Tonic

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Stashlete Inc. We provide a round-up model for fan engagement within college sports. We have a mobile app for college athletes to benefit from NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) with fan engagement online. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tonic?

The initial scope of the project was to create an MVP web application. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We spent multiple meetings with Lauren (Director of Client Solutions) reviewing the scope of the work. She met with Tonic's internal engineering team to verify the scope and engagement details. After that, we met with Ellen (CEO) and moved on to their recommendations for the engagement based on where we wanted to go from a vision standpoint. 

We followed all of this with a design phase where we laid out what we were looking for, then moved on to developing the MVP application. We’re working in multiple phases, the first of which was to create the MVP; we are currently in the second phase, which includes the web app build. 

With Tonic’s guidance, we have been able to build something patentable; some features include Stripe API integration and a multi-selector option from an organizational standpoint. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Lauren, Ellen, Jesse (UX Designer), Margaret (UX Designer), Chris (CTO), Kelcey (Senior Project Manager), William (Lead, UI Engineering), and one other individual. 

How did you come to work with Tonic?

We found Tonic through a Google search. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $75,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2023, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We recently launched our MVP and have had about 40 users sign up without running any kind of marketing. The quality of Tonic’s work is fantastic. In a startup environment, it can be extremely difficult to relate to users and gain user trust, and we’ve been able to do that and gain our user's confidence. The project is challenging, but they’ve been doing an incredible job. 

How did Tonic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been able to stay within budget, and we’ve been happy with our project manager. We communicate via Slack, email, and phone calls; we use Jira for project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is flexible, and we’ve enjoyed working with Tonic. Their whole team is fantastic and knowledgeable.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had an issue with our first UX designer, but they handled it quickly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Read the scope of work; they are meant to be detailed and specific. Read what is laid out and ensure that it is what you’re looking for. If it doesn’t align with your needs, make revisions. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief strategist of Pivot Energy, a solar company. We offer commercial and community solar services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tonic?

We wanted to build an app to manage customers for our community solar project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tonic has developed a cloud platform from scratch. We initially had an idea of what we wanted to build, but they helped to determine the project.

The app is a billing and customer interface platform. Our customers can sign up for community solar services using a portion of the platform that walks them through the steps of the complex signup process. Tonic has created a dashboard and portal for users once they’re signed up. In the dashboard, users can pay bills, see the production of solar rays and their portion as subscribers, get news, and more.

Tonic’s team has used several APIs with utilities and payment platforms. The solution has complex integrations. We’re still expanding the platform and adding features.

What is the team composition?

At any given time, we work with 4–5 teammates. However, we’ve interacted with more people throughout the project.

How did you come to work with Tonic?

We got lucky. We met Tonic through happenstance at a workplace and got into a conversation with them. We realized they could be a good fit for what we were looking to do. Although we talked to other companies, we decided Tonic was the best fit, so we went through with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $1 million–$10 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018, and the project is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a few bugs, but nothing catastrophic. Amongst the competitor platforms, we’re considered one of the best. Moreover, we’ve won a ton of business, not just in terms of customers, but we’ve also signed up other solar companies. We now manage tens of thousands of customers from four other companies, including some of the biggest ones in the field.

All in all, the platform has been a massive success. Although we’ve spent more than we anticipated, it’s been profitable. We expanded the scope, and Tonic still built it relatively affordably.

How did Tonic perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been good and all fronts. Their communication is excellent; Tonic has a system for advancing projects that’s efficient and easy to follow for people who aren’t tech-savvy. Moreover, Tonic has delivered all the deadlines on time except when we’ve changed directions or had unexpected issues.

We regularly interact with the team, so we have a good relationship. We mainly communicate through email, but they use another platform for project management. Overall, we’ve enjoyed working with Tonic; they have a good track record.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good team, which goes a long way. Tonic has a great combination of highly-skilled people with technical skills and top people with people skills and a teamwork approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve worked with other tech companies, and our experience with Tonic has been outstanding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and CTO of Sofia Family, a digital parenting platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tonic?

We were in the late stages of the prototype development of our iOS app, and we were facing technical and timeline challenges, so we needed a consulting agency that could work with us and apply their technical expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tonic provided app development and consulting services. They sent someone to look at our iOS coding and improve it. In addition, their team modified our VPN infrastructure and provided agile coaching for our project manager. 

To jumpstart the engagement, we brought them into our agile process and introduced them to the problems we were running into so they could help us decide the methods we were using to address those challenges.

Regarding technologies, they focused on iOS, Swift, Python, Linux, strongSwan, SQL, and Squid.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Natalie (Chief Solutions Officer), Bryce (Principal Engineer), Alfred (Director), and an iOS developer.

How did you come to work with Tonic?

Someone referred them to us, and we chose them because they were professional, and I liked the initial interaction I had with them.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We spent around $30,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work was instrumental in helping us solve the issues we had.

How did Tonic perform from a project management standpoint?

They were integrated into the process and were responsive. Regarding tools and communication, we used Asana, email, phone calls, Slack, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a high-end boutique consultant that provides good value for money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend people working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

As VP of Product at a top 10 US Mortgage company I ran teams focused on growth, scalability, and user experience across multiple Operations and Sales products. These initiatives crossed traditional retail and direct-to-consumer business channels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tonic?

Tonic was hired to help across our digital transformation initiatives, specifically in UX strategy, research, and design as well as front-end development with a heavy focus on Angular2 development. Tonic contributed to team efforts across multiple product — both internal (sales and ops) as well as customer (loan applications and mortgage servicing).

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Tonic was a direct referral from the CIO's network, they provided a unique background in design and front-end expertise that was not a core competency of the in-house engineering group. Being a more specialized partner, Tonic was leveraged for new UX practices and front-end technology expertise (including a massive Angular2 platform rewrite).

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

Tonic contributed across tens of Digital Transformation projects, helping with everything from foundational Design System consultation, to early stage project UX research and validation, as well as ongoing design efforts and user testing. On the development side they embedded in architecture and project sprint teams to help build a core Angular2 architecture that over time (years) was implemented by the majority of platforms.

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

At least 15 different resources across a variety of role skillsets, including: UX strategy and research, UX design, JavaScript and Angular development, front-end development (CSS heavy), and .NET developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On the consumer side the company saw a rise in JD Power rankings for Loan Application CX, the mobile app and responsive offering had significant traction. Loan application completion and engagement rates were significantly higher and net promoter scores raised close to the promoter levels. The introduction of a new quick pricing web offering became a successful lead-gen driver for the direct-to-consumer sales teams.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent communication at all times, and very forgiving with a number of red-tape processes that (for those of us that have lived in the enterprise space) are all too common. Multiple team members worked for years with our teams, which was a huge win in institutional knowledge, there was very little unwanted churn of the talent. Particularly important was that Tonic would argue for the right solution, a lot of other contracting partners did more order taking — Tonic was very solution centric.

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

Their talent level and attitude were incredible. We eventually used them for talent recruiting and work support. People were so friendly while also having incredible work ethic.

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

Very little to critique on the sales and relationship side, same with the talent and work capability.