Very Good Ventures

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and lead engineer for GlobalComix. We’re a digital comic distribution platform that serves comics published by individual creators and large publishers to a worldwide audience via web and now mobile applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CreateThrive?

We needed them to create our mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CreateThrive provides project management, engineering talent, and QA for the development of an iOS and Android mobile application to be deployed to millions of users in our community and consumer base. We provided wireframes ahead of time, and there’s been wireframes and designs added since the start of the project, defining the size, scope, and specifications for each section of the application.

The application is a platform where users can access a wide variety of comics from different publishers.

What is the team composition?

We work with four engineers, 1–2 QA teammates, and one project manager from their team.

How much have you invested with them?

By the end of the contract period, we will have paid them over $300,000. At the start of the project, we paid CreateThrive over $120,000, and our contract is for an additional $25,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them on November 7, 2022, and the project is ongoing.

How did you come to work with CreateThrive?

We did a lot of research on multiple different vendors for our needs, narrowing it down to four. We conducted a series of reviews and interviews with each of the very different vendors. 

We chose CreateThrive because they had the best understanding and breakdown of the timeline and scope, and they were willing to work with us using a deferred payment model. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are three vectors: the size and scope of the team, engineering complexity, and quality and stability of the product delivered. In all three areas, CreateThrive has far exceeded what most teams are capable of, so I’d give them a five out of five.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

Our self-imposed deadlines have been aggressive, and CreateThrive has still been able to deliver to them. It’s been a continuous agile process. We don’t have hard deadlines since the product hasn’t been launched yet.

CreateThrive’s workflow and project management using Jira and the whole Atlassian suite have been great. The visibility into progress, priorities, and status has been outstanding. Communication back and forth has been fantastic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their combination of competency and desire to go the extra mile is impressive. CreateThrive goes beyond what was defined to create delightful outcomes. Their commitment to quality is outstanding; I’m very happy with their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at this time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Having a technical contact on your team helps drive conversations about scaling and scope with CreateThrive’s engineering and project management team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of Engineering and Product for a sports data and analytics company. Our customers include professional sports teams in the US, media companies, sportsbooks, sports bettors, and sports fans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

As a data company that traditionally sold raw data and didn't have many frontend experiences we could offer to our customers to interact with our data, we were looking for a partner to connect the data from our well-established backend to beautiful and interactive frontend experiences.

Our goals were to convert more potential customers into paying customers by reaching an audience that didn't have their own data processing/visualization units.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for frontend development agency prospects across several outlets online and from cold outreach before interviewing 21 different agencies. CreateThrive were, by far, the most well-prepared of all the agencies.

Our interviews were centered around understanding the problem instead of a sales pitch and everyone we interacted with on the CreateThrive side had an incredible attention to detail, summarized things well, and it was clear they were very detail oriented.

The deciding factors included that attention to detail and that CreateThrive worked in our time zone, putting my mind at ease that they'd be able to work synchronously with our backend engineers, as well as their ability to get started quickly and scale with our growth.

Ultimately, we were incredibly grateful to move forward with CreateThrive, as all of the positives that came out in the interview process carried over to their ongoing development with us.

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

We presented CreateThrive with a Figma detailing our project as well as documentation for our backend endpoints.

We had a few meetings with CreateThrive's managers and engineers to go over our designs with our designer and stakeholders, during which they asked great questions and offered great ideas that inspired us to improve the quality of the deliverable.

The key deliverable was a complex query tool that enabled our users to filter and view our data in ways they could not do previously without their own data team. The deliverable was a frontend web app built in React.

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

We worked initially with CreateThrive's CTO, then regularly with a project manager, two engineers (before we added a third), and a QA lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback from our existing customers who got access to the deliverable was all overwhelmingly positive. Further, we only found two bugs in the two months since the tool was released, both of which were on our side (not CreateThrive's).

I've been apart of many new product launches in my years in software and have never had a project with so few bugs at launch. This first deliverable has opened the doors with new types of customers for us, and we expect to increase our customer base for this product by about 30% once the season kicks in.

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

We have a weekly sprint planning/demo meeting with CreateThrive, during which we're able to sync on what has been completed in the previous sprint, what will be completed in the next sprint, and see demos of any progress that's been made over the previous sprint.

