Wve Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of Vizi, a mobile app that allows users to save, categorize, share, and discover their favorite locations all around the world. Our goal is to create a social platform that helps users record and share their stories in a new and unique way based on the places they have been. We will be targeting college-aged students (especially those who enjoy traveling) and will start off focusing our marketing in the LA area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wve Labs?

All too often we forget or dismiss suggestions of things to do, places to see, or adventures to explore, relying on various unorganized notes, to-do lists, or our own memory. Think about that hole-in-the-wall restaurant that you found on your last vacation but can't remember the name of; or what about that amazing recommendation your friend gave you for your trip to Europe, but you forgot to write down; or maybe you found a great spot around your new college campus but can't remember what it was called or how to get back; you get the point. We need a better way to save, organize, and share our favorite locations, and furthermore, discover new places when we are somewhere new. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With our app, Vizi, users will be able to "pin" their favorite spots, save them into customizable playlists such as "bars", "restaurants", "surf spots", etc, and filter those playlists by city. Furthermore, users will be able to follow their friends and therefore simply view their profiles to see all of their favorite spots. Finally, our discovery feed will allow users to find the best things to do in a new city based on pins made there by the people they follow.

Wve Labs are our developers and are therefore building this whole app for us, and turning our idea into a reality. We have given them guidance and clarity on our vision, and they have executed on everything from the design of our app and logo to making a fully functional app.

How did you come to work with Wve Labs?

My co-founder and I were actually in a class this past semester called "Building the High Tech Startup" where we decided to use Vizi for our class project. After discussing our idea in this class and with an incubator on campus, we were referred to Dave Shah [CEO of Wve Labs] because they have a big presence in the USC [University of Southern California] community. We ended up scheduling a meeting with Dave and one of his project coordinators, Graham, about a week later to discuss our idea.

They ended up loving Vizi and wanted to help us make it happen. So from there, Graham was assigned to us as our project coordinator, he got us a scope of work within a few days, and about two weeks later we signed our contract to develop our app with Wve Labs.

How much have you invested with Wve Labs?

We have invested in the $10,000-$50,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began development with Wve in September 2016 and are expecting to launch our app in late February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My co-founder and I were very impressed with Wve's development team's ability to help us find a balance between quality and getting to the market as quickly as possible. This was especially prevalent when we were building our wireframes (designing what each key screen of our app would look like).

Throughout the process, we were constantly making changes to the functionality and appearance of our app. We found that whenever we wanted to make a change, our developers and design team got back to us within a week—usually more like 3–5 days—with the changes that we wanted to make so we could approve them, or suggest further changes. Not only that, but they would push us to respond as quickly as possible, so they could continue to work and get us our product as quickly as possible. After just 3 months, we had approved our logo and all of our wireframes, and they were ready to start coding the app. Just one month after that, we received a beta version of the app, which only my co-founder and I could download, so we were able to explore the full product and point out any bugs or further changes we wanted to make.

We have just approved the final changes and are expecting to launch in mid–late February, which will have our whole project completed in roughly 6 months. However, it is also important to note that it was my co-founder and my decision to make many changes throughout the process because we wanted our app to look perfect, but it really is up to the client to determine how fast they want to move.

Overall, it has been incredible to work with Wve Labs. Without them, I don't think we ever would have been able to make this idea a reality. Wve is unique in that they were able to understand and cater to the financial needs of young, college-aged, aspiring entrepreneurs. After sitting on our idea for a full year, they were the only feasible option my co-founder and I found to make this app possible, and have exceeded all of our expectations in professionalism and quality, while still being affordable and providing excellent service. Throughout our experience of working with Wve, they have been consistent, transparent, timely, and have built us an outstanding product that we are thrilled to bring to the market.

How did Wve Labs perform in terms of project management?

Wve Labs was excellent with project management, and I think this is truly one of the strengths of their company. At no point during this process have my cofounder and I felt like we have been left in the dark. First, we sat down with our project coordinator and told him all the features we wanted in our app. He then took this list to a business analyst who gave us a scope of work which listed each feature, how many estimated hours each feature would take to make, and an hourly rate (one that they were able to make lower for us knowing that we are both college students) which led to an estimated total cost. After we agreed on the scope of work, we were put in contact with our development team, who we have been communicating with ever since.

