Swovo

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CTO of a pre-construction platform that helps contractors and subcontractors do estimates for construction projects. We also help them purchase and deliver materials to construction sites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Flatirons Development?

When I started with the company a year ago, we didn’t have any formal UX design. Our entire web application was cobbled together by developers. We wanted to make our system more usable, especially for people who don’t use technology every day.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve outsourced our UI/UX design to Flatirons. They do customer interviews, design, and user experience for our application. We work 2–4 weeks ahead of our developers and we do revisions as needed.

What is the team composition?

I work with two people from their team. There could be more behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Flatirons Development?

I found one of their principals through LinkedIn, we met in person, and decided to work together from there.

How much have you invested with them?

I’m guessing we’ve spent $100,000–$150,000, based on the hours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application was a disaster from a UI perspective when we first started and now it’s better. The team also allowed us to develop faster now since they can focus solely on the development and not the UX.

How did Flatirons Development perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage them through our team. They perform well under the circumstances we provide them but they aren’t managing the project themselves. We use Clubhouse for project management and they have an account through us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their consistency has been really helpful. I’ve worked with outside firms in the past where we’ve lost 1–2 key people on a project and we’ve needed to get new people up to speed. It’s great working with another small company that’s owned by the people I’m talking to, so I know they won’t abandon the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a small business, which comes with its own staffing challenges. That being said, every time I ask them to do something in a rush, they get it done. They always give me advance notice when they’ll be out and are great at communication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to provide as many examples as possible of what you’re trying to accomplish, visually.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a sales training and job placement platform for entry-level professionals. We bring in a pool of applicants who apply for our sales boot camp and then match them with different employment opportunities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Flatirons Development?

Our company is growing, and as we started looking to scale, we wanted a more efficient business model. We hired Flatirons Development to build a platform that would help connect talent with the right company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our web app and designed the frontend of the platform. The app has a candidate and employer side and uses an algorithm to match their profiles. Every week, the platform triggers an automatic email to employers with a list of the 5 candidates who are most qualified for the position. We also have several filters that allow employers to search for candidates with ease.

Since the web app launched, they’ve fixed bugs and helped us add on additional features.

What is the team composition?

Mike (Founder, Flatirons Development) is our project manager, and then we have a developer and designer working on the project.

How did you come to work with Flatirons Development?

One of our employees recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $50,000 on the MVP  and between $15,000–$20,000 for maintenance, totaling around $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in March 2019 and the app launched in June 2019, but they’re providing ongoing support.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our platform has several thousand views every month, and we’ve seen an uptick in the matching algorithm.

On our student side, we’ve received a lot of positive feedback. Generally, they think the design is simple and easy to use. We expected a decrease in profile creation and our conversion rate, but it has stayed steady, which is indicative of the fact that candidates are finding it easy to complete the form.

We’re also happy with the employer's side, but we get more constructive feedback from employers. To be fair, this is only the first phase in a five-step build-out. We need to improve our algorithm and eliminate gaps in our service and tech. However, we’re optimistic because we’re figuring out how to scale the platform.

How did Flatirons Development perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re really satisfied with their service. They’re awesome communicators and always respond quickly. We’ve had a few bugs, but they started working on a fix immediately. We generally get in touch with them via Slack, though we also use Trello and a panel to check analytics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very hands-on, and the speed and quality of their work is top-notch. On top of it all, they offer a fair price. I’ve been happy with our partnership, which is why we continue to work together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Think more about your long-term goals and metrics. They did a great job guiding us through the process and helping us determine the project’s success using analytics. We only gave them information for the first part of our build, but we could have helped them more by telling them exactly where we wanted to go with the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of dtour.life, a divorce management platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Flatirons Development?

We were looking for someone to help us with our UX design. It’s a very robust software and we needed to be able to guide different types of users through it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Flatirons Development was responsible for the UX design for our cloud-based application. They ensured that the system was intuitive for both individuals going through a divorce as well as the professional audience that manages divorce cases. The ensured that our different audiences could enter information, upload data, run reports and more. 

Their team also conducted A/B testing of the application. We have stakeholders around the testing so we held video calls with demos and Q&A sessions. 

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Rosina (Chief Creative Officer, Flatirons Development).

How did you come to work with Flatirons Development?

I was looking for a talented UX designer and I came across Flatirons Development’s portfolio online so I emailed them. At first, we hired them on a contract basis. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Flatirons Development began in August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We get a lot of feedback that we have a great look and feel. Clients have been continuously impressed by our UX. After our review with our stakeholders, there was general excitement about how we’ve solved the problem of walking users through our site. 

