Kindgeek

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a CEO at Digital Product Design company, The Gradient, we worked in partnership with KindGeek on a UK-based fintech project. We covered the design of the project, while KindGeek was responsible for implementing our design and building software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KindGeek?

We partnered with KindGeek so they can develop the front end based on the design we provided as well as build a robust back end.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a reliable partner with good software development expertise and project management to implement our design into a quality working product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve worked with KindGeek previously and were well-aware of their experience and expertise.

Describe the project in detail.

We were providing KindGeek with design for the product, and they were responsible for developing the front end based on it. Also, KindGeek were responsible for complete back end development of the product, including architecture planning and testing.

What was the team composition?

It was a big team of 25 members, which included PM, QAs, front end and back end developers, DevOps engineers, and system architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Considering the specifics of our partnership, I can’t share any data.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

KindGeek’s project management is impeccable: processes are polished and in place, the desire to help their partners and clients is always there, managers are experienced.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They always give their maximum. Sometimes, companies like to go at half-force as if preserving their energy for the future. KindGeek is different. No matter the project, scale, or customer, they stay on top of their game.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Didn’t notice any particular weaknesses in their expertise..

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

It’s a blockchain project with the help of which users can safely sell their personal data to banks, insurance companies, and other organizations that could find the data useful. I’m CEO at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KindGeek?

KindGeek’s task was to develop the project from scratch, including front and back end.

What were your goals for this project?

To collect and store large amount of data-sets of consumersI’m a firm believer that improvement is an endless process, especially in business. I have nothing particular to add about KindGeek: they do their best to continuously improve, and it’s quite apparent if you work with them. In their case, I’d say they should act just like they do, and they will remain a well-rounded successful company. .

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve heard a lot of good reviews about KindGeek. Also, their price to quality ratio is attractive.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

KindGeek had to fully develop a product. They planned the system architecture, chose the most appropriate tools to develop, designed the user interface, built front and back end from down to top, and tested everything.

What was the team composition?

The team was small considering the size of the project. The team consisted of full-stack software developer, quality assurance expert, project manager, UI/UX designer, and devops.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have data I can share so far.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our communication about the project development went smoothly. The project manager did her best to keep us informed. The way they conduct project management is well-balanced between formal and informal, which helps to maintain strong relations with customers. Overall, we felt like partners and not simply customers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

KindGeek has sharp business expertise, and they helped us define the business value our project could deliver. On top of that, the company isn’t afraid to admit their mistakes and work on them, which helps them to continuously grow as the company. It’s quite a pleasant rarity.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I’m a firm believer that improvement is an endless process, especially in business. I have nothing particular to add about KindGeek: they do their best to continuously improve, and it’s quite apparent if you work with them. In their case, I’d say they should act just like they do, and they will remain a well-rounded successful company.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a mental fitness expert and owner of a personal website dedicated to my work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KindGeek?

My website used dated technology and lacked optimization. I hired KindGeek to update and optimize the website as well as polish its design.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for the project was to boost the efficiency and usability of the website by updating it, polishing its looks, and increasing the loading speed of the pages.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I know KindGeek well because we have already worked on another project together.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project is a personal website/blog used for the promotion of the services I provide, sharing my knowledge, and building my brand.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of PM and 2 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Unfortunately, I cannot disclose any meaningful data so far, but the loading speed on various platforms increased significantly.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The company has a strict procedure of communication, and the managers did their best to follow it and made our partnership pleasant and productive. My feedback and wishes were always taken into account.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their desire to help and contribute with their vision to our product was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

KindGeek’s experience and expertise are apparent: the communication, the process of development, and overall cooperation went along without any issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Before Hello. We help businesses optimize their business processes like lead generation and handling databases.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KindGeek?

We hired KindGeek to help us develop a new system for one of our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed an ERP system that helps manage employees, their workload, finances, and sales processes. They’ve completed the project from A-Z. They made a lot of useful suggestions to improve the system. We developed an MVP with all the main features.

What is the team composition?

We closely cooperated with their COO and CEO. Of course, we had a project manager, business analyst, developers, and UX/UI designers.

How did you come to work with KindGeek?

We were looking for a company with a good reputation and broad expertise. There are a lot of companies that can offer the same services for the same price, but KindGeek really cared about the success of our business.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted January–December 2019

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re happy with everything they delivered. We’ve tested it with a few companies and everything worked perfectly.

They exceeded expectations by showing a lot of personal interest in the success of our project. Their suggestions were unique, and we hadn’t thought of them before. They helped us understand the market and define the features that were most important. Unlike other software companies, they really contributed to our vision to ensure that the final result was successful.

How did KindGeek perform from a project management standpoint?

In general, communication was executed at a very high level. I was always in touch with them through video calls, emails, and regular calls. I was always aware of what was happening.

