Velotio Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of delivery VP of engineering for Customer Lobby. We’re a marketing automation solution and communication platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Our niche are businesses that are focused in the home services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We’re based in the Bay Area, and our company is small and we operate in a tight manner. One of our biggest challenges is recruiting quality engineers because salaries in our area are insane. We decided to look elsewhere to see if we could augment our team to full our needs expertise we didn’t have.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, it was a small project — we just needed to migrate MySQL 5.6 to 7. They immediately got after it and brought on a few resources. Within a few weeks, they had a concept ready for me to review. The whole process was very smooth.

After that, I decided to expand our partnership. In addition to the database engineer, we looked at DevOps, data, Ruby on Rails engineering, frontend development, and even a business analyst. Integrating them into our team was a piece of cake. They gathered all of the resources and sent me their resumes. I interviewed each candidate and then began onboarding them.

They used Python and Airflow, as well as big data technologies. On the frontend, it is React, and on the mobile side, it is Flutter. The backend is Ruby on Rails.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with about five of them.

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

It was a very smooth process. I’m originally from India and I was working with a company in the same city as Velotio Technologies. I heard some good things about them, so I got in touch with their leadership.

How much have you invested with them?

We roughly spend $20,000 per month (approximately $120,000 total).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 In general, we’re very happy with the work they put out. I work personally with the data team and they’re a competent bunch. One of the biggest challenges with any outsources team is that they’re not onsite so they don’t understand the business reasons for things and it needs to be explained to them. On the technical front, they’re very proficient. My colleagues work with the frontend developer, and they think very highly of him. The backend developer is okay, and we’re trying to upskill him. The business analyst is great. Since he joined, we’ve expanded his role to include a bit of project management and product-related stuff. They’re a great addition to our team, both culturally, and technically.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We do have challenges every now and then, but they’re not team-wide issues. There is one person not performing at the standard we’re looking for, but the rest perform well.

We use Jira, Aha!, InVision, and Zepplin.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good quality talent. After speaking with their engineers, it’s clear they have excellent talent. I was dubious when they pitched me, but their resources make them among the best in the industry. They’re open to feedback and they’re interested in learning.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A few of the resources haven’t worked out, but there are no systemic issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When working with any outsource team, communicate and explain the business value to them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Tagnos is a healthcare software company. We provide workflow orchestration software for healthcare institutions. I’m the CTO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We contracted them primarily to move to the cloud. We had an on-premises solution and we wanted to migrate to a cloud-based one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The statement of work (SOW) included setting up our instances in the cloud, setting up security scans, and making sure we were using the right images and artifacts in the cloud. Part of Velotio’s brief was to help us start an audit with a third-party cybersecurity company we hired. They made sure that everything was set up correctly for us to pass the audit.

They worked on the AWS infrastructure, using WatchGuard Firebox Cloud, load balancers, image hardening, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail. We had them duplicate those functionalities for the Google Cloud infrastructure as well, setting up WatchGuard Firebox, Terraform templates, automated scans, and machine images.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two people from Velotio so far, one for AWS and one for Google Cloud.

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

They came via a recommendation from one of our venture capital firms that had worked with Velotio in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $20,000–$25,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Velotio around October 2019. The Google Cloud work started in May 2020 and is ongoing, as is the AWS work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The most important metric for us was passing the audit. It was performed by a reputable cybersecurity firm and made sure that we were HIPAA-compliant and that we withstood penetration tests. It was a big measuring stick for us.

The second metric is the ease of use, and we’ve been able to use the templates Velotio gave us to set up other AWS instances on our own.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of the project management has been on our side, with both consultants. Velotio’s communication is pretty good, and we’ve gotten regular updates from them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have pretty in-depth experience in setting up these infrastructures. The collaboration’s been pretty positive so far, in terms of getting advice on what technology stacks to use on AWS and Google Cloud.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a bit more proactive on their side in terms of project management. For example, they could send us weekly status reports instead of us having to request them. It’s not that big a deal, but it is an area of improvement.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The SOW needs to be structured well so that deliverables can be measured based on it. For example, we had a SOW that listed everything we needed to get done, and we worked in two phases, the first one being an analysis. Once we went through a two-week analysis, we had a better sense of what needed to get done over the next couple of months. That process streamlined everything and created a list of deliverables for Velotio as well. They’re pretty flexible in terms of changing the scope, but it’s generally a good idea to set up a statement of work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at Fylamynt, an early-stage startup in the enterprise SaaS space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We needed help with custom software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We are getting help from their engineers for front- and backend development. Currently, Velotio Technologies is helping us with UI work, and they use React. Our software has a web app frontend for our users to access our system. 

The team uses a test automation framework specifically for the frontend to help us build our automation suite as we push more features and make changes. They don’t deal with design, specifically. 

