Red Foundry

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sales Operations Director of a distribution company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is a leading sales and distribution company in the non-alchoholic consumer good space. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Foundry to accomplish?

• Create an application to motivate our sales organization to sell more
• Create a simple platform that is easy for our frontline sales team to use

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Foundry?

Partnered with Red Foundry on past projects

Why did you select Red Foundry over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Past partnership

How many teammates from Red Foundry were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Red Foundry created an application for our frontline sales team to use as a one stop shop to look up sales goals. The goal of the app was to motiviate our team to put forth descretionary efforts to grow our business. The app had the following functions:

• Linked to our internal data
• Updated data daily 
• Daily notifications to users 
• Reward system to create motivation 
• Activity feed for our team to interact 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did a user feedback questionaire:

• On a 1-5 scale with 5 being the best
• Did the app lead you to give discretionary efforts? Feedback was 3.7/5
• Overall satisfaction of the app: 3.89 out of 5 

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

Sarah, Kerri, Oliver, and Ron all communicated at a high level. They asked questions and provided timely feedback and ideas. They delivered items on time and responded to our needs promptly. 

What was your primary form of communication with Red Foundry?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Our team was impressed at Red Foundry's ability to listen to what we were trying to create and bring it to life within our timelines. The team was also realistic about what they could do within our timeline and communicated well. 

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

Red Foundry managed our project very well. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the technology leaders of a large holding company within the beverage industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Foundry?

We started with an app for the beer part of our business. The app allowed users to identify where to get our beer brands across retail outlets. We wanted to extend that into our other beverages.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Foundry extended the use of our mobile application. We had an existing relationship, so we engaged Red Foundry to build a similar app to toggle between the two businesses. Initially, we discussed the scope and what we were looking for.

Afterward, they walked us through their phased approach, which included a design and discovery phase. We moved on to the building and deployment phase. Ultimately, Red Foundry came out the other side with a functioning mobile application similar to the one for our other business.

They developed the first app from scratch and used it as the extended app's foundation. The application allowed users to find locations where they sell our products on a live map. The platform was for iOS and Android and leveraged our internal SSL. 

What is the team composition?

We had 6–8 teammates in total, including the founder, a project manager, and developers.

How did you come to work with Red Foundry?

We initially found them through a referral from the other business under our holding company.

How much have you invested with them?

The original project was around $100,000. Additionally, we’ve spent $30,000–$40,000 on the first phase of another two projects. We’re looking at spending another $100,000 on the development and deployment phases.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with me in August 2023, and they delivered the application in November 2023. Since then, we’ve engaged Red Foundry for two more projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Red Foundry set expectations clearly throughout the discovery, design, development, and deployment phases. When there were opportunities outside of the scope, Red Foundry highlighted them, suggested better ways of looking at the project, and ended up with a better result.

Ultimately, the application we rolled out last year had a tremendous impact.

How did Red Foundry perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked in agile sprints and were highly collaborative and engaged. They constantly delivered what was set out in each sprint and went under budget. Moreover, they did a great job of being accommodating and attentive to our needs.

We had regular touchpoints via Microsoft Teams and Zoom. They also provided feedback and sent regular email updates. Red Foundry was a fantastic communicator.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Rich (Partner & CEO) was an excellent partner. He represented the organization well and was clear and direct in setting expectations. Additionally, we turned to Ron (Chief Product & Technology Officer & Partner) and Kerri (Partner) to review the phases in more detail.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What differentiated Red Foundry from other providers was their highly personalized service. They believed in building relationships and understanding our business needs to the point where they could anticipate those needs.

Additionally, they were excited about what they did and brought a fresh perspective. Their passion showed through their work. Overall, they were efficient, got the work done, and met expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything they could’ve improved on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready for a highly collaborative, passionate, and engaged partnership. Red Foundry will be very hands-on; that’s where they shine.

UPDATED REVIEW

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive of Technology of Dentologie

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We own and operate multiple dental offices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Foundry to accomplish?

