Valere

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of an emotional and mental health services organization that works with corporations and colleges. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Valere Labs?

We were looking for a development partner to work with us on a mobile platform so we can offer our services in a SaaS, subscription-based model. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Valere Labs developed our cross-platform mobile app. Our goal was to help corporate employees and college students get the help they need, whether in dealing with anxiety, stress, or needing help with their nutrition or sleep habits. The Valere Labs team did the initial analysis of the mockups and designs we provided them. 

They then took their understanding of our requirements for the platform and built the mobile app — their teammates also helped us define our user stories. 

Valere Labs then built out an administrative portal for the platform so that my company could manage the content. Valere Labs used a PHP Laravel framework on the backend and the administrative portal and used React for the rest of the development. The entire platform is hosted on AWS.

The application provides a month-long user journey, where users can participate in live workshops and daily mindfulness missions and access microlearning videos. The app also tracks surveys users take that record their emotional and mental health. 

What is the team composition?

We generally worked with 6–8 teammates from Valere Labs, but Ayush (Project Manager) was our main point of contact. We also worked with a development lead, a UX/UI developer, and a tester.

How did you come to work with Valere Labs?

I found Valere Labs through Upwork. Based on their reviews and portfolio, I decided to meet with them. I found Valere Labs to be passionate about our industry, and their skills and knowledge were great. The cost was also reasonable, especially because we are a small startup. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000 with Valere Labs so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2021 and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch our platform within our desired time frame. Valere Labs exceeded our expectations, especially because we didn’t have any plans to develop an administrative portal when we went into the partnership, but they were able to step up and offer that solution. 

Their team stepped up and led the administrative portal development — now, we can manage and maintain our user journeys.  

How did Valere Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

I would rate them pretty highly for their project management skills. We regularly communicate over Slack, and if there are any development issues, they’ll work overtime to fix them. The Valere Labs team is very responsive.

We have weekly sprint planning and status update meetings to coordinate and ensure our requirements are clearly defined and met. We use Jira for more official communication: they update us on what will be delivered. We also use the Jira board to determine which items need to be completed before the next sprint and need to be prioritized. 

Occasionally, we have in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Valere Labs was able to work around our changing requirements and accommodate our workflows to meet our soft launch date. They are very flexible, which is a unique skill for them to have. 

I’m very glad we have the opportunity to work with a company as adaptable and flexible as Valere Labs — we didn’t have all of the specs laid out exactly when we began the partnership. They were able to work and make progress within our changing project requirements. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We experienced some bugs, which brought the platform down for a day, and we lost data for 10 days. A lot of that was due to us having the entire infrastructure hosted on one server. The team doesn’t have a lot of AWS experience, but we’re currently looking into fixing that issue. 

Valere Labs will put a person on our team with a better knowledge of our needs and rebuild some of our architecture and split the platform between servers. That way, something detrimental like that doesn’t happen again. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients need to spend time discussing the design and architecture of their platform with Valere Labs before jumping into development. 

Also, clients need to ensure that Valere Labs’ team has the development skills they need, and the client would benefit from having internal teammates with UX/UI skills to complement Valere Labs’ team. It’s then essential to ensure that the team integration is clearly defined to ensure success. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a fitness business. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Valere Labs?

I needed help creating a fitness app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Valere Labs built my app from scratch using React Native and other technologies. The app allows users to take on-demand classes, and it loads videos of lessons whenever it’s convenient for them. Users can also watch livestream classes at a scheduled time. 

Additionally, the app allows users to favorite a class, view their class history, and add livestream classes to a watch list so they can get notified when it comes up.

We didn’t provide any documentation to jumpstart the project. I just had a discovery call with Valere Labs, and they developed everything based on our discussions.

Beyond the app, they also built a consumer website. I expect my sales and brand exposure to come from that. I did most of the layout and design for the site, and Valere Labs implemented it for me.

