Tooploox

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of VoiceDrop, an early startup. We’re working on a consumer social app that lets users pair memes with audio content. So, users can pair images with their voices or clips from TV shows and movies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tooploox?

In the early days, we were trying to put together prototypes and run experiments to test whether or not our ideas had any market value. It was still too early to bring on full-time engineering teams, so we brought on Tooploox to get us through the early iteration stages. We wanted to get to the point where we could figure out if there's actually any traction in our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re working with a designer, who provided the designs to Tooploox. Their core task has been Android and iOS app development.

What is the team composition?

We’ve set up the project in a traditional agile scrum team, so we work directly with a project manger. Then we work two iOS engineers and one Android engineer.

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

One of my co-founders is a pretty active angel investor. He reached out to a lot of companies he has invested in and asked if they had experience with any good development shops. We received a few names, had some early screening meetings, put together proposals, and ultimately worked with Tooploox.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been running a bunch of user tests and experiments. The app is live and in a bunch of hands already. Tooploox’s work is high-quality. Of course, their coding isn’t perfect, but they’re definitely meeting our standards.

At this point, we want to focus on finishing the project before perfecting it, so we do run into bugs like we would with any software team. We’re currently running tests and getting feedback.

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team structure works really well. Our project manager helps coordinate everything and manages timelines. He also is my point person for anything logistical. We’re operating in a fairly iterative and agile way, so we have active discussions about timelines every week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a fairly large dev shop, so they have a lot of resources that other development teams don’t seem to have. For example, if we needed support for backend development, but we don’t need a full-time backend engineer, they can flexibly staff that. Also, if we need the opinion of someone who specializes in certain technologies, they usually have that expertise in-house.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Individually, some of their engineers aren’t the best I’ve worked with. What I think differentiates the best of the best from developers like Tooploox, is the ownership of the product beyond just the code. Outstanding developers think through the goals of the product, the goals of the end-user, and fills in the details that we may have missed. We have to fill in those gaps for them, but that’s common with most dev shops.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them like an extension of your team and follow the same practices you would internally. They’re interested in engaging with you, so having daily standups and a scoring process can help you stay in touch and address things as soon as possible.   

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CTO at Granular AI. Our platform empowers various businesses to access real-time geospatial intelligence at global scale via low-code intutive interface.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tooploox?

We hired tooploox to help us understand how best to go-to-market with our AI platform for geospatial analysis.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal with this engagement was to develop our market research skillset that would allow us to validate our ideal target customer as we bring our technology to market.

SOLUTION

How did you select Tooploox?

We got access to Tooploox workshop via Techstars Boston 2021 program.

Describe the project in detail.

We worked with Tooploox to identify ideal customer segments for our geospatial analytics technology and perform structured user interviews and hypothesis validation.

Through working with tooploox we developed framework to deepen our understanding of customers through a series of workshops that introduced us to critical frameworks (eg - SPA matrix) and went through a live exercise with them to validate/reject critical business hypotheses developed through these frameworks.

What was the team composition?

Team was composed of 7 people from product design, sales, machine learing, and UI/UX.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to capture a PoC.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Fluid and efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The tooploox team was incredibly professional and had highly skilled operators in both the technical and product design arenas. They made excellent use of tools like whiteboards (MIRO) and spreadsheets to teach us about a wide range of topics. They also came to each workshop having done a remarkable amount of research and preparation.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not anything in particular. They did a great job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Wysefit. We are helping adults 50+ extend their healthy lifespans with physical exercise. Wysefit is the top app for senior fitness in the US App Store.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tooploox?

We hired Tooploox to create a future version of a user's personal dashboard in Wysefit, with innovative progress and activity tracking features.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted our users to know what progress they are making and what results they are achieving in order to increase user engagement and foster behavioral change.

SOLUTION

How did you select Tooploox?

We met Tooploox through the Techstars program and were very impressed with their range of service and case studies.

Describe the project in detail.

Tooploox created an impressive and feature-rich user dashboard with very minimal guidance and input from us. They had to design towards features and functionalities that are not yet live in our app, and they handled the complicated task beautifully.

What was the team composition?

We interacted with the bizdev team to determine the scope of the project, and then with a designer who worked on our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The dashboard designed by Tooploox is not live yet, so it's hard to share any specific outcome. But we are happy with the results and plan to integrate it with minimal changes.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was effective. They took my minimal guidance and were able to run with it.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We are very impressed with their work and turnaround speed. They are clearly pros in product design. I also enjoyed my interaction with the biz dev team. Overall, great quality of work and very efficient.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I wish I could shrink the timezones between California and Poland.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at a telehealth company. We look to offer direct to consumer healthcare around a number of conditions and a series of brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tooploox?

