Pixel Apps

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of Breakthrough Apps, a platform for health and wellness influencers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pixel Apps?

We were looking for a Flutter expert to develop our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pixel Apps is providing us with Flutter app development and engineering to produce an app that’s compatible with iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We’re mainly working with two engineers and the owner.

How did you come to work with Pixel Apps?

They applied for my job listing at AngelList.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere between $12,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in November 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure the success based on sprint velocity and how many story points they’re able to accomplish within a two-week time period, and I can honestly say that the development process is better than before.

Furthermore, their team has excellent communication and they’re quick to respond to all our queries and concerns.

How did Pixel Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m very happy with their project management skills as they’re able to meet our timelines and they’re very consistent when it comes to communication.

We have Zoom meetings once a week and communicate daily through Slack and JIRA.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very impressed with their communication skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like it if they offered more of a full product partnership where they can cover all aspects of development, including design, engineering, and project management.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to have a plan where their team can work on a full backlog of fully-fleshed out user stories and high-level requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-founder of Clever.FM, a company that aims to make podcasting a bit more interactive. We’re primarily a mobile app that’s similar to Spotify and other listening apps. Our differentiator is that we want the community to be engaging with each other, the host, and the content of the app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pixel Apps?

Pixel Apps is primarily helping us develop the app using the Flutter framework. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pixel Apps is mainly managing the app’s frontend, while we have a separate team handling the backend. To be clear, the team offers backend services, but we simply don’t use them for that. They take our requirements via Asana and ClickUp and then figure out how to properly architect and implement them on the mobile app.

In terms of feature development, we have a set amount of time allocated to each feature. We then scale up and down based on the subtasks within the feature. We tend to reduce the scope of the feature and push out smaller sub-features on the same deadline. 

What is the team composition?

Two full-time engineers work with us, while Samyak (Founder) serves as the lead engineer. He comes in and helps us if we’re working on something tricky that needs his expertise. He usually works with us every other week and spends a day on the app.

How did you come to work with Pixel Apps?

Samyak reached out to me on LinkedIn, saying he was focused on Flutter development. At that time, we had a job listing up for a Flutter developer — Samyak said he had good Flutter developers. 

For context, we’d previously used other development firms, but we weren’t satisfied with them. We looked to bring someone in-house or find a service provider. With these things in mind, we interviewed Samyak and his team, and that was how our engagement started. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $4,500 per month per developer. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Pixel Apps in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the Pixel Apps engineers’ work has been great. I work with them closely, and we have a hands-on engagement. So far, they’re highly receptive to feedback. Overall, we’ve been happy with their work. I’ve worked with other development firms before, and Pixel Apps has been the best one. Their communication is amazing, their resources are always punctual, and they have great knowledge of Flutter. 

How did Pixel Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

Pixel Apps’ project management is great. I’ve been happy with their overall ability to meet deadlines; they also communicate well when they can’t meet a particular deadline — they then give us their reasons. I have a technical background, so it’s easy for me to understand that some things are more complicated than we expect. That way, we figure out what we can do about such things. 

Moreover, I’ve been impressed with their availability to work over the weekend. We’re a startup with only 10 people, so we move fast and have to sometimes work on the weekends. When their developers are available, they hop on and help us debug the app. We try not to work every weekend, but when something comes up, they always respond and fix it. 

In terms of tools, our teams use Slack for all types of communication. We use Slack’s Huddle feature to do our daily standups. For anything task-related, we use ClickUp. We create tasks on ClickUp and then go over our daily standups. At the end of the day, their team members update their progress on the platform.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is their most impressive quality. It’s much easier to work with them than with our previous development shop. Their Flutter knowledge is always is also top-notch — they have a knowledgeable set of developers. They know the common architectures of the framework.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

Developers usually don’t put themselves in the end users’ shoes, so I’ve asked Pixel Apps to be more user-centric as they’re testing our app’s functionality. For context, our mock-ups aren’t always correct. Sometimes, some errors are obvious but we miss them in reviews. 

Beyond that, the time difference between us is also a little challenging because they’re already winding down by the time I wake up. As a result, we don’t have a chance to do any end-of-day syncing meetings. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear processes. Set up whatever process works for your team, and Pixel Apps will adapt quickly. Whatever project management tools you’re using, tell them about everything. That way, they’ll adapt to your needs as a customer. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the lead developer for a streaming music startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to hire a team to develop a new mobile app for our streaming music platform. We wanted to use Flutter so we would only have to maintain one codebase.

SOLUTION

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

After interviewing a number of developers, we selected Pixel Apps. I was impressed with their knowledge of Flutter and their past work looked good. I was also impressed with Samyak's command of English, which is very helpful when dealing with remote teams.

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

Pixel Apps developed a mobile app for us using Flutter. The app is a fully featured music player that lets a user create an account or login with their existing account and stream music, create playlists and save songs for offline playing.

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

We worked with a project manager and two developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Pixel Apps did a great job of building the app. They were able to build all the features we requested. Turnaround time was quick.

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

We communicated via Slack and email. Communication was good and Pixel Apps were always quick to respond. The time difference was not a big issue.

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

I was impressed that Pixel Apps was always able to build the features we needed without having to go through a lot of complicated design or explanation. It was usually enough to just say we wanted a feature to work like it does in another app they would build it quickly. They had a very intuitive understanding of how an app should work to make it user-friendly.

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

I was very happy with Pixel Apps.