Goji Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the Chief Data Officer for ALPHA Facilities Solutions. We’re an architecture and engineering firm providing facility asset management services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

We wanted to build a corporate website that could be edited and managed by our marketing team that doesn't have any web development experience. Our goal was to be able to change or upload content with minimal effort.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Goji Labs developed our website from scratch using the WordPress framework. We asked their team to design the pages in a way that was more text focused so we could describe our services clearly and in detail.

The site has been launched, and Goji Labs currently provides hosting and maintenance. They also act as our consultants and are specifically involved in helping us design and develop any major updates and changes.

What is the team composition?

We’ve mostly worked with David (Founder & CEO), who also does most of the consulting with us.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

Goji Labs developed a website for another company that we happen to work with. They were a highly recommended agency to work with, and we liked what we saw on their website, so we decided to engage them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $30,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in Q1 2019, and they’re still providing maintenance services to this day. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website came out really nice, and Goji Labs has done a great job of developing everything quickly. We’ve launched successfully with little to no issues. 

The website now allows us to make very quick edits and changes ourselves. Even without any technical experience, I’m able to go in, tweak the content, and easily publish whatever has been saved. We consider it a big success that we’re able to independently operate our site without the need for a third party. 

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Anytime we ask for something, Goji Labs responds quickly and responsibly. They provide us details on matters we’re uncertain about, and they make sure that we get what we really need as opposed to getting what we think we need. Their ability to meet deadlines and present quotes are all very good as well.

We mostly communicate through email, but we’re able to see any changes or updates they make on the website itself. That’s usually how we work back and forth, with them updating the pages and us going in to update the content. We also do video and phone conferences from time to time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed by how we get to interact with the decision makers, and I believe that’s owed to the size of their organization. We can do things a lot faster because we’re working directly with the people who can make the necessary changes for us. David’s involvement is also very assuring; it’s how we know we’re going to get good quality services.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. This is our first time going into a project like this, and Goji Labs has set the bar. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure to know what you’re looking or asking for. It helps to draw it out or put together a visual representation using screenshots, mockups or even just Word or PowerPoint documents. This will make it easier for your development partner to project what you’re looking for. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a mobile technology company in the digital gaming space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

We needed someone to design an elegant mobile application on a swift timeline.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Another company had started the project, so Goji Labs picked it up, improved it, and completed it. They did 90%–95% of the project.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people. We have a project manager, a backend developer, a frontend developer, and some other people pitching in here and there on different aspects.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

I think we found them on Clutch; it was either that or a personal reference. We initially vetted about 20 companies, then made it into our top five. We went with another company to make our discovery for the mobile app design. They did a decent job, but we didn’t think they were the right company to continue development.

We went back to our other finalists, and Goji Labs was the best and most capable for the project. They had all the skills we needed, good technical expertise, reasonable pricing, and they could deliver the project on time. All in all, they were a boutique developing company — we’d work with the decision-makers and get a high level of service.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $225,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Goji Labs was consistently on track; we got what we wanted under time and budget. Also, the early feedback from our user base is that the experience is excellent, so it’s exactly what we intended it to be.

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is excellent. We mainly communicate through Slack and have weekly meetings on Zoom. If we need to, sometimes we can do phone calls as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The first thing is that they’re a boutique developer, so we’re getting high-level products without working with a huge company. Therefore, we receive terrific service. Moreover, they have ample resources for our projects, and it’s helpful to work with the people who run the company.

Also, Goji Labs has a great designer, and it’s hard to find places where they can deliver on time. Most people run over the deadline.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve been more clear about how the pricing would work in different project phases. Overall, they could’ve communicated a bit better, but these are nitpicking. We don’t have many critical things to say.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate clearly and regularly about what you want and stay involved — that’s worked for us, and the results have been good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

We needed to design the UX/UI of an app, so we hired Goji Labs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did workshops with Goji Labs to help them understand what we wanted to build. We also mapped out the user journey. The team did user research and predictive analysis to determine if the idea was valid and would stick in the market.

What is the team composition?

We worked with David (CEO), a product manager, and a UX designer.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

We found them on Clutch. After speaking with 5–6 companies, we chose them for their honesty, creativity, and the fact that they asked questions that challenged us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $55,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Goji Labs delivered an engaging, colorful, and fun UI/UX, which is exactly what we wanted. The quality of the graphics and high-fidelity screens was excellent. 

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They didn’t meet the delivery deadline or stay within the budget, so there was room for improvement in this area. However, the team brought a lot of ideas to the table and worked as an extension of our team. 