We’re a fast growing and scaling company, so we were looking to bring in more people to help our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For us, Tooploox placed a number of different members on our various teams. As opposed to them working on separate projects, they worked as integrated parts of our teams as if they were part of our in-house staff. 

They’ve provided site reliability, backend engineering, frontend engineering, and design services. They’re serving as software engineers doing web application and systems development with our teams, both designing and building the systems. Tooploox works in the languages we use: Python, React, and JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

The total number has gone up and down during our engagement, but it’s around 10. We’ve had project managers who don’t work with us day-to-day, but who check in to make sure all members are doing well and other related topics.

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

I worked with Tooploox at past companies as well. I found them to be quite strong not just on the technical side, but also as a vendor who acts as an actual partner in solving our challenges and problems, and thinking ahead for our business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $500,000–$1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July 2019 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because they’re integrated into our teams, I can’t necessarily pluck out Tooploox’s contributions relative to the overall teams. I will say that we treat their team members exactly like ours and include them in our internal reviews. In all cases, Tooploox team members score within the range of good to some of the best people on the team. They perform well, and the teams are hitting their goals.

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

Tooploox is definitely responsive to our needs. They’re able to adapt to our needs as a rapidly growing and changing company. In that regard, their project management has been great. 

They’ve also been leaders in some cases as well, suggesting opportunities for us to do things differently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A lot of development shops are interested in billing hours and building revenue. Tooploox is genuinely interested in our overall success. They’ve invested in understanding our business and becoming part of our team. We don’t feel like Tooploox is a vendor and we’re a client: we feel like partners working toward a common goal. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Because they have such a strong culture, it’s hard for them to add more people to the team. When we grew and looked to them for help, they weren’t necessarily able to bring more resources to bear at certain times. 

That was mostly a result of what happened on our own contract. I don’t have much other than that; Tooploox is a great partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re bringing Tooploox on to be a part of your team, you have to treat them as if they’re members of your own team, with the exact same approach, expectations, goals, and investment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a Swiss startup developing software for architects. I’m a co-founder, COO, and product owner of the company. I work with users, draft specs, and work with the dev team to build the product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tooploox?

We went to them to develop our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tooploox is developing our application in ReactJS. The architecture pattern used is event sourcing. We started developing it in Firebase, but we’re going to migrate gradually to using our own services to reduce our dependency on Google services. Some of those have been discontinued along the way, and that can be problematic in the long term.

Tooploox assisted us on our journey from the very beginning. They assigned a tech lead and product specialist to help us at the very beginning. They had workshops with users in order to define the business problem and MVP, after which we went into development. Tooploox took over the whole technical side, namely architecture design and subsequent development.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with a team of four developers and one UI/UX designer.

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

It was through a personal connection. I’d worked with one of their senior developers, and I trusted him in terms of project execution.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $400,000 so far, and we expect the total to be over $500,000 by the end of 2020. The MVP cost around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Tooploox in January 2020, and we went to market with the MVP in late-May. We had two months of bug fixing and iterations after that based on user feedback. 

We started building our user base after that, and we engaged a designer from Tooploox for a UI/UX overhaul. We hadn’t focused that much on it during the MVP stage. We’ve also prepared a roadmap for additional functionalities. We’re doing iterative improvements as well as adding new functionalities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s too early to provide metrics. In terms of anecdotal feedback, Tooploox has been very collaborative, and they have mature and proactive developers. They will speak up, challenge, and try to understand the functionalities, and they will ask questions until they understand what the product owner wants from the product. They won’t just go away and code something to then realize that we’d had a misunderstanding. Tooploox’s team is one of the best I’ve worked with, and I’ve worked with a few.

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

They come up with solutions on their own. They were able to pick up work and self-organize even when I had insufficient time to work with them. They had a decent understanding of the product, and they determined what milestones and major functionalities were, even without my direct input. We made a plan for the MVP at the beginning that covered all of the milestones, and we stuck to it.

They’re very proactive in communication, and they ask questions and challenge us whenever they don’t understand something or think that it doesn’t make sense. We haven’t had major issues. They’re available whenever we need to talk to someone, including after hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the maturity of their developers, their ability to self-organize, and their engagement. They strive to understand the product and know what we’re doing and why.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The engineers I’m working with are excellent, but they could add a bit more structure to their work. They’ve achieved everything, but there’s room for improvement in terms of proper sprint planning and task management. I can get verbal updates from anyone at any time, but I would appreciate integrating a task management tool like Jira in order to know exactly what each member is working on and where we are with the sprints. Tooploox typically works with startups, so they probably don’t have that big of a need for more structured or corporate workflows.  

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The client needs to make sure that the developers they’re getting have good chemistry between them and aren’t just a random team. We had to switch some of the developers in the early stage, and the developers we have now are working well with each other.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a consumer hardware company that builds products for the smart home, particularly around lighting. Our company is creating the world’s first smart lighting system. I’m the co-founder and head of software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tooploox?

