Product Savvy Consulting, LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Roy Vinnik CPA LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Full Service Accounting and Tax for International Venture Capital Clients

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Product Savvy Consulting, LLC to accomplish?

• FinTech B2B enterprise-grade system
• Integration

SOLUTION

How did you find Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Product Savvy Consulting, LLC over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Product Savvy Consulting, LLC were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the esteemed Product Savvy team for their exceptional and professional contributions to our remarkable project. As a highly respected CPA firm based in Washington, DC, we have the privilege of serving a diverse client base consisting of international and multi-state entities.

At the core of our practice is compliance, as we are fully dedicated to upholding the reputation of each client, both globally and locally. This commitment requires us to utilize multiple systems and gather information from various sources.

Moreover, a significant portion of our clients are Venture Capital firms, operating in dynamic and fast-paced environments. To meet these demanding requirements, we engaged the expertise of Product Savvy to develop a cutting-edge FinTech B2B enterprise-grade system. This state-of-the-art system integrates all our practices, procedures, online systems, tests, and most importantly, our day-to-day accounting and tax software. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results have been truly extraordinary. We now possess a robust software solution that seamlessly consolidates all our procedures into a unified platform, enabling us to provide accurate and timely data to our clients.

Prior to partnering with Product Savvy, we spent months meticulously tracking each step of the process, struggling to make sense of the various components. However, thanks to their architecture and design, each step has been carefully crafted, implementing the logic of our internal processes.

Our new system allows us to effortlessly share data, integrate all our systems, maintain precise control over our worflow. The client-facing interface empowers us to delegate certain administrative tasks to our clients while retaining complete control of the overall process. The level of functionality achieved is truly remarkable, far surpassing our initial expectations.

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

The team's remarkable comprehension of our business needs and tax compliance objectives facilitated the rapid and cost-effective execution of the project, perfectly aligning with the budgetary constraints outlined to us in advance.

What was your primary form of communication with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We extend our deep appreciation to the members of the Product Savvy team, who, despite not being accountants or tax professionals, demonstrated an impressive ability to grasp the intricacies of the accounting work processes and understand the unique requirements of our industry. Their knowledge and adaptability streamlined our project significantly, allowing us to spend minimal time monitoring its progress.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Product Savvy Consulting, LLC could have done differently?

Not that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CMO of a Series C infrastructure automation company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

Our company was expanding our offering to address the needs of a new persona. We turned to PSG to help validate the problem statement we were addressing for this persona, refine our messaging, and better articulate our core value to this segment.

SOLUTION

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

A colleague had worked with PSG at a previous company.

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

They started by interviewing key stakeholders throughout the organization to get a sense of what different groups and teams believed was the challenge we were solving. Concurrently, they researched key competitors in the space, reviewed their positioning/value statements, and when possible, got a demo of the competitive products.

Next, we interviewed a handful of potential customers/proxies for potential customers to really understand the core challenges devops teams were facing. We delivered key insights along the way to both the field and product teams.

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

2 - head of strategy and head of product management.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to successfully validate some assumptions we entered the project with, while debunking others. It forced the alignment of product and GTM teams in a way that enabled us to better target prospects and demonstrate value.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very fluid - we set up a slack channel where core project team members communicated freely, while periodically circling back with more formal syncs and communication out to other stakeholders.

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

The PSG guys really know their space and are disciplined in the way they do market research. As outside consultants, they're not distracted by "who is right" but focus on "what is right".

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

A challenge for any outside vendor is understanding all the moving pieces outside of the specific project - the sensitivities, dynamics between teams, and additional context that drives business decisions. Not really something that they could do better, per se, but something that limited some of the outcomes/recommendations from sticking.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of product at a drone technology startup. We use drones to monitor oil and gas pipelines and identify potential issues in those systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

We needed their team's software development efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I devised a software roadmap for our data capture system and needed an offshore team to develop the actual product, so I engaged Product Savvy Consulting, LLC. They built the system from the ground up and delivered the code work and initial production system needed. Their team also produced the design documents that we needed to launch our UX efforts. Upon completing the software system, they ran some tests to ensure that the product functioned well. Once everything was finalized and polished, we proceeded with the go-live stage.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with about 10 resources from their team, including David (CTO), two frontend developers, two backend developers, a DevOps resource, a UX designer, and another resource in charge of QA and test automation.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

I led a vetting process to choose the right development partner for us. I spoke with other agencies, but it was Product Savvy Consulting, LLC's team that had the price point, expertise, and leadership skills I needed.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent about $70,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from February–August 2021. We're planning to hire their team again to take on a different project involving a machine vision system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Product Savv Consulting, LLC was a versatile team that respected our timelines and feedback, which allowed them to deliver impressive results in quick turnaround times. Our old system had a slower image processing method, while the system they built could process images five times faster.