Though there were a few minor planning issues, these were easily negated. Overall, they were very professional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their culture–they treat the customer well and really want to ensure that the final result is successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As I said, there were a few issues around planning, but it wasn’t a regular problem. The rest was perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend them to anyone. If you go ahead with your project, you’ll never regret working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

MoveBox is a startup providing on-demand mobile-app based moving services to consumers and businesses in NYC metropolitan area. I am the exec. director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KindGeek?

full stack development: iOS + Android apps, web-based back end, consumer website production. KindGeek was also essential business analysis - helping us define the feature set as well as develop UI/UX.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for the project was to quickly develop simple launchable service and go live. Overall we aimed to create the simplest and most convenient way of finding and booking moving service for any size move, from single item to full apartment move.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We connected on LinkedIn via someone's recommendation. I was looking for an offshore development partner, and had significant prior experience outsourcing development. KindGeek credentials, proposed rate and timeline were attractive and made sense.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We worked closely with KindGeek designer and business analyst to define the project having daily calls and conversations, and then moved to development phase with regular weekly or more frequent project management communications, as well as other procedures and communications protocols. The full development relationship became continuous long term as we had ongoing feature development goals and improvements, as well as implementing core changes to the way the service worked.

What was the team composition?

The team varied somewhat over time and included iOS, Android and backend engineers, QA engineer, on demand UI designer, and business analyst / PM. Typical ongoing team was 4-5 people with simultaneous mobile dev. for 2 platforms.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

the numbers are confidential, however the service went live with decent user uptake and retention. stability and functionality were both very good.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

KindGeek has good communication protocols and open client-centric development culture. Professional and communication skills of the team are highly commendable. Communication is easy and efficient, the PM handle on the project is very solid.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

KindGeek has the ability to support startup approach and become a true extension of your local team. They provide a full range of services from business analytics to development to operations support, all from one vendor. Their technical expertise is high.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As with any team there are strengths and weaker areas. Hiring specialized agencies i.e. for UX design can augment what you get, but you can also keep it all in one place for efficiency with good results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are building the worlds most powerful product sampling, with a focus on relevance, data and analytics. I am the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KindGeek?

Web development in Elixir, using Phoenix.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal for the project was to take a set of fairly detailed mockups and have KIndgeek turn them into functioning web property.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us through a trusted third party.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project was quite straightforward - take a set of mockups and convert them into a basic web property using the Phoenix web framework.

What was the team composition?

Two engineers and a QA person. Small project, small team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our dotcom property project was languishing for a prolonged period of time. As a company focused on delivering new and innovative features into our platform, the dot-com project kept on slipping down the backlog.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was all carried out through email and scheduled video calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Organisation. KindGeek is a very organized team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Whilst the engagement was very positive, a small improvement could be made on requirements scoping. There were parts where the scope was ambiguous and this led to small bumps. Kindgeek demonstrated solid recovery from these bumps.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am co-founder and COO at a firm that makes software that connects all clients data of the real estate brokerage to all property-related data on the market. Our software allows agents to predict which real estate property is most likely to be purchased by a client and helps to make deals within a brokerage or our network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KindGeek?

Full cycle software development (Web, mobile, UX design, QA). We are building AI-based operational system for real estate developers and agents.

What were your goals for this project?

To build the software that will be able to scale according to our goals and plans.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We communicated with more than ten vendors, but selected KindGeek thanks to recommendation by another company.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Full cycle software development (Web, mobile, UX design, QA).

What was the team composition?

PM, BA, Designer, Software Engineers and QA Engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their work is really good. We’ve received a lot of reasonable suggestions and advise. Also, we have refused to use the previous supplier and satisfied with this decision.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Jira for task tracking. Had daily standup calls and weekly retrospectives. It was very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Proactiveness. Great business understanding. Easy communication

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything was great, especially considering our time difference.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CTO of seeknspeak, a recruitment platform. We started our business in January 2017. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KindGeek?

KindGeek has been our outsourced development team since day one when our company was founded.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KindGeek develops the front- and backend of our platform using Angular, PHP, and MySQL. They offer end-to-end services—from design to DevOps to QA. The platform uses Amazon’s Redis, Elastic Transcoder, and some server architecture. 

Their team also provided support on a brief app development project that we shut down after a few months due to internal circumstances. KindGeek’s development team uses Scrum methodology to deliver.

What is the team composition?

The team size has fluctuated over time. We currently work with a full-time backend developer, a full-time frontend developer, a full-time tester, and some ad-hoc project management team members.

How did you come to work with KindGeek?

I had worked with some members of KindGeek’s team before when they were under a different name. I found the group to be highly service-minded. They care more about building a relationship with their client than following a specific process. I like to make sure that any vendor I work with is invested and dedicated to my project, so I was happy to see that level of involvement from KindGeek. That’s why I picked them again for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between £150,000–£200,000 (approximately $187,000–$250,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in January 2017 and is ongoing, but we plan to wrap up their involvement in a month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

KindGeek’s service team is very dedicated to making sure that they deliver high quality throughout the process. Whenever we encounter minor obstacles and miscommunication, their team was always able to solve the issues and ensure that we’re still on track. We can all always do better, but I think KindGeek has done a great job.

