Uptech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an online subscription website that gives people great deals on flights.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

I needed to build a mobile app for my users because we only had a web version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an idea and they created the wireframes. They managed everything that had to do with the mobile app. They planned it out, did the user interface, user experience, design work, coding, and guided us through the process. The app sends push notifications to users whenever we announce flight deals. It allows them to change their settings that are integrated with the backend of our website. We used React Native and Firebase for the push notification features.

The project is complete, but they’re helping with upkeep. They add small features and fixes as needed. We’ll be working on more changes and bigger projects in the near future with them.

What is the team composition?

There were three developers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

Someone I knew worked with them before and recommended them. We chose to work with them because they’re straightforward and honest. I could tell they’re a good company. I chose them over lower bids.

How much have you invested with them?

The app cost $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the U.K., we’re ranked as the second most-trending app on Google Play and have an average rating of 4.8. We're the fifth highest-grossing travel app in the App Store, and have a 4.7 average rating.

Anytime they see bugs, they take time to make sure they’re fixed.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. I’m sincerely happy with them. I’ll definitely work with them again on any projects that I’m working on in the future. We have ongoing communication with them. We use Slack and have met in person as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a young team, but very professional. They adapted well to the way I do business and I was very impressed by that. They were well suited for my project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of a company that provides a marketplace for physical therapy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed Uptech for backend development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using our wireframes and mockups, Uptech's team is building our landing page using WordPress and designed the UX/UI. Their team connects our CRM system to that page and configures the web hub and API to third-party services.

Their work allows our content to be amassed on one main page and they utilize gravity forms to pull data—to connect to Facebook and AdWords.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is a project manager, who is also the lead developer. I also worked with one other developer.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

A colleague recommended them to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $10,000–$50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They deliver all projects on time without any crashes or bugs—addressing those immediately. We are very happy with the quality of their code so far.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate face-to-face sometimes, use Slack, and other management tools. They always deliver everything we need the first time we ask for it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their speed of delivery, high-quality work, and price point impressed us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t see anything yet.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have a solid project already going. Nail down your wireframes upfront and it’ll eliminate a lot of mistakes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and founder of a video production business that specializes in market research.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

I wanted to create a custom-built live streaming platform and lacked the necessary programming capabilities in-house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I first hired Uptech, I described my initial idea of how the platform should look, feel, and function. After a couple of discussions, they put together a comprehensive proposal and began development. Since they built out the platform, we've had an open, ongoing dialogue to consistently tweak and improve the platform. In terms of specific technology, they used Amazon ECUs and a Wowza embeddable HTML5 media streaming player.

Live streaming has only recently become readily available. It's on the cusp of development. Especially in terms of programming, it's not the easiest technology to build. We’re always looking for the most cost-effective way to provide this service to my clients. I mainly work with large movie and video game companies. Our web-based platform is useful for virtually any company that conducts research. A different design agency worked on the frontend, which actually turned out quite similar to Uptech’s initial barebones backend design.

What is the team composition?

I had one point of contact and may have spoken to three resources total. I've noticed that three people are usually CC'ed on my emails. Our project manager relayed info to the rest of the team. Having all communications go through one person suits my personal preference.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

Initially, I was debating between building a custom platform myself or outsourcing the work to a developer. Certain companies offer live streaming services for $10,000 a year, compared to Uptech’s affordable, one-time cost. I found them through a personal reference. I researched examples of work they’d done for other clients. They definitely seemed able to get the job done, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent around $20,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project began in June of 2016. As with most tech projects, it never really ends because there's always more to add. As more clients become interested in this service, they constantly request new functions I outsource to Uptech. I continually hire them to refine it. If we stopped working on it today, however, the product would still be fully functional.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we built this platform, I've been tripling my revenue metrics compared to last year. Their work is reliable and professional. I can control and tweak every aspect. The custom design is critical; if my clients are spending thousands of dollars for this service, it shouldn't have a generic logo at the bottom. The audio and visual quality outperforms my competitors in the live streaming market. It looks professional and functions as desired, which are my two most important criteria.

