Vault Innovation

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Operations Coordinator of TRB + Associates

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our team of professionals is equipped to assist and deliver results on a wide range of code compliance related needs and assignments, TRB+ has extensive resources capable of handling all your building and fire-life safety needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vault Innovation to accomplish?

• Development of Plan Review and Permit Tracking Software

SOLUTION

How did you find Vault Innovation?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Vault Innovation over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vault Innovation were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Vault has provided software development for TRB's needs as we continue to develop our internal plan review and permit tracking software. Most recent key deliverables and elements they have worked with TRB to deploy are the following: Implementation of a text editor for hosting of internal client information. Implementation of a file management system for hosting internal documents. Implementation of new changes to improve TRB's email notification system. Multiple features and elements have been updated and developed to improve TRB's internal workflow. Fixes for bugs and errors identified in the TRB system. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Cost and workload estimates: VAULT provides thorough estimates for the work hours anticipated and associated costs of work requested. If there are elements of concern that TRB may not have identified, they will usually provide additional information as to how this may impact/change the work request and how best to deal with it based on their professional experience and knowledge.  
• Tracking: Project progress and tracking is updated with information from VAULT and per TRB's requests to add additional information or changes to tickets as work progresses in JIRA.
• Quality: Work is generally of good quality and if results are not as anticipated, the work was promptly fixed to meet expectations with effective communication.
• Performance and Efficiency: In the case of an update deployed to improve TRB's download speeds, we saw significant improvements in the performance and efficiency of this element once implemented. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Delivery, Timeliness and communication: 
  • Delivery of the work is on time and with regular communication checks as work progresses. If hurdles occur, we are informed.
  • If communication is unclear between the parties involved, prompt inquiries are made and responded to ensuring everyone is on the same page.  
  •  If there are elements of concern that TRB may not have identified they will usually provide additional information as to how this may impact the work request and how best to deal with it based on their professional experience and knowledge.  
• Tracking: Project progress and tracking is updated with information from VAULT and per TRB's requests to add additional information or changes to tickets as work progresses in JIRA.

What was your primary form of communication with Vault Innovation?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with our team and goals is impressive. This can often result in them suggesting and effectively implementing new tools and adapting to processes as required by TRB's requests. They engage with us to understand our needs, articulate potential technical solutions in clear, accessible language and bring forward well‑considered tool proposals that align with our goals. 

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

There was an incidents when the work deployed to TRB's staging server for testing was broken after a quick test. This resulted in needing to reach back out to VAULT for a fix which halted the deployment of this element. They promptly got working on it and after their fix, the work was significantly more stable. While this doesn't happen often and can to a certain degree be expected during the testing process, further testing before release could be positive feedback for VAULT to ensure the work they are deploying is stable and fully prepared for the testing phase.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of PetCentric Health

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The gold standard solution to improving the quality of life for veterinarians, pets and pet parents through access to quality primary care.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vault Innovation to accomplish?

• Design Technology Platform
• Develop Technology Platform

SOLUTION

How did you find Vault Innovation?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Vault Innovation over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vault Innovation were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Vault Innovation served as our technology partner supporting the design and development of our technology platform. The Vault team was tasked with developing a solution tailored to multiple user groups with different use cases. Their team was charged with overseeing an "MVP" product build to support a successful business launch in June 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Project budget
• Project timeline

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their project management was great. Weekly status calls to stay aligned with the current tasks and regular communication focused on budget status. The overall project was delivered on-time and any minor adjustments were communicated clearly.

What was your primary form of communication with Vault Innovation?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Vault Innovation serves as our technology partner. The services provided by the Vault team extend beyond the platform development. Their team has expertise to assist in business development, marketing, and start up fundraising strategy.