In the early stage, when we started building our web app, we had a UX designer create the visual design for all of our pages. Velotio Technologies didn’t handle that. They take the design from there and add the coding implementation for the webpages.

The UI they’re working on interacts with the backend. When we discover bugs, need to add small or new features, or need to make changes to the existing system, we usually hand that over to Velotio Technologies. 

We give them very well-defined tasks. We have a QA engineer who helps me with code reviews, renovating changes, PRs, and pointing out inconsistencies.

What is the team composition?

We started with two backend engineers for a couple of months. They finished the backend assignment and currently we have three engineers helping us on the frontend side including a QA engineer for UI specifically.

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

They were recommended to us. We liked the social interaction, and their portfolio seemed to cover the skillset we were looking for.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with the performance of the engineers I’ve been working with. Part of it has to do with the very clear requirements we give them that describe exactly what needs to be done.

When given clear requirements, Velotio Technologies delivers quite quickly. Their engineers are pretty familiar with the process in terms of submitting PRs, getting reviews, completing iterations, and taking care of review comments.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We use GitHub and Slack. We provide clear instructions on the changes or features we need to be added. Because there’s a time difference, if there are new requirements coming up, I try to get all the assignments to them the evening before because our evening is their morning time. 

When I check the system in the morning, some of the PR is already submitted if it’s an easy fix. Velotio Technologies has a quick turnaround. For the more complex adding of features or more complex bugs, it takes longer. I also have one-on-one chats with each of the engineers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re the only firm we’ve worked with. I really like the QA engineer that they allocated to us. He’s very knowledgeable. The automation suites he’s built for us are really helpful. It makes a big difference in our productivity and efficiency in terms of catching regressions. He’s also very easy to talk to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are certain areas in our UI features that are very complex. Those are some of the areas that I haven’t assigned to their developers to work on. That’s mainly because we have a full-time person here in the same timezone. I tend to give them smaller tasks that have quicker turnarounds. It’s easier for me to assess and get results moving forward.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director of cloud marketing strategy at a data storage company that works with enterprise customers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We wanted to introduce a new automated proposal capability for our sales team and partners. This system would make it easier to highlight the benefits of switching to us for potential customers. We needed assistance in developing the application. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed the backend of the application based on the requirements we set forth. Their team built it from scratch. We weren’t sure how we wanted to develop the product, and they stepped in and guided us through the whole process. This included helping us figure out how to integrate certain features. They used AWS as the hosting infrastructure. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a total of five to six people including a project manager, a tech lead, a senior UI designer, a backend engineer, a frontend engineer, and a QA engineer. 

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

We received a referral from other colleagues in the industry. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested close to $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2019. The engagement is ongoing; we just started phase two.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When comparing them to previous vendors I’ve worked with, I’m satisfied with the quality of their work so far.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They have excellent project management skills. I give them two thumbs up. They’re always on time. We used Jira and Google Suite tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been a great partner, especially for end-to-end development projects. We wouldn’t be where we are with this project if it wasn’t for them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they know their strengths and play well towards them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s helpful to have your requirements ready before you start, and not change them partway through. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a company that’s two years old and in the process of creating a SaaS program for our customers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We went to them with just an idea and concept. So, the goal was to find a tech partner that would execute our initial vision.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided us with a UI person and developers to help create the MVP product. The design process was very collaborative. We spent time discussing the intended look and feel as well as functionality before starting up together. 

The product relies heavily on cloud technologies to function for our governmental audience. Their engineers brought a holistic set of front- and backend development skills to undertake this project. The final product is meant to connect cities with local businesses to encourage economic development between the two entities. 

Even after the bulk of the development work was done, we kept their team on as our go-to development team. The product they create is now live and being used by customers. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a tech lead and several engineers. 

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

We found them through a mutual contact in our networks. I reached out to them and met with a representative from their team face-to-face before deciding. That interview paired with our conversations made us feel very confident in their ability to execute. They also had past experiences that lined up with what we needed. We trusted their skillset and ability to work in an agile startup environment.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered a robust, secure, and user-friendly product. The quality of work has been amazing, and we’ve never had issues with them. External sources have voiced that they’re impressed with the level of tech stack we’re using for our product, saying that its uncommon to see this level of sophistication from a very young business. Their attention to detail and their treatment shows a high level of depth on their part. 

