Linking Arts

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The capacity in which I worked with Linking Arts was as the COO and acting CEO of a non-profit organization for entrepreneurs. We ran an accelerator program for startups and hosted an annual conference on entrepreneurship and innovation. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Linking Arts?

Linking Arts essentially functioned as an external CTO. They oversaw the implementation of all our I.T. needs and helped us develop and prioritize our technology strategy and budget. We also engaged them to build out the event platform for our annual conference. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Linking Arts was our one-stop shop for technology needs from phone, fax, and Wi-Fi to websites and event applications. They provided project management for all our external vendors.  As a nonprofit and small business, we were operating in a resource-scarce environment. Linking Arts helped us formulate an action plan to accomplish our needs within those constraints. 

Linking Arts designed and programmed the entire web-based, mobile responsive site for our conference. We relied on their consultation to prioritize the most critical functionalities it should include. They integrated the platform with our Salesforce CRM so we could manage attendees and analytics. The complex calendar function offered an organized view of our 10-day event, which was held across multiple venues with several co-occurring attractions. They created a registration application that links to both the calendar and CRM. Users could RSVP for specific sessions to develop their own customized schedule. 

What is the team composition? 

Peter (Founder and CTO, Linking Arts) was our account manager and central point of contact.  He served in a comparable role to an in-house consultant. I also worked with two other employees. 

How did you come to work with Linking Arts?

We initially got to know Linking Arts through our programming for entrepreneurs. We worked with them while they were building out another startup company. They came onboard internally for this project to serve the functions we needed.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from January 2015–June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our event attracted about 10,000 people. Each guest who attended the event had to go through the website and registration process Linking Arts created for us. That figure provides a rough estimate of the user volume on our platform. Even as a vendor, they were such a close partner that we relied on them to provide all the CTO expertise to our organization. 

How did Linking Arts perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a very successful project. During the event, Linking Arts took on a lot of the troubleshooting. We really appreciated the hands-on approach they took to get things back up and running whenever there was an issue or challenge. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From running a nonprofit, I'm familiar with the need to maximize impact in a tightly resource-constrained environment. I appreciated that Linking Arts was able to creatively think outside the box. They gave us recommendations on how to best leverage our resources to attain our intended outcomes. We didn't just hire them to execute on a tool or website. Rather, they helped us develop our overarching annual technology strategy and prioritize resources to accomplish our goals. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Linking Arts was not only a vendor we relied on for execution, but also a trusted adviser. They helped us develop the strategy and tactics that would be most successful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the creator, owner, and marketer of PictureMan, which offers photo marketing services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Linking Arts?

I wanted to develop a mobile app that would assist my photography business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The crux of my idea was an app that would take pictures and make them immediately available to attendees at a certain event via a website created specifically for that event. I’m able to create an event website for a client that is branded with their logos, and Linking Arts developed a camera application for iOS and Android that allows me to upload photos to that site. Then, the event organizers and attendees are sent an email link, making all those photos available to them in real time for their own website, for their social media, or for their personal use. Linking Arts also developed a backend platform where I could manage everything online.

What is the team composition?

I worked with one project manager, and he led a team of developers.

How did you come to work with Linking Arts?

I met them at an entrepreneur’s conference in New Orleans, and we kept in touch. At that time, I didn’t know I would eventually need tech services. I later came up with this idea and reached out to them to see if they could bring it to life.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2017. We hit our first benchmark in February 2018, when I was able to test the app. The testing phase was completed in April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve conducted seven event photo shoots so far, and I’ve had hundreds of users. The process is so seamless in how users get their photos. This app makes me more marketable as a photographer, and I’m able to book more clients.

How did Linking Arts perform from a project management standpoint?

They were technically sound, but they had people skills as well, making it easy to communicate and build a rapport. They had many other projects but were eager to develop mine because they liked the idea. They made insightful suggestions throughout the process. I am most comfortable working with an iPhone, but they suggested that the app be functional for iOS and Android, and that decision has already paid off. I could always access them on the phone or through Slack. I asked a lot of them, and they went above and beyond.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re willing to work with your budget in order to accomplish your goal. They’re not turning you away because you don’t have enough money. They want to build you something with the money you have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would have loved to meet the entire team. I met with the project manager, but it would have been great to meet the developers and have a conversation with them and get their feedback as well. They’re the brains behind putting this app together.

Any advice for potential customers?

It is best to have your business model mapped out and have a clear vision for the project. It is easier to tackle all potential issues during development than to go back once it’s done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Where Y'Art. We’re an online art and technology startup that provides artists with sales opportunities and exposure. We also maintain physical art galleries throughout New Orleans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Linking Arts?

We’re a web-based company, so even our physical galleries and exhibitions have a tech component because we incorporate QR codes that direct people to our site. However, my business partner and I aren’t technology experts. We needed a development firm that could work with the platform’s custom code and collaborate with us to support and improve it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our previous developers custom-built the CMS using a Laravel framework. This made it difficult to find other developers to interact with the code and provide even small changes. Therefore, Linking Arts moved the platform into a more manageable development environment. Then, they redesigned the site and optimized it for mobile. Now, gallery visitors can visit our website and get an app-like experience without having to download anything.

Linking Arts also assisted our marketing efforts by going over the site and strengthening our calls-to-action. They helped us utilize as many customer conversion strategies as possible. We’re constantly working together to improve SEO by regularly posting on our blog, creatively using headers, and tagging metadata in photos.

What is the team composition?

We work with both their co-founders. Peter (Co-founder & CTO, Linking Arts) is our primary point of contact and acts as the project manager for our developments.

How did you come to work with Linking Arts?

We were initially in an accelerator program with Linking Arts and decided to pursue a significant engagement with them due to their technical expertise. Being a startup themselves, they understand the challenges we face regarding capital, timelines, and workflows.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2015 and our relationship is ongoing. We have them on retainer, but also use them for contract-based projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Most of our metrics have remained consistent, but we can now better track web-traffic. Our sales have increased a fair amount since working with them. Also, their SEO services have caused our Google ranking to skyrocket.

How did Linking Arts perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re not master tech developers, so we often don’t realize what our users experience when they visit the website. As a result, we need a lot of management and keeping an open dialogue facilitates that. We communicate with Peter via Slack and he passes the information to his team of developers. He also coordinates and consults with our previous developers. They use Toggl to track development hours and we use a coding system to log tasks we want to be done in Pivotal Tracker. They assign stars to the task that indicates how long it will take to complete. We discuss details like price with them on Slack and then give permission to begin development. Once a task is complete, we check it using our staging or development server before going live with it on the website.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They made an extra effort to include us in the process. We’ve worked with developers in the past who only spoke in technical terms. This made us feel powerless and unable to substantially contribute to project discussions. Linking Arts have been really good about phrasing things in layman’s terms and taking us through the project step-by-step.

A lot of developers only do coding or approach entrepreneurship solely from a tech background. We appreciate that the co-founders of Linking Arts are entrepreneurs and thus understand the difficulties we face on a daily basis. Also, they ask questions about why we want certain features instead of blindly coding whatever we ask.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any specific suggestions. We have a great working relationship.