How did Flatirons Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is beyond excellent. It’s flawless. I can’t imagine having a better relationship with a vendor. Frankly, in today’s world, the responsibility involved in a project like this is so valuable. I truly cannot say enough about how responsible and professional they are about communication and deadlines. Our teams use Slack to communicate and InVision to review prototypes. We also have Google video calls every day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While it’s important to have an aesthetically pleasing design, they’ve created a design that is also smart. I couldn’t believe how they were able to take the complicated ideas I articulated to them and create something so beautiful and effective. They deconstructed our idea and provided it back to us in an incredibly smart and accessible manner. Flatirons Development is constantly solving problems in both a visually stunning and intelligent way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, and I’m not just heaping praise on them because it’s easy. I’ve worked with many vendors, but I would hire Flatirons Development again and again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to provide the best input possible because you can’t expect a quality product without it. Your commitment in hiring anybody is to provide them with direction. That included clarity of expectations, timing, and priorities. One of the reasons we’ve been successful with Flatirons Development is because it’s a two-way partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product for Osmosis, an educational technology product for students and healthcare. We try to enhance the education and medical learning experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Flatirons Development?

We were seeking a designer to help us improve our product’s video-viewing and learning experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rosina (Chief Creative Officer, Flatirons Development) developed the UX/UI of our video-based dashboard and tested our video playlist feature. We proposed a broad strategy, and she consulted with our users about the product for their feedback before conducting usability testing.

Using Figma Software, she reworked our site from the ground up, focusing on our dashboard and log-in flow. She validated our playlist feature and also fine-tuned the learning experience associated with the videos.

What is the team composition?

I just worked with Rosina, who was my main point of contact.  

How did you come to work with Flatirons Development?

Flatirons Development had experience in the educational market, and Rosina had the specific skillset we were looking for. She had almost 15 years of experience in both research and design, so we knew we’d be able to hit the ground running with them.

How much have you invested with them?

I’d like to keep that confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from March to August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve yet to implement all of the work that Rosina’s been doing, so we’ll have exact metrics in the coming months. So far, she’s delivered amazing functions and optimized our site flow. We now have a wider understanding of which features and functions are the most crucial.

How did Flatirons Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Rosina was super organized and had amazing communication skills. She’s an incredible listener, inquisitive, and made sure to document all of her notes from user research meetings. We really appreciated that she tries to get a complete picture of the business goals behind a project.

We used Trello and Slack to communicate. We’d also sit down for one-on-one Google Hangout sessions for user research.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Rosina is exceptionally skilled at extracting information out of users and is able to integrate that information into the next steps. Her keen ability to empathize with the user is very impressive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would keep Flatirons Development involved in all of the strategic conversations because they’re truly able to provide solutions for your problems.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the co-founder of Helmm, a modern grooming brand for men that’s well-known for our debut refillable antiperspirant and deodorant product. Along with my business partner, we handle almost all aspects of the business, from web design to marketing, customer experience, and product development. We were heavily involved in the initial web design and development, however, we don’t have the coding or development expertise for proper execution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Flatirons Development?

We initially hired Flatirons Development to assist with our holiday season demand surge. We had Mike (Founder, Flatirons Development) implement a gifting flow on our website as well as install several banners and pop-ups that helped with holiday messaging. We viewed this as an opportunity to capitalize on holiday sales but also recognized that our initial build from a previous developer was lacking, which presented several challenges for us. Since we liked Flatirons’ work so much, we had them help with ongoing refinements to our website as well.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal for this project was to increase our e-commerce capabilities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Flatirons Development through AngelList. We interviewed approximately five different agencies but felt the most comfortable with Flatirons Development because they gave us an outline and strategy that was easy to understand. They were also completely upfront about costs from the very beginning.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Flatirons Development started by helping us implement new gifting flows into our website, but it quickly turned into an ongoing consultation/retainer role since we were extremely pleased with the initial work they did. Their team first had to get an understanding of the specific tech language, processes and flows that our initial developer built. We didn’t have proper documentation to share with Flatirons Development, but they were easily able to understand everything within the first couple hours and even gave us advice on where we could improve things on our website.

It was clear that we had a lot of tech debt from our previous development team, though Flatirons Development went above and beyond in helping address it. They also helped implement reviews, press and other features that have dramatically improved our business.

The coding languages and custom integrations include but are not limited to: Ruby on Rails, React, HTML/CSS, Postgres, and Stripe. Flatiron Development helped walk us through our current build and made things extremely easy for us to understand. Additionally, they now help us with ongoing refinements that increase our conversion rate and customer experience throughout the website.

What was the team composition?

Our primary point of contact is Mike. We also work with a developer and have experienced no drop-off in performance, speed, or quality of work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Flatiron Development's work on our gifting flow helped us increase sales by over 37% during the holiday season. Additionally, they included reviews and press features, which boosted sales by over 40% once these were implemented. Their team is currently working on automating our backend, and we expect that our customer service and backend duties will become more efficient by almost 300%.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management is clear and helpful. Flatiron Development estimated specific deadlines and did not miss a date. We like how flexible they are, especially given that we often ask for small additions after the project has started.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Flatiron is a unique development company that feels much more like a partner rather than a separate third-party developer. We have access to our specific developer whenever we want to run something by him, as well as full transparency into the cost and timeline of our projects. We also appreciate engaging with Flatiron Development on a per-project basis, so we aren’t paying for the time that isn’t used.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is very little that Flatirons Development could improve, as we’ve been extremely happy with the results. One small suggestion could be keeping clients aware of how many hours each project is likely going to take as. However, we understand that it is pretty difficult to estimate how much time a project will take without first digging into it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm one of the cofounders of KoaWare. We have an automated real estate marketing platform. Our products aim to simplify digital marketing for real estate agents and brokers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Flatirons Development?