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their collaborative development process made me feel confident in them as a partner. We have a strong working relationship. We have weekly meetings and progress updates between those meetings. With them, it feels like we’re always making the right progress and project management is effective. We require some hand-holding, but they do it professionally. Our teams use Jira to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From the beginning, they’ve been flexible in bringing our vision to life. They’re invested in thinking about productivity and the quality of the code they’re executing. They’ve been a real partner for us. The feedback they’re able to provide is also tremendously valuable. We’re able to discuss features and come to conclusions together.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to say about them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Approach them openly, clearly communicating the goal you’re trying to achieve. They’ll be able to help you map out the direction for your project. They’re passionate, so they’ll be truly engaged.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the VP of engineering in charge of mobile advertising at a company that’s developing a ticketing platform. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We were trying to use data more effectively and build machine learning solutions. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Velotio Technologies provided staff augmentation to help design and implement a data processing and machine learning solution using AWS. I gave them guidance and the architecture for the work and they provided on-site staffing to implement the solution. They set up data flows, data processes, databases, and modeling on AWS. Some additional staff from their team helped with our existing products as well. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people at peak capacity. I worked directly with the developers, two of which were on-site for some of the duration of the project. The other two were based in India. 

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

I found them online but talked to about three or four candidates in total. After my initial contact with Velotio Technologies, I met with them and also talked to some of their references. I decided they would be a good fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

I left the company before the project was completed, but I believe the total cost was close to $250,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Velotio Technologies between from June to November 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a high-level schedule to implement the machine learning and data processing system, and Velotio Technologies met our deadlines on time. There were some unexpected technical issues, but they were dealt with quickly. 

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m pretty satisfied in general. They delivered the work as promised and there were no issues from my point of view as far as project management and working with Velotio Technologies goes.

We used a Jira board to track the work between the remote team and the on-site one, especially in the latter part of the project when one of our on-site developers went back to India. The remaining on-site developer also spent time managing the three off-site ones, just to make sure everything was in sync. We also had a standup meeting every day between the local team and the one in India. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They paid a lot of attention to detail and brought up any issue quickly so we could deal with it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Even though it was a short engagement, there was some turnover from their side, which meant we needed to spend additional time bringing in new people.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I like to do things a little differently. I usually work directly with developers and prefer to have at least one representative on-site to make sure the details of the implementation are communicated across to the remote team correctly. Having everyone off-site would make it more difficult for the engineers on our side to implement the project. There are details to be communicated which take more than just a set-up meeting. I highly recommend having someone on-site, at least for part of the time. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of data at Sight Machine, a startup that liberates data from the factory floors of manufacturers. We started in Ann Arbor, Michigan and opened an office in San Francisco but operate globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

As a startup, we are rapidly growing and needed more team members to assist with implementation. We go through a lot of ups and downs but recently had a large uptick in business and needed to expand quite rapidly. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Velotio Technologies has onboarded people to our team. We needed data engineers to work with our data architects. Our data architects are customer-facing, doing all of the planning and ticketing, which the data engineers then execute.

The data engineers write transforms in Python, which are scripts for data wrangling. The Velotio Technologies team also configures files in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and ETL.

What is the team composition?

We work with Kalpack (Founder & CEO, Velotio Technologies), Madhur (Director of Engineering & Founding Member, Velotio Technologies) and three developers. Madhur is our technical lead and operates as both an engineer and a manager. We are looking to bring on another junior engineer to help with our growing customer support function. 

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

I get emails from vendors all the time. Kalpack wrote to me directly and his email stood out. Because of our rapid growth, I decided to speak to him. We met up in San Francisco and had a very positive discussion. He was very willing to listen to what we needed and started to brainstorm during that very meeting.

Kalpack was very happy to provide references, all of whom followed up very quickly. I was able to learn more about Velotio Technologies and how they handle engagements with customers. These contacts gave me the confidence to work with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested around $10,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Velotio Technologies began in October 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Velotio Technologies, our turnaround times have improved. Their ability to come in and rapidly work through tickets has been very beneficial. 

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Velotio Technologies is very easy to work with. We perform regular scrums several times a week. Despite the time difference, they’re always willing to be flexible on scheduling a time to talk with us. That has allowed us to have a much faster turnaround time for our customers.

Their team manages our project using Jira. Since we’re a new company, we're still getting our methods down as we grow the professional services part of our business. Velotio Technologies has been able to go with the flow as we figure out what works best for us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been impressed with their willingness to be flexible with us. The entire Velotio Technologies team has strong technical expertise, especially Madhur. He really knows what he’s talking about. His ability to manage his team has relieved a lot of stress for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Working with a remote team can be challenging. At times, we have had communication issues and there’s a steep learning curve. We’ve made sure they have access to the channels to ask us questions or get support from us, in case there are any issues. 