Our customers also pointed out how useful our new data capture system was — the positive user and customer feedback we secured was our main success metric for their team's work. Overall, we were happy to have worked with a team that granted our goal of rewarding our customers with an improved UX and a more transparent system.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Slack and relied on Jira for project management. Product Savvy Consulting, LLC seamlessly coordinated with our in-house team, and they were always open to adapting to our processes and addressing change requests — we had a healthy working relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stood out the most about their team was their high level of expertise. I was hesitant to hire an offshore team because of some stories I heard from other people, but Porduct Savvy Consulting, LLC took away my apprehensions by delivering top-notch work. Their skill set and productivity had leveraged offshore labor to a higher notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were an offshore and overseas agency, so communication was a potential drawback. As we progressed, we saw their commitment to meeting our schedule by working overtime, and I had to make early calls to meet theirs — both our teams exerted effort to make everything work.

Another area of focus would be their QA efforts. I had higher expectations for their QA leads because I wanted everything to work seamlessly, so I wanted their leads to be more thorough by seeing the broader picture for every solution built.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have an agile process, so make an effort to understand how that works and how it can benefit your business. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, a membership association. We serve approximately 5,000 fundraisers that raise money for hospitals and systems, mainly across the US and Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

We realized that the business model for many associations, which is mostly event-driven and membership-dues-driven, wasn’t providing as much as we could, particularly because we have an annual benchmarking survey that produces data that we don’t do much with. We conceived of a different type of membership model that would help us take much better advantage of the data, help our members manipulate the data to get good insights, and then add a bunch of services. We needed a combination of product development support and technical development of the actual technology platform that was going to be the engine for the data side.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by doing a series of focus groups and other discovery work. I’d done some interviewing of members to find out what it was they were looking for, but we really needed someone external to get honest feedback. On top of that, they figured out what the feedback actually meant in terms of how to build something to address it. They were also key in getting our board to agree to the plan.

We’ve since launched the platform they built and are now in a maintenance phase while we dream about what’s next. The solution is a web-based platform with a bunch of integrations with our CRM, where most of the data sits. They also built other components that fed into it. It’s not a standard marketing website, more of a web-based tool.

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, we worked entirely with Andy (Partner). He was able to take kernels of ideas and bring them together into something that really felt like a full-blown product. He did a lot of the storyboarding of the platform, determining how things would work together. Once we all signed off, he brought on the tech team, including Dave (CTO) and his software engineers. They’ve been fantastic in terms of their dedication to our work. They’ve even led some change work done by our other partners that we weren’t sure they’d work on at the beginning.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

I’d worked with Andy in the past and so went to him when I was thinking about this, just to get his advice. Way before we talked about price or their involvement, Andy was willing to brainstorm with me. He never asked to be paid for the time, even though he spent a full day with me. After that, it made sense to go with them. We looked at a couple of other firms but they didn’t have sills at both technology and product conceptualization and development. Product Savvy has good expertise on both sides.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $400,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had, to date, 20 of our member organizations take the next step and invest more in their membership to access the tool. It’s been a nice revenue boost for us, and it’s given us the ability to understand the data that we receive better. This way, we can tell which membership organizations are truly best-in-class at annual giving fundraising and major gift fundraising. We’re planning on interviewing those members right now and using them for education.

Given that we’re not able to do live events right now, it’s important that we have an alternative value proposition. We look like we knew something was coming, especially since our members are trying to raise money for healthcare right now, which is struggling probably more than at any point in our history.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

It went very well and continues too. We have weekly meetings that look at our progress and assess risks. They communicate well through hiccups and unforeseen glitches. It did take longer than anticipated to launch the platform but it was less about them and more about all the components that had to be tied together to make it work. They did a great job of pivoting their work schedules to allow us to do the necessary work on our side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I feel like this is cliché to say but it feels like they’re true partners. This project and product and our membership mean almost as much to them as it does to us. This isn’t the case with other vendors I don’t think. They even look for ways to help us reframe sales pitches if we’re struggling. We even invited them to our staff Christmas party. Thanks to their education about product development, we’re much more capable of handling a lot of this stuff than we were one year ago.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only one I can think of, which is what everyone says, is that they could be less expensive, but I fell that they’re giving us fair value. I really don’t have any complaints at all. They have enough different skills in their skill set that it’s clear that we always need them, no matter how much we learn.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They do best when they understand the strategic goal of the entire project. As an organization, give them the best understanding of your business needs and goals as you can. We talked about our members' cares and worries, treating it as if we were onboarding a chief strategy officer.

