Toi

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company is a virtual scheduling assistant that works over email, text messaging, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Skype, etc. It has a persona and acts like an executive admin whose job is for scheduling meetings. The user makes a request to schedule a meeting with someone and the virtual assistant completes that task by reaching out and making time suggestions to the person. I was co-founder and president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Toi?

We wanted to capture the assistant into a mobile phone app. The normal experience before was like a chat box within whatever platform the user was on. For instance, if you text a request, it would text you back. As far as reaching out to the other participants in your meeting, then it would reach out and direct them towards a web app. As a user, you also have access to a web app that gave you status information and some controls on how to take action or modify the meetings. In the phone app, we needed to encapsulate the organizer’s request generation as well as the status management portal. We were looking for an outside consultant because we didn’t have the resources or expertise in-house to do both design and implementation of the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We delegated much of the design in terms of concept and visuals to Toi as well as implementation. There was a lot of dialogue, especially during the design phase. We described to them what we wanted and they came back with drafts using Envision. We iterated over those designs until we were happy with the results. Then there was a period of implementation where we worked by milestones. They delivered the product in three milestones. After that initial engagement, we came back with additional screens that we wanted and went through the same process of design and implementation.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

We engaged with the co-founders of the company initially. Once we signed the agreement, we had a project manager, an in-house designer, and then they outsourced to a company in South America for the engineers. Those resources were present for all of our meetings.

How did you come to work with Toi?

The original meeting was between my co-founder and one of their co-founders at an event. We did talk to other firms as well. Once we talked to Toi, we could see the way they operated was most aligned with how we wanted to operate.

How much have you invested with Toi?

We spent between $30,000 and $50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them towards the end of 2014, and the product was launched in February 2015. Once we launched, they transfer all the code and knowledge of how to build and then we maintain it ourselves. Later in 2015, we thought of other features we wanted and we contracted them again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We weren’t a mobile-first company, so there wasn’t a direct user need for the app. We looked at the app as a way to visually communicate our concept and also for the marketing engine that was already in place around mobile app advertising. It allowed us to get people in the door and then try to retain them through other means. We didn’t need to measure the success by how many people were using the app, but how many people came in through the app. We weren’t as successful as we thought we’d be. Because of the transfer of platform, we weren’t able to retain a lot of people. But we found that there wasn’t a better way to get the exposure that we wanted outside of the app. Conceptually, we were able to effectively communicate the message by leveraging the visualization and design of the app.

How did Toi perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. We didn’t hit the aggressive timeline that we originally wanted but I was expecting that. We had set a timeline of eight weeks in the beginning which I knew wasn’t likely to happen.  

What did you find most impressive about Toi?

They connected well with what we were trying to convey. Even on the earlier passes, the visual design was fairly spot on. When we did have feedback, they were able to take the feedback and were able to address them to our satisfaction. They came up with some of their own ideas as well. We were able to collaborate to come up with a good product. You don’t think of things happening in parallel. If one part of the project drags out, the rest will be delayed. I stayed in contact with them to make sure I knew what the progress was.

Are there any areas Toi could improve?

They could provide more of an end-to-end service. We engaged them to build this app and then we sourced mobile advertising and we had our own PR firm. We were a startup ourselves, so it wasn’t like we had to have somebody. They could’ve been more of a coordinator for all these things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior creative director at SOZE Agency, which is a multi-platform social impact and creative agency that builds campaigns focused around the values of authenticity, compassion, and equity. We’re located in Brooklyn, NY, and we currently have 17 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Toi?

SOZE focuses on building campaigns digitally. We didn’t have the internal capacity to do web development internally, so we reached out to Toi to utilize their web development skills. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve worked with them on various projects. The biggest one was the “I Am an Immigrant” campaign in partnership with FWD.us, which is an immigration foundation started by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and other individuals in the tech community. At the time of this campaign, they had been our client for 3 years. We were working on launching this website that featured celebrities and influencers from all over the nation showing solidarity with immigrants.

Toi built the entire website, including a meme generator. It’s like a photo overlay tool that allowed people to participate through social media if they couldn’t in person. The process was a little last-minute on our end, but Toi really kept it together. They gave us a schedule we could work with and completed the tool in a few weeks. We were giving them work until the launch, but I think that was due to the nature of the project more than anything.

We handled the copy for the website; however, Toi handled the design and the development of the site. I worked with them directly on that, and we had already created brand guidelines, so they didn’t create things from scratch, per se. They definitely created the look and feel of the website.

The meme generator feature allowed users to upload a photo, add an overlay of the campaign, and share it directly to Twitter or Facebook. That was probably the biggest piece of the site. The second piece was the gallery that showcased all the celebrities as well as directly impacted immigrants from the campaign.

Some of the other projects with Toi have been as simple as reconfiguring a website to make it more user-friendly and allow our client to change things on their site. I’m currently working with them on a website that we had to put on hold. It’s an entire build of a website for a major client. It’s a very image-heavy website. The projects ranged from adding a video to a website to building an entire website. For the most part, these are all WordPress sites.

We had more than 6 people working on the “I Am an Immigrant” project. I worked closely with Nate [CEO, Toi] and Tim [Account Executive, Toi], and they brought their developers on. I worked with them through Basecamp, but I generally just communicate with Nate and Tim. I rarely communicate with the developers themselves.

Toi is our development arm. For “I Am An Immigrant,” they also supported our design team, but we usually do the design in-house. On the development side, they’re definitely our go-to agency.

