Hakomo

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the director of advancement and admissions at the American College of Sofia, an American independent high school based in Bulgaria. I was responsible for recruiting talented Bulgarian and international applicants and attracting continuous sponsor support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Hakomo?

Our current website was outdated and didn’t capture the spirit of a modern educational institution. Therefore, we needed to develop a site that communicated our identity.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to advance our admissions goals and strengthen our relationships with current constituents with a functional, informative, bilingual website. It was important that the site be dynamic, inspiring, and fun—and designed with UX in mind.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for a true partner that would not only meet our basic expectations but also contribute creative ideas, enthusiasm, and inspiration. The first company we partnered with found the project so challenging that it was delayed a full year.

After restarting our search, we found Hakomo through word of mouth. They impressed us at our first meeting with how prepared and inspiring they were. None of the other companies we looked into even came close to them, which made it a fairly easy decision.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They built wireframes, developed and designed our UX and UI, and built the actual website. Regarding features, they implemented a large degree of automation into both internal and user-facing processes. They also provided product consulting and created our logo and visual identity.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a backend developer, a frontend developer, a QA manager, a business analyst, a designer, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our businesses processes are much more efficient thanks to Hakomo’s automation. People can make automatic payments, and new students can apply more easily online. Our calendars are synchronized, our information is centralized, and everyone understands how to use the site well.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It was superb. They used Jira, Toggl, and Slack, as well as a product they developed themselves. They attended our meetings at school to present their progress and were always available to answer questions. The project manager navigated the workflow and ensured the project was completed within the negotiated budget, timeframe, and scope.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their customer support is beyond compare. They were quick to find solutions, even to problems we hadn’t discussed with them in the early stages. They also helped us avoid a major GDPR crisis.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I’m sure they’ve identified areas for growth themselves, as they’re constantly focused on self-development. I’ve loved every aspect of our cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief executive officer of a nonprofit cancer prevention foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hakomo?

We were looking to build a web platform that would provide cancer patients with information from leading oncologists in our country.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They began by giving us a questionnaire that asked us to explain what we wanted for the website. We also provided them with examples of what we were looking for. Based on our examples and the questionnaire, they designed and developed the website.

They focused on creating a modern design that’s very interactive and informative, but also simple to navigate for our target users. They also set up an email newsletter system that our site visitors can subscribe to.

They provided us with some SEO services, as well, to drive up site traffic.

What is the team composition? 

We communicated with them primarily through a project manager from their team. When necessary, we were able to contact other members of their team. For instance, if we had a question concerning the design or coding, we could communicate directly with their designer or programmer.

How did you come to work with Hakomo?

They were referred to us by a friend of our company. We then met with them personally to discuss their proposal and found that though they were more expensive than other companies we were considering, they offered the best value for their price. They had a lot of expertise and experience in the work we were looking to get done.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in July 2017. The project was largely complete in mid-September 2017, but we finished it up in February 2018. It took a bit longer than anticipated largely because of my team, as opposed to theirs

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of their initial efforts to find out what we wanted, the website is working very well and looks how we want it to. We’re pleased with the outcome.

How did Hakomo perform from a project management standpoint?

We were very happy with their project manager and the overall communication we had with them. They were very responsive and quickly reacted to all of our needs.

We communicated primarily through email, but we were able to reach them by phone or have an in-person meeting when necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise allows them to create everything custom-made, so the solutions they provide fits their client’s individual needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Though the testing of the site was good, it could be improved to ensure quality assurance.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My only advice would be to work with them if you want a high-quality web page.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a managing partner of Eleven, which is an early stage venture capital provider with a focus on southeastern Europe. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Hakomo?

We hired Hakomo to help us with a full overhaul of our website.

What were your goals for this project?

While the new website had to replicate the functionality of the old website, it also had to be easier to maintain and edit. In addition, the new website needed to reflect our identity as we evolved as a business venture.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve known Hakomo’s CEO for quite some time and already trusted him. We were impressed by their willingness to analyze our needs and guide us through the process. These factors were crucial for us since our in-house team sometimes had conflicting priorities for our new website.

Describe the project in detail.

They designed, developed, configured, and launched our new website. We started with discovery workshop, and they conducted interviews with us and our community of founders, mentors, and investors. We provided some initial materials from previous attempts, but Hakomo expanded our ideas substantially.

What was the team composition?

The team included a contact person (the CEO), a designer, and two programmers. This setup allowed the process to go smoothly. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

The new website successfully allowed us to communicate our brand values.

How effective was the project management?

Compared to other vendors, Hakomo’s project management was efficient. They planned everything in advance and communicated clearly. We appreciated the efficiency of the process, as we are usually busy and rarely can find time to hold meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were most impressed by their willingness to lead us through the customer discovery journey.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

For us, the process went perfectly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a co-founder of Folded, an on-demand laundry and dry cleaning app. Users can schedule laundry and/or dry cleaning pickup through our app or website, and our drivers are routed to pick up and deliver orders.

We also have commercial clients (e.g. gyms, spas). We're one of the first businesses to have both an app as well as our own brick and mortar laundromat.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hakomo?

We started seeing laundry services apps coming out and decided that we needed to develop our own in order to stay competitive and gain market share. We'd never worked with an app developer before, so it was a completely new endeavor to us.

Through the app, we wanted to offer our customers cleaning services within 12 hours and dry cleaning services within a couple days. We needed the app to be accessible to clients both online and through a mobile app, along with a separate app for drivers to use to most efficiently pick up and drop off orders.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Petar Petrov (CEO, Hakomo) and his team designed and developed a web and mobile app (iOS and Android) that allowed customers to place orders and edit preferences. It was also designed to allow drivers to pick up and drop off orders using a routing system similar to Uber's interface. The app provides drivers with a task list and reroutes them based on the next task and most efficient driving route. There's also an administrator app to handle backend tasks.

