VECTOR Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and director of a trading company called MNDB, LLC. We focus on the US stock market. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Childish?

We wanted to build software for data analysis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After presenting our ideas to Childish, we collaboratively created an algorithm for the software. Their team then developed the software using Python. Building the product from scratch, they developed the frontend, backend, and interface.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was Blagovesta (CEO) who managed the project. We also worked with four developers from their team.

How did you come to work with Childish?

A friend worked with Childish and provided a recommendation.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between January– June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Childish exceeded our expectations. The software made our jobs easier, improving our efficiency. They advised us on how to improve the product too. I’m quite satisfied with the results.

How did Childish perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via phone and Zoom. Their project manager did well, and their team was responsive. Their project management was one of their strongest parts of the partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Childish supported a smooth engagement characterized by great communication. With previous vendors, communication was the hardest part. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust their advice. They’re knowledgeable and can create a product better than you imagined.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m sales manager for Forte music OOD – company from Bulgaria, Our company is exclusive distributor for many brands like:

• SHURE
• L’ACOUSTICS
• RCF
• ROBE
• HK AUDIO
• STAGG
• FENDER
• ORANGE

We have 3 own shops, net of 20 dealers shops in the country and second biggest online store in Bulgaria, - www.muzikalen.bg ,we also have B2B section in the web

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Childish?

We needed to make restart on our online shop muzikalen.bg, the old platform was bad, with not good functionality and we start to loose clients and money, we wanted new open card based web for more flexible and pleasant , and Childish make it best !

What were your goals for this project?

we needed fast , exact , and professional service. Person that listen and make even more , Childish give us all

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

It was recommend to us by a friend , then i made resarch and all was confirmed , then we had a meeting and i fell in love :) amazing service !

Describe the project in detail.

Our online shop is one of the biggest in our country , it is connected in real time to our warehouse software for exact in stock information, also to courier web, card payment and etc ....we wanted modern vision, easy intuitive page, the guys from Childish offer us best for us

What was the team composition?

I was in basic communication with project manager, but same time i know there was 2 web developers and everything went wast and smooth

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It past year since we restart our shop, our incomes grow like 30-35% , our clients are so satisfied

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Best workflow ever , our relations continue even now because we have a new project and for sure this is best support we ever had . Our requests and need are satisfied on 100%, very fast !

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I'm sorry for my not so good english , for to make best and professional description for Childish . They are professionals , dedicated to work and to clients . They just understand your need form one word :)

Are there any areas for improvement?

For sure there is many thing we need to improve, but we always relay on our partner Childish - every step of our way , on existing and new project

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

DataScience Bulgaria is a company developing a solution for manufacturing facilities called FactorIoT. Our software helps managers and engineers to analyse the preformance of their production facility taking into considaration the combined output and performance of machnies and people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Childish?

We hired Childish to develop the Python part of our MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to develop a functioning AI software for production facilities, which collects information from the machines, analyses their idle time and thus present recommendations for improvement.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Python is the right technology for this type of software so we focused on choosing a Python focused dev company.

We spoke to several comapanies and eventually we chose Childish, on the one side because they were really flexible and responsive, taking care to adapt to us, and not the opposite. On the other side, they presented to us the team that they planned to work on our project and they impressed us.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Their team work on AI software for production facilities, which collects information from the machines, analyses their idle time and thus present recommendations for improvement. Childish were responsible for the whole back end development, we had already done the front-end part, as we needed the mocks for investors.

What was the team composition?

4 Python Django developers, 1 PM part-time

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We finished the project on time and it even was better than we had expected. During the development process they were proposing solutions, advising us on every step we were in doubt, and we really felt them part of our team.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very well, as the deadlines are met, then the PM part has been magnificent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They repeated several times that they respect their labour, and after we hired them, we really saw what this means - they really care how and what they deliver.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I think they are very good and even expect that they will have their own product soon - they really work as a great team, and great teams create great things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at a pharma company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Childish?

We were working with software that we had developed years ago, and we wanted to transfer it to a cloud-based system. We wanted it to be more modern and easily accessible for all of our colleagues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave them our requirements, which made work easy for both sides. They developed our SaaS software. 

We’ve finished the first phase of the job, and we’re now starting the second phase.

What is the team composition?

There are three Python developers, two Angular developers, and one project manager.

How did you come to work with Childish?

They were a referral from another colleague of ours. We put out an RFP to different companies, and we selected Childish mainly because they were very open with their team members. We liked the team they presented. They were the only company that included the people in their proposal, which was quite impressive.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s very important software. We haven’t launched yet and we’re still in the testing period, but it appears to be fully functioning. It’s very modern. Colleagues are very happy with it; they can access the system from anywhere. It’s very cool to have an up-to-date system for our work.

How did Childish perform from a project management standpoint?

They introduced the background of their team in detail. We were given information about the team members and had the opportunity to approve each of them, which was important for us. They provide us with very senior people.