Andy is incredibly creative, and I could see people bringing them on for one piece of technology work, but we’ve gotten the most value out of them by showing them all of our systems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of MISO3. Our product is a business software application that helps companies manage their recurring service assets and obligations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

Over the years, we had found that within the enterprise market, companies are ill-prepared for all the changes involved in people moving into the cloud. This ranges from managing all the cost components to the computer or telecommunications sides to licensing. We found that the majority of businesses are doing this through Excel or very manual processes.

My business partner and I realized how challenging this was even for people whose core business was to manage it. The inability of enterprises to understand they’re wasting millions of dollars every year drove our focus on automating that process so it requires less people, time, and efforts, all while leading to savings.

We started off with the concept of what we wanted to build. ProductSavvy comes into play because we had the idea and business acumen for it, but we’re not software development people. Our objective wasn’t just finding developers, it was building an architecture that could scale.

Some of our clients have hundreds of thousands of services renewing daily, managed by thousands of employees. We wanted to make something that’s relatively complex in its size yet scalable and simple for a user to navigate. We engaged ProductSavvy to help us design, build, and maintain the platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our team built a prototype of a version of the tool, some things we did well and others we didn’t. We started this engagement with a deep dive with the ProductSavvy team. We had to start down at the platform’s architecture. The deep dive was a look at what we had done. Together, we discussed where we wanted the process to go. It’s been an iterative collaboration. We set priorities and communicated frequently.

There were a handful of developers, but no one to drive the process so we used a scrum process of setting expectations every two weeks. We build and then think about what we’re building for the next event. ProductSavvy took a disorganized process we had created and made it more structured. As we went, we discussed the architecture side; this became a big selling point for us.

We brought on some of their developers to assist with the backend infrastructure like managing the cloud environment with AWS. As CEO, I have more visibility into what we’re trying to accomplish and if were succeeding or not.

What is the team composition?

The team composition has varied throughout the different phases. There’s been between 5–7 individuals depending on the stage. There are about three individuals we work with on a consistent daily basis. However, if we need expertise in certain areas, they bring someone in to fill the gap.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

They were a referral. I was talking to a group that’s helping us vet our business plan. They suggested we focus on product and design. I’ve learned it overtime that it’s better to build something well the first time around.

The referral led to a couple of meetings with some of ProductSavvy's leadership team members to chat about what we were doing. They hit on some points that were very accurate and areas that I thought we were doing well in. Through this, I realize there were some gaps.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We recently launched the platform and are already seeing strides. We’re getting faster as we go and starting to see the fruits of the labor we’ve done over the last year.

One of the biggest impacts is that we’ve grown with customers and are scaling a pretty large client base right now. Recently, we’ve signed some nice-sized customers. Without some of the capabilities that the platform has, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so. Another highlight is that we’ve had zero outages. We resolve our issues at a relatively quick rate.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is their expertise. We have daily standup calls in the morning, and they run a great scrum process. It’s been an eyeopener for me. We have developers on three continents. These calls last between 20–30 minutes and are always well-documented.

ProductSavvy runs a tight ship. Everyone knows their objectives. The standups allow us to go through the progress we’ve made. We’re able to see where we’re exceeding expectations and areas that are taking us longer than we thought and why; I really appreciate it.

What’s more, the ability to add expertise at our need has been very nice. Their team members are great, and they’re almost a part of our company now.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been very impressed with their roll-up-the-sleeves attitude. I work with Jonathan (CEO & Founder) very often. Their team has a strong work ethic and realizes it’s not one-size-fits-all. Every client comes to them in a different direction, and they focus on understanding each client and their needs. This is a strength of theirs that has allowed us to not spend resources to have an in-house CTO or COO in an early stage environment. We’ve leveraged them for that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As we continue to work with them, there are some groups that focus a lot more on the outward-facing part of the product. We haven’t had much opportunity to use that side of their company yet. First, we need them to build the foundation and ensure the designs are working.