They used Notion for project management, and we used Slack, Figma, and phone calls for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely creative and detail-oriented with their UI/UX.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve managed the timeline and budget and laid out the plan better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear scope, and stay on top of things to ensure you meet your deadline.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of marketing at MedTrainer, a healthcare compliant technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

We were addressing various challenges. Essentially, our website was deficient.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Goji Labs built a very robust site for us, which included 150 pages. They built all the functionality that we wanted and implemented a modern look and feel with animations and movement while keeping a high page speed score.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with two people from Goji Labs’ team: David (CEO) and Birgitte (Project Manager). Additionally, a few more people were working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

We worked with a design agency to create a completely new website for us, and they partnered with Goji Labs to develop the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–June 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The fact that Goji Labs was able to launch a website as big and with as much functionality as ours without compromising its speed was amazing. We had speed scores of 98 on the desktop version and 90 on the mobile version.

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Goji Labs was really great to work with. They offered a great balance, making us feel like we were working with an enterprise-level vendor from a skillset standpoint while providing the one-on-one support of a small company.

Communication was one of the best parts of our engagement because they were very flexible about it. We used Slack and had one-on-one meetings; it was always very easy to communicate with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Goji Labs offered the skill set and processes we expected from a large development company while providing us with a personal approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not sure if Goji Labs could have improved on something. They were great, and a lot of the challenges came from us not being prepared enough. David did a great job preparing us, and he and his team went above and beyond their developers’ role to ensure that we were ready. They also were great at letting us know about things before they happened.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you get time with both David and Birgitte; they’re both really great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the president of a direct-to-consumer financial services company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Goji Labs?

We were losing a considerable percent of visitors through the process of filling account paperwork, funding accounts, and making initial investments. We hired Goji to develop an improved UX to address this opportunity and increase returns on acquisition spend.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched nationally for top UI/UX design firms, with a focus on those with experience in complex applications like finance and insurance, consumer-facing, with a rigorous methodology and testing-driven philosophy. Goji's engagement style fits our needs well.

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

The project team did a round of internal discovery, making sure to document the current process as a base for changing flows, including moderated testing with existing users. They then sketched out flow diagrams of alternative orders/different ways to acquire the same information/etc. That evolved into lo-fidelity wireframes, which were then used to conduct moderated and unmoderated testing and uncover any new problems they introduced.

Those wireframes were refined based on feedback, then expanded into high-fidelity designs, with constant refinement along the way, including one additional round of unmoderated testing. The result was a thorough and well-document Figma project with all screens needed to move to implementation.

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

We had a main project designer who did most of the lift. He was joined by a supervising project manager on almost every call, who also put in some input to the discussion. The owner joined early and late in the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were pleased with the quality of the work that came out of the team, including their willingness to challenge our assumptions and their own along the way. We have not yet implemented the new design, and that is ongoing, but have confidence it is an overall improvement from our current setup.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team communicated well, with regular check-in meetings as the central point for discussion. They came to every meeting prepared with findings, new designs, and discussion items. The asynchronous feedback asks, especially on finer details of exception planning (missing data, failed validation, nuances of certain account types) could have been better handled with more frequent between meeting asks. But, overall, very professional without unnecessary pomp in the way of progress.

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

Their distinct focus on testing early and often, making sure to hear what real users had to say about a flow, was exactly what we were looking for and was quite hard to actually find.

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

Asynchronous feedback between check-in meetings, using forms as simple as copy docs and text notes, would have cleared up misunderstandings earlier than waiting to see them in the next design rev at certain very detailed and nuanced intersections in the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an internet web application company that helps recruiters connect with employers and candidates more effectively.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

Our company was facing a lot of challenges to get the platform built. We had the backend covered, but we needed frontend developers and UI/UX designers desperately, so we contacted Goji Labs to help us with this. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Goji Labs worked with the backend our in-house team had already developed and built the frontend of the website from scratch using React Native. They also took charge of UI/UX design. 

Currently, the team takes care of fixing bugs, helps us manage the app, and updates it — they’re like an extension of our firm. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with a project manager, two senior developers, and a UI/UX designer. 

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

Our team had tried working with freelancers, but that didn’t work out, so we decided to go with a serious company and did some online research. Our business had had Zoom meetings with four different companies, but we went with Goji Labs because they were the most professional and their portfolio was very good — we were very impressed with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

Goji Labs works now for a monthly retainer, and we’ve invested around $50,000–$60,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in January 2021. The staff finished the app and launched it in April of the same year. However, we are still working on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Goji Labs’s design and UI/UX work are really good. The site functions very smoothly with minor bugs that are inevitable in a platform like this.    

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The team’s project management is great. We message back and forth through Slack and have a weekly meeting where we give updates and ask questions. I’ve never felt stressed at all about communication; they always get back to us quickly and take good care of us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Goji Labs is professional and accessible. The team has done an excellent job from final product delivery to relationship building, which is something that we are looking for. 