We have to work out some of the challenges with our onboarding time and our turnaround times, but I think that’s more on our team than theirs. At this stage, it’s important that we are there to support Velotio Technologies. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have open communication with Kalpack and Madhur. The advice that was given to me before working with Velotio Technologies was to create a good working relationship with Kalpack. That has proven to be good advice. He is very responsive and addresses our concerns immediately before they become a problem.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and chief architect at Macrometa, a geo-distributed fast data as a service company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We needed an augmented R&D team to build various functionalities on the platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re building various functionalities within our existing product with Python and JavaScript drivers. They did general UI development, QA, and some of the automation work, as well as building microservices. One task was a function as a service feature, while they also work on the functionality related to our deployment. As well as JavaScript and Python, they use Golang and the platforms are Kubernetes.

What is the team composition?

There are six people and I work directly with each of them.

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

They were recommended by someone we knew. We reached out to them and felt their engineers were hard working and liked the quality of the work they deliver.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $25,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The experience has been positive and they’re doing well.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

My teams are spread all over the world, so I’m used to working with international teams and I like working with them. I interact with their CEO and CTO, and I have a really good, cordial relationship with them. They work late nights if needed and the engineers are always really cooperative. We use Google Chat a lot as well as GitHub.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed and are easy to work with while being very approachable. What I like most is that they have a long-term plan for growing together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have some engineers with more a technical approach.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start with a couple of engineers and see how they fit with your team. If it’s working, then expand.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a solution provider specializing in advanced IT infrastructure, such as professional and managed services, project management, and hardware procurement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We hired Velotio Technologies to develop custom software and build out some of our intellectual property around delivering service to customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Velotio Technologies is helping us develop a web app that features a customer portal. They integrated the app with Cisco’s API and other APIs from our CRM and ERP tools. The team also built out a lot of core functionalities that provide integration with our CRM tool and enable customers to log into the portal.

What is the team composition?

We work with a backend developer, a frontend developer, a designer, and a database specialist.

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

Somebody else who was working with Velotio Technologies referred them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent around $140,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together began in June 2018, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve achieved a lot of major milestones.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done very well in terms of managing the project. Our teams co-manage the project, but Velotio Technologies fulfills their tasks and documents their progress. We use GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team has a broad skill set. They’ve been able to address the unique requests we’ve given them.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

My team initially made a lot of the decisions. Velotio Technologies eventually suggested using GitHub, and that streamlined everything. I wish they’d encouraged us to take this approach sooner. Outside of that, they’ve been great.  

Any advice for potential customers?

If you’re developing an application, be clear on its purpose before engaging a developer. When we first hired Velotio Technologies, we lost some momentum because we were still figuring out what we wanted to do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of product for a data analytics platform company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Velotio Technologies?

We were looking to accelerate the development of a particular part of our product: an operations console that we needed to build for our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Velotio Technologies primarily provided end-to-end product development services for the management tool to oversee the data analytics platform. The ultimate end users of the platform are the customers of the platform as well as internal users. It was a Python stack and several DevOps tools like Salt. The core frontend stack used React, Redux, and JavaScript. 

We provided them with the initial requirements on what we were trying to accomplish, and that led to us building more detailed wireframes and designs with our in-house designer and their designer. Once we nailed down the final plans, Velotio Technologies built the product from scratch. In the process, they became familiar with how the core platform itself works. 

The management tool needed to manage a complex set-up of machines and installations seamlessly. We wanted to get up-to-date monitoring and logging information from the underlying analytics platform. We also wanted to make the installation process, for a fairly sophisticated platform like ours, as easy as possible.

What is the team composition?

I interfaced with their CTO in the early stages. We identified the skill sets that we need, and they brought the appropriate resources to the table. We have around six people from their team working on this project, including a number of JavaScript, React, and Redux developers; a designer; and backend developers who specialize in Python. Someone from my team interacts with both the project lead as well as with the development staff members on occasion when clarifications are needed. 

How did you come to work with Velotio Technologies?

Their CTO initially reached out to me on LinkedIn. Velotio Technologies had done similar work with other customers in the area we are in. I wasn’t thinking about them until we came up with this need. At that point, I reached out to them. We had a preliminary engagement, and we’ve continued working with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around $25,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the engagement in November 2018, and the project is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have been thrilled with what Velotio Technologies has delivered. Their focus on producing according to our needs and meeting our quality standards has been exceptional. I am thrilled with them and will continue with having them build out our current project as using them for other work as well. We are satisfied customers.

How did Velotio Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They do an excellent job. Velotio Technologies gives very regular updates every week. They are always very well prepared, and they highlight all the issues that need resolution or clarity. We mostly use InVision, Slack, and Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Velotio Technologies is very proactive in learning about our platform, our system, and new technologies. They quickly adapted to the tools we requested.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the design phase, we asked Velotio Technologies to be a little bit more buttoned up on taking comments from us and incorporating them into the design. They are very responsive to our critique.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a dedicated resource on your side to help coordinate everything with Velotio Technologies.