Skycap

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and co-founder of Certa LLC, a platform designed to help working professionals (i.e., real estate agents) track all of their continuing education requirements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skycap?

We needed help developing our app, including the frontend and backend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Based on our specifications and supplied wireframes, Skycap developed a mobile app for iOS, along with a web-based Javascript administrative portal. Features allow users to track and upload their continuing education certificates and submit them as required over time. Although we provided most of the design work, their team provided additional design feedback and suggestions throughout.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with a project manager, who manages others on our account.

How did you come to work with Skycap?

The other co-founder at the company found them online. After speaking to our project manager over Skype, we hit it off right away and felt comfortable working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for about a year, since mid-2017. We've released the first version of the app and continue to work with them to develop additional versions and functionalities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although it's still early, everyone who's seen the app is very pleased with its overall ease of use and performance. Thanks to the additional feedback Skycap's team provided throughout development, we ended up with a better product.

How did Skycap perform from a project management standpoint?

They're easy to communicate with it. We typically have a daily check in to go over milestones, so there are never any surprises. They've managed to deliver on time and within budget, even as the scope of work changed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The overall experience has been great, from their excellent communications to efficient delivery and reasonable pricing. It was a much more collaborative process than I expected; they took ownership of the project and provided additional feedback to help us improve outcomes. It feels as though they're part of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It's important to have a strong game plan from the start, knowing what the app should look like and how it should function in as much detail as possible. It's also important to be flexible as the scope of work may evolve, and consider any feedback from Skycap's team on ways to improve outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of CraftingBase, a technical strategy consulting company. We also develop our own consumer-facing, mobile and web products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Skycap?

We needed to clean up an existing codebase and to code a brand new interactive design for our highest performing mobile app.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to address several bugs and user interaction issues left over from previous development teams.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I offered Skycap a few small projects in order to test their capabilities. I was impressed with their communication style, as well as with their ability to understand my issues and to offer solutions.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was to re-code the main features of our mobile app. Skycap provided wireframes and descriptions of views and actions.

What was the team composition?

I interacted with their top account manager. She understands product development and can speak code, so nothing gets lost in the technical details. She had a team of developers making sure the project moved along quickly and successfully.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The relaunch of the app saved the day. We won back several users/customers and were able to increase revenues.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was terrific. They're always available and ready to take on the new task.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I appreciate their ability to ask good questions and make sure they have all the details before writing code.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No improvement is needed. It's a joy to work with Skycap. They really become part of your team and you always feel that they have your back!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the president of Q5 Systems, a Canadian company specializing in best practice processes and tools in governance and risk and compliance management with concentrations in safety, quality, environment, and security.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Skycap?

We needed to create mobile apps that integrated with our cloud-based enterprise management systems.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We experimented with a number of different vendors. We found Skycap from searching online.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Skycap developed user-friendly apps that can be used offline and will upload data to the enterprise database at the end of each week. The project consisted of three phases, each with a distinct mobile app.

What was the team composition?

Skycap provided a primary manager/developer who pulled in other team members as required. There was one person from our team developing the web services along with Skycap.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was a success. We now have three professional apps that integrate seamlessly with our enterprise application.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Communication was mainly via Skype and we had conference calls when necessary. Skycap’s staff made themselves available in our time zone and were extremely quick to reply to our questions and concerns.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The project manager that we dealt with had a very good knowledge of English and quickly understood the complex requirements of the project.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No. They quickly delivered quality work and kept within the agreed budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Global Sports Analytics. We're currently focused on the disruption of European basketball. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skycap?

We made some initial mockups 2-3 years ago internally. Versions of the product like the MVP in the market since then. The scope of this project involved turning a vision into a useful product. Our internal team is all made up of MBAs and lawyers, so none of us had a technical background or experience. We hired Skycap to help take our products to the next level.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Skycap develops solutions that are instrumental to our three independent lines of our business. They support products from their inception, from site builds to backend algorithms. GSA holding is driven by The Edge, a dynamic SaaS platform driven by advanced statistics. They tailored this product to global investors and European basketball coaches. The Edge is a dynamic SaaS platform driven by advanced statistics. As a financial data terminal, it has components for scouting and game-by-game analysis. Features for coaches work like having an assistant coach in your back pocket. It also helps general managers scout prospects they’re interested in signing.

The team built the entire GSA Report, our consumer-facing newsletter. Their turnkey solution for our internal digital sports agency ranged from launching our website to managing registration for a showcase we're holding in two weeks. We’ve taken our technology stacks in many directions, but they typically use AngularJS. They concluded MEAN stack is the best choice for our primary product. To avoid disrupting ongoing internal processes, they're also working with some of our legacy technology. Whenever there's a crash or a bug, they address those issues immediately. 

