tkxel

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of technology at a)plan coaching, a coaching company that offers a mobile and web application to optimize the coaching experience. We provide weekly one-on-one coaching sessions through our app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tkxel?

We had a working platform for four years and decided to develop it from scratch to improve it. We needed a development company to help us build our web and mobile applications from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tkxel has developed custom applications for mobile and web. We first had a discovery workshop with Tkxel and explained what we were looking for. This discovery workshop consisted of a collaborative fact-finding process that lasted a couple of weeks and helped Tkxel understand our company’s goals. The discovery phase has also helped us be more specific about our development requirements.

Then, Tkxel has delivered high-fidelity wireframes for mobile and web applications. They then have developed the apps to achieve what they had stated in the discovery phase. The mobile application is compatible with Android and iOS. In addition, Tkxel offers us maintenance services and uses AWS for hosting. 

Our app connects private coaches with customers to achieve their specific goals. Users are able to track their progress on the app and register their milestones. Coaches get an update each time users register something and can interact with them through the app. There are interactions aside from the weekly sessions, which are aimed at optimizing the session with your coach. 

Tkxel is currently working on fine-tuning the app’s features, and they are making the required changes.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with nine teammates from Tkxel at the project’s peak, including a project manager, front- and backend developers, and a QA/QC specialist. 

How did you come to work with Tkxel?

We had searched vendors for a long time until a colleague recommended Tkxel to our company’s CEO. We interviewed them, and they seemed like the right fit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Tkxel since June 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response from our coaches and clients that have tested the app developed by Tkxel. We wanted a functional product that felt great while using, and Tkxel has achieved that — they’ve exceeded our expectations. 

Users’ feeling is important to us because we want to create a habit of tracking the things customers are grateful for. We were looking for an app that conveys a sense of beauty and calmness with its design. 

Moreover, Tkxel has been responsive to our feedback and needs. Our old technology was functional, but I think with the new technology, we’ll see a huge boost in our clients’ engagement and overall experience with our company. 

Our engagement with Tkxel has been a huge step forward for our organization, thanks to their hard work. They really try to understand our goals and what we’re trying to achieve. 

How did Tkxel perform from a project management standpoint?

Tkxel has understood our requirements. We’ve had a collaborative process, and our daily communication with Tkxel has been excellent. I constantly talk with their project manager to discuss feedback about the project. We have a close relationship and use Zoom, WhatsApp, text messages, phone calls, and Jira for project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with Tkxel’s ability to understand our goals in a way that other vendors couldn’t. On top of that, Tkxel has been flexible with their prices and met our initial budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing for Tkxel to improve is that initially, during the discovery phase, they were hesitant but eventually overcame that. There´ve also been some miscommunications about the app’s features, and we didn’t notice them until things didn’t work the way they were supposed to. I wish we had caught them earlier; however, I also understand this is a complex development project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend taking advantage of the discovery workshop at the beginning of your engagement. This is the time for Tkxel to understand your project’s goals. I also recommend integrating into your decision process. They’re flexible, and changing your mind during the project’s development, it’s normal.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a VP of a Logistics Management Company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tkxel, and what were your goals?

We offer services that differ from the industry standard and found a need to build a TMS that fits our needs. The off the shelf options were missing vital options to be able to best serve our customers. We wanted to build a simple user-friendly interface that was open with all information available to the customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed many developers and Tkxel was the one who most understood our reasoning and vision. They worked with us on our build from an idea on a piece of paper. We had no technical experience and was not sure what to do and direction to go.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Develop a system to quote and dispatch shipments via API and direct user inputs via login. We were looking for a cloud-based system that was modern in technology and views.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were 4 people most of the project. They were a Team lead who was the main point of contact. He setup goals and projects based on what I was requesting. He coordinated any enhancements or changes needed. Also ensured any bugs were fixed asap. The other 3 were developers working on the tasks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The system has allowed our company to grow 300% so far and has made our offerings more manageable from our side increasing our profitability and ability to expand our offerings to current and future clients.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Their communication was outstanding. we used slack and all questions were answered within 15 minutes. The communication of projects was at the pace I requested. I had availability to view task level details on Jira.

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

Communication was a major factor in what we were able to accomplish.