• Build new mobile and web app infrastructure.

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Foundry?

Previous experience.

Why did you select Red Foundry over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Red Foundry were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Provide a patient facing mobile application focused on scheduling dental appointments and collecting dental/medical history information along with insurance details. 
• Android and iOS apps both provided and having feature parity. 
• Web app scheduling tool provide that matches the mobile experience. 
• Backend integration with our electronic medical records system. 
• Scalable solution as we move from 4 offices to 40+.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Release of the web scheduling tool on time and budget, despite us shifting priorities during the build phase. Mobile applications ready for launch on time.

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

Very responsive to our needs and the moving landscape of services provided by third-party vendors. Provided cost-effective solutions when issues arose with other systems our project was integrate with.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Foundry?

Virtual Meeting

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

The buy-in from the Red Foundry team into our project was amazing. They cared about our patient's experiences and wanted to make it as wonderful as we want to make it. Several of the Red Foundry team have since become patients of our practice.

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

No areas needed major improvement, everything went about as well as it could have in our interactions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP, Learning Products of BellXcel

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

BellXcel is a nationally-recognized nonprofit that empowers youth program providers with innovative solutions, services and resources to scale and create meaningful impact across a variety of settings and communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Foundry to accomplish?

• Discover, Design & Develop a seamless user-friendly web-app experience for the BellXcel user (learner).
• Create unified visual (UI) experience across our entire platform, including our learning products (currently housed in a separate LMS)
• Integrate a headless CMS (Contentful) to manage all of our learning content.

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Foundry?

Referral

Why did you select Red Foundry over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• We have used them in past.

How many teammates from Red Foundry were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Red Foundry Deliverables during this phase include:

• User Personas, User Journeys, and Feature Requirements
• a narrative describing and documenting the Product features and Requirements from a user’s perspective.
• Initial UI/UX Wireframes - illustrating UI/UX concepts and user-to-product interaction flows.
• Clickable Prototype – a clickable, user-flow enabled simulation of the Product, which provides the Client with a visual representation of how the user would interact with the Product. Technical Architecture - a summary of the technical components, or subsystems, and interfaces that provide the foundation of the Product. This Deliverable is to address the Product architecture, 3rd party services, database design, API interface layer, and in-Product services (e.g., push notifications, chat) as needed to implement the requirements and design.
• High-Level Data Model - illustrating the key data entities and relationships that will be stored in the backend database as needed to implement the requirements and design.
• Project and Jira Sprint Plan - a prioritized list of features and proposed release bundles, (the Product Roadmap - v1.0, v2.0, v3.0, etc.) including project estimates for each release and for the v1.0
• Phase II - Implementation Stage, which includes develop, test, and launch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A functioning prototype that includes filtering and searching functionality, now in UAT, going to production.

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

Very timely and responsive, with constant communication as to costs.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Foundry?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are nice a group of people and easy to work with. They're responsive to our needs.

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

Nothing in particular for this project!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Yello

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Yello helps large enterprises and the Federal government recruit tens of thousands of diverse candidates into entry level and internship roles every year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Foundry to accomplish?

• Understand and help support a legacy iOS & Android application.
• Add small features as needed.

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Foundry?

Online Search

Why did you select Red Foundry over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

What was the size of Red Foundry’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Red Foundry was asked to pick up a legacy code base and understand what was required to support it going forward. Beyond that we have added several features including rewriting a major portion that significantly improved the number of crashes the app was having.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new features have been delivered within the estimated period. We also reduced the number of app crashes significantly.

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

Our project manager is very responsive. We agree on timelines and Red Foundry hits them.

What was your primary form of communication with Red Foundry?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

I have been impressed with Red Foundry's commitment to finding the best outcome for our clients, including meeting with the end user if needed to resolve an issue.

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

No, we've had a very positive experience working with Red Foundry.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Grupiks, an app that allows users to take selfies while being in multiple locations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Foundry?

