WebiNerds

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company is an accounting firm, focusing on small business bookkeeping. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WebiNerds?

We hired WebiNerds for the development of a QuickBooks Online app. This app used the QuickBooks Online API in order to utilize its key features and customize it to our needs. They have also assisted in quality testing and web development

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for this project was to have a fully functional app that seamlessly works with the Quickbooks Online platform. In order to do this, we would have to pass security, technical, and marketing requirements that Intuit had

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Company review and a face to face visit with the developers in Ukrain

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They had developed and configured a whole Intuit Application. The application uses the existing functionality of the QuickBooks Online platform as well as creating our own features in order to produce a Property Management Application.

The team not only developed the back end but the whole user-interface as well as the marketing website. They worked with the Intuit platform directly as well in order to ensure the application was compliant with the requirements from Intuit.

What was the team composition?

The total team we had for WebiNerds was about four people. We had a project manager, QA Specialist, a main developer, as well as a secondary developer (for backup purposes) However, our main sources of contact were the project manager and the main developer. We discussed mostly through email but we did have numerous calls throughout the development to clear any ambiguity and confusion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project has just launched, so we cannot say much in terms of new customer feedback. However, they have successfully completed the development of the app, to where it is listed on the Intuit app store.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project Management was very clear and effective. They always had fast responses, estimates, and plans for any new features of the app. Whenever we needed anything or had questions, they would be able to answer it very fast. The team also made sure that if any bugs were found, they would address them immediately.

The manager would always be organized in what they needed from us to ensure our meetings were time-efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We liked how we always had access to both the Manager and the Head Developer at all points of the project. This made it easy to ask the right person for the appropriate question. The most impressive thing about this company is the quality of work for the price

Are there any areas for improvement?

I feel that the only areas needed for improvement would be for them to keep updating the tasks given and better clarity with billing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the CEO and founder of OPEXEngine, which is a data and information community. We provide a data platform for SaaS and software companies to benchmark their financial and operating performance in the community for SaaS, and software finance executives to share best practices and insights about their work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebiNerds?

We were rebuilding our data platform from the ground up. We interviewed several different firms, and we went with WebiNerds initially to basically redevelop our platform and make some tweaks to it. The initial development was really replicating our existing site by using new technologies. The development that WebiNerds did was Version 3 of our platform, which had been a web-based platform already for three or four years. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebiNerds worked in an Agile development process together with our team based in the US. We had a product definition and the existing website, and over the course of a couple of months, they built it from the bottom up with a new database and web-based interface. In the new website, they used PHP, MySQL, and a little bit of the integration with our Wordpress backend. I don't know all the resources they used. I think they had several people involved — the project manager, QA, and developers.

Our website is a data platform to take data in and present comparisons back. The website is a B2B secure system that only customers can see. We’ve also done some recent work in upgrading the website for 2017. All of their work with us is in surrounding our website. 

How did you come to work with WebiNerds?

We thought WebiNerds had the technical capabilities. They were well-priced, they asked good questions, and they were committed to getting the results that we needed.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in December 2015 and continued through the first three months of 2016, with more work taking place after that. Our work together is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have continued to grow our business, our membership, and our benchmarking community. We accomplished that goal with the platform, and also with sales and marketing. I think they’re good people to work with, they’re trustworthy and hard-working, and I think they want to get the job done right. 

How did WebiNerds perform from a project management standpoint?

I think like with any organization, you have to have project management on both sides. I think that they do a fine job with that. I also think that like any project, the project management gets better as you do more work together. I think you just need to make sure that you're communicating clearly and with concise structures like when you need deadlines and what needs to be done.

What did you find most impressive about WebiNerds?

We’ve been very happy with WebiNerds’ work, and they have come through for us. They’re professional, but they’re also interested in the work and getting it done well. 

Are there any areas WebiNerds could improve?

No, I think they’re a good firm.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a vice president and the chief of staff at YayPay, a workflow automation software company for accounts receivable. We target everyone from middle-market businesses all the way up to enterprise customers. I work closely with the WebiNerds team on development issues and general software and programming. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebiNerds?

As a new company, we were trying to build an enterprise product without hiring our own team of full-stack developers. We couldn't afford our own developers, we couldn't keep them busy throughout the year, and we didn't know who we needed to hire. So, we needed a lot of flexibility when we were looking for development shops, and we needed a shop that had a range of engineers with the right levels of flexibility and technical skills that we could tap into as much or as little as the product required. We wouldn't be able to have that flexibility if we were to build a tech team in-house. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We are the workflow automation software for accounts receivable, so what we do is automate a lot of the collections outreach that needs to happen after our customers invoice their customers. We provide CRM [customer relationship management] for accounting and finance professionals, which is similar to what Salesforce is for sales teams.