The aspect that most impresses me is Goji Labs’ internal communication and organization that allows them to have a good system in place so that processes go smoothly. For instance, if I give them a list with edits I want to be made to the site, they relay that information effectively to get the work done. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Goji Labs could have a little bit more transparency. For the development stage, the costs went up a lot higher than our initial quote. I’d say there were some miscalculations in terms of what it would cost to make a project like this. There was also a miscommunication regarding an issue about the responsiveness of the platform to mobile devices.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You get out what you put in, so if you are as professional as the vendor, you’re bound to have a much better experience. Be empathetic and reciprocal, that way you’re far more likely to get the kind of service you want. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at Integrate Health. We’re a nonprofit that provides health care in Togo, West Africa. I’m the development communications manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

Our website was designed a few years ago, before I started working at Integrate Health. The backend was coded poorly, and we were unable to make long-term changes to the design.

Essentially, we wanted a professional-looking website to show that we’re experts in our field. We also wanted it to be really photo-driven and easy to navigate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Goji Labs to do an entire website overhaul; from the front- and backend, so it could be easily edited by our staff. They developed it from scratch using WordPress.

We started with the discovery process; it was a few weeks of UX/UI audit of our website. They interviewed the founders, board, and staff from each department, both in the US and Togo, to capture enough people who used the site. We had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted, but through the UX/UI audit, they essentially created a whole new design.

Additionally, some special features they developed were a knowledge library that houses our blogs, articles, research, and press, which we previously didn’t have, as well as some nice graphics and an interactive map of where we work.

What is the team composition?

The discovery process had two parts, so the UX/UI audit was conducted primarily by one person. He engaged with multiple team members and created an entire report on how the website would look like.

In the design process, that person continued working with us, as well as 1–2 designers; one took the lead and the other one was secondary. At that time, we also had the web developer sitting on those design discussions, and then we moved it into the web development phase. For that part, we primarily worked with one person. Thus, we worked with 3–4 people overall.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

We had worked with them previously. They helped us fix some bugs on the backend of our old website. At the time, I think they were referred by a board member that had worked with them on his previous role.

Overall, we conducted some research to decide who to choose. We ended up choosing Goji Labs because they understood our current issues and they've worked for a lot of nonprofits. Furthermore, they offered the best package.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $35,000 for the website all around.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2020, and we launched the website in April 2021. We’re now in a support contract with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any metrics to track that, but since we launched the site externally, we’ve received a lot of positive feedback from staff, founders, and board members.

Also, with the feedback that has come in, we’ve been able to easily edit the website ourselves to ensure that it’s continually accurate, which was something we were unable to do in the previous site.

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed pretty well. They were super organized and generally kept track of everything really well. We used Slack to do real time, back and forth comments and feedback, and we had weekly calls during the entire project.

For the discovery and development processes, we primarily used Google Drive to track feedback and see it in real time. Then, in the design process, we used Figla and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listened really well to our needs and what we wanted. They were generally very easy to work with and accommodating to our large, bilingual team. Overall, they were very professional and on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were no areas of improvement. We were very satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to accomplish a similar scope of work, I definitely would advise you to choose Goji Labs. They were on top of everything, very professional, and the ongoing support they provided was really useful to ensure the success of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, which is a multidisciplinary training and research group at the University of Southern California. We create new knowledge and insights and then translate those into various public spaces.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

Over the past decade, we created a ton of materials to help mostly public sector workers. We created all of these materials that weren’t accessible to people. For example, we wrote courses for FEMA and the American Red Cross but the materials were scattered. We wanted to create a product that housed all of our content and materials and needed it in a format that made them accessible for users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As we knew our market, we had a good scope of what our end-users wanted. We met with Goji and told them what we needed. Their team then created wireframes of different pathways for us to navigate the information, so it could be highly selective. For example, if a user needed to schedule a meeting with a group of multifaith people, they could select different religious groups in the platform to understand any logistics issues. Their team came up with categories and selection processes that enabled users to make highly specialized searches. They eventually came back with iOS and Android versions of the app. Their team’s still updating and hosting the product.

What is the team composition?

We've only interacted with two people from Goji Labs.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

I met David (Founder and CEO) at a party during which we mentioned that he was a developer. When we needed a development company a year later, my husband reminded me about him and suggested I learn more about his business. We looked into Goji Labs and other companies because we had a negative experience with a different group. I told David that if we worked with him, we needed a functional app in the end. He promised to deliver that.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost probably $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in the fall of 2019 and finished in October 2020. The process took longer than I initially thought because it was harder for us to standardize and format our content than I anticipated. We have a contract with them to retain their services to help us if any problems arise.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched it in the last week of October 2020, and we’ve had 12,000 active users. It’s a niche product, so that’s great for us. We’re happy with that considering the pandemic and the administration change impacts our audience. When there’s stability with the new DHS and FEMA, our hope is the number of our users will increase. We have all five-star reviews in the App Store.