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

We had no technical background and struggled to understand the lingo and terminology at first. As we went through the project we learned many things about technology and options for how to make it all work. This was mainly due to the communication from Tkxel.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Director of operations in a financial technology and digital payment service provider company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tkxel?

we needed DB developer with high caliber and good market acumen, so we requested outsourced manpower from Tkxel

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

We contacted d many outsourcing companies, tried a few, evaluated many and eventually decided to give Tkxel a chance since during the evaluation process they had very good chance of meeting the requirement

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We were moving to a new platform and were stuck in the middle after the part time DB developer was asked to leave due to poor performance , Tkxel took over the project, and in short time were able to learn the scope, the structure, the requirement, even helped with enhancing the processes .

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We have evaluated the company first , then we received few resumes, interviewed the candidates and picked the one with most experience who were able to prove that can understand the requirement and deliver efficiently

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

we have been working with the resource for the past one year , he became part of the team, working online very efficiently, and delivering high quality work

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

very good communication and very practical cooperation between all team members , very functional

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

they are very tentative, understand the market and the requirement, very responsive, and high quality resources

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

so far, we're very satisfied with the services we've received.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Nitro League is a product-based company operating in crypto space. The core product is a blockchain-based racing game & Metaverse. And I am currently heading the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tkxel, and what were your goals?

We partnered with tkxel for developing our game as we required expertise on development, infrastructure, UI/UX and project management side. Our goal was to develop a scalable game infrastructure to support metaverse in the long run and immersive art styles.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We interacted with a number of firms by searching through several digital mediums and we reached out to tkxel through LinkedIn. Our initial meetings with tkxel covering the overall feasibility of our project was phenomenal and that established our trust to choose tkxel for this project.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

This is an ongoing project that revolves around a blockchain-based NFT racing game. We aim to deliver this in multiple phases, where with each phase the game is evolving to depict the best gaming elements within a Metaverse. Different technologies and stacks are used in this project such as Node.js, React, AWS, Unity, and Solidity.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Around 20-30 people from tkxel have actively contributed and facilitated us in this project. Areas include Project Management, Solutions Architecture, frontend and backend development, Blockchain development, Quality Control, and significant value addition from their CTO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Despite the product still being in development, we have secured significant seed funding and tkxel has a major role in making this happen. Our progress milestones and advancements are shared with the investors, and we are confident that we shall be able to bring our game to a much bigger scale with tkxel’s help.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

tkxel’s team is following a Spotify model, which is an autonomous approach for scaling agile. It has helped us increase innovation and productivity by focusing on autonomy, communication, accountability, and quality. Their work style is very collaborative, as they always incorporate our feedback and provide us with favorable outcomes. Jira, Trello, Asana, and Slack are some of the communication tools they have been using.

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

Their approach toward the project's execution is very impressive; they advocated scalable solutions that eventually developed a scalable architecture. Secondly, wherever we have witnessed any blockages, they have resolved those problems with complete ownership, keeping a solid interpersonal communication that ultimately shaped our product into where it is today.

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

Initially, they had fewer resources with experience in Blockchain, which slowed us down a bit, but thankfully, our concern did not slip their sight, and they managed to provide us with some really good Blockchain developers.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of 5Strands... We provide a road map to better health with our at home testing kits for people and pets. We provide an instant elimination guideline to determine the necessary dietary and lifestyle adjustments to live healthy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tkxel, and what were your goals?

Our company was in a sticky situation. Our company had leaned on 1 man to build and support our company. Eventually we scaled too large and we could not keep up with the requests. Progress slowed down and our company was put on halt. We needed to find someone who could learn the custom code and build on top of it or rebuild and provide us the room to grow.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We started looking online for the best of the best. We did our research and determined that TXKEL had so many services offered that 5Strands needed.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Had to learn previous dev custom code. Had to learn the companies business model. Had to maintain services at affordable rate.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

10+ people and all having unique position.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Nothing tangible or data driven yet.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

lots of team members on every call. each call is recorded so they can go back and study. communication through slack.

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

They have amazing communication skills and lots of variety in their personnel.

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

no feedback currently on how to improve

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Draftlens, and we offer a web-based SaaS service that helps lawyers draft contracts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tkxel?

We wanted to expand the feature set of our product. The initial version of the product was built by our in-house CTO who was mainly a backend engineer. As a result, we hired Tkxel to take our product to the next level.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tkxel’s two engineers are creating a slicker frontend interface and are layering additional features to our product.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with their two engineers.

How did you come to work with Tkxel?