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

We were very happy with the engagement and continue to use Vault as our technology partner moving forward

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Neuropeak Pro, a performance training company that helps people improve their ability to respond to stress and to better perform under pressure. We work with extensively with professional athletes, but because we all deal with stress to some degree we work with people outside of sports as well.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We wanted to enhance the training experience of our current clients and expand our market by developing a highly portable, mobile app-based custom wearable device — the Neuropeak Pro NTEL BELT — to use for precision breathing and heart rate variability training. As a training tool and not just another fitness tracker, we wanted to chart new ground on how this was accomplished.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In addition to helping to plan and implement app functionality, Vault worked alongside us and provided meaningful input as we developed the NTEL BELT.  At present, we continue to partner with Vault as we plan for future app enhancements and updates.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five members of the Vault team during the planning process including managers, developers, and designers as well as Vault leadership. During the production process, we collaborated with two key people, while other members were brought in as needed.

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

We searched for vendors through referrals and narrowed down our options to two. Our team chose Vault because we felt they’d be the most adaptable team as we worked together on defining what the end product would look like.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2020 and successfully launched the NTEL BELT on February 1, 2022. We continue to utilize Vault for app and device enhancements and ongoing maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re extraordinarily happy with the engagement’s end result. Vault has hit their deadlines and delivered the product — they’ve done excellent work. 

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

Vault’s project management has been great. When we need to have an urgent need or need to allocate resources to a sprint, they have been able to flex to help us achieve our goals. 

On top of that, their communication skills are outstanding, and they’ve used a good platform to keep everything structured and on track. A vast majority of our communications are logged into their management tool. If we’re facing an issue that requires urgent attention, it’s easy to engage them via emails or texts. We can also simply pick up the phone and call them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their adaptability is impressive. We’ve had a specific target, but we’ve also done iterations along the way — Vault has been a nice partner during such iterations. The team is there to help us manage course changes.  

Moreover, Vault has been flexible in outlining the pros and cons of any ideas or changes. In other words, they don’t simply do what we tell them to do — there is healthy collaboration. They tell us what they can do and what we should consider before they start working on requests. Overall, they’re flexible and have outstanding communication and collaboration skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. Everything has gone well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be articulate in terms of the direction you’re taking. Communicate well — that way, Vault can work alongside your team. They’ll help you evolve your ideas into an interesting user experience. Powered with information and your vision, they are a good partner for turning your goals into reality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and co-founder of a SaaS company with a mission to bring equal access to college athletics for high school student-athletes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We needed someone to build our MVP’s V 1.0.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vault Innovation provided us with product management and development and built our V 1.0 from scratch using PHP and Laravel.

We initially provided them with the wireframes and documentation, while they integrated user roles, portals, data security management, data collection and processing, and a user dashboard.

What is the team composition?

We talked with Jeffrey (CEO) and Terry (CTO), but we mainly communicated with the product manager and the developer. We also worked with a designer and QA tester at one point in the development. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

We won a pitch competition that they partially sponsored and after interviewing them, we hired them based on their pricing, timeline, and culture fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested somewhere between $400,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2020–January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Vault Innovation, we’ve had a 600% revenue growth over the past year. We went from having 20,000 users to 80,000 users thanks to the app they developed — it enabled us to provide our service to a large number of people.

Their developers from Vault Innovation were smart, skilled, and always available to resolve our issues.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We initially had a subpar project manager we had to let go of, but the new one who replaced them was great — so in terms of project management, I’d give them a rating of four out of five.

We used JIRA to manage the project and interact. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We liked that we could always be honest with them because they didn’t take constructive feedback personally. Their whole process was very transparent, and they were really flexible in regards to making changes to the development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A little more big-picture guidance would’ve been helpful, especially since the development was moving so quickly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To make the most out of the relationship, be very clear with what you want and don’t make any assumptions that they understand what you want to convey.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of my company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I hired vault to build our MVP product from the ground up - a hybrid mobile app.