We needed to develop our application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Foundry has developed our application from scratch using AWS. The app is for iOS and Android, and it should be accessible on all devices, such as laptops, desktops, and iPads. They’ve also helped us with the design and website development. They’ve used Figma to review the wireframes and app structure together.

We initially engaged with Red Foundry, and they sent us a contract with the scope of work to put the proof of concept (POC) together. Our lawyer reviewed the contract, and we moved on to work with them.

What is the team composition?

We started with two teammates, and now we’re up to four: Ron (Partner & CTO), Kerri (VP & Client Delivery), and two developers.

How did you come to work with Red Foundry?

My lawyer referred them.

How much have you invested with them?

The POC was $75,000, and we’ll spend roughly $320,000 more to finish the app.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2022, and our relationship is ongoing. We’ll hopefully finish the project in May or June 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ll hopefully launch the app in a few months. Currently, we have the prototype downloaded on four phones to show it to investors and our team. Overall, Red Foundry’s quality of work is excellent, and they have a great team working on our project. We’ve had no issues.

How did Red Foundry perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is excellent. They communicate well with us and let us know exactly where they’re at with the process; we meet every week to go over everything. If there are any issues, we work together to solve them.

We communicate through email, Figma, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve met the CEO in person and bonded well with him. All in all, we feel Red Foundry has the same vision as us. They’re an excellent company to work with, and their staff is outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there isn’t anything to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If they agree to do your project, they’ll get it done for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of LuvDuv, a startup company that offers a dating app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Foundry?

We needed someone to design and develop our mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I asked Red Foundry to create the UI/UX design of our iOS and Android mobile dating app. Red Foundry’s CEO outlined a statement of work (SoW) that included understanding the app’s needs, formulating a corresponding solution, identifying detailed requirements, creating the UI’s design wireframe, and the applicable prototype.

As stated on their SoW, Red Foundry's original deliverables were the user personas’ feature requirements, the UI’s wireframes, the clickable prototype, and the high-level data model. 

In the end, I didn’t conclude the app’s discovery design process with Red Foundry.

What is the team composition?

Initially, I talked with Rich (Partner & CEO). During our engagement, I primarily worked with Kate (Product Designer) and Ron (Partner & CTO). I also worked with Kerri (Partner) and Courtney (Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with Red Foundry?

I did extensive research looking for mobile app development companies. I came across Clutch and found Red Foundry’s profile there. I noticed Red Foundry was based in Chicago, which is also where I’m located. 

I chose Red Foundry after I read their Clutch reviews and checked their previous work. I also talked with Rich on multiple occasions to sort out all my concerns. 

How much have you invested with them?

I invested $40,000 with Red Foundry. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with Red Foundry from October–December 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

I encountered multiple issues during the second half of the project that made me decide not to continue with Red Foundry for the app’s development. The UI design’s quality was very poor, and the design process was very disappointing, to say the least.

After presenting me with several poor-quality designs, Red Foundry requested I select a design from premade templates. They then changed the color palette and presented almost the exact design to me a week later. The template designs Red Foundry presented to me were easily found on other website-building platforms, which went directly against Red Foundry’s advertised ability to produce high-fidelity designs.

Furthermore, there was no collaboration with Red Foundry’s UI designer. We didn’t have in-depth discussions about the app’s user personas so that they could generate original designs accordingly. Red Foundry didn’t make an effort to understand our company’s values or ideas.

I showed Red Foundry’s work to some marketing and advertising colleagues, who were simply baffled by the design’s lack of quality. Overall, Red Foundry’s general lack of talent and creativity led me to move on with another company. 

How did Red Foundry address the challenges that arose?

When I addressed my concerns about Red Foundry’s poor-quality designs, the initial response by one of their team members was that the work they had delivered answered my initial requirements, which was completely inaccurate. 

After discussing the issue a bit more, Red Foundry came up with more designs, but they were still lacking the quality I required. This situation continued for the rest of the project until the funds ran out. 

