Povio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a software company based in Germany.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We designed SOPHY - a tool to get work done and tasks completed, anywhere, anytime. That means real-time management of tasks and teams. Not only do changes to tasks reflect in real-time, but our smart notification system instantly sends email updates to relevant users to keep them on the pulse of your processes. All changes are logged in activity feeds on the site, ensuring accountability and transparency at all times.

SOLUTION

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

A recommendation of a client. It was important to work with a professional team which gives us input and has a lot of experience.

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

They designed a complete new software solutions for us after a structures workshop.

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

There were 5 people in the core team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Due to the complexity of the solution, we initially had to readjust our deadlines. Overall, deadlines were met and both project management and developers advised us as customers very well.

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

They were always proactive in communication with reliable and realistic assessments. In case of difficulties, the issue was addressed immediately and a good and quick solution was found in the interest of all parties involved. We were very satisfied

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

Professionalism, reliability and commitment

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

As in any project, expectations are very high for me as a client. Povio has been able to meet them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and President of a startup focused on scheduling and communication for football clubs

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I needed high-quality full-stack engineering talent for mobile development, that would have the seniority to design an API using a modern stack, as well as set up and manage infrastructure, and iterates on features and third-party integrations.

SOLUTION

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

I discovered Povio Labs through Y Combinator's blog

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

The project is ongoing and requires work with a modern stack, making architectural decisions, as well as getting the app to MVP and deployed to the app stores.

Client:

• React Native (TypeScript)
• NextJS on Vercel (Web)

Backend/API:

• NestJS Framework
• GraphQL
• Apollo
• Prisma 2
• Postgres w/ PostGIS

Deployment:

• Hosted on Google Cloud Platform (App Engine)
• Github Actions
• Fastlane
• Circle CI
• CodePush

Libraries:

• Firebase mobile auth SDK
• Google Places
• Twilio
• OneSignal
• Sentry

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

Just one at the moment—senior full-stack engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The engineering talent only works 20 hours per week, but ships at a pace that feels like 40 hours per week. His velocity and quality bar are high, and his communication and troubleshooting skills are excellent and professional.

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

We work remotely and use Discord, Notion, and Github for daily communication. We sometimes have audio or video calls on Discord.

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

The quality is high and the rates are competitive—a combination that is much better than talent marketplaces.

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

no

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

PredictLeads is a Data Source of Company Intelligence. We crawl billions of information pieces, and using machine learning extract company signals like: hiring intent, supply chain relationships, categorized events from news, competitors, business connections. Our clients interact with the data we provide through our API.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

In the mid of 2019, Predict Leads was accepted into Y Combinator accelerator in Mountain View. Our API has started getting more traction, especially from the Venture Capital firms that are our key clients. With the momentum that we were having in the US, we needed to move fast and launch new datasets on the market as soon as possible.

Therefore we were searching for an engineering team that would be able to start working as quickly as possible, understand how startups operate, and not compromise on the quality. Our key objective was to track more datapoints - which added value to our clients and partners.

SOLUTION

How did you select Povio Labs and what were the deciding factors?

Povio Labs appeared many times within the startup community as the company that delivers really fast, and many founders highly recommended them. At that point, we decided to reach out, and after meeting the founders and their engineering team, we knew that they were a great fit.

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

PredictLeads is a Data Source of Company Intelligence. Since we are crawling the web, it's crucial for us that there are as many as possible and as accurate as possible.

Our clients rely on us to be up to date with the current sources of information and make them available for their use. To maintain a good customer base, we need to react fast when new data sources appear and build new crawlers around them.

We are using Python and Rails, which went great with the tech-stack that Povio Labs is proficient in. They helped our internal engineering team, and down the road we also trusted them, adding new datasets and crawlers on their own, since we saw that they deliver top quality code and understand our product in depth.

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

We had a team of 2 backend engineers, a project manager, quality assurance engineer and account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to provide new datasets within our platform. With this extra product offering, we can target more verticals and target personas, which was our goal.

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

We believe it was a value add to have a project manager on project. The entire team was very responsive, available on email, Slack and Zoom, PM helped to coordinate everything, and their English is great.

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

It's incredible how big Povio Labs is, but it still manages to have a personal relationship with the founders, understand the pain points and needs. This culture fit is spread across their engineering teams as well. This combined with their amazing technical skills, it becomes a great offering overall.

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

Cannot think of any. If any errors occurred during the work, they were always communicated upfront and were immediately taken care of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a cloud-based provider for health technologies. Our primary concern is empowering doctors to leverage mobile tech so they can access their patient data across the world and to open up lines of communication between patients and doctors. I am currently a Product Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Povio Labs?

When we first started with them, we were going through a restructuring phase. We were looking to onboard as many developers as we could, as quickly as possible. Instead of hiring in-house developers, we decided to work with Povio Labs based on prior experience and their ability to provide us with a high quality team quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Povio Labs accounts for close to half of our Engineering team. They are involved with the development of existing and products. Our current stack includes AWS, Node.js, pReact, React & Redux, and PubNub.