SOLUTION

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

I found Vault because they advertise to an incubator program I was involved with. After speaking with Vault, they seemed like they had experience working with entrepreneurs and building products from the ground up for startups. They told me they had experience building apps similar to mine and felt confident they could get the job done efficiently.

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

We did a series of discovery sprints to determine exactly what we were building and then a series of engineering sprints to actually build the product.

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

1. Project Manager
2. Product Manager
3. UI Designer
4. Software Engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Vault created a contract that indicated this app would cost $30,000-$70,000 to build. When it was all said and done, they built less than half of the product and charged me over $100,000. I came to the engagement with lots of discovery work done, and they somehow found a way to go over budget during the discovery phase. Their "director of product" did "user research" which consisted of him sending me an excel file with a handful of user stories written out with typos and punctuation errors.

This was the quality of the work that was simultaneously eating up hours and going over budget. Vault also built the entire app on top of an API that they were "super familiar with" and "had used before" only to find out after over a month of engineering, that the API would not work and they would have to rebuild the app with a separate API, charging me hourly along the way. It became clear that their focus was billable hours, not building quality product.

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

The project manager was an efficient communicator but the project overall was managed very poorly.

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

The work of their designer was the only value they provided and positive feedback I can give.

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

1) Be less concerned on driving up billable hours and selling your services to vulnerable entrepreneurs and more concerned about helping people build successful products and businesses.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on February 16, 2022.

Our number one focus with each and every engagement is to do whatever is in the best interest of our client’s business initiatives and create a successful partnership. Our focus never has and never will be about billing up hours.
Product features and priorities often shift throughout the software development process and, on this project, that was the case. Some initial desired features were removed and other features were enhanced to meet expanded use cases. These decisions and their impact on the budget were discussed and agreed upon by both parties before proceeding. Regarding a third-party module that was referenced, a different API was leveraged because additional functionality was requested after the initial product was built. Although this can be a normal occurrence when building software, we chose not to pass any of this cost on to our client.

We helped launch a new product and business as intended, but we clearly did not satisfy our client’s expectations and that should never happen. We are committed to always improving our company to ensure client success and we will use this experience to only make our team and process better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and managing member of Fixed Ops Digital, a service marketing and technology company in the automotive industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We were looking for a company to build a business and data intelligence platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gave them a 4–5-page document on what I wanted, and they were able to translate that into a working software system. From there, they handled design, execution, and implementation.

Using HTML and CSS, they developed cloud-based platform that houses information on all of our current and prospective clients. It connects to several data sources, including Facebook, Google Drive, and Google Sheets’ Query function.  Now they are working to add enhancements and upgrade the platform.

What is the team composition?

I work with Stephanie (Director of Business Development), Jeffrey (Founder & CEO), and Nikki (Project Manager), but 5–10 people have worked with us at different points in the project.  

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

Before working with Vault Innovation, we had worked with another company and the project failed. We were looking for a new partner when Stephanie sent me a cold email that got my attention. We started talking at the beginning of 2020, but everything was paused when COVID-19 hit. Then we reconnected in the fall and began working on the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000 initially, but we expect to spend $75,000 in total.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2020 and we finished the initial development in March 2021. However, we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with Vault Innovation has been an amazing experience. Now all of our employees use the platform when working with clients. It’s a great tool; it has no flaws.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

From the beginning of the project until now, it has been easy to work with Vault Innovation. They’re extremely communicative, which has helped us develop a great working relationship with them. We have a consistent project manager who walks us through everything and connects us with different teams.

We usually communicate through email because that is my preference, but we also used tools like InVision to approve changes. They’ve never missed an email or forgotten to follow up on something.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been very impressed by their communication, but their execution of the platform is astounding. Everything that Vault Innovation has built works correctly and is seamless. We’ve been using the platform for about 90 days, and at this point, we haven’t experienced any bugs or errors.

