Linkup ST

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a social media marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

We wanted to quickly find high-quality development resources that could work closely with our own developers on cloud-development tasks.

They needed to do backend development, and we also needed a flexible, dynamic team When you’re building a prototype, you need to move from 0% to 200% quickly. Then, when there are no changes to make for a month or two while you’re retrieving data, you need to be able to slow down on the resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

LinkUp provides offshore development and management services. Sometimes they provide full-on prototypes and mockups step by step, and sometimes they deliver on much simpler needs — brainstorming with us to find the best solution. We’ve even brought them into strategy discussions and shown them the vision deep inside our company. We’ve been focused mostly on web applications so far, and we’ve used their advice and consulting on UI/UX.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had moments where there are five frontend developers working on quick and intense projects, and then other moments when there are two developers in maintenance mode. This type of flexibility is a highlight of working with LinkUp.

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

At the time, we were looking for an outsourced company to provide our required flexibility. It was hard to find the right developers, but we ran different tests with a number of options on UpWork. After working with a few developers that weren’t quite good enough, we found LinkUp. This is one of the reasons I’m so happy to review them: so I can help other entrepreneurs find a trustworthy partner. In the end, you need someone you can trust.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since around January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our success is measured by the number of users we serve, and we’ve opened up several different markets over the past few years.

They started as a young company doing outsourcing six years ago, and we’ve seen them become more understanding and professional around startups’ needs. The LinkUp team I work with today is a whole different company than they were five years ago. I see them make a lot of positive impacts especially in their management of resources and handling of details. We want happy developers that are pleased with their work environment, and LinkUp has very much improved in this area.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Asana for project management and communicate daily or weekly depending on the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re taking care of the administrative and management sides, which allows us to focus on what’s important on the development side. Startups are rollercoasters, and, at times when we really needed someone trustworthy to have a business-oriented discussion with us, Andre (CEO) has never failed us and has always come through. We’ve worked with other companies for smaller projects, and it isn’t the same type of warm and intimate relationship that we have with LinkUp.

Their trustworthiness stands out, and they’re very understanding of our business and needs. There are human resources that we can always speak with on the other end when we call them, and they’re always reasonable as well, which helps us take everyone’s needs into account.

In crucial situations — where a server goes down or we face a security attack — we know we can count on them like we do our own employees. LinkUp will work on it all night to figure out how to solve a problem.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything is so well-communicated that I don’t think there’s ever been an issue. Our needs, wants, and resources, are always coordinated correctly and in conjunction with us.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Speak openly with them, their developers, and Andre. The more open you are, the better their coordination will be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an educational platform for all things related to the beauty industry. Both professionals and consumers alike have access to products, knowledge, information courses, certifications, and other resources. There’s also help for business management and beauty guidance, tutorials, tips, and tricks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

I am not skilled with technology, so when I was turning my idea into a platform, I ran into a number of challenges. I’m quite artistic, so I needed someone who was going to understand my visions; when I drew my ideas on paper, no one really understood them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They do UI design, and I’m also working with them now on AR technology. We just started, but we’re trying to develop an app for facial recognition to help professionals and people interested in beauty services see the effects on their face before the procedure is done.

For the website, I provided them with hundreds of wireframes that I drew; we sent design PDFs back and forth.

What is the team composition?

Initially, I worked with 2–3 designers to find the layout of the solution. Then I worked with two heads of the project, before transitioning to just one head. I worked with 3–4 backend developers and two frontend resources. Andriy (CEO) oversees everything.

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

My business partner had worked with them a bunch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve paid around $75,000–$80,000 to date, but the total cost could be up around $175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their quality of work is amazing. They’re on top of everything at every hour of the day. If there’s an important task, then they’ll stay up with me to figure it out. If I have an issue, they’re very responsive, quick to respond, and attentive. They walk me through every part of the work in detail, and I sign off on everything.

They give me options at different price points and timelines as well.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

I have a weekly call with them; initially, we looked at wireframes and now we review staging.

The fact that they’re doing their own due diligence and trying to help figure things out and learn things for my project is great. They’re very organized as well; when we get off calls, they send feedback based on what we discussed and what’s needed moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been great at designing and developing because they understand what I’m trying to create and actually give me suggestions. This is what keeps me working with them for everything I need. If they don’t understand something, then they’ll educate themselves and work through the issue to help me.