This is all presented in Jira, where we have access and can see the real-time progress and even comment directly on the in-progress items. Outside of that meeting, Slack is our communication hub where we have synchronous communication between our Engineering/Product teams and CreateThrive.

CreateThrive's communication has been top-notch, as they always keep us looped in on anything from questions to releases. It's assuring to know that for any questions we have, we can get an answer from CreateThrive in minutes via our shared Slack channels.

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

CreateThrive's attention to detail simply has no rival, they are in a tier of their own in terms of other software groups I have worked with previously.

Not only have they delivered everything we've asked exactly to-spec, but they have come to us with questions and suggestions during the design phase as well that have compelled us to design better experiences and have them delivered faster.

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

I have no suggestions for improvement for CreateThrive. From Day 1, we described our ideal working relationship, and they've followed that ever since with fantastic results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the business development lead at an IT services consultancy that has an internal product that offers shipping tracking to customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a reputable company that would help us develop a web & mobile app in a certain timeframe, and that we could ensure the delivery we were going to get from them was excellent.

SOLUTION

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

We received recommendations from a couple of companies in the industry. On top of this, their sales team was very professional and the gathering of requirements process was very good. They already showed they had very prepared staff in this process.

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

Basically we approached them and got a quick turnaround in the response. We were contacted by their sales team to schedule a discovery call. This call was an instance where we felt confident as a client, so we scheduled a series of gathering of requirements sessions.

Process was smooth, quality of their presentations was great and we got a rounded up sow in a couple of weeks. Upon going forward with the project a team of devs was assigned to our project and status delivery meetings per milestones were accorded through the process. So far, the experience has been very good.

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

A project manager is assigned to the project, two full stack developers and a UX designer. This allocation has varied depending on the phase of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In general deliverables have been impeccable. There is a fluid back & forth with the PM and when we have significant milestones we generally set a delivery call to review every aspect pertaining to any partial go lives, etc. Timelines in general have been met as well.

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

Project management has been agile and organized. We've used Slack for daily communication and Jira as a PM tool for task visibility and progress.

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

They have a very professional and knowledgeable team that has experience in various sub-fields within web and mobile development. They offer a holistic approach to web and mobile development.

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

Nothing that comes to my mind now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of Chptr where we offer a mobile-first product that fixes the way the world remembers people who have died.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Full development of our MVP of Chptr, a community app that needed to modernize memorialization for communities who have lost people.

SOLUTION

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

We were introduced through a mutual contact and selected them because of their approach, team, cost, and understanding of our product.

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

We had already created early designs of the platform but needed the team to fully flush out the UI/UX while developing the actual platform. We built on flutter and needed to launching beta in Q2 2022 and publicly in July 2022.

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

We worked with around 7 resources from the CreateThrive team including a PM, lead engineer, junior engineers, and organizational leads.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app launched in July and was named #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt, has 150+ five-star reviews, and has set the standard for the memorialization industry.

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

They set regular meetings, sprint schedules, and updates. We did product testing during critical milestones, and continued to refine the product as a collective team throughout development.

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

They had an incredible culture, a deeply committed and empathetic team, and the technical prowess to get the job done.

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

Almost nothing. Maybe better scoping of the project at the beginning? But they were fantastic.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and head of product at Dose.FM, which is an app for rideshare drivers to play music and make money.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CreateThrive?

We needed help with mobile app and web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CreateThrive provides us with mobile app and web development. They’ve built mobile apps for both iOS and Android using Flutter. For the website, I designed the UX, and the team has implemented my design. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure success based on deadlines and response times to issues, and CreateThrive has met all the deadlines. They provide great communication, strategy, and developers for us. If there’s an issue, they communicate properly and can make changes and adapt as needed. 

How did CreateThrive perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m satisfied with CreateThrive’s work; they’ve implemented my design perfectly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to make sure you know what you want. However, CreateThrive can also help guide you through because they bring solutions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a startup based in NYC, and we provide asset and vehicle management services for a range of companies in industries such as transportation and construction. I'm the CTO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired CreateThrive to develop almost from scratch the scalable version of our web application. We had an MVP with a small customer base, and we seeked to scale and expand. For that we needed their knowledge in modern cloud services.

SOLUTION

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

We noticed them by word of mouth. We met and they understood the product and our vision for it immediately. Their portfolio and experience were also deciding factors.