Lastly, Valere Labs created a dashboard that allows me to control everything on the website and my app and track data that I need, such as views. 

What is the team composition?

I had one primary contact that I talked with throughout the week and three other resources that I occasionally message on specific issues.

How did you come to work with Valere Labs?

I found them on Upwork. I chose to work with them because their owner had previous experience with fitness apps. I felt their knowledge matches what I’ll need as I keep expanding and adding new features to my app.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $24,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from October 2020–October 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Valere Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Valere Labs was great at project management. We communicate through Slack and weekly Google Meet calls. They were excellent communicators, especially when we experienced staffing shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Valere Labs dealt with uncontrollable variables professionally and effectively. They could step up and stay on top of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Valere Labs went above and beyond to overcome problems if something was not working or if they’re unsure about a task. At one point, they even added a new resource to their team to accommodate my needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

During our discovery call, we could have both gone more into the nitty-gritty of the project. It would have helped us later if we both broke down details a little bit more. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your goals; know what you want yourself so you can communicate more effectively. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Company provides e-commerce solutions for mobile operators. My position is Chief Digital Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Hired Valere to develop a modern mobile app template for iOS and Android. This template would allow us to quickly create multiple branded apps.

SOLUTION

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

We reviewed multiple vendors. Key factors in deciding to work with Valere include

1. their specialization in app development
2. their attention to detail with defining the specifications up-front
3. structured project planning
4. open and honest reviews from their clients

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

Development of a react native mobile app that can accommodate different branding designs. Development was organized in a series of sprints, from discovery, design implementation, flow completion, sandbox testing, beta testing. Key features include mobile, email, social sign-up/log-in, forget password, push notifications, retrieve account balances, purchase.

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

A project manager was the day-to-day contact. Led a team of 2-3 back-end developers (depending on need) and QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

App are currently in the process of being launched. Highly favorable reviews for clients.

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

Very positive. Heavy use of Jira, Slack and stand-ups over Zoom/Meets. Easy & frequent communication. End-of-day summaries.

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

The company feels part of the team. They do what is necessary and don't engage in "blame games". They take ownership and want the project to succeed.

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

Overall the company did a good job managing the project. We had multiple changes in design & flows, and they rolled with it. Periodically checking in with the team on their end on progress would have helped with some bumps.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the Lift Off Mobile App and we are a free mobile application that offers a platform for users to track, connect, and compete in physical fitness exercises.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a brand new mobile application for work out enthusiasts to be able to track, connect and compete against one another. Our main goal was to provide a really nice, user friendly app that was better than all of the other lifting apps on the App Store.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for the best app developers in the North East and interviewed about 5 different companies. Our main deciding factor was Guy Pistone who really understood what we were trying to accomplish and could bring it to fruition.

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

We had a series of discovery meetings to figure out what exactly we were looking for. After these discovery meetings, we were provided with an overall Scope which broke it down into 5 different milestones based on time and price. Breaking it down in these 5 milestones made it very easy for the team and ourselves to remain focused and accomplish our goals in a timely manner.

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

There was the CEO of Valere Labs and then a Project Manager who was the main point of contact throughout the development process. There were also a few other developers that were part of their team which helped in different aspects of the app build.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are about 5 months into this project and are almost complete. Our main accomplishment so far was getting accepted into the App Store. We hope to be launched within the next month.

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

The project manager was very easy to communicate with. We did most of our communication through a platform called Slack. We also had weekly video calls that were necessary to go through different app features.

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

Their mobile app development skills are amazing, and I have been very impressed with all of their UX/UI work. Also their communication has been excellent and that is very important when designing a brand new mobile app. This is first mobile application build and we are more than pleased with Valere Labs.

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

I believe that they have done and overall great job and have been extremely helpful along the way. I really can’t choose an area they can approve on because they have done everything that I have asked.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO / Lead Developer of a SaaS business in Hoboken, NJ.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a mobile app that would complement our Web Platform and provide a new chat interface for our customers.