They found us on LinkedIn, and we were impressed with the way they pitched their services to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing collaboration started in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Anecdotally, we’ve been really impressed with their work. The team has really been good at translating our vision for the product into actual engineering requirements and then executing those requirements. In addition, they’re very thorough in considering all the implications of the features we’re trying to build.

How did Tkxel perform from a project management standpoint?

One of their engineers has excellent communication skills. Although the other engineer’s English skills are not so good, it hasn’t been really an issue since most of the work is interfaced with our main point of contact.

Furthermore, they’ve missed a lot of informal deadlines, but I haven’t made it a point of hitting those deadlines, so our timeline has been a little bit flexible due to the complexities we’re facing in the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have strong design and coding skills. They have excellent coding skills because of their solid QC process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should stick to the given deadlines and estimates. Perhaps, they can also provide a bit better communication from the entirety of the team and not just the main point of contact.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s okay to come to Tkxel with a half-baked idea or a business idea because they’re good at translating your vision into a workable engineering project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO, and we work in the digital food safety industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tkxel?

Our backlogs had swelled, and we wanted to get a few things out of the way sooner rather than later.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re doing web application-based development work for us, specifically in the area of Ruby on Rails (Rails).

What is the team composition?

We’re communicating with four people from Tkxel. We work directly with their developers and they have a person in charge who ensures that everything’s okay on a weekly and monthly basis.

How did you come to work with Tkxel?

Tkxel reached out to us through email and their tone was very friendly. It was also the correct timing because we probably wouldn’t have done anything if they didn’t do that. In the end, we gave their services a try and see if we could knock some of the low-hanging fruit off.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership started in March 2022, and we continue to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been able to speed things up and provide some relief to our internal developers by getting some things out of the way. The Tkxel team is also well-integrated with the internal team. We haven’t had any issues with any of their work, and they really produce high-quality outputs.

How did Tkxel perform from a project management standpoint?

They know we work, and they have excellent communication skills. It has been seamless working with their team because they continuously have check-ins to make sure that we’re happy and that deadlines are being met. Overall, we’re very pleased with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen to what we want and it’s very important for them to understand our needs and get things right. It should be the norm, but other companies we’ve worked within the past always prioritized the way they want our projects to be executed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would love it if they can give their services for free, but other than that, there’s nothing to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a large organization, and they cover a wide variety of skillsets. We’re just using one part of their services, but they can handle pretty much anything that you throw at them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a children’s enrichment brand, so we provide schools, daycares, and preschools with music classes, park and recreation centers, and educational sports programs. I’m the senior marketing manager, so I handle a lot of the digital side for the company across five brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tkxel?

We hired Tkxel to help us with the branding and marketing of one of our brands.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tkxel consolidated the multi-site of one of our brands in WordPress into one domain because we didn’t want to have eight separate sites showing the same exact information for different regions. They also integrated a new design and updated the platform to be more modern. Along with that, they developed new features such as a registration system.

On top of that, the team dynamically populated all of our locations to individual landing pages. We’re now moving to the next phase of our plan on the website. We’ve also had a meeting with the team to start working on two other websites for other brands.

What is the team composition?

There have been four key players in the project, including a project manager in charge of managing the workflow. We’re also collaborating with their web developer and designer.

How did you come to work with Tkxel?

Our CTO found Tkxel. We also looked at other companies as well as development agencies we worked with in the past. However, we didn’t see it working out. One of the biggest factors why we chose Tkxel was because of their solid communication skills.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in June 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Tkxel has successfully developed all of the custom features we wanted to have. In fact, they’ve enabled us to triple the number of our users and raise the number of our viewers. They’ve helped us increase our SEO value, too. 

Furthermore, we’ve been able to improve our efficiency by having a consolidated website with additional features since we’re no longer focused on constantly updating eight different web pages. As a result of our increased efficiency, we’ve been able to expand our brands, which is the reason why we decided we’re working with them again on two other projects.

How did Tkxel perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication skills have been outstanding and have been the best that we’ve had with any other agency we’ve worked with. We set up twice a week meetings and discuss different parts of the project. We also have our own Slack channel where we constantly provide each other with information, including their objectives and their target deliverables. Above all, the team always requests feedback and provides us with feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They keep us in check so that we can move forward at a fast pace.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should gauge project timelines better, especially when it comes to API servers, making sure those are properly set up.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set up a Slack channel with the Tkxel and have weekly meetings at a minimum. In our case, our good communication with each other has allowed us to make sure we’re on track.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development and product manager of Curriki; we’re an e-learning company based in Cupertino, California. We have an app to create interactive content deployed through various learning management systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tkxel?