On top of that, they’ve been able to stick pretty close to our budget. In the past, other developers have completely underestimated the cost to build software like this.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t pinpoint any negative aspects of our engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have a lot of advice because Vault Innovation did a great job of explaining their process and moving the project along.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CEO of a technology company that helps pre-med students track and navigate their journey to medical and professional schools. Soon, it will provide experiences for all pre-health students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We needed to create the platform through the help of a tech partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided full-stack development, including front- and backend development, UI/UX design, and the consulting behind the creation of our product. As we were iterating, they came up with our MVP and helped us through various challenges along the way. 

To use the platform, people sign up for an account and indicate where they are in school. Once they’re onboarded, they have the opportunity to provide the courses they’ve taken and the grades they achieved in those courses. They also provide contact information for their professors and start taking practice MCAT tests. The app also provides them a space to track their extracurricular activities and volunteering. It includes a diary log, where they can discuss their experiences in a health care setting. 

The platform has a school list that allows students to begin looking at different medical schools across the country and bookmarking one they want to apply to. Based on what they input into our system, we have the ability to give them algorithmic feedback. We provide areas for improvement based on their grades, activities, and goals. 

A recent addition to the app is a simulation of admissions essays for medical school applications. Along with this feature, students with pre-med advisors can grant their advisors read-only access to information on their accounts.  

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Jeff (Co-Founder) and Terry (Co-Founder) as well as two different project managers, Justin (Former Project Manager) and Nicki (Project Manager). Justin started with us but left Vault Innovation to start his own project. Nikki works as our project manager now.

We’ve also worked with Dan (Product Designer), Austin (Full Stack Engineer), and Josh (Product Specialist). Dan is our main designer, Austin is our go-to developer, and Josh works on QA to ensure our app doesn’t have any bugs. When we need to do bigger pushes, we’ve had a rotating set of additional resources with them.  

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

We were intending to have a third co-founder who would’ve been a tech founder, but that fell through. After being introduced to Vault Innovation by my co-founder’s former boss, we had some discussions with them and decided to move forward. Based on the seal of approval given in our introduction to their team and the due diligence we did in our initial conversations, they seemed like a good fit for the work.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $200,000 with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we launched our public beta in August 2020, we had a goal of gaining 1,000 users by the end of 2020. We were able to surpass that goal by a few hundred. Users are happy with the functionality, and the platform is stable. They hit milestones and continue to effectively iterate on their work.  

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve got a lot of work done in a short period of time with their team. Their ability to communicate via Slack and work as a team through various sticking points has been very helpful. Nikki is very hands-on and detail-oriented. She provides us with detailed follow-ups after meetings and helpful pre-work before meetings. We use Jira to track their progress, and everything has been great from a project management standpoint.    

What did you find most impressive about them?

We came to the table with big ideas about stories and thoughts relating to what the product should be. Some of that was met with a little resistance at the beginning of the project. However, they demonstrated a lot of persistence to figure out how to deliver our vision. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

With most relationships, communication can be a sticking point. When we were first starting our relationship, we had to adjust and understand how our teams communicate. There were likely some opportunities for clarification that never happened on both sides.

That led to some repeat conversations or something shipping out differently than what we wanted. Those issues were easily fixed without any harm. We could’ve done a better job on both sides of understanding differences in our communication styles to get to exactly what’s needed or wanted. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your communication is clear. As founders, we can be pie-in-the-sky people, not knowing exactly what needs to happen to have an idea come to life. Being able to ask questions throughout the process and learn what questions you should be thinking about will be important in smoothing out your communication early.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Barrel Arbor Investments. We invest in various assets such as startups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We hired Vault Innovation to build a short-term rental platform for one of the startups we invested in.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed the back- and frontend of the website. Before they started on any development work, they did some research to understand the market and how we could meet user needs. They spoke to other property owners and talked to customers on Facebook.