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

The scope of work involved analyzing current cloud services and architecture patterns used in the industry for our specific use cases, the complete UX/UI design, and front-end and back-end development. The UI design, back-end (built with NestJS), and the web app (built with React) were the key deliverables.

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

The size of the team changed as development progressed. We started with 4 people, a PM (our main point of contact), a designer, and 2 developers. Other resources of varied seniority would come and go depending on the project's needs and complexity. The flexibility they had to allocate more or fewer resources to us was great.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As an early-stage startup, we have received great feedback from our current and prospective customers. Right away we started getting more interest and closing deals. Thanks to their great leverage of cloud infrastructure and tools, we can now reduce our spending on engineering tasks that were non-scalable and focus our resources on expanding the business.

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

Jira was the tool used to manage the development. All communication ran via a Slack channel provided by CreateThrive, where their entire team was always reachable and available. We had short update video calls twice a week with the entire team, on Mondays and Fridays to plan and give us an insight into the current development cycles. Daily standups were done through Slack.

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

Besides their technical expertise and great communication skills in English and Spanish, we really appreciate how the entire team had a great spirit and disposition. They truly care about our product and the company, they are indeed really kind-spirited people. Having full access to all team members made it feel like they were part of the company and not a contractor. Their team spirit meant a lot to us.

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

Overall, there is little they could do to improve. We are very satisfied with the quality of their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Operations Manager for a podcast ad-booking marketplace startup based in the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a mobile app that would function as a two-sided marketplace for brands to reach podcasters to place ads on their shows. Furthermore the app would function as a single data source where podcasters could track their metrics, so as to enhance their advertising campaigns.

SOLUTION

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

Deciding factors were based on whether they had experience with startups, their development skills and cost.

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

We provided the team with wireframes and designs and mapped out the scope of the project. In this ongoing process, we meet weekly to review progress and problem solve any challenges. We are currently running our app though beta testing, and have received very positive feedback from our testing group.

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

We chose CreateThrive based on their stellar reviews and the positive experience we had with them throughout the recruitment process. Furthermore their expertise in working with startups was a major deciding factor. We also liked that we would be working with a small dedicated team that could tailor to our needs and provide 360 support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched our first beta version in 4 months with extremely positive feedback from our testing group. They were also able to overcome numerous obstacles through creatively finding solutions.

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

All communications are streamlined into a slack channel, followed up with virtual weekly meetings. Communication has been transparent and prompt. Project outlines and updates are communicated on a weekly basis, accompanied with clear action items and timelines. Furthermore, their team reflects a positive working attitude, making for seamless collaboration experience.

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

We are extremely impressed with the overall experience. Every member of their team displays high-level competency and skill in their position. What has been extremely impressive is their ability to seamlessly work alongside our team - they understand our mission and can easily adapt to our needs as they arise.

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

Overwhelmingly positive experience, we are in complete alignment with their process and wouldn't make any changes to it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at Swingshot. Our company manufactures portable cameras that record golf swings, and I was brought in to help evolve this product into an application that could connect golf instructors with golf students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CreateThrive?

We brought in CreateThrive to design our mobile application and build out the beta release of that application. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked on the concept for the application for several months. We had some preliminary wireframes and a sense of how we wanted the app to function, but we had no real design to work with. That’s where CreateThrive stepped in. 

I had picked Flutter and Firebase as our tech stack since this would allow us to create multi-platform mobile apps with a single code base. CreateThrive went on to design the UI/UX of our app as well as code its beta release. 

The app would essentially allow users to record videos and share them with the network of instructors that Swingshot has. Those instructors could then provide near real-time feedback to the students to help them improve their golf skills.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 6–7 different folks from their team. Tomas (Co-Founder & CTO) and Macarena (Delivery Manager) have been constantly present throughout the engagement, Nahuel (Full Stack Developer) and Juan (Full Stack Developer) have been very helpful on the engineering side, and Carol (Full Stack Developer) has been engaged to do the UI/UX.

How did you come to work with CreateThrive?

I went to Clutch to look for various development companies that had expertise in Flutter and Firebase. CreateThrive came up as a highly rated provider in that arena, but I did reach out to 3–4 other companies. From that initial set of conversations, I was able to narrow down our choices to two potential partners. We had both companies put together proposals for the work, and in the end, CreateThrive won the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking to them around January 2021, but the work formally began mid-summer 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re pre-release, so we have no real qualitative metrics to share. Anecdotally, however, CreateThrive has been a huge benefit to our company. They’ve massively accelerated our progress with the application, and they’ve brought innovative technical solutions to the table. We went into this with only a sense of what features we wanted to implement, but CreateThrive’s engineers have come back with more creative and more technically feasible solutions to our questions. 