They’ve built the underlying tools that allow us to build out all the features we’d like to have. Our team knows how connectors and applications will be added in. This is like filling in pieces of a puzzle. We’ve done the corners and edges and now we’re putting the middle pieces in.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have a call with them. Sit down and chat about your expectations. Be realistic about your budget. Every company is very different. Everybody wants it today but you have to decide how fast you want to hit the gas. Again, be candid about expectations.

If you’re going to engage a firm, assume they’re part of your organization. They’ll see the good and the bad. You want to be upfront and make sure they understand. For ProductSavvy, you’re not just a number. They really try to understand your business and want to be a part of it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're an end-to-end solutions provider for IoT. We provide enterprise companies with asset tracking and monitoring solutions for physical assets and people. Specifically, we design around process optimization, logistics, and telematics tracking for applications with hundreds or thousands of connected devices. The industries we support include hospitality, healthcare, logistics, and manufacturing. I'm the head of our product department, and I develop long-term strategy and roadmaps around new product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

I hired them to train me to do my job better. I had some significant shortcomings and wanted to be a stronger team leader.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked with me to create an overarching product requirements document to reorganize the frontend of our product. In that process, they taught me how to manage a product team, work with engineering needs, and run sprints. They walked us through Agile development processes and provided some best practices. They weighed in on some higher-level aspects of our backend and architecture, but the main focus of their work was on standing up product functions.

What is the team composition?

I worked one-on-one with my main contact.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

Our CEO and I reviewed a presentation of theirs, and I reached out to them after that. We discussed how they could help us, and we started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000-$75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–June 2019. We hit all the objectives we laid out, but we ultimately hit an impasse when we discovered we didn't have the internal resources to move ahead any further.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn't use any formal tracking, but I have used the outputs of the work we did together to lead a process with a company we hired to help us revamp our backend and frontend design. I hit the ground running, and I now know what this kind of project requires.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

They were adequate project managers, and I was pleased with the overall outcome of our work together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understood the technologies we use. We derived additional value from their knowledge of our industry. They had documentation and templates for everything we went through, and I still use those documents now. They taught me how to execute the work after our engagement ended, and all the templates can be modified to suit each project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would have liked more regularly scheduled reviews. Because we worked one-on-one, that review process would have been strange, but it might have helped justify working with them longer. In the end, I can't think of anything major that they should have done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don't have any suggestions. They will offer great value to anyone with a similar need to ours.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company called Breezio. It’s a SaaS online community platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

We required help on a technical lead. At the time, we didn’t have a CTO and needed a deeper technical knowledge to implement processes for managing our product team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Product Savvy Consulting, LLC helped run our scrum calls, managing our existing team’s development efforts. They looked at our codebase to make changes and improvements. As well, their team provided architecture and designs to support a custom project for a client.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Jonathan (CEO and Founder, Product Savvy Consulting, LLC).

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

Jonathan and I were running in the same startup circles. I got to know him through a series of different networking events. By the time we needed technical support, I’d already known Jonathan for a while.

How much have you invested with them?

We started working with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC in April 2019 and finished the collaboration in August of that year

What is the status of this engagement?

We spent between $25,000–$50,000 on their services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Product Savvy Consulting, LLC provided high-quality services. Jonathan was very professional. His attention to detail, availability, and ability to help was outstanding.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Product Savvy Consulting, LLC managed the project excellently; it was organized. Essentially, Jonathan was available 24/7. If I had a question, he responded quickly. We had regular calls with our development team, which is offshore. Their team was really great to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Product Savvy Consulting, LLC was proactive rather than reactive, which was very impressive. Their team thought ahead of where we needed to be. They paid attention to details and were available.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything they could do differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

With any consulting group, it’s most important to be clear about your scope of work and what you want to be done. Product Savvy Consulting, LLC knows that too. It’s a crucial two-way street.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product at a SaaS company that provides technology solutions to home healthcare agencies. We help make their operations more efficient.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

We needed help creating and managing a product development cycle.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Product Savvy Consulting, LLC initially took the time to assess our situation. They identified what we needed to address and complete in order to meet our product development goals. Along with developing new features for our product, they strategized a process to help us accomplish our objectives.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with the two leaders from the company.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

Our CEO found them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2017–March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us establish a successful product development cycle that grew our business. Together, we outlined and implemented solutions for critical issues. Our collaboration also drastically improved our in-house team’s velocity. Product Savvy Consulting, LLC enabled our internal developers to deliver features five times faster than they could before.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We usually met with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC in our offices. They outlined their scope clearly and easily understood our problems. They provided excellent feedback and were assertive when needed. Unlike many other partners, they genuinely cared about our success. We developed a strong working relationship. They were always available when we had questions or comments.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Product Savvy Consulting, LLC was kind, personable, and invested in our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve communicated with our internal development team better.
 