My clients are super happy. The current market leader in my particular niche had held a longtime monopoly and refused to innovate. They appreciate that there’s a better, more flexible alternative now. None of them seems to have any issues with the platform's development. When bugs pop up, Uptech solves them pretty quickly. The platform functions smoothly and is an awesome new piece of technology.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a good job. In any business relationship, it takes time to figure out response style and level of self-motivation. As a business owner, it's important to set a precedent for the level of communication you prefer. Once we found our flow, the project progressed really well. Initially, there were a couple of missed deadlines. Once we collectively stepped it up, we really started to see results. We mostly touched base through Skype or email, and occasionally used WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work speaks for itself. That's what it comes down to. I ordered a project, and they delivered what I wanted. They took responsibility for any problems we encountered, and the final product is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

My only qualm would be the amount of time it took. They could work on their timeliness and punctuality. Communication was very prompt, though. Every time I wrote an e-mail, it was quickly answered.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Touch base with Uptech weekly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Offlease Hub is an online platform for selling and buying used cars. I’m the chief marketing officer, responsible for promotion, marketing, and sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We wanted to create the platform and needed a team who could develop it for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We discussed the project with Uptech and they sent me questions about it. I described my vision and provided them with brief information, as well as several of our competitors’ sites. Based off that information, they developed a prototype from scratch. I then gave feedback about what I liked and disliked.

The website is an auction system focused on the B2B market, as most of our customers are dealers. All of our cars are from official dealers and pass certification so we can guarantee the quality of the car.

What is the team composition?

There were 5 or 6 people that I communicated with. I don’t know how many people worked on the backend but there was a team lead, a web designer, a tester, and a developer.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

Their office is in the same building as ours and I saw they were a big team. I did some research and found that they work a lot with the U.S. market. That was confirmation for me that they had the capability to take on a difficult project. Their price was average, but I decided to try them because I like how they communicated with me. They asked questions and provided ideas.

How much have you invested with them?

$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2017–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone in our company is satisfied with the work, including our co-founder, who liked the site and its design. We aren’t online yet but expect to launch in March. I don’t know if there are any bugs, but right now everything is working.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

It was excellent. We used Messenger to communicate and all my questions were answered within 15–20 minutes. There were no problems with communication and I liked how they organized everything. I didn’t always know exactly what I wanted, so I liked that they gave me choices.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very open and transparent. I was supposed to provide content for the website and didn’t make it in time, but they pushed me. They not only organized their work, but helped me to organize my tasks as well.

Their quality, experience, and transparency were impressive. They were eager to discuss any questions, were very organized, and never missed deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know anything they can improve. In my eyes, they did the job perfectly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Believe in the team. If they suggest something, you should listen to them. They will help you to realize the project at the highest level. I’m very happy that I listened and did what they recommended.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Prometheus is a platform for free, massive, open online courses with 500,000 registered users. We are a non-governmental organization and our main goal is to spread online education in Ukraine. I'm the CEO of this organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Uptech?

Our platform is built on the Open edX engine. We had updated the engine to the latest version and needed to launch mobile apps for it.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create mobile apps for Android and iOS with the following features for our users:

• Stream class videos via Wi-Fi or cellular connection

• Download course videos to watch anytime

• Test your knowledge with basic quizzes and exams

• View course announcements and handouts

• Follow-along course videos with closed captions

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Uptech from the advice of two of our partners.

Describe the project in detail.

We gave Uptech the existing prototypes of the Android and iOS apps updated with the Open edX latest version. We reconfigured our servers to communicate with the apps. The rest of the technology was built by Uptech based on the provided prototypes and our technical specifications. We had very detailed requirements, but Uptech challenged the existing prototypes and took them to a completely new level. They could re-code video playback functionality in such a way that the apps could stream course videos directly from our servers. Uptech built a solution that ensured that our mobile apps are stable and suitable to be used by our large student audience. We have been working with Uptech since March 2017. We still need quite some time until we'redone, since we have a massive stack of technology to carry out. We have no intention of canceling the collaboration with Uptech; we are very happy with our collaboration efforts.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one project manager and two developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our mobile apps went live in the summer of 2017 and have already increased our audience. With the ability to “learn on the go,” more people have become interested in our platform and it's really due to what Uptech has built in a short timeframe. We have gotten very positive feedback from our students. Also, we have agreements in place that would not have been possible without Uptech's apps.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project management is very well done. Their approach is clear and the lead on the project is both capable and committed, which is echoed by the team of subordinates. They have delivered everything faster than we expected.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I believe it's a part of Uptech's slogan, namely that “the customer isn't always right.” Their customer base appreciates that; you want a developer that can come up with a better solution. Uptech can do this much better than other companies, who simply build what they are told to and don't question requests when it's necessary to.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are fully satisfied with the cooperation and have already recommended Uptech to our partners.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the mobile app product manager for a Dollar Shave Club.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We have very active members and we wanted to give them a great, seamless way to maintain their subscription with us and keep them engaged beyond just the subscription itself. The best way for us to achieve those goals was through a mobile app, which would provide them with account management tools as well as additional content to encourage engagement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Recruiting and maintaining talent in the mobile development space is hard. Our company initially was just a website, so moving into the mobile space was new territory for us. Uptech began work with us about a year before I came on board, so I can only speak to the time that we have overlapped. Uptech does our Android development, since we have an in-house team that takes care of the iOS app.