Their team continues to maintain and develop the app each month as we discover areas of improvement. For example, we realized it was more efficient to pick up multiple orders at a doorman building rather than go from unit to unit within a building. The app now takes that into account, so we're able to schedule our drivers to pick up a handful of orders at a time, which also means those customers don't have to be present.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with Petar, especially during conceptualization, but we now work with a full team of developers at Hakomo. We brought in a business partner about a year into the development of the app who works on logistics and strategy along with their team.

Peter assigned a project manager to us, Iva, who always goes above and beyond for us. She is always on top of everything, a real pleasure to work with, and very responsive to our needs.

How did you come to work with Hakomo?

I've known Petar for many years. He'd been an exchange student from Bulgaria who stayed with my older brother in the past. I knew he studied in the U.S. and was incredibly intelligent, so when I'd heard about his business, we started conversations and I told him about the app we were thinking about developing.

He immediately presented us with some great ideas. I knew I could trust his capabilities as well as his overall intentions, so we took a leap of faith together on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The app development started about two years ago and launched within seven months. We continue to develop it with Hakomo as our business grows.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're more than satisfied with the app Hakomo has developed for us. From the beginning, Petar presented us with great ideas and worked out all the challenges we might face with the app and business plan in the process.

He was incredibly important in the development and conceptualization of everything—we couldn't have done this with just any developer. Petar is always thinking ahead about what we need to do to make the app more user-friendly and efficient, going above and beyond expectations. Their team genuinely cares about making the best product that they can.

How did Hakomo perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with Petar has been great—he's always doing the right thing, making decisions with our best interests in mind, and trying to constantly improve the app. If he doesn't know something, he'll work hard to figure it out quickly. He's very capable of handling any requests relating to development.

Hakomo uses a custom system that allows our team to submit requests as they come up in an organized way. Petar will then respond through the system with details (e.g., hours, cost, timeline), and we'll either approve it on our end or save it for later. Those tasks show up on our invoice each month, so the whole process is quite seamless and easy.

Even though there's an eight-hour time difference from our location in New York to Bulgaria, their team has been great about being available when we need them. We stay in touch mostly through WhatsApp, but we'll set up conference calls or Google Hangout sessions for bigger issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Knowing that I can trust Petar and his team has been key, since there's a lot of money that goes into building an app. It's great working with someone that I not only like, but who I can trust to make the best decisions regarding our business and the overall user experience of the app.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Due to the time difference, we're not able to reach their team at all hours of the day. However, they're pretty flexible and make sure that if we need to work with someone, they'll be available.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your business model works and is worth the investment, because app development can be quite expensive. As far as working with Hakomo, there's nothing to worry about—their work is seamless.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the managing director of Blackpeak. The company was founded in 2012 and it deals with a variety of activities, including management consulting, financial services, and more. Little Bird is one our projects in the field of education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Hakomo?

At the time we hired them, the project was in a prototype and customer validation stage and only had basic design and functionality. We needed a company to overhaul the entire product, starting from brand identity to product design, web design, and web development.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a modern web product that was flexible enough to encompass a large variety of educational facilities yet simple enough to operate and customize so that we could easily onboard clients ourselves.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met Petar (Founder, Hakomo) while I was a partner at an early-stage European investment fund, where we invested in a product company of his. Although this product did not succeed, Petar remained part of the fund as a mentor and advisor to our portfolio companies.

When he started Hakomo, he began helping us with ad-hoc web development and later designed and developed the new website of the fund.

Describe the project in detail.

Little Bird is a platform for kindergartens and day care centers to communicate with the parents of the enrolled children. When we decided to move from the prototype to the live version, we hired Hakomo for the job.

The first thing we did was conduct a discussion that covered the obvious functionalities of the service, followed by the graphic design of the website and the brand identity elements (logo, fonts, colors, etc.). Once we agreed on all this, we moved forward with the development of the site. After the hard launch, Hakomo has kept developing new features and implementing improvements to the site.

What was the team composition?

We had a team of five people working on our project, including Petar, who led the workshops and acted as an advisor for some aspects of the project. There was also a project manager, a graphic designer, and two developers involved.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

The site is live and we get immediate support for new feature requests, which are usually ready and live in less than a week. We had our team work closely with them and have gotten great advice, not only on design and engineering related items but also on some business processes and product design matters.

How effective was the project management?

This aspect is excellent. They use a tool that they developed and designed themselves, making work very easy and flexible. We communicate over the phone when necessary but most of our conversations go through this tool.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We had smooth communication with the project team; nearly everything was handled with single call or meeting. They have a strong technological expertise, and unlike other companies we've worked with, Hakomo offered business-related advice based on their work on other projects, which at times was invaluable.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

None whatsoever. Their work is great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We operate a comprehensive betting directory where our clients can find accurate information about bookmakers, casinos, and poker rooms. I am co-founder and SEO manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Hakomo?

We hired Hakomo to redesign our website and add additional features.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a more attractive page and an improved user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Hakomo after searching for a company that stood for quality and accuracy. Other candidate companies didn't show evidence of those qualities.

Describe the project in detail.

They designed, developed, configured, and launched our new web portal. The project began with a few workshops, which helped us better understand our business.

What was the team composition?

We had a stable project manager, but we met with a couple developers during the process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

Because of the improved design and user experience, our clients spend more time on our page.

How effective was the project management?

The project manager was accurate and very informative. We communicated through email, Viber, and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Communication is easy because they inform their clients about the work process.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

We are truly satisfied with Hakomo. They do not need to improve.