MongoDB.

What is the team composition?

I work with two, specifically Spencer (President & Co-Founder) for the initial scoping and estimation for the project, and Christopher (CEO & Co-Founder) is the primary developer.

How did you come to work with Frame One Software?

I was just scrolling through LinkedIn for people that were advertising integrations and JavaScript, and I reached out to him and just had a great conversation. It was great because I got to talk to people pretty quickly who knew what to do technology-wise. Additionally, the rates were reasonable and they’re located in Canada.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we've invested around $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership began in September 2020. We just wrapped up the development, but I do plan on leveraging them in the future for sure.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The initial development was very rapid. We had done integrations like this in the past, and Frame One Software got the bulk of the work done within 2–3 weeks, which is really great. It’s successful from the perspective of being on-budget, as well as the initial rapid delivery — which was really important to us.

Can we consume all the parcels that Zara is throwing at us every day? The answer is yes, and that’s really my only benchmark for the success of the partnership.

How did Frame One Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Quality-wise, specifically Chris, is an awesome developer. I’m a developer by trade as well, and the conversation in terms of both projects and technical details is very easy. Additionally, the feedback from my team is that their output is of really high quality, which is not usually the way we feel about contract work — it's awesome.

Their integrations are a specific type of beast in terms of what you have to understand with the multiple systems you’re integrating to. From that side, I found no major mistakes architecturally. It was thought through well and executed properly.

From a project management standpoint, they’re a pretty small team, but they are really reactive and responsive. One of the reasons we chose them is because they didn’t really have a product manager, we were working directly with the people doing the work. We used Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Azure for DevOps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their responsiveness, especially with Chris. He’s even more responsive than some of the members of my own team, and they’re really proactive when it comes to defects and problems. They always investigate and get down to the root cause and we find that really awesome.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. The billing was good and easy and they’re really transparent with the hours worked.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s really interesting because they’re a small group of people who are really good at what they do. It’s going to be a challenge growing their team, because I think they can easily get more business and do a great job. It’s going to be difficult to hire developers of that quality, because they’re responsible for managing each project.

However, they’re really great and I really have a positive engagement with them, so I have no advice to give.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Grapplearts, and we do a variety of things that are mostly related to the martial arts space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frame One Software?

Part of our business is making instructional videos. We wanted to use those videos in our app, but our previous app framework was held only by duct tapes and baling wire — it wasn’t working well. Every time the App Store updates, everything that we’d done previously would break, and we’d need more duct tape and baling wire. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Frame One Software helped us fix our centerpiece app meant to support our online presence. It was in shambles because it hadn’t been properly maintained. As a result, it needed to be rebuilt to be congruent with the updates on operating systems like Android and iOS. 

Keeping the app working is the number one goal, but we’ve also had some discussions around strategy. I haven’t asked the team to market the app for me, and they mainly help me with technical tasks. 

Now, we’re moving on to optimizing the performance of the app for revenue and customer acquisition. We’re doing an A/B/C split test to maximize the number of people opting in for app notifications. Frame One also built me an interactive framework for adding new content and sending push notifications, helping us see the analytics behind what’s going on in the app. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with two people from their team.

How did you come to work with Frame One Software?

I posted a help wanted ad and interviewed about 10 people, and I had the best feeling about Frame One. I gave them a small task, and they did it perfectly. We moved on to bigger tasks from there. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. I’ve used them repeatedly for multiple small projects. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without Frame One, our app would be missing. They’ve fixed it where other people have been unable to. They may not have given me a bump in revenue yet, but they’ve been able to support the survival of our app and that aspect of our business. 

How did Frame One Software perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of communication, we use phone calls and emails. I don’t log in to their project management software, but they may be using some other internal communication tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail and actual competence in their craft have been impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you’d like to achieve. If possible, find comparable apps or programming projects in related industries to present as an example of what you’re trying to achieve. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I manage a yoga and fitness studio. We hired Frame One to build us App with classes on demand and a logo.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Frame One Software?

To build app for fitness on demand and a logo.

What were your goals for this project?

Quality. Perfermance. Look

SOLUTION

How did you select Frame One Software?

They came highly recommended

Describe the project in detail.

They build app on demand from scratch plus a logo

What was the team composition?

I only spoke to a project manager and a designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are just starting with our app. But so far we have great feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was great working together. Very sufficient

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their professionalisms and knowledge were impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

not sure