Owlab OÜ

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the marketing manager of a cloud-based services platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Owlab Inc., and what were your goals?

Our websites needed a serious overhaul having become outdated. We have also required consistent dev support for several small projects.

SOLUTION

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

We searched online and found their experience to be exactly what we required.

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

We had a meeting to discuss our current issues and subsequent projects. We then used a system to log tickets to be addressed.

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

We liaised with two of the team throughout, who also carried out work or delegated tasks where appropriate

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our websites are now up-to-date and our forms and databases are consistent with our updated branding, fully functional, and allow for easy access to our team to update details.

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

We used our own comms/reporting tools and a WhatsApp group to communicate. The team are prompt with their responses and the turnaround time for work is superb.

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

They are incredibly quick without sacrificing the deliverables' quality. Available to tackle a huge range of problems/tasks

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

No, very happy with the service.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Technology Officer at Citizen Cosmetics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Owlab Inc.?

We required a lot of assistance in implementing software and services on our e-commerce platform and making adjustments to our Shopify store as well.

What were your goals for this project?

To optimize our store's speed, user experience as well as functionality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I heard about Owlab by word of mouth. They were extremely highly recommended to me by a good friend and I must say I am extremely happy with the recommendation!

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Owlab assisted us in the following:

-Creating new features for our customers

-Optimizing our site speed

-Implementing tags and custom code from our affiliate networks

-Designing and delivering key product pages

-Changing the database structure of Shopify to create custom solutions

What was the team composition?

Vitaliy was my main point of contact and Roman was the key developer. Within the Owlab team there were many other developers assisting in the project as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Owlab were so helpful to me and my team that we have met all of our product release deadlines and we have a fantastically quick response to any small and minor bugs and issues we face.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project was managed superbly with Vitaliy and Roman acting as key points of contacts and clarifying any issues or expectations we have before we start.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their response time and ability to work with short timelines were impressive. Also, their ability to learn on the job about our needs and wants.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No areas of immediate improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO and founder of a predictive analytics company. I was recommended to Owlab for web development by another founder of an alternative data company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Owlab Inc.?

We hired Owlab for web design and development. Since we are a startup the project was really to build our online platform from the ground up.

What were your goals for this project?

Our aim for this early stage was to get a demo in front of potential clients. Once we get the glitches out of this system it will become our MVP.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Owlab was recommended by a friend in the industry.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Owlab built our web interface from the ground up, including integration with Stripe for self on-boarding and integration with our backend (which does the statistical work).

What was the team composition?

Owlab has an extensive team. However, my involvement is primarily with the CEO and our project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Owlab has been excellent and reliable. Each sprint has come in on time and on budget --- they provide an estimate of hours for each task and typically meet the minimum estimate.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We dealt with the project manager using GitHub as our primary tool for keeping track of each element of the project (via the issues tab). Details were handled via frequent calls using WhatsApp. Despite the large time difference our project manager was flexible about the timing of calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Owlab was impressive in delivering a very high quality product on time and on budget.

Are there any areas for improvement?

These guys are superb. You will not be disappointed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TenX was founded in Singapore and is the only company worldwide that makes multiple digital currencies spendable anytime, anywhere by offering a debit card payment system to its users. It has raised $80 million in its initial token sale and made it to the Singapore’s top five, best-funded startups in 2017.

Through the TenX debit card, users can spend any of the funds which can be used in almost 200 countries at over 36 million points of acceptance online and offline. In order to offer the widest range of cryptocurrencies, TenX is working on the Cryptographically-secure Off-chain Multi-asset Instant Transaction network (COMIT) to connect all the blockchains.

I am the Chief Operating Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Owlab?

When we approached Owlab, we were just beginning to grow our in-house development team. Being short of talent, we needed an alternative in order to get our web application off the ground and hit some milestones.

At that time, we only had our platform live on Android and were trying to garner more users. We decided creating a web application was the best way to do so.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Owlab pretty much created the entire front end of the web application based off our existing Android app. They did some API linking in the beginning, but we changed the project's focus to the front end.

How did you come to work with Owlab?

I was referred to them from associates in the fintech space. Owlab has worked on numerous fintech platforms, so their understanding of the user experience in this industry was favorable.

How much have you invested with them?

It was around $7,000-$10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began June 2017 and was completed early August 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Owlab was definitely helpful and enabled us to hit the web application's release milestone. We had people on our in-house team that could code it, but we just did not have the time. Owlab helped speed up the process, and we had confidence in their code quality and documentation. This would make handing over the work to our in-house team easy, and they would be able to finish the back end linking.

How did Owlab perform from a project management standpoint?

I do not recall too much information, but Owlab did give a good roadmap, like a timeline, Gantt chart, and so on. We also had a project manager that was very responsive and proactive by advising better and more logical ways to do things.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Unlike other outsourced developers, Owlab definitely has the quality. They take the time to understand a business. This allows them to code and design from a better user experience point of view. They are also proactive in advising better ways to do something, unlike typical, outsourced alternatives that do exactly what you tell them to do without some analysis first.