I haven’t worked with too many other companies to this degree to this extent, but no one has understood what I want and what I draw up like they do. LinkUp has been so good to me that I’ve stopped shopping around for other agencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing really needs to change, as they’re on time or ahead of schedule with anything. Even with COVID, we only feel one week behind schedule. They’re responsive as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of Impactive, which offers digital organizing tools to campaigns, organizations, nonprofits, and unions to help them expand their supporter base and engage and mobilize supporters during elections or legislative events. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

We hired LinkUp Studio to help us develop our software tools. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

LinkUp Studio is doing end-to-end product development for our firm — they've worked on mobile and web applications and administrative portals. Their project managers help us build-out project requirements that are then communicated to the design and engineering teams. My team handles most of the research, working directly with our clients and relaying relevant information to LinkUp Studio's team. Once we collaborate on the design, their team brings our projects to life. LinkUp Studio codes projects in Ruby on Rails, React, and JavaScript. Our in-house team works closely with LinkUp Studio — the projects are very collaborative. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with about eight teammates from LinkUp Studio, including project managers, a QA teammate, designers, back- and frontend engineers, 3–4 engineers, and a member of LinkUp Studio's leadership team.  

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

Our head of product had worked with LinkUp Studio previously and recommended their services to us. We brought on LinkUp Studio to do a small project and gradually scaled up the partnership. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested over $200,000 with LinkUp Studio. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in January 2021, and it's ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don't have anything specific that I can point to that demonstrates LinkUp Studio's success. However, I'd never hesitate to recommend LinkUp Studio's services. It's great to be building a product alongside a team that really cares about what they're working on. LinkUp Studio understands the intent behind our products. We've grown from 1–2 teammates working on small-scale projects to an eight-person, full-time team, which speaks to their success. 

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

The project is being managed very well by LinkUp Studio's team. Typically, we use Notion and GitHub to track projects — LinkUp Studio is plugged into our project management system. We primarily work with their engineers, who've coordinated well with our in-house teams to track projects. We never have to worry about managing LinkUp Studio's team. They're very responsive and their QA is very strong. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It's hard to find talented resources in the software industry that care about the product and its results. Their team will walk us through every step of the design process to highlight potential pitfalls, which is super helpful because then we don't develop a bad design. It's rare to find firms like LinkUp Studio with affordable, scalable teams. Their founder is also very impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With any vendor, it's essential to learn how they work. We had some initial communications issues, and I think we could've formally established communication methods to avoid misaligned expectations. I don't have any strong critiques of their work — I think LinkUp Studio is doing a great job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd advise customers to have internal stakeholders providing projects structure — that's how to set up a successful partnership with LinkUp Studio. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

I had terminated my design team and needed a design and frontend development agency for our app. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

LinkUp Studio designed an app for us. We started the process with a thorough discovery phase where the team conducted some business analysis and research. Then, they came back with user-driven ideas that were on-trend and popular.

Then, the team proceeded to create the UI/UX design, starting with the wireframe. They first sketched out all the cards and screens. Once they finished the wireframe, LinkUp Studio injected various branding elements into the design, like our color scheme, logo, and fonts.

We reviewed the design and approved it for development. LinkUp Studio is currently handling the frontend side of things.

What is the team composition?

I work with three designers, including a lead designer. I’ve also worked with a business analyst and Andriy (CEO).

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

We found LinkUp Studio on Clutch and reached out to them. They showed us some phenomenal design and development work, making it clear they were a step above the competition. 

Additionally, the team seemed highly professional, so we went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $450,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in April 2021, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We still haven’t launched, so we don’t have many metrics yet. However, we’ve seen some users already engaging with the product. It’s also helped us raise some capital.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

The entire team has been phenomenal — they set clear deadlines and meet them. Furthermore, LinkUp Studio is keen to let us know what they’re working on to ensure that we’re on the same page.

In terms of tools, we use Figma, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Slack. Whenever I reach out, they usually get back to me in 20 minutes, regardless of what time it is.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s still work to be done, but their services are well worth the price. LinkUp Studio has become a valuable part of our team.

Furthermore, I initially found their research process too thorough, but it definitely paid off because they came back with suggestions that I didn’t think of. 

They’ve taken my vision and suggested a strategy to get the results I want faster and more efficiently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t really have anything critical to say — LinkUp Studio has done a great job executing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear with your requirements and make sure to have written communication with them. Additionally, if they have any advice, be flexible and hear them out — they’re a very knowledgeable team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a commercial mortgage brokerage firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

We engaged LinkUp Studio for the purpose of further progressing our internal and external technology. As a result, we tasked them to build our software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did a discovery phase where we talked extensively about our objectives and about what we were trying to build. On top of that, we shared our problems and we talked about the possible solutions that could address our issues. During that time, they were able to gain a pretty good understanding of what we wanted to do. We didn’t really provide any documentation, LinkUp Studio just asked us about our project’s details. We then went into the architectural phase where we made blueprints of the websites we wanted to do.

The team also provided us with wireframes and sketches. LinkUp Studio is now developing our websites.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with eight people, including front- and backend developers, designers, project managers, and product managers.

