Lithios

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive VP of innovation at an insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

We needed help with mobile app design and development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios has helped us with mobile app design and development for an iOS app. Initially, we intended to develop it internally, but we needed an outside vendor to relieve some strain on our own development team. We had a pretty fleshed-out concept built already.

Later, we walked through our existing requirements and brainstormed. Once we had a functional prototype built in Figma, we moved on to the development phase.

This app is client-facing, and our goal is to give better and faster service to our clients. We want to put a tool in their hands that enables them to follow a standardized workflow intuitively.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five people, including Kassidy, the operations lead, DeShawn, the CEO, Ziwa, the technical lead, the developers Amado and Eduardo, and Sarafina, the UX/UI designer, who has led us through the entire process.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

We looked at several vendors in this space, and Lithios was the Goldilocks scenario. They weren’t too large, where our project would be unimportant, but they had the team and expertise to deliver quickly and with high quality. We just got lucky.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2024, and the engagement is ongoing. We’re almost complete, and we’ll have support after the project is finished.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Lithios has successfully developed the app. Thanks to them, we’ve saved over 1,000 hours of internal development time that we’ve been able to put elsewhere. Overall, the quality of their work has met our expectations.

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

During the design phase, we had outstanding project management. We were impressed with Sarafina’s ability to adapt to our changing needs as we developed the project. However, project management hasn’t been their strong suit during the development phase.

We use Office 365 to share information, Google Meet for video calls, and Asana for bugs and tweaks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The developers have worked intensively. Besides, during the design phase, Lithios truly helped us flesh out the concept and quickly iterate on it. Moreover, they have been responsive to changes and tweaks as we work to put something together that is functional, billable, and meets the needs of our clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Lithios' project management could be improved during the development phase.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Teen Health Research, a woman-owned small business on a mission to modernize adolescent sex education. We work on adolescent sex education digital products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

We hired Lithios for web development services for an app we were creating.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios is developing an app to help parents and early adolescents have conversations about puberty, bodies, and relationships. The app is for two users. Initially, we worked with Lithios on the frontend design and development work. We've also collaborated to determine our needs and are now working with their programmer on the front- and backend development of the app.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Kyle, who's our project manager, Brendan, who's our developer, and a UI/UX designer.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

We found them through my university, North Carolina State University; they had worked with Lithios before.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2024, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've measured success based on whether Lithios delivers on time and whether the app itself is working as it should with few bugs. We’ve gone through a few iterations of things, and Brendan is really fast at making updates. The team has hit all their deadlines and delivered what they promised — they’ve even delivered more than promised. Brendan always lets me know what he can do, promises to try for a bit more, and always delivers on more. 

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

Brendan is very responsive. We stay in touch via email and, during the height of development, have weekly meetings. He’s efficient and answers all my questions. If I have an email question, he usually responds within a few hours or within a day at most.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Brendan has been amazing. He’s easy to work with and does great work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brendan has gone above and beyond and delivered more than promised. We’ve heard horror stories about companies that delay things and increase the budget, but Lithios has stayed on our timeline and budget. Brendan is also personable. As a programmer, he’s good at explaining things and helping me understand what’s going on in the backend.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's no room for improvement on the development side; we've had a really good experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get a lot in writing and be very clear on the scope of services and the timeline. Lay that out, make sure your questions are answered, and know exactly what they’re going to deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder and CEO of Theralinq

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

We had a prototype of a product. Based on early customer feedback about that prototype, we were looking to refine what we had already developed. Therefore, our goal was to get a refined version of our original prototype in the form of a clickable and investor-ready MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios provided us with product development services. They specifically helped us build a clickable MVP for a mobile app. Initially, we had two virtual calls of about 2–3 hours to go through the discovery process. We provided them with information on what we were looking to expand from our current prototype and gave them basics about our business model. From there, we moved into a weekly cadence of meetings, as Lithios worked on building the MVP.

As for the technology stack, Lithios built everything using Figma. This app will be launched for both iOS and Android devices. It'll be an accountability and data-capture tool for parents with children with motor development delays and their therapists.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two teammates from Lithios: the VP of operations and a UI/UX designer.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

 We came across their company through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–July 2024. Although this part of the project has been completed, we're in the process of reviewing another proposal to potentially continue our collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with Lithios saved us around 70 hours' worth of work and thousands of dollars in cost. Moreover, their work met our expectations.

