Pupa Clic Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I design and sell baby moccasins. The business currently has two employees and we are based in Chicago. It was started as a side-project for me and we give most of our earnings to charity for kids with congenital diseases.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pupa Clic?

I needed to create a website and wanted some help with marketing for my moccasin business. I needed some sort of online platform, as well as someone who could guide and brainstorm with me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pupa Clic architected and built a Magento website for me from scratch, and taught me how e-commerce and SEO worked. It’s a dynamic, interactive website where people can come in and buy the products they want. We have a CMS backend and worked with Braintree and PayPal for payment processing. They were very involved when it came to pictures as well. Pupa Clic, went beyond the scope of just development, suggesting what pictures and graphics would actually look good on my site.

In terms of design, I had a certain vision in my mind when it came to the color scheme. They offered a good 50 suggestions, which I could tweak and compare with other relevant websites. Pupa Clic provided some competitive research and analysis for me, challenging me to think about things in a certain way. They also advised me on where I should host the website, how I should keep track of all the data on it, and how I should use Google Analytics.

What is the team dynamic?

Deepak John, their CEO, was my first contact, and he introduced me to his team. I liked their dynamic—they feed off of each other, they’re funny and smart, and are each other’s biggest cheerleaders. The team cohesiveness shows in their work, and I never had a problem collaborating with any of them. I actually enjoyed the whole process, even though many people say that web creation can be stressful.

How did you come to work with Pupa Clic?

I received a referral from one of their previous clients, who said that Pupa Clic was an attentive group. There are so many options in the web development world, that I decided to just trust my contact.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the first website was around $700. I have also worked with them in the capacity of my day job. Overall, the cost of Pupa Clic’s services was around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with Pupa Clic starting in December 2015 for a 2-month project. I had been in touch with them for a good 8 months, sharing ideas and making tweaks based on the audience I was trying to tackle.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Most of my business is done in person. I do not have the capacity to scale it, which made me nervous to put the site online since there would be no point in getting more orders if I couldn’t keep up with them. It was mostly me who hesitated, since it would be easier to control the business by restricting the use of my site to in-person pop-up shops, booths and so on, where I could control the inventory directly. However, I have made marketing brochures based on designs from my website. The fact that Pupa Clic has experience working with online retail is great, even for a smaller capacity.

How did Pupa Clic perform from a project management standpoint?

I never met the team in person. It almost boggles my mind how technology can allow a business to grow, even when we are worlds apart. I use WhatsApp a lot, and we were in constant touch with email and video. Pupa Clic was very receptive and attentive; I knew that any text I sent would be returned within 15-20 minutes. I feel that I know them, which goes to testify how good they are at relationship building. Whenever I’ve asked for changes and moved things around, and they handled it with patience and a sense of humor.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What makes Deepak and his team very different is that they want to excel in what they do. As a customer, when I go to them with an idea, I am looking for someone to challenge me, brainstorm ideas and help me think outside the box. This is what Pupa Clic does. Beyond just web development, they’ve worked with me as a consultant, helping me understand things I hadn’t understood before, like SEO and Google Analytics. I liked the personal care given to my brand, and I think it’s what makes Pupa Clic stand out among all other companies. They are smaller by comparison, which doesn’t discredit them, but they are great at what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would be happy to have a face-to-face meeting sometime. I don’t know what Pupa Clic’s business plans are, but setting up something locally would be great. Overall, they need to keep on doing what they’re doing, and I’m sure they’ll get good customers through referrals and word-of-mouth.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of TacitKey, an online platform for sharing and monetizing tacit knowledge. We offer a hybrid of LinkedIn and Quora. We offer a platform for people to share their knowledge and also make money on it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pupa Clic built the platform ground up from conceptualization to structuring the architecture and features. They also deployed it and tested it for us. We target six verticals: legal, finance, healthcare, life sciences, marketing, and technology. The platform is used for knowledge seekers and knowledge contributors. The knowledge contributors tend to be experts or professionals who have made a mark in whatever they’re doing. The knowledge seekers tend to be young professionals and people who are trying to build their brand.

How did you come to work with Pupa Clic?

We looked at various options in India, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. We decided on Pupa Clic for two reasons. One, the technique and expertise in Pupa Clic matched the project requirements. Secondly, they were able to understand the requirements and deliver it within our timeline in a much more cost-effective manner. After evaluating other companies, we felt we were getting more value for money with Pupa Clic.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested approximately $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We completed the testing phase and moved into the beta stage about two months ago. Right now we have about 10,000 users on the platform. We plan for a full-fledged global outreach in a couple of weeks. We have had a fair share of positive feedback and things to be improved, which we have been working on as well. It’s a product in development. It’s too early to say what’s working well and what needs improvement.

How did Pupa Clic perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a single point of contact in our company and a single point of contact within Pupa Clic to whom all the developers report. We had a daily Skype call to understand what was happening and a robust WhatsApp-based group chat so that we knew what was happening. The bigger group of developers, UX experts, and all people involved in the product had a Slack group going so they could exchange screens efficiently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are really quick to learn evolving technologies. During development, if there was a new way of doing things that made more sense, they didn’t hesitate in adopting that. In the technology business, you need that kind of R & D constantly happening so that you’re always on top of the game. That is something quite unique about them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project management can be a lot better, especially when you have all of your development sources externally. It takes two hands to clap. Both Pupa Clic and TacitKey need to keep improving that.