In terms of actual features that we develop and implement within the app, Uptech is part of the planning stage. We do not just give them running orders. They are highly collaborative, and we all meet frequently as a group—the engineers from Uptech, our design and UX team, and myself—to brainstorm and discuss features. Our UX team will then provide Uptech with designs and wireframes. As a group, we all estimate the level of effort required to implement those features and then break everything down into smaller tasks.

What is the status of this engagement?

They began working with us back in October 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The last I checked, our Android app rating in the Google Play store was around a 4.8 out of 5 stars, which is very high. We have a ton of great user reviews, and we get consistently excellent feedback from our customers.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

For a while we used Trello for project management, but we recently moved over to Jira. The transition from one to the other with Uptech has been more or less seamless, and they caught on to the new system quickly. Our whole mobile app team has regular meetings, to which they regularly attend. We have a stand-up once a week and a morning check-in the other four days of the week. They have been good at giving advance notice when they have vacations or paid time off coming up. Because we have these regular meetings, our whole team—including Uptech—has become fairly adept at being able to estimate how much work we can get done in a two-week sprint.

Even though their scope is specifically Android, we have a lot of interaction between all of our teams; mobile apps, site, backend services, and infrastructure. A lot of our work and updates require significant coordination with these different teams, and Uptech has been great about communicating consistently with everyone involved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing I have really appreciated is that we have mostly been able to work with the same developers. I have worked with other contractors where you are constantly onboarding somebody new as developers move between projects. The consistency with Uptech has been really nice. They have integrated seamlessly with our in-house team, to the extent that we no longer see them as contracted resources, but as our Android developers. Although a time difference is often an issue in such types of partnerships, it has never been a problem for us. They adjusted their schedules to meet at times that were convenient for our office in Los Angeles. I have nothing but positive things to say about working with Uptech, and have genuinely enjoyed our collaboration, particularly in regards to seeking their advice. They have responded very well to us sharing our ideas and general goals with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that would speak to Uptech specifically. Any challenges that we have faced are the kind that you face with any team, whether it be a contractor or in-house. They have been a vital and vocal part of the process as we continue to improve our overall approach to mobile development.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Lean on their expertise in Android, seek out their thoughts and advice to ensure that you are designing and building the end product in a way that makes sense. Including them within the overall process is essential for an effective workflow and positive final result.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a company that sells aerial photographs to a variety of customers, including real estate, construction, and insurance firms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed to augment our in-house engineering team to build our mobile apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

While I realize it’s common for companies to outsource entire projects, we preferred to maintain the product’s specs and design in-house. We hired Uptech to support our senior engineer and integrated them as members of our team.

Together, they’ve designed a complex mobile app for iOS and Android. Intended for drone pilots, it allows users to see which drone missions are available and then connects the cellphone to the drone’s SDK for easy piloting.

The app also connects to our servers so we can receive data.

What is the team composition?

We hired four team members, two for iOS and two for Android.

Any team member went through a two-part process. I conducted an initial interview and passed their information to our senior engineer if I thought the individual was suitable. If the engineer approved, then they were added to the project.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

We have an in-house recruiter who stays in contact with other companies. One of his contacts recommended Uptech, so we reached out them and they began sending us résumés and setting up interviews.

How much have you invested with them?

Around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2017 and our relationship is ongoing. The iOS version has launched, with the Android version set to follow in the coming weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their Android engineers recommended moving to clean architecture when they first came on board, a proposal our in-house engineers hadn’t considered. Uptech’s engineers introduced the concept, explaining how it utilized different layers to create an organized, logical grouping, and this ended up being an effective way to structure the app.

How did UpTech Team perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very transparent. We stay organized through daily sendups wherein they communicate their status. We also rely on project management tools like Trello and Jira. In this way, each task is represented as a work item we can monitor.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I interviewed them myself, so I can speak to the technical depth of their team members. They’re good, solid engineers who’ve helped us create a challenging, one-of-a-kind product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend using our two-part interview process, which worked well for us. Keeping the product specs and design in-house also ensured we had ultimate control over the product’s quality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of products for a startup in the e-health sector. We generate automated nutrition plans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed more manpower in different areas to provide white-label technology solutions to companies. This included bug fixing, refactoring, new white-label and features development, as well as process management. We were looking for a vendor who was qualified and experienced with React Native.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uptech worked on many different tasks involved with frontend development. They implemented features and styling, fixed bugs, and refactored poor code that was a result of hurried development.

