Sirin Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and founder of a radio telecom systems firm. We provide two-way radio communication devices for first responders in high-rise buildings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sirin Software?

We needed software and hardware support to develop a dedicated radio console. The console needed to function as a fire alarm control panel for use by first responders as they control and monitor two-way radio communications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

These type of systems typically rely on a microcontroller-based series of relays and LEDs, but because of our business plan, we needed to have more flexibility. Our user interface needed to be LCD-based and adaptable enough for use in a number of markets, including New York City and Boston.

We provided a graphical user interface outline. From here, they used Qt Linux to develop the interface software from scratch, ensuring it could communicate with the APIs. They also developed a few automated, industry-compliant software packages for us. In terms of hardware, they used a System-on-Module that they developed for a specific platform.

While we provided a broad overview of the system architecture and the necessary radio frequency (RF) protocols, we handled the RF side ourselves.

Nearing completion with the initial job, we’ve hired Sirin for two additional projects. One involves our Amazon Web Services custom cloud API that connects the web interface to our field devices. We expanded the cloud interface to act as both a monitoring and programming suite. They’re currently engaged in a third project.

What is the team composition?

We initially worked with a primary system architect and they then rapidly scaled up to four developers. Having expanded the scope after completing the MVP, we now have a team of 11 people.

How did you come to work with Sirin Software?

My business partner had previous development experience in Eastern Europe. We did an online search for technical engineers and found Sirin Software. While they’re based in Europe, they also have a small presence in the U.S., which made us more comfortable.

We started with a very small contract. We gave them our product owner requirements and they were able to develop a system architecture within six weeks. My business partner and I visited their headquarters for a presentation and an in-person knowledge exchange. We were very impressed by the results, so we decided to move forward with the full development.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent between $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2016 and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They produce quality software. We find occasional bugs, which is normal for any large development project, but they’re always willing to work after hours or on weekends to make the necessary repairs. The hardware also has occasional issues, but nothing out of the ordinary. The quality has exceeded my expectations.

How did Sirin Software perform from a project management standpoint?

The time zone difference has actually worked to our benefit. It allows them to focus on development without interference from our end, and we see the results at the end of each day. Their team also speaks excellent English, so we haven’t run into any translation issues. We communicate regularly through Slack, phone, and web calls, and we have full access to their Scrum boards through Jira.

They’re always able to provide remote field support if needed. Additionally, they provide detailed documentation, especially as it relates to bug repairs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an excellent ability to acquire impressive talent. They also take ownership of their products. This is greatly appreciated, especially since we’re working together to create a safety product responsible for saving lives.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sirin is completely transparent, but some difficulties arise when working with a Ukrainian company. Shipping components into and out of the country can cause delays due to customs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CEO and owner of Sabai Technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sirin?

We were migrating our embedded platform from Metabase to an OpenWrt base. Aside from OpenWrt embedded development, we needed help addressing driver issues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sirin resolved our driver issues very quickly. After Sirin’s initial success, I decided to engage them in larger projects. More and more, we started relying on them to do our OpenWrt embedded development. Aside from embedded Linux, they also handled driver development and remote control development. We developed a system that was heavy on the wireless Wi-Fi side because it could be remotely updated and controlled.

What is the team dynamic?

We usually had 2–3 developers working on our projects. When we first talked to them, there was only Alex [Founder, Sirin Software]. When we engaged them on a full-bore project, they had expanded to four staff. By February this year, there were about 40 of them in the company.

How did you come to work with Sirin?

We originally found them on a contracting website, where we had a fixed and limited engagement to find developers with the expertise we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid $25,000 for their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2015, and the engagement ended in February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Alex and his team got it right the first time. They knew exactly what they were doing and got it finished. Previously, a lot of developers had attempted to solve our problem, but they failed to finish the work.

One of the biggest things about them was their high responsiveness. Also, it was easier to work with Sirin than an in-house group because we could expand or contract our involvement as needed.

How did Sirin perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills were weak in the beginning, but it got better as time went on. I saw an increased focus on project management during our collaboration. While they may not have always hit the deadline, part of that was my fault because I often had shifting goals. As a result, the deadlines and scope were constantly changing.

The communication was great. We had a fairly open flow of communication on Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of professionalism was outstanding. It was refreshing to work with people who could discuss the issue clearly, understand what was being said, and come up with solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Any time they identified a weakness, you could tell that they were taking steps to fix it. As they grow, they need to make sure that they’re getting the in-house skills and resources they need for certain areas.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief technology officer at a startup based in San Mateo, California. We’re focused on improving the Wi-Fi experience for connected products in the home. They’re typically products that don’t have screens or keyboards, like home security cameras, lightbulbs, video doors, music speakers, talk boxes, and that type of thing. We’ve been in the market almost three years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sirin Software?

The way our solution works is we have an agent, who we call the wireless connection manager, that goes into the connected product. We were looking for developers who had experience with embedded products who already had experience with real-time operating systems and C level programming for these smaller form factor devices

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s a software solution. They do C programming for us either on a Linux environment or on the different real-time operating systems.

What is the team dynamic?

We typically have about three full-time developers assigned to us; the engagement is coming up on two years now. There has been a little bit of turnover. As they’ve hired new people, they’ve replaced others. We’ve had a pretty steady state of three developers.

How did you come to work with Sirin Software?

Our founder found them on Upwork before I joined the company.

How much have you invested with them?