How did KindGeek perform from a project management standpoint?

We began with a fixed-fee model for the first three months, and we’ve had a full-time dedicated team ever since. Since I like to be very hands-on, I function as a technical leader. I take care of project management from my side, making daily phone calls and so on. We worked with a project manager two and a half years for a major project that had a tight deadline. That went very well, but we haven’t needed those services since.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their service mentality stood out the most to me. The culture fostered by the senior management perpetuates good values in terms of service and cooperation. This made KindGeek seem different to me compared to other vendors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We can always do better, but apart from small details, KindGeek is doing an excellent job. They have a culture of self-improvement, and I have nothing critical to say about our cooperation with them.

Any advice for potential customers?

For any outsourced project, make sure the business side of the project is clearly defined for all parties. I don’t have any specific advice for customers considering KindGeek. Their level of quality is above average for a company their size, and their level of service stands out. Anyone can do just fine working with KindGeek.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of a consulting firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KindGeek?

I was looking for a contractor to help us. We had growth in the company and attracted new contracts and new customers. We were growing so quickly that we couldn’t cover all of our programming needs with our own in-house resources and we needed additional help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our system optimizes transportation routes. It essentially finds the optimized way to lower customer traffic for the cruise lines at the harbor where the cruise starts and also the harbor where the cruise ends. Cruise lines usually have thousands of people that arrive at the harbor at the appropriate time, and the agency books not only single seats for flights but also the entire airplane or the airline for specific dates such as a charter and things like that. This should be optimized years ahead of time, which is quite complicated.

We used AWS data processing with the logic covering optimization routes. The main technology that we used was Java Enterprise Edition with everything based on microservices.

KindGeek has also worked on smaller projects for us.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of six to eight people. From milestone to milestone, we had to change the team as the logic within the project changed. Sometimes we would need more resources from them as more parts needed to be developed on the backend, and sometimes we had to reduce our resources when only frontend development was needed.

How did you come to work with KindGeek?

I was born in Ukraine and I have a lot of connections there. Their team was recommended to me.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with KindGeek in November 2017 and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s natural to find bugs in any kind of software project, but those we found were minor. We didn’t have any conflicts, and we made all the necessary changes after testing.

Our end customer was also satisfied and they added new functionalities and increased the scope. KindGeek did a very good job and I am very satisfied with the cooperation with them.

How did KindGeek perform from a project management standpoint?

I didn’t have any problems. From a project management perspective, I think they have a reliable team. They were really flexible, and I am really happy that they could provide us with that type of support.

There were situations where we had to change some functionalities and this meant changing the development or rolling something back, and KindGeek’s management was very responsive. They reacted very quickly, and if we needed to scale up in order to meet the milestones, they also provided us with developers.

I felt comfortable receiving reports so that I could control the budget. I always have a contact person who provides me with daily information from the team. I never needed to talk to a separate developer.

This has been very good for me because I could control the development of my smartphone. I didn’t need to write many emails, and the information was short, correct, and quick, which is something I liked.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I had experience with other providers, and sometimes we ended up breaking our contract. The difference with KindGeek is that they are a young group of people who are open and reactive. They were much quicker than other providers, which I liked. When I receive an urgent need from my customer, I know I can ask them to provide me with additional help by the next morning and they will deliver.

In comparison to other competitors, I am glad their team is very organized and reactive to modern tools. Some of the other contractors I have worked with were slower and a bit more old school.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m completely satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise anyone to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of e-commerce at a furniture producer. We sell both B2C and B2B. I lead a team of about five people responsible for our own website, social media, and other marketing channels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KindGeek?

We were looking for a vendor to help one of our partners build a user-friendly website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our partner is based in Sardinia, Italy, and they're selling our product. It's a very seasonal business in Sardinia, so they needed their website to be up and running in two weeks. We gave KindGeek the wireframes and they built a WordPress website for us. After that, we provided our feedback and they implemented the changes. They also did some work on the UX side.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with a project manager and two developers.

How did you come to work with KindGeek?

They were referred to us by someone who had worked with them previously. They're very transparent and their pricing is competitive, so we decided they'd be a great fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £4,000 British pounds (approximately, $5,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement? 

We worked with them between July–August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to turn the project around very quickly and the quality of their work is very high.

How did KindGeek perform from a project management standpoint? 

They were very flexible and responsive to our requests. We mostly used email and video calls to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really tried to understand the business context and the target audience for the website. Also, if they ever found an issue, they'd come up with a solution. They never gave us an excuse or said that something wasn't working for them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We didn't meet in person, so we found video calls to be very helpful. They have experience in different industries, so they can share a lot of insights.