Nolte

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of shootx9.com, an online photography platform. Photographers can sell their work through our website with printing and framing fulfillment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nolte?

Around two years ago, I had a concept for the platform. I’m a visual person with a strong sense of what I wanted design-wise. However, I needed help bringing that idea into being.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, I had a meeting with their team and gave them a list of things I wanted to accomplish. We then figured out a timeline and budget. We worked weekly on scaling up the project and reviewing what had been done. I was in touch with a couple of Nolte’s people on a regular basis, but I don’t know what the full size of the team was. The site took them one year to pull together.

How did you come to work with Nolte?

I got in touch with a big online developer to get a sense of the budget for my site. The more I talked to them, the more I came to believe that my site would take teams of developers weeks or months, at $250 per hour. I started thinking that it was never going to happen. Fortunately, that company recommended Nolte. They described them as a small and very talented company that could work within my budget. At the time, I believe that Nolte had an accelerator program that allowed them to work with entrepreneurs.

How much have you invested with Nolte?

The cost of Nolte’s work was around $25,000. I’ve talked to people who mentioned that the site looks like it cost so much more than that.

What is the status of this engagement?

I just launched the site at the beginning of 2017. Nolte’s team continues to maintain it. I remain in touch with an account manager with whom I discuss technical and business development details. I want to develop a lot of other things on the site, so there will definitely be a bigger project down the road. I want to work with Nolte, and I won’t choose anyone else.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I haven’t worked on similar projects, but I found Nolte to be on top of everything. They have a very confident and experienced team. They work well with people. Beyond just a minimal viable product, Nolte offered me a truly viable website that could remain this way without any sort of additional tweaking. We fussed over all the details, but I have to give Nolte credit for giving me what I wanted and more. They outperformed my expectations.  

The site still in the pre-revenue stage, and I will be pitching it to a venture capitalist in California later today. Right now, it is a free web page for people who want to display their work. Currently, there are 21 photographers on shootx9.com. Users go to the site in order to discover new people, but it really is up to the artists to market their creations since this is an artist-driven site. I still need to do a lot of outreach and marketing, which would require a much bigger budget than what I have now. I’ve taken Facebook and Instagram ads, hoping that they could serve as great channels to get the word out.

What Nolte did for my site was really different and unique. In terms of API, it’s fully integrated into an existing e-commerce framework since the site is also a place where people come to buy great photography. The purchase process is completely seamless, allowing users to buy, frame, and deliver works with the click of a button. It’s a great way for photographers to promote themselves and sell work that may not sell anywhere else. It will be a different experience for each person. Based on the responses I’ve gotten, everyone has been happy.

How did Nolte perform from a project management standpoint?

The process was highly organized. Everything was spelled out in advance, and the work followed suit. I have no complaints at all. Aside from a couple of functionalities that I requested outside of the original scope, we stayed within the budget.

We have regular meetings. I am an old-school person, so I’ve preferred talking on the phone and going over things on the computer screen at the same time. I’m sure that Nolte has different approaches for different people, but this is how I work best.

What did you find most impressive about Nolte?

Without Jeffrey Nolte and his talented team, my site would not exist in any way, shape, or form. They had the ability to bring my vision into being in a way that I could afford. They’re incredibly knowledgeable and extraordinarily gifted at what they do, not only in the best practices for building sites but also in troubleshooting and figuring out problems. I may not be their biggest supporter, but I want to be. I am extremely dependent on what Nolte has done for me, and I’ve told them so repeatedly.

This was my first project of this kind, and I’m not a startup person. I was a bit out of my element, but I could always get advice from Jeffrey. In a way, he is mentoring me. It’s been a great comfort to find Nolte since there is always the possibility of finding a group that you don’t get along with.

Are there any areas Nolte could improve?

There were some complications relating to the integration between my site and others. I wanted the ability to store and transfer high-resolution images for display and printing purposes. They needed to have watermarks and show previews of the printed versions. These are all things that seem like they would fit together easily. In reality, they actually require a lot of code writing. I don’t know much about these aspects, but, from talking to Nolte and viewing their process, I can say that they did an extraordinary job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Skaled. We work with organizations, helping them to optimize parts of their sales technology and processes, in order to gain efficiency. We partner with VPs of sales and sales operations leaders, assisting them with salesforce effectiveness problems, using strategy and sales technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nolte?