We needed someone to help bring one of our products to market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Flatirons Development oversaw the development strategy and execution for our product. We already had the product, which is a web-based platform, and they basically gave it a facelift. They were brought on to our development team to provide insight into the most necessary workflows. They served as the lead developer and oversaw product management. Our product is full WYSIWYG and directly editable. They simplified the UX so that a lot of the process is automated.

What is the team composition?

I only interact with Michael (CEO, Flatirons Development), but he had a couple of junior developers working under him.

How did you come to work with Flatirons Development?

I’d worked with Michael in the past. He has a lot of experience in the startup and tech communities, so they’re a natural fit for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started working on this project in October 2017, and wrapped up in 4–5 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve really cleaned up our code. It's night and day from what it was. We're now able to put together integrations and affiliate partnerships because of the simplicity of their APIs. Michael is actually working on a second project for us now.

How did Flatirons Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is really good. We primarily used Slack and Trello to communicate, and Michael was available all the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely professional. Michael has so much experience. Not only is he able to execute on the development side, but he can really speak to the UX/UI experience on the product side. We trust that he knows what users are going to respond to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have the best understanding of your customer and audience as possible. Understand the market and the product that you're trying to build. If you’re able to effectively communicate that, then they will be able to bring it to life.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product at BioIntelliSense. We provide continuous remote patient monitoring through our FDA-cleared wearable device and a data platform that delivers real-time health analytics and clinical intelligence for healthcare providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Swovo to accomplish for your business?

We needed to develop a clinical mobile application to provide notifications and context on wearable data to nurses working in hospitals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Swovo has near end-to-end ownership of the project, from design to frontend implementation and testing. The team has delivered the full application; meanwhile, we’ve supported them with backend APIs.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–5 teammates from Swovo.

How did you come to work with Swovo?

We found them through an online search. We chose them over other options because they were close to our geographic location, their pricing fit our budget, they had a great culture fit, and they offered good value for the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2026, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen positive feedback from pilot nurse users, who say the application is easy to use, visually appealing, and well-designed overall.

How did Swovo perform from a project management standpoint?

Swovo’s project management is solid. The team has delivered on time and within budget. We communicate via in-person meetings, virtual meetings, and emails or messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Swovo has strong engineering talent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the owner of DoubleBlindSettlementServices

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

An SaaS service that provides an online platform for resolution of claims and lawsuits where the money value of the claim is disputed. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Swovo to accomplish?

• To build the best possible website for the task

SOLUTION

How did you find Swovo?

Online Search

Why did you select Swovo over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location

How many teammates from Swovo were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Swovo developed an entirely new SaaS service for online monetary dispute resolution from a fetal concept presented to Swovo

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is not finished yet, we are in the concluding phase before launch. But Swovo's team developed an increible product beyond my expectations for a very reasonable price. 

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

Delivered on time and highly, highly responsive to customer needs. 

What was your primary form of communication with Swovo?

Virtual Meeting

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

Swovo's ability to take the fetal concept and develop an industrial-grade platform stood out.

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

no

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of MJTech, a custom software development company. We build technology-agnostic solutions and offer experienced leadership to deliver complex, million-dollar projects on time and within budget.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Swovo?

We needed to build a software product for our client.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Swovo has supplied developers to our team. The team has built a web application from scratch. The team lead, QA specialist, and three other developers have been supplied.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–5 teammates from Swovo.

How did you come to work with Swovo?

We found them through an online search. We chose them because their pricing fit our budget, they had a great culture fit, they offered good value for the cost, and their company values aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2025, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve achieved milestones in our project build.

How did Swovo perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve communicated through virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps. However, they haven’t done project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Swovo’s flexibility, communication, and quality of developers have been impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of an information technology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help enterprise businesses with cloud migration, strategy and implementation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Flatirons to accomplish?

• Create a web platform and infrastructure in the enterprise healthcare space.

SOLUTION

How did you find Flatirons?

• Online Search
• Other

Why did you select Flatirons over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Flatirons were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Flatirons helped us build a reusable and scalable architecture for a cloud-native enterprise healthcare platform. Deliverables included UI/UX design and code.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had three major milestones setup for delivery of different functionality within our platform (an MVP, a partial application, and a full-featured application). Flatirons met all of the milestones on time.

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

They used Jira and delivered frequent reports on work accomplished and project status. All work was delivered on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Flatirons?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I feel that Flatirons is very dedicated to making my project a success.

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

Not that I can think of currently.