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, we only had one hiccup throughout the process. David and I had a disagreement that we solved. We’re able to resolve our differences, and that’s why I’m comfortable working with Goji Labs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They gave us what we paid them to build. I had a high bar of concern that we would invest the money and at the end of the day receive a deliverable that didn’t work. By working with Goji Labs, we got a product that pleases us and our end-users. David didn’t give us the runaround like a lot of other companies did.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wasn’t familiar with the development process and would’ve preferred a better briefing about the project’s various stages. For example, I wish we fully created the Apple version and then created the Android version. Instead, we mostly created the Apple version and then created the Android version. We then had to make changes to both. If we better understood the order in which to complete tasks, we may have saved some time and money.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear sense of what you want and know your end-user. It may be helpful if you scope the project and understand what you need to do before you start the engagement. It will make the process more efficient. Their team also built a system that allowed us to control most of the updates ourselves, which was a great solution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a real estate tech startup, and I’m the CEO of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

We hired them to conceptualize our product, so they helped us ideate workflows and translate our vision onto paper before creating wireframes and product maps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before we could develop our product, we needed mockups, designs, and workflows. After contracting them, we started with a discovery phase where we worked through our problem and direction for the product and MVP.

From there, we introduced their UX designer onto the team, working with them and the CEO on the wireframe design process. Based on those wireframes, we continued to ideate and tweak flows as needed. We weren’t through usability tests and were able to convert everything into high-fidelity mockups.  

At this point, we’ve moved through the design phase but haven’t started with development yet. We’ve collaborated through Figma and Google Suite tools. The mockups will be applied to both a web and mobile application.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people, including the CEO and two different designers. Their CEO was our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

We evaluated several potential firms to work with. Their firm has a startup focus and are full-service. They seemed to understand our product’s concept right away, and it was great to see that both their CEO and CTO were very involved with the project. 

The full-service potential of the firm was also attractive. They were able to answer questions about development during the design phase because of that. Having a firm that specializes in the full cycle of developing an app was great for our time and budget concerns. We knew we’d have insight into the entire process from day one.    

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since around April 2020. The design phase is complete.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re great to work with. We’ve been happy with their full scope of understanding about every step in the app creation process. They always gave us insights into how our decisions could have a downstream impact.  

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Collaborative, they function more like a partner than a vendor. In many cases, external vendors simply follow requirements. However, their team is vocal about their thoughts and feedback in a helpful way. At the end of the day, it’s our decision as the client, but they operate as a true partner looking out for our best interest. We used Slack, email, and phone calls to communicate.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate their focus on working with startups and how they collaborate with us as a partner. Their specialization in startups has been very beneficial. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything negative that happened throughout the project. Of course, little things happen. But, there isn’t anything major that stands out that they should improve upon.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re non-technical and in the world of startups, they’re a good choice. In the early stages especially, they can help your product in a meaningful way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the advocacy and communications manager for a technology nonprofit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?

We wanted to launch a new website because our existing one was 7–8 years old. Our organization evolved over those years, but the website didn’t evolve with us. The content and infrastructure were poorly built.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Goji built our new website on WordPress. They created a Figma file with the platform’s design and modules. Their team created the overall design and highlighted the modules present on the website for us to reuse as we continue to evolve. Another major deliverable was the website itself. Their team included a few engineers who created a new template for us.

What is the team composition?

I know three people from Goji worked on this project. I interacted with David (Product Strategist), a UI/UX designer, and a project manager. They also collaborated with two other people who I didn’t meet.

How did you come to work with Goji Labs?

I actually found them on Clutch. I read their reviews and assessed their star ratings. As a nonprofit, we had a budget on the lower end. Based on those parameters, Goji stood out to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $40,000–$50,000 in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement officially kicked off in February 2020, and they met all of their deliverables. However, we’re still engaging with them as we wrap up on our end.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our goal was to create a new website that captured our identity. At the end of the design phase, I pitched their deliverables internally. Everyone felt that their design captured our new identity. We also shared the website with a few internal stakeholders who were satisfied too.

How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Goji had a process and stuck by it. They dedicated a project manager who organized their team and kept up to date with assignments between meetings. Goji was communicative about the project timeline. If the design phase veered outside of the scope, their team let us know because it could cost more money.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I valued their willingness to adapt to our needs. We made changes, and their team was flexible with us. We wanted to play around with the design, and they allowed us to explore ideas before committing to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was overall a great experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set internal goals and be transparent with Goji. Try to make sure that you’ll meet your organizational vision.