I find them to be a really advanced partner and one that has helped us make better technical decisions. They’ve not just taken our direction for the development of the app; they’ve brought in a lot of innovative thinking to the engagement, which I value very highly. 

How did CreateThrive perform from a project management standpoint?

CreateThrive has a dedicated project manager who makes sure that every deliverable is accomplished on time and that everything is well documented. This has helped with the accuracy and timeliness of the invoicing and billing. Overall, I’m very pleased with the quality of their project management. 

We’ve set up a Slack channel with them so we wouldn’t have to wait until our weekly meetings to raise questions or bring things up. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve never worked with developers in Uruguay, so I didn’t know what quality of work we would get for the price we were paying them. We’ve outsourced work to India and Eastern Europe but never to South America. To my surprise, though, the quality of their engineering and technical skills is superb. Their communication skills are also quite amazing. Them being located close to the Eastern Standard Time zone also makes it really easy for us to manage and schedule our engagement. All of these factors combined make them very competitive in the global outsourcing arena.                                                          

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don't have any constructive feedback for them. Everything's been great. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As with any outsourcing company, over-communicating is the key to a successful relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Aleph, a SaaS platform for financial planning and analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CreateThrive?

We were in the process of developing our product while working with a few clients. Our team needed extra bandwidth while doing that, so we reached out to CreateThrive to work hand in hand with us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CreateThrive works as part of our team, so they participate in our internal planning sessions around the issues that we want to tackle every week. Then, their team takes care of a portion of our workload. They don’t simply fix code; they provide ongoing support for the features and issues that we handle. 

Meanwhile, our key tech stacks include Node.js, React, and JavaScript. For the platform’s functionality, it connects users to different data sources and aggregates their financial data from those sources. Users can download the aggregated data via Excel or Google Spreadsheets. Overall, CreateThrive develops different parts of that process. 

What is the team composition?

We have one part-time project manager. At the peak, we have two developers working full-time. However, most of the time, only one developer works full-time with us. Tomas (Co-Founder & CTO) is our main point of contact. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2021, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

CreateThrive writes well-structured and easy-to-maintain code. In general, we’re truly happy with them, and they’re highly professional.

How did CreateThrive perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is good; it’s been flawless. We have weekly meetings where we review our priorities. Then, they execute the tasks, and we review their work. So far, everything has been good and fast. Moreover, their communication is good. We use a Slack channel to communicate and Linear to track and manage issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CreateThrive’s flexibility is the best part of working with them. If they need to work on an issue, they do it well. They also work well when we have problems that involve more than just development, such as coming up with designs or solutions. In other words, the team can handle both well-defined tasks and broader scopes of work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d encourage you to work with CreateThrive. Don’t be afraid to rely on them because they’ll do good work. The team will deliver quick results that are easy to maintain over time. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a D2C health and wellness business based in London, UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted a development team to act as an extension of us to help us build our mobile app. We already had it designed, and wanted a team that could work with us, take initiative and help us build the best product possible!

SOLUTION

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

We were reached out to on LinkedIn, we wouldn't usually go for a vendor that does cold outreach. However having spoken to the team, and doing our due diligence we were confident to take the leap and work with CreateThrive. One of the best decisions we've made.

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

We had a relatively quick turnaround, the proposal covered the architecture, and how the project was going to be structured. We had some preference in what languages and frameworks were used, it wasn't a problem for the guys.

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

We had two developers, a technical manager and a software architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our metric was how quickly the app was completed. It was completed within 3 months after planning and design. Now that the app is completed we can go on to launch it, testing has gone well with every feature having significant testing in place.

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

Every week we had a sprint meeting and every two weeks we had a retrospective. We used Jira and Slack to communicate and Github for the repo management, any questions they didn't hesitate to ask. They always showed videos and examples of their work so you could get a feel for progress as it was happening.

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

Their execution is impeccable. They speak perfect English, they communicate well, and they built high-quality features.

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

Nope. I was extremely impressed overall, and I look forward to working with them again on future projects.