In the end, Red Foundry informed me that they no longer had the funds to complete the design phase since these iterations had exhausted the available budget to produce a workable prototype, which was one of the deliverables from our original agreement.

Moreover, I was really shocked when I received an email from Rich saying he was unaware of this situation. I then asked Rich for his personal opinion, and instead of giving me an answer, he derailed the question telling me to address this situation with Courtney and Kerri, which I had already done.

During our initial meetings, Rich advised me not to work with international companies, supposedly due to their lack of reliability and talent. However, when he found out my current service provider was an international company, he tried to convince me to work with one of their partners instead, which is also international. I found it very confusing and unprofessional that a company’s CEO advised me not to work with a company based on their location.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

The unsuccessful partnership with Red Foundry has caused a lot of setbacks in our product’s development process and finances. As an entrepreneur, I’m funding the project myself, and this engagement drew a fair portion of my original budget. 

My initial agreement with Red Foundry was that by the end of our engagement, I would have a clickable prototype. This prototype would help me draw funds for the development phase since I was planning to present it to potential investors. 

Despite all my efforts and investment, I ended up with no prototype, so I had no other option but to move forward with a different company to finish the app’s design.

How was project management handled?

Red Foundry's project management was very poor. I initially talked to Rich through Zoom, email, and phone calls. I also had weekly meetings with Red Foundry, although not every team member participated in the discussions or gave feedback. For instance, Kerri and Courtney didn’t get involved.

Moreover, Red Foundry had several communication issues, the main one being that they didn’t communicate with me that the iterations I was asking to get the desired result would eliminate the possibility of creating a clickable prototype. Red Foundry told me about this situation until one of the last meetings of the discovery phase, even though we’ve had several virtual and in-person meetings by that point.

Is there anything that Red Foundry did well or that you would consider a strength?

Kate and Ron’s communication style was really good for the most part. They were attentive and responsive to the questions I had. Additionally, the wireframe Kate created was good — she really tried to get things right. 

In what specific areas can they improve?

Red Foundry’s UI design department definitely needs improvement. They need to be more collaborative in their approach instead of working with premade templates.

Another thing Red Foundry can improve on is their communication skills. They need to inform their clients about any additional costs that overruns may generate and the delays caused by them. There also seemed to be a disconnection between the project management team and the CEO, as he was unaware of my project’s situation.

Red Foundry could also improve their organization and attention to detail. At the end of our engagement, I received an invoice created for an amount ten times higher than what I owed them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Based on my experience, I honestly wouldn’t recommend anybody to work with Red Foundry — especially entrepreneurs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a market research company. We have a series of apps in the App Store and Google Play Store.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Foundry?

We needed to improve the UI/UX design of our apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Foundry provided us with UI/UX design services using Figma. We already had user personas and had done competitive research, so we offered examples of competitors’ apps we wanted to emulate while putting our own spin on them. The Red Foundry team picked a color palette and font and gave us an outline. 

From there, they iterated on the design with us. Red Foundry followed specific design requirements because we worked with credit card networks. The team created a centralized dashboard in an additional screen our previous design didn’t have. They also designed a feature that displays users’ transaction history. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Alaina (Senior Project Manager), a senior developer, and a designer from Red Foundry. Other administrative teammates came in and out to keep an eye on the project. 

How did you come to work with Red Foundry?

Although I don’t recall exactly how we found them, I believe it was on Google and Clutch. I interviewed some service providers from Clutch. Interacting with Red Foundry was good; it felt very professional and like we were in good hands, so we went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from August–October 2022. Currently, they’re working with us on other design projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app looks and feels much more polished, which is what we were going for. One of our goals was to make the app look like we’re not such a small team, and Red Foundry accomplished that. The team was great at iterating with us until the design came together nicely. As a result, it looks much more professional and trustworthy. 

I like how they displayed users’ transaction history, and the dashboard looks good. The dashboard has been helpful for us to have a de facto place to put some of our experience, which we didn’t have before. Overall, everyone on my team is very happy with the design. 