SOLUTION

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

We picked Valere based on the recommendation of Guy Pistone, who we have worked with in the past.

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

We met with Guy leading up to the project start in order to define the scope of the project and to develop wireframes for the interface. We decided to use React Native to develop both an Android and an iOS app. We met regularly to determine version requirements and to give feedback on development.

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

Guy Pistone was effectively the project manager throughout most of the project and Vijay was our main developer, working closely with our in-house developer, Mohan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to start this project from scratch and get to a functional version 1.2, which is now being submitted to the app store for review. We hope to launch this version in the next week or 2, and we are actively developing v1.3 as well.

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

Everyone at Valere was very communicative and regularly posted updates. We never had issues with meeting attendance or communication.

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

Their experience in building apps for android and iOS simultaneously was very impressive. We were able to build for both operating systems simultaneously and were able to build working versions of both very quickly.

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

Overall we are very happy with the work that has been done. Only thing that would be better would be working in the same time zones more, as only having a couple of overlapping hours led to some downtime from blockers. I acknowledge that this is not a simple issue though.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and owner of QI3P. A startup with the mission to bringing innovative and impact driven solutions to market. Currently working on launching my first app, a peer2peer Ecommerce Marketplace, Meegli.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Complete mobile App design & development (front & backend) to help develop & deploy my iOS based peer2peer ecommerce marketplace app

SOLUTION

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

related work experience, expertise, cost & people (team)

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

We had a series of discovery meetings to begin with, where we defined the requirements and goals. This resulted in a proposal to design and develop the app with clarity time, cost and milestones.

Since the project is still underway, nearing completion, we meet with the dev team on a weekly basis to review progress. we are using a combination Figma(design), IOS(mobile app), AWS and Google Cloud based technologies for development purposes.

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

Developer, Project Manager, Designer & QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far, the design has been great and the development team has been making progress at a good pace with quality deliverables aligned with each milestone. Design speaks to the mission of the app and an application architecture which is open, flexible and scalable in-line with the direction/objective of Meegli

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

Weekly Project updates and the PM is constantly in touch, very collaborative and very eager to work with me and my team to accommodate requests. Primarily use Slack & Trello for project and communication management

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

They are very collaborative, very easy to work with, fair price and quality individuals across design, dev, qa & PM

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

None I could think of. One comment I have is you just cant leave the entire task to any agency and then forget about it. You have to be really engaged, it is a collaborative effort and both need to be engaged to achieve/produce quality work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a partner and the CTO of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were in need of additional software development on our mobile app outside of our current employees for primarily our mobile app development.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for a company that would fit our needs and found Valere Labs. After talking with the team and references, we determined that they were a good fit for us, our needs and our budget.

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

We initially onboarded the team by going over the architecture, design and demoing the products. We then started going over the features and changes we were wanting them to help with. We are now on a a good cadence of design, code, test, and deploy.

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

A project manager, designer, and a few software engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Valere has been very good to work with. The team has been responsive, the code has been a good quality, and they deliver in appropriate timeframes.

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

We have been using an online tool to track the project in an agile style. We have regular cadence of meetings.

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

I feel like they are in the sweet spot of cost/quality/timing with good communication.

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

Overall I have no complaints but improving the detail and updating of the project board would be nice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a two-sided marketplace for plant lovers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Valere Labs?

I needed someone to develop my website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Valere Labs helped me create an online marketplace where multiple vendors can put up products and sellers can purchase directly from the vendors. There are turnkey platforms available on the market. However, because we’re looking to scale the platform, Valere Labs built our site from scratch. 

Valere dissected Etsy’s UX and design since we wanted to have something similar. We gave them minimal documentation for the project. 

What is the team composition?

We started by communicating with the owner. Once we got going, we had been on weekly Zoom calls with 2–3 design resources.  

How did you come to work with Valere Labs?