WebiNerds built all aspects of the product for us. They automated part of the platform, they built a CRM for the accounting and finance teams, and they built an analytics engine that sources financial data from accounting systems, provides insights and analytics, and predicts cash flow. Those are the three main functions of our platform: automation, CRM, and analytics. WebiNerds developed all three components.

We’ve used WebiNerds for end-to-end software development for YayPay all the way from design to building, testing, offering onboarding of our customers, and then offering support post-onboarding. We’ve released two versions of the product. Version 1 was focused on small-sized businesses. We then pivoted and built Version 2 of the product, which we released December 2016. WebiNerds pretty much functions as an in-house tech team, only they’re offshore.

How did you come to work with WebiNerds?

WebiNerds came to us highly recommended. The founder of WebiNerds is a technical adviser to the accelerator program Techstars in Boston. We knew already that there was a vetting process involved and that they had built solutions for other companies. We chose WebiNerds because they had been recognized by Techstars, and they had done work for the company. At the end of the day, we wanted their flexibility without compromising on quality and communication, which usually are the challenges you run into when you work with an offshore development team. Those weren’t issues with WebiNerds.

How much have you invested with WebiNerds?

I think we’ve invested more than $200,000 with WebiNerds.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think we started working with WebiNerds in the summer of 2016, and our partnership is ongoing. They’re an integral part of what we do here, especially now that we have customers up and running on the platform. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We just sent out our first round of NPS [net promoter score] surveys and received the results from our first handful of customers. Most of our scores were nine or eight, with nothing below an eight. I think that’s a testament to the quality of the product WebiNerds produced for us.

How did WebiNerds perform from a project management standpoint?

At any given point, we have about seven to eight engineers or technical team folks working on the project, including engineers who work on the backend, UI/UX, and testing. WebiNerds performs extremely well from a project management standpoint, and that’s one of the reasons why we picked them. What we get from WebiNerds is a lot of visibility into what is being built, its status, the way it’s being managed, and the way they break up tasks into sprints and such. We meet periodically, and there are dashboards and reports that we have access to at any given point.

Their openness is one of their core selling points, particularly because their team is offshore. It’s important for us to have that level of visibility. As we start realizing the need for additional product features, that line of communication between the sales and products and customer success has been seamless, even though they’re not here with us in San Francisco.

Our CTO uses a couple of platforms, mainly JIRA, to stay on top of what’s going on with WebiNerds from a project management perspective. I asked them to build some spreadsheets that I can log into periodically to see what’s being built, what’s in the pipeline, what issues are being raised by the customers, what’s the estimated time for completion, etc. I don't necessarily log into their project management tools because I've asked them to build something that’s easier for me to read and understand. They’ve done a pretty good job with that.

What did you find most impressive about WebiNerds?

A couple of WebiNerds’ hallmarks that have worked well for us are their flexibility and range of skills. For example, at one point in the lifecycle of our product, we needed to run data science experiments; it was easy for us to ask them, “Find us a data scientist to run some experiments so we can test and see whether this is a plausible direction that we need to take our product.” That was easily done. A couple of months from now, we’ll need someone to run some machinery experiments so that we’ll be able to pass certain requirements. Those technical skills would be hard for us to find and source as a lean startup, but WebiNerds is able to do it quickly.

The second impressive WebiNerds hallmark is their project management communication skills, which are key. They’ve been stellar in being open and over-communicating, which is what we need. They’ve also been flexible with billing. There have been certain months where we had to delay payment, and they’ve been flexible on that end also. Before we hired WebiNerds, we tried to work with an in-house tech team, and it was not a pleasant experience. It’s been our benchmark by which we compare other companies. That project was built in a monolithic fashion. The difference between working with our in-house team and working with WebiNerds is night and day. WebiNerds has been fantastic.

Are there any areas WebiNerds could improve?

We can't think of any ways WebiNerds could improve. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing partner of a photo printing application in iOS. We’re engaged in creating applications for photo printing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebiNerds?

I needed a firm to work on my backend system for my iOS application. I had issues with how to manage my order processing since we had many orders coming from various countries. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebiNerds worked on creating a very smooth backend system to address all the orders we received. They worked on the backend of the application since the beginning, and they’re continuing to update it. In addition to being skilled developers, they have business sense. I give them the problem, and they give me a solution. I really like that about them.

We’re currently building an Android version of the application and a website. WebiNerds is assisting with these projects as well. They were in charge of building and managing our servers. They recommended all types of backend solutions for our existing platform.

When we started, it was a very simple order-processing system. I told them about the problems we faced, and they created a very sophisticated backend batch-processing system.