How did you come to work with Toi?

We know Toi through David, their founder. We had tried some other developers and gone back and forth. My business partner suggested that we reach out to David, and he pitched his company. We’ve kept working with them since then.

How much have you invested with Toi?

We’ve invested $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe our partnership started in October or November of 2015, and our relationship is ongoing. We have a project on hold right now because of the client.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

Last June, the graphics generator created over 7,000 items, which was directly impacted by Toi’s work. Feedback goes directly to the client, and I don’t necessarily track it. We had to redesign the “I Am an Immigrant” website for functionality reasons, and the campaign definitely changed. The client chose to do this with their internal team. When they were redesigning everything, we all concluded that it needed to keep the look that Toi had created.

How did Toi perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really great. Sometimes, the client doesn’t necessarily stick to the timeline. Toi has been more than flexible, making sure we can be conscious of the client’s time while still ensuring that we are able to build. They answer the phone anytime I call, even at 2 o’clock in the morning. We use Basecamp to keep track of the project.

What did you find most impressive about Toi?

We’ve had a great experience with them. We could’ve worked with a developer who was more established, but Toi is very invested, and they care about what we’re building. All of the work we do is involves social justice issues, and I think that’s an impactful reason why they’ve stayed with us as long as they have. They care about the issues we tackle, and this isn’t just about development for them. They’re working for a cause.

Are there any areas Toi could improve?

Once, we had a hiccup with the client. I connected Toi directly with that client, and the conversation didn’t go the way I would have liked. I think that was due to nervousness more than anything else. Outside of that, they’ve been great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Omaze, a marketplace that connects celebrity influencers, non-profits, and donors around the opportunity to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences that benefit charitable causes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Toi?

This September will be our fifth anniversary. We approached Toi about a year into our business. They were the first company we partnered with to help us build a website. We really didn’t have any technical knowhow whatsoever. We needed a custom frontend that would allow us to run a mix of things, support e-commerce, but also have the WordPress backend to get us started.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started from scratch, outlining exactly what the site would be and going through wireframes. Toi did everything from the logo design and lightweight branding to the build of the user flow and the donor journey. It was a fairly comprehensive process.

We have a unique business. We put up these once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and then we need to market those succinctly. We have to show a fan of a celebrity influencer exactly what they have the opportunity to win. We have to explain that they have the opportunity to win and also give a background on the charity that’s benefiting from this campaign. We then offer additional perks that users could purchase while getting additional donations.

It’s really a hybrid site with a little media and a lot of e-commerce, but it’s not meant to feel like a shopping experience. The goal is more like a media experience. So, it’s a little outside of the normal stuff most developers deal with. That was part of the fun and part of the challenge. I believe we had 4 team members from Toi working on the project. They may have had additional members working on it.

After the site was launched, there was a short period of time when we spruced up and changed certain things, so it wasn’t a strict pass-off. We worked together to ensure the site was working as we were hoped.

How did you come to work with Toi?

I met David [Co-Founder, Toi] through an entrepreneur community I’m part of, where he was highly recommended based on a number of projects he’d completed for various people. We looked at a handful of other providers. We wanted to find someone who shared our language so that we could discuss our exact needs and what we wanted to build—someone who was responsive and able to deliver to spec.

How much have you invested with Toi?

I think we spent between $30,000 and $50,000, probably closer to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in 2012 and ended that year. It was about a 6-month engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Toi built a site that worked, which let us run our business at a time when we were introducing a completely brand-new model in the philanthropic sector. We’re a for-profit company working within the philanthropic sector. They were able to build something that really worked and pull together everything we needed, from the basic mechanics of e-commerce to meshing those functions with our service.

We stayed on that site for probably about 2 years. We built a company based on that initial engagement. We’ve since built our own custom site, and we have a full in-house tech team now. So, like any company making that transition, we certainly had growing pains and challenges, but none that were exacerbated by Toi’s work or out of the ordinary. The fact that we were able to even make the jump speaks to their expertise.

How did Toi perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s tough for me to say because my co-founder and I were new to this space at the time. So, in terms of how Toi performed relative to working with folks who had domain expertise, really understood e-commerce and how to build things, or even understood the length of the build, I would say Toi was probably dealing with 2 complete newbies. In that regard, we had some back and forth and natural growing pains due to the education process for folks like us who had never created a site.

That being said, we were able to really establish a good rapport. Toi was always available, was completely open, and worked hard to ensure we had what we needed and stayed on schedule. I’m sure there was some scope creep that came from us and some changes that had to be done, but they were extremely amenable, professional, and just good people to work with.

What did you find most impressive about Toi?

They’ve had the opportunity to work with many entrepreneurs, and they’re entrepreneurs themselves. They’ve worked with a diverse cross-section of companies. As a result, I believe it’s easier in some regards to work with them than another shop that’s turning out the same thing constantly. They’ve built many different types of sites and mobile apps, so they’re able to speak the language clearly when helping entrepreneurs who are building a site for the first time.

They helped us understand all the different directions we could go in, and they’re great to work with in that regard. David’s an incredibly positive, upbeat human being with a large network, and I think he’s a great guy who’s focused on the work. For those reasons, I would recommend Toi.

Are there any areas Toi could improve?

I’d probably reserve comment here because the project was 5 years ago and was our first time creating a site. I certainly spotted improvements I could make the next time I build a site, but I wouldn’t put those areas on them.