What is the team composition? 

Historically, we've worked with four developers. Narinder  (Founder, Skycap) has acted as our project manager. He and I communicate directly, and he shares my requests with the rest of his team. 

How did you come to work with Skycap?

We found them via a freelancer site like UpWork. We'd considered a couple of different candidates. Their response and willingness to do things the right way were encouraging. After some difficult challenges with finding development talent, we reached out to Skycap. 

How much have you invested with them?

For the two plus years we’ve worked together, we've spent between $30,000-$50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2016 and still providing development that's critical to our company and launched a more consistent engagement last summer. 

As continue to get more traction and step into new individual markets, it’s been great to share these results with Skycap who always comes up with innovative new solutions. From our perspective, we hope this partnership will continue for a long time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Skycap has been critical to our success thus far, and to the success, we'll hopefully see going forward.  The founder knows precisely what he wants his company to accomplish and his team has all the right skills to help us reach our goals. From a sales perspective, we've captured some substantially more significant clients regarding both a revenue and brand equity. We’re also secured clients much faster than we could have imagined last year. 

They’ve improved my ability to sell our products and get people excited about using them.  When we started the European basketball season last September, our platform was only in use by one league. Now, we're in 6-7 different leagues with active users throughout several of our target markets in Europe. It's been an amazing experience to see our product evolve well past version 3.0 to the point where it's competitive. We’ve built a great partnership based on Skycap’s capability and expertise to see our vision through.

How did Skycap perform from a project management standpoint?

I speak with the founder either daily or every other day, and his responses are like those of a dedicated project manager. We use basic tools like Skype and Asana, and they immediately respond to our emails. They thoroughly listen to the goals we want to accomplish and gave us completely honest and transparent feedback before starting development.  Their work is clearly structured and driven by the wireframe approach.  

We struggled internally with the idea of an organized build, and Skycap has been integral to focusing our efforts. They keep us organized and strategic about our approach and never waste time on useless tasks. I just spent considerable time presenting our product in Europe so we can adjust our interim process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stands out about Skycap compared to past teams we’ve worked with is the extra level of attention they afford us. When I had to do a presentation in Brussels, I asked their founder to join the presentation via conference call. They both set aside the hours I requested and answered all the complex technical questions asked during the meeting itself. 

They've helped me navigate this whole process much better. The relationship we're forming with Skycap no longer feels like outsourcing development or using a freelancer. They're our team, and I feel confident with that level of support. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

My only grievance is that we're not located in the same city. For us to be successful as a company, I want the interaction with our tech team to be a bit more aggressive, almost. Working in multiple time zones can make management challenging, but I don't know if there's a solution for that. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'm confident this team has the capacity to accomplish what you're looking for. I'm have nothing but good things to say about them. I’m always impressed with their work and am excited about having a long-term working relationship with Skycap.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the manager at ScoutForce. We're a recruiting software that allows coaches and athletes to connect and helps coaches manage their recruits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skycap?

We reached a stopping point with the development team we used, so we were looking for new developers to build a mobile app for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It's a custom application that is built for coaches. First, Skypcap helped us develop our ideas and made suggestions about the platform. They managed every aspect of the app, designing the front- and backend, developing the wireframes, specs, and APIs, and helping us launch the app and register it at the App Store. In addition, they implemented the geo search feature and helped us with the database and server hosting. 

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with our project manager and a lead developer.

How did you come to work with them?

I found them on Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2016 and the project was completed in 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was very happy with their work. They took over an interface from another team, which is always hard to do, and built a functioning mobile app from ground up, helping us engage our entire coach user base. Our user base actually increased from 20,000 athletes to about 90,000 and everyone thought the app was incredibly easy to use. We were recently acquired and we wouldn't be able to do that without Skycap. They even jumped on our technical specification calls with the investors.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They were incredibly fast, open, and easy to get in touch with. We used Asana and Google Docs to communicate. I was very satisfied with their process, so I recommend them all the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very honest, committed, and worked with our deadlines and our budget. They earned my complete trust.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. They're amazing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be specific about what you want and don't leave anything to chance. Skycap understood exactly what we were looking for, but I always asked them if they needed more information.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Skycap?

I hired them to create a basic iMessage application that would allow people to share social profiles.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found them on Upwork. We had a great interview.

What was the team composition?

I worked with one developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Skycap’s work was great all the way through. I could not have asked for a better experience. We just launched the first version of the app, which has had many downloads. We are now working toward version 2.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was perfect. I have no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their professionalism was impressive.