We launched our initial product last year, which included support for iOS, but we wanted a strong developer to help us quickly build and publish the Android version. Tooploox's developers would augment our internal software team. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Tooploox worked with us to develop our Android lighting app that connects with our smart light device. 

When a customer first unboxes our product, they’ll connect with the Android app to walk them through the setup, provisioning, and general configuration. The app then functions as a remote control. Users can also adjust the settings to include third-party integrations. 

Tooploox built the solution from the ground up, using the iOS app as a reference for the high-level designs. They were able to fill in a lot of the details on their own to get the app working. Overall, it was 80% development and 20% project management on their side.

What is the team composition? 

The team rotated a bit throughout the work. We had a project manager who was our primary point of contact. Besides her, there were other resources who supported us on the business side along with three Android developers.

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

I had worked with them previously at a different company. I could tell that they had a lot of experience building mobile apps — they knew the general best practices, architecture, and even protocol around team organization and had done great work. When this project opportunity arose, we explored if they would be a good fit, and they were.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This first part of the project started around February 2020 and wrapped up by July 2020. As of August 2020, we’re now writing up a new statement of work (SOW) for the second part of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re not in the app stores yet, so we don’t have any metrics around user data. However, we can say that we’ve hit the initial schedule that we’ve set for ourselves. The timeline is really important to us, and Tooploox has been able to deliver as expected.

From a technical perspective, we had some initial reservations about letting Tooploox build the app on their own. But, overall, we’re impressed with the architecture and tools that they used. The team is clearly evolving. They follow the industry’s best practices, using modern approaches rather than modifying a previous template. 

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really flexible. We have our own project management tools, including GitHub, ZenHub, and Slack, and Tooploox has adjusted to them. That lets us keep track of the project and code side by side with the rest of our projects.

In addition, they match our normal sprint planning process. We meet with them to go over the planning, which has been super helpful. Things can always fall behind. But, they’re able to communicate that early on so that we can make agile decisions quickly to meet our deadlines. That’s led to happier outcomes for everybody.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They function as an extension of our development team. It’s due to a combination of their technical skill and ability to innovate without our processes. They’ve even found some of our existing code issues and augment us to resolve them. 

It’s like handing something over the wall and getting something back later on. Their team operates how we operate so that they can help everyone be effective.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We made one pivot about 3–4 weeks in where we asked them to give a formal update every week so that we could communicate better. Having a summary of their work was helpful, particularly for the higher-level stakeholders, to see how we were spending our money. Tooploox was happy to do that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of a software startup in the rideshare and gig delivery space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We contracted Tooploox to contribute to some data science R&D projects for us. The projects related to developing various ML models and classification techniques used to recognize certain gig driver activities. They also assisted us on the data engineering side of things by working on ETL processes for some of the underlying datasets.

SOLUTION

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

We were recommended to Tooploox by a colleague after they had worked with other startups in our network. The deciding factors for us were their expertise in the data science field, their affordable cost, and having a personal referral.

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

We initiated the collaboration with several google docs summarizing our strategic goals for the partnership and what specifically what models we were hoping to develop and why.

The Tooploox team helped us to identify starting points for the projects and we went from there. We'd sync daily in Slack but also hold live weekly check-in meetings to guide the projects forward.

Most modeling was written in Python (Jupyter Notebooks) using various libraries such as sci-kit-learn and frameworks such as Spark. Much of our data pipelines were developed in Python and written to Google Big Query data warehouses.

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

We worked with two Data Scientists and one Data Engineer, at various points over the course of the contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The projects we worked on with Tooploox were longer term strategic initiatives of ours and so we didn't expect to have the project completed during our time working together.

However, Tooploox was able to contribute to our data science strategy and also deliver on some of the preliminary milestones that we set out to accomplish. This included both the exploration of various modeling techniques and machine learning algorithms for our use cases, and also the development of software to pre-process and analyze our datasets.

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

Tooploox was great to work with- we collaborated and communicated primarily in Slack, and would also routinely hop on video calls (Slack, Zoom, etc) as necessary. They were very communicative and accountable throughout the contract, while also being able to execute on projects independently.

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

They have a tremendous team of experts in the data science, machine learning, and data engineering fields, proficient in modern technologies and tools. This really set them apart from other software development firms/consultancies.

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

Nothing comes to mind. They were great to work with and I'd highly recommend to others.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product management at an industrial software company. We make automation solutions for clients in the oil, food, and pharmaceutical industries, among others.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Tooploox?

We brought Tooploox on to explore AI solutions for production, planning, and optimization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They produced a proof of concept based on some of the ideas we had in the market. They worked with customer data and provided IT consulting and AI engineering services. They also did web development and UX design. 

After the successful completion of the proof of concept, we engaged them to continue research with us on how to use AI in industrial software. They helped us turn the proof of concept into a marketable product. 