We brought them on board for engineering support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tkxel has been helping us develop and improve our product. Their engineering team works closely with our development staff to create the system’s functionality using technologies like PostgreSQL and React, among others.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 3–5 members of their team, including the lead developer and his group. 

How did you come to work with Tkxel?

They were already working with my company when I took my current position, so it was natural to engage with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, they’ve been very professional; their team has been able to accelerate the development and deployment of the system to integrate our components, which is very helpful.

How did Tkxel perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very responsive; we have daily stand-up calls and work through a Jira ticketing system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to communicate and get things done is outstanding and differentiates Tkxel from other firms. Most companies have good engineers but aren’t willing to share the project's status, listen to our requirements, and be available for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on, but it’d be nice having someone from an architecture view.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with them about your requirements and expectations because they’ll deliver based on that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a company that helps connect consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands with prospective buyers through product sampling experiences. We’ve built an AI chatbot called Sam that replaces a physical brand ambassador, and it helps consumers discover new products and redeem full-sized product samples for free.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tkxel?

Originally, we brought Tkxel to develop a tool that brand ambassadors could use during in-store product sampling to improve the experience. We had some iterations on that tool towards the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. However, COVID-19 put a damper on that project, and we made the decision to pivot into a different project, which is the chatbot. Tkxel has been working with us on both projects, and they were able to do a seamless transition between one another.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’m a programmer by trade, so I’ve worked with several outsourced resources in the past, but those engagements weren’t the best, to be honest. When working with those other companies, there were a lot of layers of bureaucracy between their developers and me. Thus, when I hired Tkxel, I wanted to ensure that they met my requirements.

Initially, I had a conversation with them to ensure that we were all on the same page. My ideal scenario, which then was one of my requirements, was that I would be able to interact with the developers directly.

We also provided them with some documentation regarding our requirements for the functionality. We had a platform already built, but it wasn’t built well, so we needed to rebuild it. Tkxel spent a couple of weeks understanding what was already built, and we started to iterate from there — it was very lean.

Our current engagement continues to be very lean, and I treat Tkxel’s resources as an extension of our team. Instead of just providing them with our requirements, I try to leverage their developers on a creative and collaborative approach, asking them for their opinion on how to architect our software in the best way possible.

What is the team composition?

I’m almost exclusively in contact with two developers from Tkxel. We’ve also talked with their project manager a few times, but we don’t work directly with him because we also have project managers internally. Hence, we only need a direct relationship with their developers.

How did you come to work with Tkxel?

Originally, I had a conversation with one of Tkxel’s account managers. This person had reached out to me while I was in the midst of an engagement with a different firm, so I passed.

Tkxel was part of a network I was in that offered discounts and promotions. When I was getting frustrated with my old firm, their name popped up on the list of that network, offering a good deal. I reached out to them, we had a quick conversation, and we then started working together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around May 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My experience working with Tkxel has been great. In several instances, they’ve offered to switch their schedules unprompted, working extra hours and night times in order to hit the deadlines.

It was very frustrating spending time and energy working on a product that, in the end, didn’t get delivered. However, their team was able to jump right into the next project headfirst, learning about new technologies and platforms on the go. At that point, I was really happy with my decision to bring them on because not every outsourced developer has that ability to pivot.

How did Tkxel perform from a project management standpoint?

Tkxel is very flexible. We use ClickUp internally, and they use Jira. Thus, we maintained both platforms for a while, and they doubled their efforts to ensure that I was happy with the process. However, I work directly with their developers, so I don’t have much more feedback about their project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

On the one hand, I’m very pleased with the two resources from Tkxel; they’re very talented people. Tkxel is very good at understanding the requirements right and allocating resources effectively.

On the other hand, my main point of contact has been really helpful to ensure that we’re being cost-effective. We’re able to take advantage of discounts and opportunities along the way to ensure that we’re getting the maximum value for the money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a few instances where the project manager offered a few services for free on top of our existing contract, but there was no follow-through. It would be good if they improved that part.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about your requirements and needs, and make sure that you clearly communicate the level of talent you need for your project.