The Red Foundry team was really professional and not pushy, which we’ve experienced with other companies. Initially, we were interested in having Red Foundry do some development for us, but we had some budgetary constraints.

How did Red Foundry perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great at communicating with us, meeting deadlines, and staying on budget. They were clear about their rates and how much our project would cost. Although the budget was built over time, it was close to their initial projection. 

We were working with some credit card networks, and there were specific design requirements to do that. Whenever we asked for something specific there and gave them feedback from our network partner, Red Foundry turned around the work within a week and sometimes even faster. 

As for communication, we had weekly meetings through Zoom and also used email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with Red Foundry’s experience building mobile apps. They could advise us on some things we weren’t aware of. For example, we talked to them about the technology we wanted to work with because they were very knowledgeable. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They didn’t need to improve; we were happy with them and engaged them on another project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and honest with Red Foundry; they’ll work with you and get you what you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief information officer at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. We educate and represent 40,000 orthopedic surgeons in North America and worldwide, and we’ve been around for over 80 years. Our goal is both to represent them from an advocacy perspective and to train them to ensure they can get from residents to successful surgeons and, ultimately, emeritus members of our organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Foundry?

We were trying to create a new member experience so that we could get our members to the most frequently used sites on our web environment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Foundry has created a mobile membership app for us to help us simplify our member experience. First, they worked with us to define the member experience, which required a lot of design thinking and requirements gathering from the various business lines within our academy.

During this process, Red Foundry worked closely with us to understand the requirements of our different membership categories. They also assessed the existing capabilities of our various programs and existing websites to come up with wireframe designs for a high-impact/low-touch app that could provide our users with easier access to those capabilities.

After that, Red Foundry built the mobile app for us using React Native. Our product had to comply with both the Google Play Store and the App Store requirements, so they worked with us to create both versions of the app. Once they developed the app, they helped us with testing and release management. Now, we’re in the maintenance phase, and we’re planning to develop a second version of the app for 2023.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around 6–7 people from Red Foundry, including Rich (Partner & CEO), Kerri (Partner), Ron (Partner & CTO), Elizabeth (Project Manager), and some designers and developers.

How did you come to work with Red Foundry?

I was referred to them and heard about the work that they had done. We thought some of their work was fantastic, so we hired them to do something similar for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The mobile app developed by Red Foundry has brought around nine different core functions to our members’ fingertips, making it easier for us to push messages and for them to log in and get to most of the assets they need from us. After its soft launch, the app has been well-received by our board of directors and our residents, who have provided very positive feedback.

Additionally, we’ve seen an increase in the number of downloads, as well as sustained usage from the people who have downloaded it — a high percentage of them continue to use it. These users also continuously use the communication features we’ve implemented, demonstrating the success of the product and exceeding our expectations.

How did Red Foundry perform from a project management standpoint?

Red Foundry has met their scheduled deliverables on time and within budget. We communicate regularly with them and have status meetings. Whenever we have challenges, we rapidly reach out to them, and they’re very responsive to those challenges.

The development process has been very complex, as the product has a complex infrastructure with multiple sign-on environments and CMSs. Still, Red Foundry has been very good at defining the issues they’ve found and bringing people to the table to solve them without waiting for us to report those issues.

We use Microsoft Teams to chat and have meetings. We also have in-person meetings twice per week and communicate via email. After the requirement-gathering process, we used a very helpful tool to visualize the outputs and bring them to our governance teams. Additionally, we’ve used PowerPoint to create presentations for feature trees.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The diligence and quality of Red Foundry’s people are impressive. Kerri and her team have been on top of the project from start to finish, leading the entire process and correcting any issues to ensure we’re happy with the outcome. Red Foundry has earned our trust right from the start, and they’ve consistently performed well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. If anything, I’ve felt that we both have spent some time trying to fix things that ultimately haven’t represented major issues, making us spend more time than necessary focusing on those small details.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Leverage the weekly meetings and other communication channels to keep abreast of the project’s progress.