They use a variety of technologies including Python and machine learning frameworks. They also use ReactJS. 

What is the team composition?

Originally there were 3 AI engineers, a UX designer, and a web developer. After the proof of concept, we had 2 AI engineers, a senior researcher, a junior researcher, 2 UX designers, and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

I was looking for an AI company in Poland. Through my connections, I got in touch with the chief scientist at Tooploox. We spoke and I was convinced by the team’s level of understanding and responsiveness. 

How much have you invested in them? 

We spent over $150,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We first approached them in June 2018, and we started the work in August of the same year. We completed the initial proof of concept at the end of 2018. They completed the development of the POC product in October 2019. They provided ongoing support until March 2020. We’re going to launch the product next month. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, they were extremely flexible. I loved that they understood the market and the development process. They adapted easily to changes and worked quickly. The scope was ambitious, and they worked hard to fulfill our needs. That being said, they also provided high-quality service. Their UX design is impressive, as is their company culture. We had a positive experience. 

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Trello initially, but then we moved them onto our in-house project management tools. We mostly communicated with Slack, Google Hangouts, and Zoom. They were very responsive. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The people they have are amazing. They invest in building a high caliber team with a lot of experience. Their team is very strong. They’re smart, communicative, and strategic. They also have a strong presence in the academic and research world. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their project management in some areas. I know they didn’t have much experience with industrial software, but that wasn’t a big roadblock for us. Continuing to build on their knowledge of industrial software development would be beneficial for them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Provide clear KPIs and goals from the project. Additionally, for my domain, we had to provide more guidance. Depending on your domain, you might need to be more hands-on as well. Understand that there may be a gap between their technical expertise and the domain-specific issues you’re experiencing. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Imaging Systems Group at Light. We’re focused on the autonomous driving space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tooploox?

We wanted the flexibility of bringing in experienced talent from different fields. We also wanted flexibility as a startup to ramp up and down quickly as needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since our core team is focused on the depth perception side, the team at Tooploox is working with Computer vision. We have a few folks that help with software development when needed.

They’re complementing the R&D development of our fulltime in-house engineers.

What is the team composition?

We had an employee who knew one of the founders.

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

On the engineering side, I have one main point of contact. The engineering lead manages and coordinates the team’s activities. There are contacts for the business and accounting sides, but I primarily deal with the operations side. We’ve also started having a relationship with the founders.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Tooploox started in August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We will continue using Tooploox for the foreseeable future. They’ve become an extended part of our family. They’re diligent in the work they do, bringing in the right skillset for our work.

They’re a core part of the R&D side, and we’re looking for customer engagement right now. A lot of initial feedback from the meetings has been positive.  

Along with their experience, their candor is exceptional. Before the pandemic making this the new norm, I had no issues in terms of them working remotely. I trust Tooploox to provide high-quality work.

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a combination of Zoom and Slack, and we also have regular meetings. The CTO is heavily engaged with them regularly over Zoom several days a week. We use a combination of Google Sheets and Smartsheets. I work closely with our program manager, and we coordinate the schedule with their side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Along with their diligence, they’re incredibly well-organized. Their communication is also very good. The main thing is that our team, including senior management, trusts them. It really seems like they deliver work that Light employees would do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We discussed the frequency of their onsite visits, but unfortunately, the pandemic won’t make that possible any time soon. Since most of the company is working from home, it’s less of a concern.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of software for a smart home appliance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Tooploox?

We’ve worked with them on a handful of projects, including machine learning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It takes time, talent, data, and resources to improve machine learning models. It’s also difficult to find talent in Silicon Valley. We decided to partner with Tooploox to augment our machine learning team. We focused on visual-based machine learning. We want to develop a solution that could recognize the type of food and quantity of it that was going into our oven. 

We used the Caffe1 to do most of the work. We’re now moving to TensorFlow Lite since the version of Caffe we were using is outdated. Their team worked mostly in Python. They do more of the research-based aspects of the project. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a team of 3–5 people. 

How did you come to work with Tooploox?

They were referred to us by another startup with which we share an investor. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2017. We engaged them for machine learning about two years ago, and our work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The breadth of foods that our models can recognize has increased, as has our models’ accuracy. The speed and memory usage of the appliances have also improved. 

How did Tooploox perform from a project management standpoint?

Since they’ve mostly acted as an augmentation to our team, we’ve done most of the project management internally. We’ve visited their headquarters in Poland a number of times, and they’ve also visited our office. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They act as a true partner to our company, and they align themselves with our goals. They do everything they can to help achieve good outcomes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re very pleased with the collaboration which is why we keep working with them. The only downside is the time difference between us. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

I think their team works best when you give them the full context of what you’re doing and why. It’s also helpful to share your successes with them and make them feel like you’re part of your organization.