The platform allows transactions, features booking abilities, and has social functions for users. Property owners can price their short-term rentals while users are able to book multiple stays at one time.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager, a designer, a frontend developer, and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

I searched on Google for local firms in Chicago and I spoke with about half a dozen firms with impressive portfolios. At the time, I was looking for a development company that could also consult and help us with business ideas. Vault Innovation was able to provide support on the business side as well, and that is what set them apart for me.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $230,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020 and the project concluded in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product launched successfully. There were very few, if any, bugs.  Their strength seems to be in backend development.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We did face a few challenges that delayed our launch date. There were a lot of moving parts on the project, but they remained organized throughout the engagement.

We usually used Slack and Asana to communicate, but I was also able to call, text, or meet with our project manager for lunch.  The project manager was very transparent and he provided a lot of value because he consulted on the business as well.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their project management and backend development skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They work in an agile environment and we pivoted several times, which impacted our timeline and cost. I’d like it if they had a more concrete roadmap in place, but that takes a lot of time to plan ahead of time. I also learned that nuanced details could impact the timeline as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Generally, clients should have their own detailed roadmap of what they want to accomplish. They should really get into the details of the user flows to streamline the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Lost Travel. It’s an adventure travel brand. We organize trips across North America, and we have a software product, Wayward,  that people can use to track and share their adventures. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We developed Wayward as an internal tool initially. It worked in its state, but we wanted to revamp it so that we could make the tool available to people outside our organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We essentially rebuilt the software product which is available as a mobile application and web application. It now allows offline tracking and more capabilities for users to create itineraries for their own travels. They also provided design work for the app. 

What is the team composition?

I work with 2–3 people primarily, including the CTO. However, I’ve worked with as many as six people at a time. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

They actually reached out to me on LinkedIn. Originally, I was planning on hiring a full-time developer to join my in-house team. However, after talking to Vault Innovation, I decided to move forward with them instead. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020. The app launched in October 2020, but our relationship is still ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any quantitative metrics to share. However, I’m happy with the product. It’s easy to use and has a clean interface – especially compared to the competition.  

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We were able to work past any bugs that came up during development. We used Jira to manage the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been really easy to work with. Their level of excitement around the product has been great. They proposed a budget, and they stuck to it, which I really appreciated. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard for me to say. I’ve enjoyed working with them. There are some natural differences between working with a third-party versus an in-house team. However, I’m happy with the results. I wish I had clearly outlined deadlines and milestones, but I can’t fault them for that. It took longer than expected, but they did a great job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear picture of what you want to achieve and communicate that. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of VoiceOder Solutions. The company provides innovative B2B voice technology solutions for the foodservice industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We needed to develop a software solution from an initial concept.  This was a completely unique idea that needed to be architected and developed from the bottom up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have leveraged Vault Innovation as our in-house software team. They have helped to refine the initial concept, architect the product MVP, and build the mobile/voice application. We provided them with our initial flow charts design and important features.  In addition, we required all open-source language development.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of approximately five people. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

The Illinois Technology Association referred us to them as a great resource. I evaluated them against several other companies and felt very comfortable with their background and approach.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $75,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July 2019 and is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Early success metrics include: hitting deadlines, working collaboratively, and the ability to iterate on the product design process.  Their team has consistently lived up to all of the standards I have laid out.

We have received very positive feedback on the concept and software functionality.  We are very pleased with the quality of their work.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

They use JIRA to keep track of the different elements of the project, and we schedule phone calls every two weeks to make sure everyone is up to date. It is always very easy to track their progress and make sure we are moving towards our larger goals at all times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The reason I’ve enjoyed working and continue to work with Vault is their open communication. They are disciplined in documenting what’s going on and the output of everything they do, and they set really accurate expectations upfront in terms of the sprints and the costs associated with each of them. It is always clear the value that we’re getting for their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve done everything I’ve asked to this point, so I don’t really have any room for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to be thoughtful about what engagement you are looking for them to work on. Do your research upfront so that you can share as much information and give them direction in a collaborative and productive way.