Do you have any advice for potential clients?

I don't have any feedback that I can think of right now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an Estonian company providing language learning solutions internationally. In March, we launched our online learning solution called Speakly. It is a highly complex language learning system composed of different algorithms; therefore, it was a difficult task to create. Owlab did a good job in creating a stable and well working system. In addition, the program contains all kinds of solutions for grammar, pronunciation training, a complete payment system, a comprehensive admin area, and mobile applications for both Android and iOS platforms. The whole system is interconnected perfectly.

I’m the CEO and board member of this company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Owlab?

We wanted to build a highly innovative language learning solution based on our studies and our previous work in the field of language learning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided the whole lot: planning, programming, and design. Owlab provided us programming services in a series of languages including Python, Django, ReactJS, Swift 3, and Java, as well as design services for UX and the whole design for the Speakly desktop, Android and iOS platforms.

The scope of the project was wide because we needed a system easily manageable by a large international team so that all the content of the system would be changeable in real time. Plus, the program itself is highly complex and innovative, making it a difficult task, in which Owlab did a great job with.

How did you come to work with Owlab?

A friend of mine who has built many international, successful startups recommended them to me saying that they were doing a really good job.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with the development process in August 2016 and we finished the first phases in February. We then started developing the mobile apps in April and we are just finishing them as well.

How much have you invested with Owlab?

The cost of the whole project, including the desktop program and the apps for both Android and iOS, is about €52,000. [$61,400]

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been in the testing sequence until now because our team has been adding necessary data to the system and so on, but we have 2500 test users at the moment who have sent very good feedback about the system.

How did Owlab perform from a project management standpoint?

The main keyword would be communication. It’s really good with them. If there is something that needs to be fixed, changed, or needs to be done, they are very fast with it. Also, the team has been really invested in finding the best solutions, offering ideas and being a partner rather than just a developer, and I really appreciate that.

What did you find most impressive about Owlab?

They are really quick. They are more like partners than just service providers in their approach, and they do a good job in what they are responsible for and care for.

Are there any areas Owlab could improve?

They have been great partners, nothing to criticise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of I Deliver Food (IDF), a food delivery company. We offer an online platform where our clients can order from restaurants in their area.

The client app provides a list of restaurants in a 2–3-mile area of the user’s location. They can send orders to the order placement app. Then, the restaurant app sends orders directly to the restaurants. After confirmation, a notification is sent to the nearest driver.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Owlab?

We already had many components, including a website and apps for iOS clients, drivers, restaurants, and order-placement, but we needed to build the technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Owlab built our entire technology stack. We have our own designer, but Owlab made some of the design. Currently, we only have an iOS app built publicly, but we are in the process of developing an Android one. We have iOS and Android apps for the drivers, and Android apps for restaurants and order placement

What is the team dynamic?

We had a project manager assigned to us. We dealt with him the entire time, and he managed the web, iOS, and Android developers behind-the-scenes.

How did you come to work with Owlab?

We found them through the recommendation of a mutual friend while we were looking for developers. We started talking with Owlab and sent them requirements in order to see what they would be able to do and what their vision around our project was. We realized that they were pretty good at what they did and started working together.

The first differentiation was price, which can’t be compared to those in the United States. Cost is the main key, but we also had to be cautious in working with a remote team. We needed to know whom we were working with, so the recommendation coming from a mutual friend was also key.

How much have you invested with Owlab?

I estimate the total cost was between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around December 2016. Our project is never-ending, and we’re always adding new features and builds. Owlab is a part of our team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Owlab perform from a project management standpoint?

Considering the time difference between Ukraine and Los Angeles, the communication was good. We communicated via Skype messaging and over the phone. We told Owlab what we wanted, sent them requirements, and put their project manager in touch with our local manager. We used Crashlytics and received updates on all the new builds and designs. Every new milestone was sent to us for approval before moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have been professional and on top of things. Their project manager is gifted in the tasks they performed. He challenged what we gave them and made the deliveries better than they would have been based on our requirements. There was always a conversation with them, and we came up with something better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The time difference was the only drawback for me. Being in different continents was the only source of issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an angel investor with separate tech companies, including Credio, a fintech company in the consumer-lending space. I’m also the interim CEO at Credio. I invest through Founder’s Capital, and Owlab has worked on quite a few projects for us. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Owlab?

We had an old legacy system called Credio 1.0. It was developed in India by a different team and a different technology stack. We wanted to rebuild the technology stack completely with Credio 2.0. We needed a partner in the same time zone, in Europe, who was using more modern technology like Python. We explained our challenge to Owlab and agreed on the approach we’d use to work together.