I was working directly with their co-founder and senior developer, and I had three people working on this project. All the development was done by their team. I’d rather continue working with WebiNerds than employ my own team.

How did you come to work with WebiNerds?

They were recommended by the team that created the frontend for our iOS application.

How much have you invested with WebiNerds?

We’ve invested about $50,000 so far, and it’s growing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in December of 2015, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

The work that WebiNerds did has helped improve the manufacturing process in our printing factory. When I tell them about a problem, they always try to find the most cost-effective solution. For example, if I need some statistics, they recommend that we integrate ready-made systems rather than building an entirely new solution. Instead of telling them what feature I’m looking for, I tell them my problem, and they convert it into actual features. I’ve worked with other companies that didn’t have a business background, so I had to come up with the features and provide them to the company. With WebiNerds, it’s the other way around.

How did WebiNerds perform from a project management standpoint?

We use project management software, and everything is very organized and automated. When I send an email saying that I need a feature, they create a new task in the project management software. I can track the billing and the hours. It’s very organized.

What did you find most impressive about WebiNerds?

They have a business background, and they provide real business solutions. I learn many things from them from a management point of view. Whenever I explain an aspect of my business to them, they come up with suggestions. I think that makes them stand out. I’ve worked with many developers who just implement what I’m asking for, but WebiNerds suggests features and solutions.

Their support is a 24/7 thing. When we have emergencies, even if it’s at 1:00 am, I always find someone to help me out. They’re always available for support.

Are there any areas WebiNerds could improve?

No. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called Heddoko, and we build motion-capture tracking suits. We also have a backend platform to analyze the data from the suits, and the purpose of the analysis is to help reduce the risk of injury in the workplace. I’m the co-founder and CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebiNerds?

We needed the platform developed from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had the architecture there, and they reviewed it and built it from that point on. WebiNerds worked on the entire backend structure, including the connection the cloud and the actual suit, and our frontend software as well. I won’t get into the technical details of our product because it’s confidential information, but we worked with them on the backend cloud architecture.

We set a couple of milestones for the basics and then we moved up from there into developing the external plug-ins like an open API, the connection to the suit itself and so on. WebiNerds had one dedicated resource for the project, and then the support of other resources as needed. We were in daily communication with him, so he was basically integrated as part of our internal team.

How did you come to work with WebiNerds?

I met with one of the founders of the company at the Techstars program. One of the first steps was to give them a minor task to see how they operated and communicated, especially since we were very skeptical of having somebody offshore handling our code. From that minor task, we realized it would work out.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started In April 2016 and the project ended in January 2017. We still have a lot of work ahead; the only reason we’re holding right now is because we’re raising funding to go back to WebiNerds.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve actually already launched, but it’s not a consumer product so it’s not getting much feedback. But the main feedback we’ve been getting is that everything works great. There is minimal downtime in the codes, especially on the backend. Even when bugs were recorded, which was a rarity, the fixes came extremely quickly. We’re talking less than 48 hours for every bug that’s been recorded in the past year or so. It’s pretty solid as a partnership for development.

How did WebiNerds perform from a project management standpoint?

We knew how many hours per week that the dedicated resource devoted to the project; we had daily communication with him. We had a weekly or monthly communication with the administration of WebiNerds, and again, that flawless communication made things a lot easier on every front. We used Wrike as a project management system.

What did you find most impressive about WebiNerds?

The main thing that I want to highlight is the communication. Despite the fact that we have an eight-hour time difference, it felt as if they were full-time employees. That was unique based on my past experiences with offshore consulting gigs, the fact that they were always responsive and on time. When we scheduled deadlines, they always stuck to them.

Are there any areas WebiNerds could improve?

Short of actually sending people to work on site, I don’t think there’s much to change. I hope that the next time we engage WebiNerds it will be the exact same structure.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a founding partner of a web development and digital marketing firm that has a close working relationship with WebiNerds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebiNerds?

I’ve known the original founder of WebiNerds before he began that organization. He founded it in part to assist in providing some of the technical capacity to my firm. The challenge of my company was to provide onshore and offshore development models at a reasonable cost but with the highest quality and with access to top-flight resources with a variety of different skills. Aside from the US base, I also wanted to have a physical presence with additional skilled staff in Ukraine. By partnering with WebiNerds, we’ve jointly been able to achieve that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebiNerds provides web and software development across the board. They have high-level technical experts that are able to deliver on virtually any project. My company is a digital marketing firm and our services include website implementation, website enhancement, e-commerce, app development, and things of that nature. When we need to do more complex web application development, we collaborate with WebiNerds, and we effectively act as one organization when we do that.