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

Lithios' communication was great, and they delivered exactly on time and on budget. We communicated via Zoom calls and emails.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I would like to give a shout-out to Sarafina (UI/UX Designer). She did an amazing job of quickly understanding our business model, diving into the important needs of our prototype, and building an amazing end product.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lithios' biggest strength was their ability to understand our business and the type of product we needed for our business model.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have much to critique them on; they were great.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Fill out the onboarding form to the best of your ability; make sure to take the time during the initial call to cover all the important features of your product; and be collaborative and communicative with Lithios because they are that with their clients. Overall, they're great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Smart City Program Manager of Town of Morrisville

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Local Municipality in the RTP region of North Carolina. We serve the 30k+ residents of Morrisville, NC,

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Lithios to accomplish?

• Create an intuitive, easy to use application that is highly efficient and secure.
• Develop a mobile application that shared the vision and goals that our community, staff, council members, and steering committee identified as being important areas for the town to address.
• Content should be published that is RITE (Relevant, Interesting, Timely and Entertaining) as applicable.
• Create an engaging experience that drives user retention through the value the app provides to their life.

SOLUTION

How did you find Lithios?

NCLGISA

Why did you select Lithios over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Lithios were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of work involved Lithios taking over a project that underwent a discovery phase by another mobile application developer, interpreting their findings, and adding their own vision to those findings. Lithios took the full discovery phase that was done under a separate vendor, conformed it to their process, and was then given the opportunity to provide their own feedback, UI/UX flows, and vision with what we information was provided and it did not disappoint.

Lithios questioned the information given and pushed back where it was needed to drive our vision in a way that we feel would better serve our residents, being as how they approached it as what would they want to see out of their own cities app. We identified 14 key sections of the app that we wanted to be designed, developed, and integrated into a seamless platform with an additional 2 years of planned ideas.

Some of these scoped items involved an onboarding user workflow, newsfeed, calendar, an interactive map view, and notifications to name some of the larger deliverables. These all seem like relatively easy lifts, but we further required all of the content that is generated in the app, to be self sustaining via API pulls from various other platforms such as ESRI, Everbridge, Granicus, Varidx, Open Datasoft, and other platforms.

The various api pulls involved created a challenge to be able to drive each of the different aspects of the app from third party integrations. These same staff members would not need to redundantly post content in multiple places. We also asked them to recommend an original feature or design that could contribute to the overall app that they feel would be a good driver of adoption feature.

After kicking off a few meetings and working through some of the initial design challenges with our desired features, Lithios pitched an idea for a digital art contest that we felt aligned with our goal of highlighting residents in unique ways, would help drive adoption of the platform, and entice residents to open the app from time to time to view local artists.

In the end, Lithios was responsible from delivering on the items listed in our scope of work proposal that was bid on. Some of the key deliverables upon completion was full source code to the mobile app as well as connecting the new app to our Google Analytics platform so that we could analyze usage of the app along side usage of several different other mediums to help us determine what is the most utilized source of town information.

A third item we asked for was continued support of the platform and any fresh ideas they may have thought off during development of the app that we might be interested in bringing into the app in future phases of the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within the first two weeks of launching the new app, We have a 700% increase in the userbase on just Apple devices compared to the previous version of the app that we had for 5 years. Impressions were up 129% and total number of sessions launched was increased over 448%. On Android, userbase has increased by 97% with an increase of 6,400% for store listing visitors.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Throughout the project they utilized several different methods of communication and managing the project. They utilized email, google meetings, Asana, and Figma to track UI/UX design and deliverables. Primarily transferring to Asana for bug reporting as we underwent beta testing for various internal testers.

What was your primary form of communication with Lithios?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The turnaround time on fixes and correcting errors within their control was exceptionally quick. With a week to go until launch, we were extremely uneasy about being able to hit the deadline with the amount of requests that we had in the pipeline for resolution. They delivered a few days early and we were able to push for approval prior to our go live date.

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

It feels like it would be nitpicking at this time. One area that could be improved on is communicating anticipated lead-times for approval of apps. Hearing about how long the final approval could take from Android or Apple when submitting the app could cause impacts on deadlines if they were not accounted for upfront.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a full professor of communication at NCSU.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

The Office of Research Commercialization at NCU supports the creation of startups, and I wanted to do a game that would help people understand how viral diseases spread.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios is helping us develop the initial screens of a location-based game I envisioned to get more funding for its entire build. The final product will be an iOS and Android-based mobile app.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with a project manager and Kassidy (Operations Lead).

How did you come to work with Lithios?

They were recommended to me by another vendor.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with their work, and I like that they’re professional and highly invested in the project. The designer is also great because she’s attentive to our feedback and collaborative.

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well from a project management standpoint, because they consistently keep track of the project and meetings.