What is the team composition?

Eight engineers and two QA engineers

How did you come to work with Povio Labs?

Povio Labs was hired before I was started in my current role. We had worked with them for prior projects, and they were our go-to partners when we need to bring on more developers.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in January 2019 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re a significant chunk of our engineering team. They’re doing half the work that’s required to keep our company going. Frankly, we wouldn’t have kept them on for this long if the quality of their work wasn’t up to par. 

Honestly, they’ve been pretty awesome and had a lot of technical expertise  prior to working with us that allows us to get new features into the hands of our customers quickly and efficiently.

How did Povio Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their collaboration really stands out. Because they play such a significant role in our process, we all need to be on the same page. Everything that their team is doing is a step towards our goals as a corporation

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with other companies like theirs before and experienced a lot of head-butting and people trying to dominate the other team. In comparison, Povio Labs is very collaborative. It’s just like they’re working here with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been awesome.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a clear vision is very helpful. Obviously, you want to make sure that their outputs are in line with what you expect from them. Setting really clear expectations helps them mold their team to ensure they’re meeting our requirements.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a founder and director of Roadsoft. We’re a company based in Amsterdam that sells software for logistics companies. Our company provides hardware that collects driving and rest times for truck drivers in the European Union. There’s legislation in Europe related to driving and rest times, meaning drivers aren’t allowed to drive more than a certain number of hours a day. We also have analysis software that gives insights into companies about their drivers’ behaviors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address Povio Labs?

When my co-founder and I separated, I decided to outsource our software development team. I wanted to redevelop our desktop application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Povio Labs provided full stack development for our SaaS application. They designed the UX/UI as well as managed frontend and backend development. Their team also did quality assurance. 

What is the team composition?

We work with nine people from Povio Labs.

How did you come to work with Povio Labs?

I came into contact with Povio Labs via my network. They were one of three companies that I considered. I trusted them the most, so I picked them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019. They delivered the MVP, but we’re still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re a great technical team that does well. Povio Labs puts us first. At the beginning of the project, I was satisfied but saw there was room for improvement. They valued my feedback and acted upon it quickly.

For example, I had a project manager who led a project, but I preferred a different project manager. They changed the project manager without asking any questions.

How did Povio Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management’s outstanding. We communicate through Google Hangouts and Slack. We also use Trello and have a smooth process.

They selected the right people for our project, which is important. When that’s not there, you’re held back from achieving the best possible results.

Their UX designers were open and keen to learn about my business. Our business is specific, and it takes years of experience to fully understand the scope of our product in the market. They were open to learning everything about our product. It was easy to transfer the information, which sped up the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find the speed at which they turnaround a project impressive. I was impressed by how fast they can scale a development team, both up and down. They were flexible. I was impressed with the knowledge within the company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve the initial stages of their sales process. Salespeople want to close a deal and that felt too dominant. They underestimated the scope of the project. The estimated hours were way less than the actual hours. I missed a bit of experience with the salesperson on our project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go to their office. I invested time to travel to their office and explain what I wanted to get done and how I wanted to get it done. That made a difference. I know they have a lot of clients in the US, so that may be a challenge.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a scooter-sharing company that currently only operates in Washington D.C. My role here is a product manager. I work on internal tools and the consumer app. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Povio Labs?

Our company didn’t have resources at the time to build a web app. We needed a set of internal tools to manage our operations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team designed our internal operations tools. They built out the frontend of our internal tools as well as our iOS and Android apps. The scope for those projects was pretty large. They’ve built several operations-related products. The internal solution is a web and Android solution. 

What is the team composition?

They came in with a designer, two frontend engineers, and two mobile engineers. I was working directly with the developers.

How did you come to work with Povio Labs?

We were referred to them by a mutual connection. That was before I started here. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2018, and our collaboration is ongoing.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with the results and the progress of the products over time. Overall, the feedback I’m receiving internally is very positive.  

How did Povio Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been clear about providing deadlines and letting us know about shifts in timelines ahead of time. We have a solid communication cadence through Asana and bi-weekly Zoom calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The engineers are really great because they really care about the quality of what they build. We’ve been very satisfied with their work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything I can think of off the top of my head. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be proactive and engaged throughout the development cycle. Additionally, understand your goals and plan before entering the collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and founder of Cherrydeck.com, a platform for creatives. We run the service so that creative professionals all over the globe can get access to online marketing services and leads. We have users in over 100 countries, primarily in Europe and the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Povio Labs?

I was looking for an engineering team to help build the platform that would be ready to go in only a couple of days but could deliver high-quality work for a good price.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Povio Labs developed our platform, starting with a prototype. We wanted to test if people would sign up for our service so we asked them to create a low cost and easy design. Users could sign up on the site and get access to the basic version of our services.

After two or three months, the prototype proved to be successful so we made a rewrite of the whole platform. Their team scaled up the original prototype, setting up a more robust infrastructure with a more coherent front end to increase navigability. 

What is the team composition?