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

A friend of mine recommended LinkUp Studio. He said that they were very professional. When I met them, they asked all the right questions, and they easily understood what we wanted to complete.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People have mentioned that they love LinkUp Studio’s design work. Some of those people who have given their compliments are from multibillion-dollar organizations. Overall, I’d definitely recommend them to anybody because they’re a great firm.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

I’d give them a 9 out of 10 rating for their project management process. We use Jira, Slack,  GitHub, and more. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could move a little bit faster. In addition, they’ve changed a few developers along the way, which has been a little bit of a nuisance. However, it’s not that big of a deal.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be diligent in monitoring your project’s deliverables.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Dexfolio, a cryptocurrency app that allows users to track their crypto investments. It hooks into the blockchain and pulls the user’s data from the provide wallet address. Specifically, users can view the tokens in their account, what they paid to purchase those tokens, and what change in value has happened. We’ve also created our own cryptocurrency while providing other cryptocurrency services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio

We’re slowly building more features for the app, such as a detailed overview and transaction history. That’s where LinkUp works; they’re developing our mobile app.   

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The execution started with a lot of planning. We retained the deadlines that we committed to our user community, so we still needed to release a beta app quickly.

From there, we’ve been doing weekly sprints. We’ve spent two months getting our data ready. Having prepared the data, we’ve been releasing new updates every week.

What is the team composition?

We started working with 1–2 people from LinkUp; it wasn’t a big team. However, due to the aggressive timelines we had to meet, we built the team up.

Now, we have 2–3 designers and two full stack developers. We also work with one frontend developer, a backend developer, and a QA engineer. Moreover, LinkUp’s CTO is also working with us, providing guidance as we hit a few bumps on the road of backend development. We have an account manager who handles the communication amongst the team, such as the requirements of the features they want to implement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2021, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

LinkUp has done the app correctly — I can’t say the same for the other agency we’ve used. Simply put, while LinkUp isn’t the best agency out there, they’re also not the worst. Moreover, the team is highly accommodating; they’ve agreed to do most of the things I’ve asked them to do. They let me take an active role in the project, which is necessary to avoid mistakes in the process.

With LinkUp, I can communicate with the developers as needed. I can check their progress and set or join standups.

Overall, LinkUp lets me dictate how things should run, which is extremely valuable for me. I want to develop a team-oriented engagement instead of one with more agency bias. They recognize that and have accommodated it, and I appreciate it.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

LinkUp makes it easy to change things on the fly. They do move slowly, but at least they get things done. What they create works — at the end of the day, that’s what matters most.

What did you find most impressive about them?

LinkUp does three things well. First, they’re respectful of what I want and willing to adapt and change what I ask. LinkUp doesn’t have any issues with what I request. I truly appreciate that. Secondly, they have good-quality developers that know what they’re doing. Lastly, the CEO is especially a pleasure to work with. He aims to resolve any issue or constructive feedback I provide. I've never seen someone take feedback as well as him. This is the main reason I've been sticking with LinkUp.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not impressed with their project management. We’re not pushing things out as fast as we can because they’re strict with their time. For instance, they never work overtime. Apart from that, they charge hourly, which isn’t great when working with an agency. The cost can balloon if they make a bad choice. Even when they bill hourly, they still refuse to work overtime.

Moreover, the team doesn’t have great communication. For example, I’ve seen highly detailed tickets before, and I don’t see that with LinkUp. Likewise, if we’ve had better communication from the start, we would immediately know how to improve the app instead of restarting the development. It doesn’t feel like LinkUp has done this type of development before. That’s weird because I know they have tons of clients. Most likely, they’re unsure about the best approach to this project.

Further, they lack any project owner or manager, while their account manager simply gets their requirements. Projects nowadays have such complex requirements that they need to have someone who’s experienced with project management or being a product owner — LinkUp doesn’t have that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate a clear timeline with LinkUp. They won’t give you a timeline until they’re done researching their estimation. When they give you an estimate, you’ll work from there. With that in mind, you can always simplify or make things better. Tell them when you want to get into the market. Ask them to tell you whether you’re ballooning past your requirements so that you can figure things out before they’re done with their planning and research.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of BuzzAr, an AR solutions marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

We needed to implement cloud storage for our customers; it’s for management repositories, accessing restrictions, and administration. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created the OneCloud repository management system for working with tenants to access restrictions and other management tools for our customers. They used Ruby on Rails, C#, and .NET.

On the frontend side, they used jQuery and React. They used GitLab as the engine for repository storage. They did the UI/UX and all the back-and frontend development. They continue to do some improvements and the development is still in progress.

What is the team composition?

There were two backend developers, one designer, and a frontend developer.