We typically communicate and collaborate through email and meet on Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like how they always accommodate our needs and regularly ask me for my feedback to ensure they’re developing within the scope we want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback because we have a smooth experience with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise you to communicate frequently and actively participate in the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sherpa Collaborative (sherpacollab.com) is a private equity and professional services firm. We focus on early-stage businesses in a broad range of industries.

We provide fractional C-suite consulting, digital marketing and media buying, and accounting and finance services. I am a founding member and managing partner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lithios?

We hired Lithios to manage the design of the mobile version of one of our portfolio company's (Prompted.io) application Prompted™. Prompted™ is a guided journaling application.

We work with omni-industry thought-leaders to create "Prompt Pathways™", which are a series of questions curated to guide a user towards self-improvement and development in specific areas of their lives, ie: business, health, parenting, habits, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After reviewing a dozen or so potential providers, including ones which we have worked with on other projects, we landed on Lithios. The leadership team is incredibly accommodating and seemingly more concerned with their clients' needs than their own.

This character was manifested in scheduling, pricing, cadence, communication, and more. We also found them to be a good cultural fit. They have a very empathetic approach and tailor their proposals accurately agains the RFP. Put simply, they listen and adjust. Pretty damn refreshing.

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

We began with discovery and research. We had a series of team meetings to build rapport and properly scope the project, set milestones, and build expectations. None of the time was wasted, and the agendas were always clear. Following the initial phase, the Lithios team set to work.

We were always pleasantly surprised at the progress that was made between meetings and the diligence of their team to take feedback and incorporate it into the deliverables. As a 15 year veteran in software and design, I know how difficult it is to interpret the vision of a client, but Lithios navigated our, often less than clear, requests with ease an accuracy.

Upon completion, the deliverables were handed over cleanly and the transition was as smooth as could be hoped for.

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

We worked with one of the most talented designers I've had the pleasure of doing business with. Sarafina, is incredibly accomplished and has a way of bringing to life even the vaguest of concepts. We also worked with a project manager who was most impressive in organizing the work and guaranteeing that everything was completed on or ahead of schedule.

Kyle is a world-class person and is considered to be a good friend to the Sherpa and Prompted team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The design work exceeded all expectations. We came in with a loose understanding of what we wanted, and left with something more. UI/UX ended up being much more robust, with new feature sets that we developed over the process with the Lithios team.

We have field tested the designs with our users on the active web-version and have been met with very enthusiastic responses. The release of this software is highly anticipated!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Extremely... The project management was best in class, and not once were we caught off guard by missed deadlines or departure from expectations. Everyone worked and communicated well together.

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

There was a level of service that the Lithios team brought to the project that I simply haven't experienced before. I've been a part of dozens of software builds and rarely rate a team's ability to deliver above a "C". I sincerely and without hesitation give the Lithios team an "A".

They separate themselves from the pack in a number of areas, including: Responsiveness Disciplinary Skill Communication Industry Knowledge and Best Practices Personality (They're super fun to work with!) The list could go on...

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

I'm glad they didn't, but as a business owner, I'd probably advise them to charge more :-)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a startup called Dispatchr; we’re a construction project management app that helps manage on-site staff.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

I was working with a construction company to automate the process of managing construction workers out in the field, and I needed development assistance. We wanted to create a web application that could send daily tasks to specific workers and job sites to make the process easier, and track when jobs are completed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios has helped us build the web application from scratch. We went through a design and development phase, and they integrated the web app with third-party applications such as Twilio, a phone provider. They’ve also integrated Stripe, which is an online payment software.

They’ve used a software called Mailgun to automate our emails and Heroku, a server application. We’ve also worked on QA and finding bugs, but we haven’t explicitly outlined maintenance in their scope. We plan to work on web sockets to enable live updates and build other features as we continue the engagement.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Kassidy (Operations Lead), Kyle (VP of Operations), Brendan (VP of Technology), and a developer.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

I was looking for a web development partner local to Raleigh because that’s where the construction company is based. I researched development agencies online and reviewed their portfolios, employees, and accomplishments. 

Lithios seemed like the best fit because they’d worked with B2B and B2C customers, and their frontend looked great, so I reached out for a consultation. They made me feel very comfortable, as though they’d be able to handle the project, and I trusted them to get the job done. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested roughly $50,000–$100,000 in the project with Lithios. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Lithios in March 2022. We launched the product in August 2022, but the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We recently launched, so sharing specific metrics regarding user engagement or revenue is hard. Lithios developed the application in a short amount of time, according to the specifications. They’ve included all the integrations and features I asked for, which is impressive. 

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

The Lithios team is very professional, and I like their project management process. I came in with a solid idea of the product, which I outlined in the initial scope document. Lithios has executed the work so quickly that we haven’t had to track the project at the task level. 