We were working on a large web platform. The main goal was to get a functioning website which reflected our brand and message.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nolte assigned two or three resources, including a project manager, a designer and developer. They used AngularJS, WordPress and backend components like Yoast SEO and Gravity Forms.

How did you come to work with Nolte?

I believe we found Nolte through a referral network in the New York technology space. I liked the aesthetic approach on their previous projects. They were able to show a diversity of product types which was appealing, showing us that Nolte could work on high-quality stuff, but could also adapt to different business use cases.

How much have you invested with Nolte?

The cost of Nolte’s work, all-in, was between $20,000 and $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Nolte in February 2016. We finished the initial project in June or May. We continue to use Nolte for maintenance work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We receive regular feedback on the qualitative side about the professional look and feel of our website. On a monthly or even weekly basis, someone will tell us how much they like the site. As a small company, it gave us a much more professional feel, which has been the biggest impact.

How did Nolte perform from a project management standpoint?

Nolte used InVision for the design process, as well as a project management tool. The process was okay, comparable to other service providers. I have my own consulting company, so my bar is probably different than most people’s. I felt that Nolte provided a number of options, instead of making recommendations, which made things take longer. They did do a good project management job, but the speed of completion could have been improved.

What did you find most impressive about Nolte?

They went through a few different iterations for the design. I found that the team really cared about the work, and saw it as their job to get the site done well. This really came through, and it’s not something that can be found easily with other providers.

Are there any areas Nolte could improve?

There were times when we felt that we had to push the pace ourselves a bit. Nolte also had some turnover on the team, which affected our relationship from time to time. Other than that, we were more than happy with everything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a financial services research firm focused on fixed-income securities for institutions and others. I am the chief technology officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nolte?

We needed Nolte to take over the development, management, and maintenance of one of our web properties, a product focused on delivering our content to wealth managers who need a different style of interaction compared to what brokers do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nolte initially performed a survey of the system as it was implemented by other contractors to give us input about the weak spots they identified. After that, they started to implement new features.

We have a WordPress product. I can’t speak to what other technologies are being used for it. There are two or three developers from Nolte’s side working on it, but they’re being used as a contract shop, not staff augmentation. We can give them a set of requirements, based on which Nolte delivers results. How this is done is none of my concern.

How did you come to work with Nolte?

They were recommended to me by another contracting firm we’re using. We liked Nolte because they had the right depth in WordPress that we needed. They had professionalism in their style of working with us, and I quickly developed confidence that, while Nolte wasn’t a part of our onsite team, they would be able to deliver on the objectives we set for them.

How much have you invested with Nolte?

There is a more significant project underway right now. It’s an approximately $15,000 project, while our early assessment work with Nolte had a cost of around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Nolte in January 2017. We give them project work on a continuous basis. I don’t know if we’ll ever be done since the site continues to evolve. Our latest project is set to complete by the end of May.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It’s too early to say. The next project will be an opportunity for me to provide this kind of feedback.

How did Nolte perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very good project managers, working with us in order to understand and capture our requirements, break them down into a project and timeline, ask the right questions, and manage the delivery to that timeline. Nolte has presented some of the work using Google Docs as a collaboration tool. They also use a customer-direction management tool which features a nice history of all our conversations and decisions made.

What did you find most impressive about Nolte?

Overall, I enjoyed the professionalism of Nolte’s approach. I think that there are many weak WordPress developers out there, but Nolte is a true software company. They’re not just hacking together websites: They have project management and development skills above other shops I’ve contacted.

Are there any areas Nolte could improve?

I don’t have any to list just yet. We’ll know more in a couple of weeks when the first major deliverable is set to release. They did a small project for me recently and delivered successfully.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO at Blenderbox. We are an interactive agency. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nolte?