Our mobile application has a feature that allows our company’s customers to input things which they want to have in the app. Our assigned developer, Max, worked a lot on the actual screen and also implemented style and design changes to white-label solutions at the request of a customer.

The shopping list that is specific to our app was fixed as well.

What is the team dynamic?

We mainly worked with Max, who is one of their developers. We also briefly worked with another developer, Andrei, for two days. We had to freeze the project and reallocate our focus for now due to our business situation.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

We’d searched for developers for 1–2 months, and had interviewed several companies. A friend in our network recommended Uptech, so we interviewed them. They seemed promising, made us a good offer, and also did well in the trial phase. We have high standards for code communication, so we felt lucky to have found them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent approximately €3,000 Euro [U.S. $3,553] per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June or July 2017, and the relationship ended in September 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been able to work through projects that we wouldn't have been able to without their help. We've had to put a pause on development temporarily, but we're looking forward to picking the relationship back up as soon as we have the next need.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is communicative, on time, and reliable. They even gave us suggestions on how to improve our own processes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very organized and on top of their tasks. We didn't run into any trouble at all throughout the relationship. We really enjoyed working with them and hope to again in the future.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The Uptech also asked me this question during the project, and I struggled to find anything they needed to improve. I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential clients of Uptech?

I definitely recommend them to anyone in need of development services. Don't let the fact that they're young deter you, because they are very capable and skilled.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Aspiration is a FinTech company that’s trying to bring the best financial investments to everyone. We have a large focus on socially responsible investing. In general, we want to democratize access to high-quality investment products. 

Another thing that makes our company unique and is a core part of our mission is that all of our products follow a pay-what-is-fair model. People can pay from $0 up to $2 a month for the use of our products. We believe that increases the accessibility of these products and helps us avoid the fee gouging we see in the news.

We have another important program, Fines Worth a Difference. We have a commitment to give 10% of our top-line revenue to charity every year. Currently the charity we partner with is called Accion, which is the largest provider of small business microloans in America. 

We are a modern-day, socially conscious financial institution who really wants to help people save and spend money better. We do this by bringing them the best financial products and technology to help them improve their investments and spending. I’m the head of product and data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

As a startup, it doesn’t matter where you are—everyone is always looking and competing for the best engineers out there. Knowing that we want to build a lot of great technology and build out our platform to help our customers, we were looking for ways to augment our mobile teams for both iOS and Android.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our development lead had already started to develop the iOS app and we had completed portions of it when Uptech started working with us. Since we were so pleased with Uptech’s level of service, we recently added an Android engineer from their team to work with our full-time Android lead. The Uptech engineer just joined in the last 3–4 months.

When the Uptech team joined our mobile efforts, we hadn’t launched the iOS app yet, but we did have a prototype that a previous in-house engineer worked on. They really did an amazing job of picking up that code base and understanding it.

We launched the iOS app 2–3 months after they started working on it. We’ve been working closely with them since then to improve and release new versions for our iOS app.

One feature is called AIM: Aspiration Impact Measurement. As a FinTech company that’s focused on socially responsible investing and benefitting the world, we thought it would be really cool to help users understand how their spending influences the people and the planet. We built a proprietary database that rates companies where people use their debit cards. Categories include environmental, social, and governance (ESG). We have a lot of ESG data on these companies and assign each one a people and planet score. If you made a purchase at Walmart, its scores would show you how they treat the people and planet. We give users a score based on where and how they spend their money. This was a feature that we did mobile-first, and despite very tight deadlines, they did a fantastic job on it. They’ve been helping us with iterations on this feature since then.

What is the team dynamic?

Uptech provided the lead engineers on this project. We had project managers, data scientists, mobile engineers, and backend engineers working to launch this novel feature. We currently work with one Android engineer and two iOS engineers. There’s also a project and sales manager and a technical lead.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

We have an onsite Android engineer and were in the midst of finding some iOS developers when he recommended the Uptech. He had past experience working with them. Through initial phone calls and working with them, we saw that they have a good product sense and care about the product and our customers, despite being a remote team. We discussed the features and shared a spec on how it should work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July or August of 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. There’s still a lot of work to do. They launch new features and improve the existing app. They fix bugs, help with UI designs and UX enhancements, do code refactoring, and improve analytics within the app.