They’re quick to respond to requests, often within the hour, which has been great. They’ve been flexible with design iterations and given us additional iterations beyond the scope at no extra cost. 

Lithios has been great when it comes to development time. We have biweekly meetings via Google Meet, and they always have significant updates, so the development process has happened very quickly. We typically communicate via email and text, which has been really convenient. 

In terms of staying on schedule and within budget, we’ve been very flexible with each other, and they’ve met expectations. We agreed to a specific payment structure based on three clearly-defined milestones. Even though some tasks ran a bit longer than expected, that was mainly due to changes on my end or one-off complications with the specific task. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been most impressed by their communication style and easy-going attitude. I have a technology background and work with developers and designers, which I think has given me an edge and played a role in the project’s success. The Lithios team is driven and focused, and I feel like we speak the same language regarding technology. We’re very aligned in our working style, which has made the project successful and easy. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing Lithios could improve on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more features and concepts you define before working with Lithios, the quicker and easier the process will be. That doesn’t mean you won’t be successful with just a concept because I think they’re competent and professional enough to produce great work regardless. 

I think the best way to succeed with Lithios is to trust their process because they know what they're doing from a development standpoint. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering of LearnPlatform, an educational data company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

For our service to work, we needed to collect data on how school districts use their tech products. We hired Lithios to help us create an extension that could capture the information we’re looking for.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios developed an iOS app that serves as an extension to monitor and reject web traffic. Overall, it’s a network extension filter within the Apple API that sends the data they capture to our data service. It then crunches all the numbers and presents them within our platform for school districts to view and analyze.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two members of their team, including Kyle (VP of Operations) and Brendan(VP of Technology).

How did you come to work with Lithios?

They were already working with our company when I got involved in the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2021–May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work made a huge impact on our businesses because we had entire school districts that work only with iOS, so the fact that we couldn’t capture any data from iPads was a huge limiter for us to onboard those clients. Overall, the extension they developed for us opened a market and a new way to do reporting and get data for school districts — they did a great job for our company.

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a straightforward process; they were responsive and took our feedback. Regarding tools, we used Zoom meetings and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They helped us think through different scenarios to figure out how to overcome our challenges.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been great if they had more expertise within the Apple API space. But still, we know that there aren’t many experts out there, so they were learning as they were going.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of Washington's Hammer, a tech startup dedicated to advancing the tools and techniques utilized in U.S. Naval ship building and ship repair.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Lithios to produce a clickable prototype for our app, Keelblok.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Lithios has a wonderful reputation regarding app development and I've used their services to support a previous project.

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

Lithios used Figma to produce our clickable prototype and we reviewed their progress weekly through Zoom meetings.

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

A Lithios project manager and two app designers participated in crafting the Keelblok prototype.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Lithios provided Washington's Hammer with beautiful and functional prototype that captured the requirements of the Keelblok app.

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

Our window was small; however, Lithios was able to meet our needs by sharing early versions of the prototype and conducting our weekly Zoom meetings.

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

Lithios' customer service was incredible! When our team had a question, we typically received an answer within 24 hours or less. Kyle, Sarafina, and Ryan showed a great working relationship that helped produced a great prototype.

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

A final check off sheet that shows the services that were provided and how the statement of work was fulfilled.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the SANE/ Forensic Nurse Program Coordinator at UNC Health in the Medical Center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lithios?

We are creating a website for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) to keep track of their classroom and clinical training, cases, and ultimately display a map open to the public to identify where patients can seek expert medical forensic care.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Many folks on the Lithios team volunteer their time to a website called OurWave, which is a place for survivors of sexual violence to build community. This seemed like an appropriate fit for our project.

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

Lithios assisted us in coming up with a name for our website, staySANE, a color scheme and logo. They also developed an extensive UX flow for each of the different user types, and have just completed the full mock up design of the website.

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

We worked with a project manager and two designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did an amazing job at taking the time to fully understand our work and just how convoluted it is to become a SANE in NC. Sarafina particularly showed us such patience as we constantly wanted to double check that we had the onboarding piece accurate and in accordance with the NC Board of Nursing requirements.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We met weekly, and the team showed us a lot of grace when our clinical obligations trumped the meeting on several occasions. The team was always quick to respond via email. There were several occasions I needed some quick data, screenshots, or even a video of the product to date and they always got it right back to me.

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

I have not ever worked with a tech company in this capacity before, but I was impressed with their creativity, hard work, and patience with us learning. And, most importantly the final design mock up!

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

The Lithios team is amazing, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with them.