We found them on Upwork. I had preliminary interviews with several vendors, but Valere Labs stood out because they had a better understanding of what I was trying to accomplish. A lot of the vendors who replied didn’t understand what a two-sided marketplace was. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $23,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from February–September 2021.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Valere Labs completed exactly what I needed them to do, and they finished the website. The platform is ready to launch, and our team will be taking it from there. Everything worked well, and the site was optimized to our expectations. 

How did Valere Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Valere Labs provided top-notch project management. They were proactive in their communication and pointed out challenges that we needed to discuss. In addition, they kept us on track, which allowed us to keep up with their team and meet our deadlines. 

I showed the code to several colleagues so they could analyze the product and determine if I got my money’s worth. Everyone was surprised that I received such a high-quality code considering its cost. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Valere Labs’ communication skills were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is my first time creating a website, so I don’t have anyone to compare them with. That said, throughout the process, I can’t think of anything they could have done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want from the beginning, so you don’t have to dig yourself out because you didn’t think of things before engagement. Get a better understanding of your goals because they’re going to give you precisely what you ask for. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the company. We provide an Education Technology solution designed for public schools in USA to enhance student understanding of STEM subjects relevance with real world experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a mobile experience to our students (customers) to enhance their engagement and understanding our platform.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for someone who understands the Gen Z expectations of mobile experience and able to position our Web App experience into a mobile environment. Deciding factor was that Guy as CEO of this team truly understood our design needs and communicated the same with us successfully to gain our confidence.

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

Valere Labs team lead by Guy were engaged to design, develop and implement a mobile experience for our platform. Technologies used include Flutter, Python iOS Development Swift Data Science Web Services Development Project Management Capability Enterprise Software Software Architecture & Design Django SQL.

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

From the Vendor's team we had the CEO, Project Coordinator, GUI Designer, Developer Team Lead, Mobile App Developer and QA Lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project has just been completed to our complete satisfaction, professionally and technically. We are extremely satisfied with Guy's team at Valere Labs. Their development and implementation schedules have been impeccable, and they've made adjustments as needed.

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

Project management was done in AGILE methodology using SLACK to communication and FIGMA to communicate product development mock-ups which made the entire experience very pleasant and effective. Google Meet was used for all our meetings.

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

This team has an unique capabilities to grasp customer needs and able to connect to a very highly competent team within the organization with very specific role assignments that made the entire project stages blend together seamlessly.

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

Nope. This is an exceptional team and looking forward to working with them for any and all possible opportunities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of the social media platform - Vybe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The Vybe team wanted to create an iOS social media application to fill a niche in the ever growing social media market. Our team was able to design the UI of the application, but needed a partner to build the front and backend of the app. Valere was that partner.

SOLUTION

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

We interviewed several agencies off of a site called UpWork and chose Valere based on their experience, clear communication and project management, and cost.

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

The Vybe application was initially built out (partially) by another agency, ,unfortunately this agency was not able to pull Vybe across the finish line. The goal with Valere was to clean up the code from the previous agency, implement the remaining features and finalize all of the nuances/details within the app.

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

We initially spoke with the founder of the company and the lead project manager. Once work began, we spoke with the founder roughly once a month. We typically meet with the project manager, lead developer and a member of the QA team on a weekly basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As this is an ongoing project, it is difficult to provide metrics to gauge the success of the project.

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

As mentioned before, the founder acted as more of a liaison to the project team. We spoke with him a few times when the project kicked off, and now we hear from him once a month for invoicing and a check-in. We have weekly meetings to discuss and track progress. The project manager breaks down all app needs into workable "tickets" and creates a 2 week sprint where the developer will address each ticket in the sprint.

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

We're very impressed with the level of communication we receive from the project team (project manager, QA, and dev team). At Valere Labs' fair price, we feel we've received great value.

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

More communication with the founder to setup specific goals for the project would be very welcome, and would also help establish a clearly timeline.