Typically, I or someone else here does the technical project management, and then there’s some division of the implementation effort among all of our and WebiNerds’ engineers. WebiNerds also has other expertise that we’re able to tap into as needed. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been collaborating for 5-10 years and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

My organization has collaborated with the Webinerds team on dozens of engagements, from simple software development to complex application development for startups. We have allowed B2B organizations to dramatically streamline sales through partnership channels, automating billing, shipping, and fulfillment. We have reimagined cloud-based, consumer-focused startups’ technology solution to allow them to scale into viable businesses. We have assumed responsibility for mature e-commerce operations and optimized their site to dramatically improve return on investment – all in close partnership with our Webinerds team.

It’s hard to quantify purely from the digital marketing perspective, but there have been cases where we’ve been able to generate 500–1,000% return on investment.

How did WebiNerds perform from a project management standpoint?

WebiNerds does a very good job of making sure that people are available when you need them. Given that our job often involves helping people with their website and e-commerce site, there are inevitably times setbacks happen. Typically, I or one of my staff members is on the phone dealing with problems and we rely on the team to be available to jump in and check the problem. WebiNerds, almost without failure, is available to do that.

What did you find most impressive about WebiNerds?

When you look at companies that have a significant amount of their professional services performed offshore, very often it’s about quantity. It’s saying, “Hey, we can provide you with 50 developers that are going to work for pennies on the dollar,” but once you actually get into the process of working with them, the total amount of money that you spend, not to mention the time and effort, isn’t worth it. True return on investment does not exist. There might be more people for less money, but you don’t get as much done. The reason we have such a close and successful partnership with WebiNerds is that we can find better resources through WebiNerds, they work with us as a team, they lend creativity, and act with accountability. They’re not just a body shop. A couple of the folks that I work with there are among the finest engineers that I’ve ever worked with in my career.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Netra Inc. is a deep learning AI [artificial intelligence] company providing social media imagery analysis for brands. I am the founder and chief technology officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WebiNerds?

We are a software-as-a-service company offering customers an API [application program interface]. The challenges were mainly related to scaling our product and making it stable. Our stack is slightly different from other web development work, involving GPUs [graphic processing units] interacting with CPUs [central processing units]. Our platform needs to queue, prioritize, and process millions of API requests on a daily basis. Because we have limited GPU time, we need to make sure that the tasks are processed in an optimal way. Caching and rendering results can become expensive when dealing with a great number of requests.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebiNerds assigned 2 full-stack web engineers for our project, primarily working on building our main artificial intelligence API. Smaller tasks involved building a social training site aimed at the people using our site. We worked in a hands-on fashion with WebiNerds initially, but, as our local team grew, we started having project or team-based interactions. We are using a single resource from WebiNerds at the moment but still rely on them for insular tasks.

How did you come to work with WebiNerds?

WebiNerds is a Techstars associate. We entered the program in 2016 and were introduced to the company. WebiNerds was recommended highly by their peers, so we had an initial project and were happy with the results.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with WebiNerds in July 2016. We continue to keep a full-time resource who augments our full-stack people. We will continue to work with them for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

WebiNerds' resources have been very good in terms of English proficiency, communication, and work quality. WebiNerds has managed resources and made sure that we have a good turnaround. We had a hard-drive crash shortly before a big demo, causing us to lose a lot of code. WebiNerds performed a recovery on the drive overnight, restored the code base, and had it available in time for our demo. They went the extra mile to help us out, especially given the importance of the event. It's hard to quantify metrics, given that WebiNerds' work is supplementing our own. We have relied on their team a lot, but most of the work happens within our internal team.

How did WebiNerds perform from a project management standpoint?

WebiNerds' team hasn't required a lot of supervision. They follow the Scrum methodology and have good English skills, which simplifies our communication. We use Slack and Trello, with which WebiNerds is also familiar.

What did you find most impressive about WebiNerds?

WebiNerds has been upfront about costs, didn't try to rip us off, and went the extra mile at times. Especially with offshore resources, the cost is a big reason for projects failing, but this hasn't been a problem with WebiNerds.

Are there any areas WebiNerds could improve?

We haven't worked on very large projects with WebiNerds, so there's nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Decentralised affiliate marketing platform using a custom made dedicated blockchain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WebiNerds?

Implementation of UI/UX and improving UI/UX

What were your goals for this project?

Getting the UI/UX live in time with a very challenging deadline

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Interviews

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

UI/UX development and implementation was already started, however it became clear progress was not fast enough to meet deadline so we hired Webinerds for extra help

What was the team composition?

2 frond end developers, 1 QA and 1 manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We made the deadline in time and with good code, which was a massive challenge and would not have happened without Webinerds

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Webinerds were very good at analysing/estimating real amount of work needed and what would be possible within what time This sets them apart from other development companies

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Very good at estimating real delivery time

Are there any areas for improvement?

None