We work in an agile methodology. All the tasks are very clear for each of the stages. I participate in the weekly sprints and daily standups just to make sure everything is going fluently. They’re very flexible and proactive. We feel that everything is under control. There is always someone to pick up the phone if we have a question or issue to discuss.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a young company, but they work like a big enterprise. They’ve really justified our trust in them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We haven’t had any issues. They’re really good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to provide a good definition of the product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

ERP Advisory Bulgaria works as an advisor to companies willing to apply for EU funding for their specific innovation projects. Our company assists them in the whole process of product definition, application, vendor selection and project management, and reporting to the specific EU bodies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Childish?

Custom software for management and maintenance of the assets of a logistics center in Plovdiv.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to build a flexible system, custom-made for the needs of the warehouse, which is overseeing the status of all machines and materials and advises all employees on the next steps required to make sure that the best care is taken for all these assets.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Childish for the creation of the software because of their strong Python team, which as selected as technical solution because of the AI parts of the project. Childish also impressed us with their creativity and bright ideas, which helped us to define the solution even better.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Childish took care of the full development cycle, however assisting us in all brainstorming sessions while we asked for their help and advice. The solution was ready for less than an year, all within deadlines which was crucial for the partial EU funding of the project.

What was the team composition?

Childish provided a dedicated team of 3 Python developers, 1 Angular, 1 QA and 1 PM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Asset Management softwares are not yet quite popular within the industry. Many companies work with multiple solutions, some excel deadlines and email reminders to follow when a EUR 1M machine should be maintained, which leads to the risk of huge losses. Having a working software in this respect is a must for us.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Childish provided a dedicated PM to work with us on the project and she was always available, very flexible with our requests and even making compromises which were not agreed in the contract just to make sure that the product is done well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very responsive to our needs. We really felt that they are our partner, not just another vendor.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are very smart! This is why we keep on working with them for future projects as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a company in Bulgaria within the sports news industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Childish?

They created a website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Childish created our website and the admin panel we use to operate it. To start, we had a conversation where I explained exactly what we needed. We had a lot of communication to make sure everything was clear and that they were familiar with our needs. From there, they started to create the basics of the website.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the software developer and business manager, but I’m not sure how many others were involved. 

How did you come to work with Childish?

Since we wanted such a large, complex website, most companies rejected our project. However I knew someone from the Childish team and knew I wanted to work with a company in Bulgaria, so I contacted them. 

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was between $10,000–$12,000. They stuck to our initial budget, and we made some changes for parts that weren’t in the original project.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Childish from around March–September 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did everything we asked for, and even came up with some good ideas that we hadn’t thought of. We implemented their suggestions and the website design came out better than we expected, with better functionality.

How did Childish perform from a project management standpoint?

It was easy to work with them. We kept in contact throughout the project. We spoke a lot in the beginning, especially to explain exactly what we needed. After that, we spoke just when something new was needed. I had direct contact with the developer, so I didn’t need to connect with the manager first, which would’ve made the process more complicated. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated that they made suggestions on new things that we could do. They worked fast, especially in the beginning, and we were able to launch the site when we wanted to. I hope to work with them on other projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything in mind — we were really satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients need to know exactly what they want. If they explain everything they want to happen, Childish will be able to do it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We own a manufacturing facility in Bulgaria and sell our products to clients worldwide, and I as COO deal with the client relations, for which we decided to develop our own client management system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Childish?

Our team had worked with SalesForce before, so the challenge was to make a system that is simpler without disrupting the rationale they are used to in the SalesForce.

What were your goals for this project?

To make a simple front-end which works with complex database in the back-end.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were referred to us by their previous client.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed both the front-end and the back-end from scratch, which included a team of Python and Angular developers, as well as UX designer.

What was the team composition?

Two Python Django developers, one Angular, one PM, one QA and one UX designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The result was a working internal system, which in the long term will lead to saving from SalesForce fees and will allow us to be more flexible.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The PM was quite active and dealing with all communication flows so we were very happy with the work of the team. Our plan was to finish it for 10 months, however in the course of development we had more ideas for additions, so it went to 12 months but the extension was due to our requests, Childish delivered all stages on time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They seem to put the client first and really do gestures which are not typical for a vendor but rather for a colleague. Like getting an external advisor without charging us for that to advice on an issue we had doubts how to proceed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are very flexible and agreeable, any requests or recommendations were responded immediately.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the co-founders of a SaaS company. We’re building a SaaS solution for the construction industry which will help streamline commercial workflows. I am acting as the CEO, but I’m also involved in product and software development because we are still a relatively small team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Childish?

Last year, we finalized the development of our wireframes and the concept of our product. We had started our first line of code, but we quickly noticed that even though internally we had the knowledge, we didn’t have the capacity to fully develop both the frontend and backend. We started to look for a partner that could support the initial development of the frontend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to build the frontend in React.JS. A lot of other companies we talked to wanted us to do it in Angular. When I connected with the founder of Childish, we discussed the requirements and had a back and forth with him and the CTO. We quickly realized that my requirements were around React.JS and their capabilities were around Angular.