We’re working on a monthly sprint basis: we estimate the effort, and then we pay half upfront and the other half at the end. So, the challenge was to build a completely new lending website, as well as Android and iOS apps. We went live in October of 2016. We have Credio.co.uk, which is the legacy site, and Credio.co, which is the new site. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

From their side, 3 people are usually working in a sprint. As the CEO, I communicate the high-level features and the vision of what we want to do. For example, we wanted to optimize the user experience and the onboarding process. We used to have 7 steps to sign up on our site, but due to automation, we think we can actually do it in 2 or 3 steps. We have a project manager who does the wireframes, which are sent to Vitaliy [Founder and CEO, Owlab] and Roman [Frontend Developer, Owlab], who is also a product manager. They estimate the work effort by the number of hours, and we prioritize tasks according to our budget for the month. I approve the sprint, and then they start working.

We have a very structured software development methodology. During each sprint, our product manager gives more detail and refined specifications to the development team. Within 3 weeks, they finish most of the features, and then we move into testing. We sign off each feature as it’s tested. The project management environment we use is GitHub. Every ticket on GitHub has a label that indicates the component as a milestone based on which environment it’s deployed in.

We use some pretty advanced technology like bank account scraping. We build interfaces into the banks via their websites. Mint.com in the US does things like that. You can connect Mint.com to any other credit card or bank account. We’ve developed something similar for the UK, and that’s the most complex piece of our work. People give their username and password as read-only, and then we plug that into the bank and pull out the account’s transaction data. In our sector, only 2 companies offer this service in the UK, so it’s a pretty advanced functionality.

How did you come to work with Owlab?

They were referred to me. I’ve launched 6 or 7 fintech startups with different providers. We have teams in Armenia and India. From our first interactions, Owlab was pretty responsive. They’re relatively affordable and have quick turnaround times and good communication. With some of the Indian teams, we had challenges in product management. The product management didn’t want to work with the developer I had at the time, so we stopped the project until we found a new team. After Owlab was referred to me, we did a test engagement for a month. That ended well, and we’ve been working together for almost 2 years now.

How much have you invested with Owlab?

We’ve invested about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work began in June or July of 2015, and our relationship is ongoing. We always have new features and tasks to complete. We spent a year building the platform from scratch, and then we went live. We’ve spent the past year improving and adding new features. The system has thousands of visitors per month, so it’s a relatively successful project. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have lower default rates, but that’s proprietary data. We’re a lending company, so our success is measured by how the portfolio performs. The number of users has grown. 

How did Owlab perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well. I’ve been doing product management for banks and Fortune 100 companies for 20 years. I think Owlab is 5x more proactive than developers I see in corporate environments. They’re very aggressive and productive in that sense. Their communication is also proactive. If they don’t understand something, they’ll ask for clarity.

Are there any areas Owlab could improve?

Estimation accuracy is always a challenge, but they’re pretty good in this respect. We are basically building a mini bank, so it would be helpful if they knew more about lending. The sector is fairly complex due to things like loan rescheduling and interest calculation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Hospitality Connect pty ltd

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

hospitality Connect is a supplier of commercial catering equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Owlab OÜ to accomplish?

• Web design & development

SOLUTION

How did you find Owlab OÜ?

• Other

Why did you select Owlab OÜ over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Owlab OÜ were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Design & development of new website for our business

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Website delivered on time within budget

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

Project delivered on time, The extra effort provided by the project manager delivered more than we expected. Very helpful and exceeded our needs

What was your primary form of communication with Owlab OÜ?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The level of communication really help drive this project,

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

not that I can comment

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of a financial services company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Financial services and Technology

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Owlab OÜ to accomplish?

Frontend development

SOLUTION

How did you find Owlab OÜ?

Referral

Why did you select Owlab OÜ over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Owlab OÜ were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

OWLAB has supported us creating new frontend to a legacy system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Speed
• time
• no bugs

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

Project management is very good due to a good understanding of what needs to be delivered and assigning a right fit developer for the task. Items are delivered quickly and keep the internal team busy on creating APIs.

What was your primary form of communication with Owlab OÜ?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their solution-orientedness, development speed, and good communication were impressive.

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

In this task, no more could have been asked more

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of TuneToMe Peru

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

It provides entertainment services - musical streaming service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Owlab OÜ to accomplish?

• Design services for mobile applications and web resources
• Development of applications and web resources

SOLUTION

How did you find Owlab OÜ?

Online Search

Why did you select Owlab OÜ over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Owlab OÜ were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Full development of the design of the mobile application for the Android and iOS system. 
• Full development of the web application. 
• Development, programming of an application client, server client. 
• Organization and development of databases, operations with large volume data.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

launch progect at December 2023

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

High professionalism of the team. Great communication, accompanied by operational response to the needs of the client. High punctuality and openness.

What was your primary form of communication with Owlab OÜ?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Individual income. They've shown high professionalism. Unlimited possibilities for implementing projects in the IT.

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

No. When working with our project, this did not require this.