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be open and direct about what you want. Don’t be afraid to ask them to make changes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of AVaStar, a consulting firm. We offer audiovisual consulting and design services as well as acoustical design services. We serve hotels, conference centers, corporate government training centers, and any venue that outsources presentation services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

We needed development services. While we knew how we wanted the software to function, we did not know about creating code.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Product Savvy Consulting built our mobile applications for iOS and Android and a web application from scratch. It is a software that supports a business and operation. Their team was educated on the process of internal audiovisual departments. They needed knowledge of that and the tasks those departments complete to build the application.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of around six people. We work with a project manager, QA, developers that focus on building the database and web platform, and one developer for each mobile application.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

The president of our company was introduced to Product Savvy Consulting through the State of Maryland Small Business Council.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested $210,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in October 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has met expectations thus far. If there is a misunderstanding, Product Savvy Consulting works hard to get it corrected.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Product Savvy Consulting keeps everything on track. Their team uses VersionOne for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team doesn’t only develop software; they’ve helped us whenever they can. Product Savvy Consulting assists with finding funding and developing marketing strategies. Their leadership skills are a strength.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication is an area that needs improvement. Their team should prioritize what the client feels is important. Otherwise, everything else went well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a team member that understands development would be beneficial. We don’t have any software or development experts on our team. If we did, communication could’ve been smoother.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of ParkMyCloud. We help people automatically manage their clouds in AWS, Azure, or Google by turning things off when they’re not being used and optimizing their size based on workload.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

As a company founder with a background in sales marketing, I’m not very technically experienced. We needed a partner to help get our platform off the ground.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After hearing our vision for the platform, the team wrote a set of specs that met all of our requirements. They supplied resources to augment our internal team and they continue to manage the development process. They help us write the frontend and backend code using Python and they develop the user interface with Angular and JavaScript. Additionally, they interview our alpha and beta testers to understand what is working and what needs to be improved in the systems next iteration.

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with the founder for engineering purposes and the partner handled project management. They also provided about four developers and two UI specialists. We had a full team of developers for the bulk of the project, but we’ve scaled back while we gather customer feedback.

How did you come to work with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC?

We talked to several different firms. In that process, I ran into Product Savvy Consulting, LLC’s partner at an event and following some friendly conversations about soccer, I felt comfortable with their team. After reviewing their references and previous work, I decided they were a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent over $1 million. We pay between $300,000–$400,000 each year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2015, when our company first started, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From the start, Product Savvy Consulting, LLC has been an integral piece of our business. In just three years, we’ve received two rounds of funding and acquired over 600 customers stretched across 25 countries. Our rate of customer satisfaction is very high. We haven’t even staffed a customer support person because we haven’t yet run into that need. They’ve done a great job of integrating their resources into our team and helping us manage our workload with reliable, high-quality and timely deliveries. I’ve worked with other firms in the past, and I’m most pleased with Product Savvy Consulting, LLC.

How did Product Savvy Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is very organized in their communication style. We initially tracked the project using Jira, but we switched to Version 1. All other interactions are generally through Slack and Skype and we share documentation on GitHub. We can count on them to deliver quality products by the deadline. They are very accurate in sizing, scoping, and managing our expectations and their resources.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s a strong sense of trust between our teams. Without micromanaging, I know that they’ll do what’s best for my company. We’re local, so their team spends time in our office, they’re on our mailing list, and they feel like a part of our company. We let them speak directly with our customers to get accurate feedback to better inform their development process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there’s ever a problem, we resolve it quickly through open discussions. They truly take responsibility for their work. For example, a member of their team started to slack off and we terminated that relationship quickly. The rest of the team worked harder to make up for that cost.

Any advice for potential customers?

I recommend clients treat them as part of their internal team. Allow them to be as involved as possible because your success is going to be based on their success.