We needed additional development help for our WordPress website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nolte developed our WordPress site using the LAMP stack (PHP with a MySQL database). We have used two developers from their team. We have an informational marketing website for a higher-education learning institution.

How did you come to work with Nolte?

I met the founder of Nolte at an industry conference for owners of digital agencies.

How much have you invested with Nolte?

The cost of Nolte’s work has been around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Nolte three or four months ago. The project is almost finished. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We have an internal project manager assigned to this work and have undergone a number of projects like the current one. The feedback I received from our manager was that it was wonderful to work with Nolte. They are not only experts in the technology, but they also understand the process and how to collaborate. They took our designs and returned a good result. There has been nothing but positive feedback for Nolte, which doesn’t always happen with other developers. We intend to use them again for additional projects which require this skill set.

How did Nolte perform from a project management standpoint?

They are using a number of the same tools in our internal stack, which are industry standards for best practices around web design and development. Nolte is on top of its game, and the team knows what they’re doing.

What did you find most impressive about Nolte?

They’re great at quickly understanding our business requirements, interpreting our designs, and making suggestions based on their expertise with the platform.

Are there any areas Nolte could improve?

I don’t think so. The areas for improvement rely more on our communications with the client. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Modern Spaces is a real estate brokerage in New York City. I am one of the principal founders. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nolte?

We were a two-person shop just starting out and needed to create a website, which can be difficult for a real estate company. We have many listings, and the site needed to be interactive for consumers looking to buy and rent homes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have counted on Nolte and their team for the design and development of a website, which was more than a place for people to look at our offerings. It needed to have a nice look and feel and be interactive.

We have gone through three different sites over the years as we made more money and grew as a company. In the beginning, we were using two or three developers from Nolte’s team and grew to five or six. In terms of technology, there is a lot of integration involved in linking our site to The New York Times or other real estate platforms, for example. Rather than displaying pictures of homes, we have a more intricate system involving maps and a way for listings to be blasted to the real estate community.

How did you come to work with Nolte?

I don’t remember if they were a referral from someone, but I believe that my business partner knew Nolte’s principal. At one point, we interviewed a few different people, but I found Jeff [CEO & Founder, Nolte] to be extremely personable, smart, and creative. His entire team was attentive to everything we needed.

In order to differentiate ourselves as a real estate company, we needed opinions from our developers as well as from consumers. The relationship has been very smooth.

How much have you invested with Nolte?

Throughout the years, the cost has been several hundred thousand dollars. Nolte’s ability to work with us on our budget is very good. They know what we need in order to compete with larger companies but stick to our price and timeline, growing a relationship for the future.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Nolte in 2009. The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

With real estate in general, having a website is the single way in which we can showcase the apartments and homes which we’re trying to sell and rent. Our overall culture and vibe are shown on the website as well. People are going to go to open houses and see the actual product, but before they get there, they have the opportunity to shop around and look at different companies.

Little things like enjoying our format and how everything is laid out can get us the phone call instead of someone else. Our feedback from agents was positive from day one.

The direction was always a good one, and as we’ve grown, we’ve gotten to work with some of the biggest names in New York City, and we’ve gotten great feedback there as well. If there was an issue with our website, it would probably have ruined the deal and hurt our chances of growing and getting new business. The site is user-friendly, and from colors to navigation, it’s a nice experience.

How did Nolte perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t know the ins and outs of the actual systems we use, but as far as being able to speak to someone and get a response within 10 minutes, we have access to everyone in the organization, all the way to Jeff. It’s unusual to have the owner of a company get back to the client, but if they feel that we’re reaching out for an important issue, they will act accordingly.

What did you find most impressive about Nolte?

Their help with the design of the website was really important for us. It’s one thing to call up a technology company to discuss the ins and outs of technology, but someone who actually has a creative mind and can help with interface design and consumer expectations was really important to us.

Are there any areas Nolte could improve?

I’ve been completely satisfied with Nolte; we’ve had a long, great relationship. There’s nothing more that I could ask of them. Everyone in the world can improve in some way or another, but there’s nothing worth mentioning.