They are responsible not only for product features but also for engineering quality, performance, etc. They make sure the product is functional, reliable, and scalable.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were part of the app development even before it launched. They get a lot of credit for the success of our iOS app. We’ve had good reviews indicating that it’s a high-quality release with a minimum number of bugs. We have a high level of user engagement and adoption. Over 70% of our customers have downloaded our iOS or Android checking account app. There’s a high degree of daily user engagement. We didn’t have the app when a lot of those customers joined, so the fact that they bought into it is great.

In Google Play Store, our average rating is 4.4 out of 5.0, and we’ve had 500,000 downloads. 

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

We do biweekly standup meetings where we do sprint planning. We communicate through Slack and email. They’re very easy to reach despite being in different time zones.

Both our team and theirs have been flexible to make ourselves available. We’ve been able to create a clean workflow to hand off assets using Sketch and Zeplin. They’re very responsive when we send a request to them. Despite the challenges of working with backend developers, they did a good job of learning the APIs, asking questions, and understanding how to use them. They check their quality of work before they ask us to do a full task test review. They’ve been doing well with deadlines, communication, and understanding the purpose of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide a high quality of work very responsibly. We’ve built a strong relationship and get along well. I appreciate the level of interest they have expressed in Aspiration.

Rather than just coding without providing feedback, they’ve always been thoughtful about the product and the customer. They work like a true team. They’ve treated all the work that they’ve done like their own, even though both our team and their team did it together. As soon as we started working with them, we realized that they were able to deliver the quality of work we were looking for in our mobile development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CTO of Freebird Rides, and we’re making Uber rides free in Los Angeles. Basically, we’re convincing bars and restaurants to contribute or pay for Ubers to bring customers in. We have about 20 people working with us, and we’re located in Venice.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We had landed a couple of big gigs, including an NFL/Superbowl premier party in LA, which we were trying to spread the word about. We needed more hands-on development for both the iOS and Android app, as well as the MAC end of the API. We’re a startup and only had two people working at the time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us prepare quickly by adding 6-7 developers to our team who helped build many cool features. They created an AirBar that pops up when you log into the app, which is basically a search bar at the top with a subpanel of Smart categories. If we’re doing an event, NFL can pop in below it, and it’s very optimized and sophisticated. As you scroll down the list, the main navigation at the top shrinks into a pinned header. Uptech even asked if they could open source this on their GitHub as an example of their work.

They really helped us get the app out the door and into the market. We launched the iOS version in LA in June, but won’t be launching the Android version for a couple months because we’re still iterating the marketing and messaging on the iOS version. We operate with over 400 bars and restaurants in LA alone where you can get discounted Uber rides. Uptech was very supportive and they made a beautiful UI. They integrated our branding guidelines and theme elegantly throughout the app.

Although we’ve recently been hiring internally, if we ever get another big project, we will definitely reach out to Uptech again.

What is the team dynamic?

We had 5-6 developers staffed at any given moment who we would rotate depending on their skill sets. Once the backend was built, we moved on to the frontend, which required different developers. They were very supportive and worked well with us on a weekly, day to day spread schedule.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

A friend of mine who had worked with Uptech strongly recommended them. At the time, availability was the decision making factor. After I sent Uptech a small test, I went with them because they knocked it out of the park and seemed excited about the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $150,000-$200,000 over 7 months.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2016, and recently paused the engagement in June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re receiving good reviews, and have had a lot of customer support. The only issue has been with some of our messaging, which isn’t bad, but we’ve had to explain to people how to use the app. There’s also been some confusion regarding marketing terms and appeal. Other than that, everyone has been really honest about how happy they are with it. Uptech’s code quality and unit testing are excellent, and they’re really on top of business.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication was good, and they were very professional and easy to work with. The burn down charts and invoices they sent us were great, also. We had a couple of hard deadlines but they nailed it. We were in the exploratory phase, so it was more about producing the quality rather than hitting the mark. The few times we had a deadline crunch and wanted to get a build out, they helped us get the job done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been using a new technology called RX, and they picked it up well and were very eager to learn about it. The unit testing they conducted outside of coding was awesome, because being test driven during development of a big product is extremely important. Many developers will just code and build it, but the moment you try to add or change a feature, you don’t have the unit test support or coverage and this leads to quality drops. They brought the unit and UI tests, and they were knowledgeable about devops as well as project development. I’d give them a gold star on that one.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s room for improvement with time management, including boarding and figuring out what the payment structure is going to be like. Overall, they were great, and when I instructed them to log their hours and tasks worked on, they had no problem with that. Every agency probably uses different tools, but we just plugged them in and started running, then it took about 3-4 weeks to figure out management. They jumped right in on the project with us, but looking back, it may have been wise to frame it better instead of just getting to work.