I thought that it might be a dead-end, but then they called me back and said they would go to the market and look for someone who is a React specialist and hire them. We sat down and defined a one-page list of requirements for that person, and they went out and took a couple of weeks to interview and find someone.

Once we agreed on a candidate, they onboarded him quite quickly. They also got a contractor who was spending one hour every week to check everything was going well. 

What is the team composition?

The founder oversaw the project and made sure we were on track. We also worked with a developer and a subcontractor who focused on architectural design. On one or two occasions, their CTO was involved as well to oversee the process.

How did you come to work with Childish?

One of my colleagues made the connection initially with Childish as he was friends with the founder. We interviewed several companies and freelancers on Upwork as well. 

I felt on Upwork there was a language barrier with a lot of the people. I then decided to focus on companies in the UK so that I could go to their offices and speak with them in-person, or a company in Bulgaria as I am Bulgarian and can speak the language. Finding companies in the UK turned out to be a bit more expensive as we were an early-stage startup.

We ended up interviewing three or four companies in Bulgaria. I thought they were all pretty capable, but we didn’t align with the other companies’ timelines. Childish was able to deliver that software developer quite quickly and we agreed on the timeline, so we decided it made sense for us to go with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between £20,000–£30,000 (approximately $22,000 - $33,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from May–September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was very valuable to us that they interviewed the people who were going to work on our project because it saved us a lot of time.

After they completed their development, we showed the demo to potential customers and we are now very close to signing as clients.

We’re now managing the frontend in-house, but it’s easy for us to go into the code and understand how things are moving because of their high-quality development work. 

How did Childish perform from a project management standpoint?

Their CTO knew how to run projects well so the initial meeting where we set up intervals and our bi-weekly calls went smoothly. It would’ve been nice if we could see them in person because I think it is always difficult to communicate as we were in the UK and they are in Bulgaria. 

The project was organized through weekly sprints. On Monday mornings we had meetings to discuss the sprints. We also had 15-minute huddles with the developer on Wednesdays and Fridays. 

We spoke to the founder, who took on more of a project manager role, on occasions where someone needed to take a vacation or if we needed to change the timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing about them was their ability to find and interview the developer. They took that burden off of me since I’ve never been in a situation where I needed to hire a developer before. The developer they found delivered quite quickly and didn’t waste any time. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, communication with the developer was more difficult and I had to repeat some things many times. Once he understood, he was very quick to deliver. However, for our first experience with an outsourcing company, I think everything went well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In general, make sure all the requirements are flushed out and everyone understands what needs to be delivered. We had that in place from the beginning and I think that is why they delivered things quickly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Knigovisthe.bg. It is a gamified educational platform in Bulgaria aimed at 1st-7th graders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Childish?

We needed the platform to be built for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked in PHP to build the platform from scratch. They continue to maintain it and add new features. There have been several ad-hoc changes made. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Blagovesta (CEO) and Andrey (CTO). 

How did you come to work with Childish?

I knew one of the founders already. However, we still interviewed and heard pitches from several companies. We met with Childish a couple of times to discuss the project. I liked their organization of ideas and that half of their profits go to a cause.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around €20,000 (approximately $22,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2018 – January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform runs smoothly. During peak times of competition, we had around 100,000 people answering and working on the site, and the site responded successfully. It was a great experience for us.

Andrey also offered options in creating the gamification so children would stay online longer and return to their profiles.

How did Childish perform from a project management standpoint?

Their performance was excellent. We communicated daily, primarily through email and over the phone. They were available through social media platforms, as well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They never said no to any of our ideas. We presented tasks to them and they translated them into the best language for the platform. They made everything we wanted, working cleanly and efficiently with no mistakes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we are satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a chance to pitch and you’ll be impressed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of Maison Sport, an online platform that connects skiers with independent ski instructors across Europe. We allow users to choose instructors based on reviews and unique qualities at competitive prices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VECTOR Labs?

We needed help with front- and backend development and DevOps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

VECTOR Labs provides us with a dedicated team that sits within our product team and is managed by our head of product and product managers. The developers are responsible for our entire project, ensuring platform uptime, taking design and feature scopes for our platform, and shipping them to our production site. VECTOR Labs has worked with us to redesign multiple areas of our platform, from the instructor user area and mobile apps to our CRM.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 teammates from VECTOR Labs.

How did you come to work with VECTOR Labs?

Someone referred VECTOR Labs to me. We chose them over other options because they had high ratings, their pricing fit our budget, they were a great culture fit, and they offered good value for the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2024, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

VECTOR Labs’ work has improved our conversion rates by around 100%, created a better user experience, and reduced resources from our customer teams by improving our CRM. They also deliver tasks in line with our product roadmap deadlines.

How did VECTOR Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

VECTOR Labs delivers on time. We communicate via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

VECTOR Labs has found us competent developers that fit our culture and care about the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any.