I interact with our project manager from Povio Labs almost daily. We also work with two full-time engineers, a QA engineer, and a sales and account manager.

How did you come to work with Povio Labs?

We found Povio Labs through a reference from a friend of mine. I was looking for a company based in Europe because of how frequently I travel there. After I had shortlisted a few companies, I flew to Slovenia to meet with them. I thought they were cool and they ticked all of the boxes, so I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Povio Labs began in June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site performs slightly above the market standard for speed. Together with our designers, they put together an award-winning design. Povio Labs delivers on every sprint, almost always meeting the estimations they set for us. Their pricing was also competitive and the whole team speaks very good English.

How did Povio Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is a gentle force. Povio Labs understand when we as a company are not distributing tasks efficiently, which is the kind of feedback we appreciate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Povio Labs establishes solid working relationships. They also have an interesting referral system, where we make money off of every client we refer for life. Our team does a code audit every six months and the results are always really good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we continue working with them because we’re pretty satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Build a close personal relationship with any team you work with, it makes life easier for everyone involved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Flaviar, a membership service that lets its members try more new spirits more often. We send members samples, give them access to rare and original spirits, invite them to great events, and keep them educated & entertained with booze-themed content.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Povio Labs?

We hired Povio Labs to build our web and iOS app

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to deliver a better user experience through the app and improve user satisfaction.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I worked with them in the past and they delivered good quality work so they were the first choice when we were choosing a development company.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we provided Povio Labs with the design brief, we had a series of discovery meetings to discuss our goals and objectives. Our new website was finished after 2 months and soon after we got our iOS app. Since then Povio Labs does ongoing maintenance work on our app and website.

What was the team composition?

iOS developer, ReactJS developer, Account Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 3 months we successfully created the iOS app with a 4.6 star rating in the app store that members love and constantly list as one of the main benefits of our service.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We got assigned a dedicated project manager that kept us up to date on a weekly basis and a QA tester that made sure the user experience of the app is impeccable.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Povio Labs has a lot of experts in their field that keep up to date with the latest technologies. It was great to be exposed to the creative value of an agency that’s working on a lot of different successful projects.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really, we had a great experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

NoirFood is a Techstars London 2019 company in the gastronomy industry. It's a brand at the intersection of content, community and commerce built around food and wine. With that we build a community of people that explores and supports world's best producers. We help you experience the culinary world from the inside, with exclusive content packed with insider tips and behind-the-scenes videos. Our community members can also get flights of wine shipped to your door, extensive expert tasting notes, gastronomic goodies, and, of course, members-only popup events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Povio Labs?

We are a lean startup that is growing fast and we needed to get our webpage done immediately. For startups it is hard to contract their engineering work since things change on a daily basis and its extremely hard to find an agile partner to help you.

When we applied for Techstars, we needed to turn our idea into an MVP we could present to partners and prove our high growth potential. Time was crucial since Techstars is a top tier accelerator and you need to prove that you can move fast.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was simple and clear - have a functional MVP that can meet our fast pace of users we were on boarding at that point. A lot of our customers were not satisfied with our previous page and we were practically leaving money on the table. The goal was to improve the conversions and create a beautiful and functional page as soon as possible.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I am very careful when I select my vendors and contractors since everyone always speaks very highly of themselves. Povio Labs has an extremely high value portfolio of top tier startups. It just left me speechless. After I made some due diligence on their process and spoke to some ex clients I knew this is the company that I want to work with.

Describe the project in detail.

We started with a set of very useful meetings on understanding our objectives. I soon realised they work according to the principle where it is very important to know the expectations of your client. This is the only way how you can deliver the best experience.

Once we told them our situation, it was very clear to them that we need to be able, fast and within a startup budget. Immediately after our expectations were clear, UX and UI designers were already deployed and we received a clickable prototype days after.

From there on we were guided through a set of some small iterations which were done very professional and on point. Always fast, always nice. I was also always up to date with the current specifications and going from design to coding and deploying was a breeze.

What was the team composition?

I initially started with a product owner, that was joined by a PM and designer. After that the engineering team took ower.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Of course, our conversion rates went up, page speed has improved a lot and general satisfaction of our users is great.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good, they understood that we are fast passed company that really needs to move fast. And a lot of agencies don't understand this and they definitely did.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their culture of work. All of the people working there are so professional, they understand startups and understand how it is to be entrepreneur. I think this is very very hard to find and would recommend everyone to do it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Things can always be done faster, but I dont want to compromise the quality over speed, and I liked that they understood that, given if I was pressing on the timeline sometimes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the founder of swenson boxing

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We offer fitness boxing classes 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• design website
• integrate booking software

SOLUTION

How did you find Povio?

Referral

Why did you select Povio over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Povio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Design a website and integrate booking software. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They gave me an accurate deadline for the completion of the site. 

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

Yes and they were extremely resposive and punctual. 

What was your primary form of communication with Povio?

Email or Messaging App

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

Their professionalism. 

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

Sometimes it was challenging explaining my vision via slack, but we were able to jump on zoom calls when neccessary.