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio

We spent €200,000 ($243,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2018, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality is excellent. The project is in production, and our customers are happy to use it. We had a few bugs, but we’ve received good support. They’re a really responsible team.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We managed the project on our side. We communicate on Skype and Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They care about the results and all aspects of the project. They take responsibility for the whole project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. Create detailed specifications before starting the work. Discuss all the points before starting development.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a startup marketplace to present and promote Ukrainian IT companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

We’re not technically inclined and needed help building our marketplace.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, LinkUp Studio did a business analysis and design discovery where they helped us build the visual aspects of our platform. From there, they designed sketches and we selected several.

We showed them similar systems that we wanted our site to look like.  The site we chose has a WordPress backend and a custom frontend. The team also took care of development and QA.

What is the team composition?

We worked with their CEO, business analysts, and developers. In total we interacted with six people.

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

We found them on the internet and chose them based on several references. In our initial meeting, the team was friendly, nice, and professional.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $140,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019, and our work is ongoing. The main part of the platform is developed. Now, we’re working on testing and adding features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without this marketplace, we wouldn’t have a business. It’s working as expected, and we’ve already made traction with Ukrainian companies. As with any project, there were small aspects that needed to be fixed along the way; that being said, it’s been an overall success. We definitely hope to work with them again on any other projects once this one is wrapped up.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management and communication are great. We have direct communication with their developers. Once every two weeks, they also give us presentations on what they’ve developed. The team is very flexible and willing to incorporate my ideas.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take care of the project full-cycle. The team has good business analysis and consulting. I appreciate their professional insights. It’s great that they do more than just execution. They really invest excellent ideas and thoughts. Additionally, their designers are professional and they offer great feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to take advantage of their consulting skills. Not every company provides a formal discovery phase. It was really valuable in helping us form our ideas. It’s also important to be proactive with communication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Cyfluencer is a spin-off from WadiDigital’s growing client-base of cybersecurity companies looking for a way to scale share of voice via influencer marketing and distribution. I'm responsible for product management for the platform, as well as product marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire LinkUp Studio, and what were your goals?

Our challenge was to provide a platform where client content could be easily accessed and shared by cybersecurity influencers and track the clicks to our clients sites via these shares. PPC meets Influencer marketing.

Our goal was to create and MVP platform that would create a simple and clear user experience for two different types of client users.

SOLUTION

How did you select LinkUp Studio and what were the deciding factors?

LinkUp was referred by a satisfied client and was then compared to three other proposals.

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

Discovery and design took place, helping define feature priority and arrive at an agreed MVP.

We were given access to Jira to monitor the sprints and progress. Working on a tight deadline we redefined some parameters towards the end and reprioritized and were able to pull off a successful product launch.

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

At the height of the project, there were maybe 10 people involved. A designer, business analyst, maximum 3 front end and 3 back end developers and 2 QA's.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch on time and smoothly with no major hiccups or disruptions of service. The transition from the third party platform we used to our own created no down time.

We also saw a dramatic improvement in the quality of traffic our clients were receiving from our platform, with their metrics in analytics confirming substantial positive upticks.

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

The project management style was pretty classic, tracked in jira and discussed in weekly meetings.

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

They understood the needs of a specific niche of influencer marketing and translated it into the software. For those outside of marketing, the vision sometimes wasn't clear, but they seemed to understand the user stories very well.

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

There were a few minor miscommunications throughout the process, but that is as much on us as the company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a boutique firm for economic development and technology solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with LinkUp Studio?

We needed help with web development. The idea was to give business communities a platform to connect with one another. We needed help with the framework, specifically.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

LinkUp Studio helped us develop a web platform for entrepreneur connections. Their team was responsible for UI/UX, architecture, code implementation, and QA. They worked in Ruby on Rail and React.js on AWS.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Nazar (Ruby on Rail Developer), André (Lead Generation Specialist), and three other resources.

How did you come to work with LinkUp Studio?

We got in touch with them from another operation that we were involved in.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2015, and we wrapped up in December 2016. They also did a few adjustments for us in 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We brought them our ideas and they addressed them with a “can-do” spirit. We were thrilled with the look and feel. Their reaction time and quick pace really blew us away. We had a complete symbiosis with one another. The quality was really fantastic. We threw them all kinds of wrenches and they made it work.

How did LinkUp Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Once we got the framework decided, they took off like lightning rods. We had regular meetings where the team was always constructive. There was never a lag on their part. We used Flash.pm for project management.

André is an amazing business person. His personality is amazing. He’s customer-oriented and goes the extra mile to get the job done. He keeps his team on track to meet all deadlines. We couldn’t ask for a better situation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their sincerity really stands out. They went above and beyond the call of duty. The team is so transparent and upfront. We always knew what we were getting. Their positive attitude and diligence really contributed to the project’s success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re always improving. We were really happy with the outcome.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A project always needs to start with an idea. Start with a preliminary question and feedback session. Let ideas develop slowly but also have a concrete goal.