Three full-time employees for the last 18 months. We don’t do it on a per-project basis anymore; we do it as an hourly rate.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them over two years ago and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very strong developers. They deliver high-quality code. We’re very happy with the results. Their stuff isn’t that isolated, it’s various parts of an overall service, including technology they’ve developed and technology we’ve developed and technology that another group has developed. It’s hard to speak specifically about theirs, but in general, we’ve been very happy with the results.

How did Sirin Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We tell them what to use. We use Slack, Atlassian, and JIRA. We are basically project managing. They’re part of a bigger group. Their three developers are working very closely with two more developers in our head office. All five of them are managed together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very strong and hardworking engineers. They contribute at a high level. Of the three developers, one is a little more senior than the others. The senior guy contributes at both the development level and at the architectural level. We treat them as members of our team and they act as if they’re full team members.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been very happy. We’ve given them feedback along the way in terms of what we need. Early on, we probably struggled a little bit with them not necessarily having the full picture. As a result, sometimes the decisions they would make wouldn’t make sense for the nature of our product. We’ve addressed that through better communication; and we have a monthly all-hands-on deck, which they’re a part of. We give them broader context.

Since we’ve started doing that, we haven’t run into these issues anymore. It used to be that they took a fairly engineering-oriented approach. They’d solve a problem in a way that made the most sense for a developer, but not necessarily the most sense for an end user. By working harder to make sure they understood the scope, the context, the target audience, and the other aspects of the system, they were able to start making better decisions in context.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Bare Metal Software of SiFive

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provide chipset core designs

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sirin Software to accomplish?

• Increase Software support on our Core designs

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirin Software?

Contact from VP

Why did you select Sirin Software over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Sirin Software were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Sirin helps us increase our Software support on the IPs we provide to our customers. This support includes (but not limited to): MMU, mbedTLS, memory optimization, toolchain support, documentation, debug and tests.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Features were delivered on time with a sufficient quality to pass all our tests and verifications

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

• Their management was quite smooth. 
• Items were delivered on time. 
• Communication was easy, even under tough circumstances

What was your primary form of communication with Sirin Software?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Resilience under very difficult circumstances, keeping in mind their goal to actively contribute to the project

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

At the beginning, it took a couple of weeks to find the right way to communicate and sync on expectations

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We design and manufacture antennas and RF devices for LMR market. Located in San Jose, California. I am the head of Engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sirin Software?

We needed someone with good understanding of software development and who can be flexible and reliable.

What were your goals for this project?

To complete a desktop software interface in a month.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had spoken with them on other technical proposals and decided to evaluate them through a smaller project (this one). They turned out to be great in terms of technical knowledge, meeting deadlines, and work dynamic.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

After providing the requirements in 2 ppt slides, Sirin team was able to take those into action and build us a desktop app relatively quickly.

What was the team composition?

Project Manager and 2 software engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project is still in beta testing but is yielding good results.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very effective. Used a project management spreadsheet to capture all the milestones and time lines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Knowledge coupled with execution

Are there any areas for improvement?

my only feedback is to more openly educate the client on other potential solutions that could be beneficial and had not been thought about or discussed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide potency and safety tests for our clients following regulations set forth by state agencies. One of our clients offers analytical testing to licensed cannabis operators in California and Oregon.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sirin Software?

We needed a new webpage that leveraged our newly established API to display living data about our top performing clients. We wanted to offer clients a convenient way to validate certificates of analysis with a simple search.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to build a discover page that allows for search, product exploration using chemistry, and a leaderboard displaying top lab reports for various categories.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Sirin Software was selected through YouTeam.io. After reviewing a half dozen groups, we picked them because of their communication, expertise, and competitive pricing.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project involved UX/UI design, front– and backend development, and QA testing.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a full-stack developer, a UX designer, and a team manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

This product helps achieve our immediate need of offering a verification function, while also accomplishing more strategic goals of market education and consumer awareness of cannabis chemistry.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project management style was effective. I communicated directly with Vitalii (Senior Business Development Manager, Sirin Software). I generally heard back from him within an hour. He engaged swiftly with the dev team. Edits were completed within 48 hours.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Sirin Software is full of great communicators with swift execution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, none during this engagement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a delivery manager at a global consultancy company that specializes in product design, engineering, and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sirin Software?

We hired Sirin Software to build the UI for an LCD for one of our clients.

What were your goals for this project?

We had to create a turnkey solution for our customer that included UI, software, and hardware components.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Sirin Software exhibited the required expertise. We also requested testimonials from previous clients.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our client requested a custom LCD module based on an embedded platform.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a software engineer and project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The final product was approved and moved on to the next stage of fidelity.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It was absolutely easy working with Sirin Software. We felt like we’d been working with them for years.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexibility in technologies is incredible. When a change was required, they were experienced enough to switch between different tech stacks.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, everything was great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is a global strategy and technology company headquartered in the US, working with venture-backed startups, corporate innovation labs, and venture capital firms in the world’s technology hubs. I was in charge of product development within our organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sirin Software?

We were looking for a vendor to create the software for a consumer product before our team would take over with the rest of the development.

What were your goals for this project?

We had to build a turnkey solution for the client.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My colleagues recently had a great experience with them.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We had to create a consumer IoT product. This included designing software, firmware hardware, product design, UI, and mobile app development. The product needed to be ready-to-market.

What was the team composition?

We worked with firmware engineers, a hardware engineer, app developers, a project manager, and part-time designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We added several features that weren’t described in specifications.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The working process has been effective. Sirin Software is a great fit for any size business.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Sirin Software exceeded expectations. Their team truly cares about the results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Sirin Software performed tasks perfectly.