We have worked with them on everything from the design of our logo, to wireframes for each page on the app and the coding of the app itself. They have been easy to communicate with throughout the whole project, and constantly give us deadlines for each step in the project, which they have almost always completed on time. Furthermore, if we ever had questions outside of the development, we were able to ask Graham and he would always get back to us without a problem. What really impressed us about Wve's project management was their transparency; not only were we able to see how much each feature costs, but we were also able to make any changes we wanted to our app on the fly. Most of these changes were made without extra costs, and even when we added large features that would increase the development team's hours, they would let us know right away how many extra hours it would take, and how much more it would cost before we finalized our decision.

What did you find most impressive about Wve Labs?

As I mentioned above, I was most impressed with Wve's ability to cater to college-aged students and their transparency throughout the whole process. I believe they were the only development company that was able to give us a significantly lower hourly rate knowing that at this point in our lives, my co-founder and I could not afford to build an app that would usually cost $30,000 or more. Furthermore, with their scope of work, we were able to see exactly where all of our money was going and could cut features if we thought they were too expensive.

However, what really impressed us was Wve's ability to provide us with an affordable option while still maintaining extremely professional quality. We believe the product that they have created for us is as good or better than what any other company could've built for us. Wve's developers and design team are as good as they get.

Are there any areas where Wve Labs could improve?

One thing I think Wve can improve on is their method of communication. Our main form of communication with our development team has been through Skype messenger, where messages sometimes go unseen and it seems like a kind of unprofessional platform when sending messages and files. However, it has worked out for the most part. Additionally, after we were passed off to our development team, it was sometimes harder to get back in touch with our project coordinator if we needed to and found slightly more delayed response times from him.

Wve also has a very young team; however, we did not find this to be a weakness at all. They remained very professional, easy to talk to, and knew what they were doing, so I would advise potential clients to not let that throw them off.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Wve Labs?

The Wve team is great, but it is also important for you to remain present, engaged, and involved as the client. It is your responsibility to make sure that you are getting back to the development team as quickly as possible and always giving them stuff to work on, so you can move along with your project efficiently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a manufacturer of EMC [electromagnetic compatibility] equipment that we sell to various tech companies around the world, helping them make sure that their wireless electronic devices are functioning properly and aren't emitting electromagnetic noise.

I am in charge of IT for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wve Labs?

We needed to build a new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wve Labs was initially brought in to redevelop our website. The project involved a full redesign and the creation of a customer portal.

During an executive meeting, our CEO also brought up the prospect of building an app that would allow clients to purchase equipment on-the-go. Since we had been satisfied with Wve Labs up to that point, we started the app project. It will have Apple Pay integration as well as profile pages for our most valuable clients, the ones who need to purchase the same product for multiple locations. In our backend, we can create ideal setups and suggestions for them, which the clients can use in order to better understand our products and make a choice. This is one of the main features we'll be implementing, and it will help our sales team save time.

How did you come to work with Wve Labs?

Wve Labs was recommended to us by one of their past clients.

How much have you invested with Wve Labs?

The price of our website project was around $25,000, while the app had a $58,000 cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Wve Labs at the beginning of September 2016. The app development was started at the end of 2016 and is scheduled to complete development in March 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've introduced early versions of the app to some clients who've given us tremendous feedback. We found that not only were we increasing sales, we were also making clients' lives easier. We've revolutionized the way in which the industry works.

How did Wve Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Wve Labs' team was extremely friendly with us from the start. They came to our first meeting in-person and also allowed us to meet the developers at their own office. Wve Labs has grown quickly over the last 2 years, and they have offices in a few US locations, which has made keeping in touch easier. Wve Labs has always worked in a timely manner, getting milestones done on a regular basis. We've been exceptionally happy with Wve Labs so far.

What did you find most impressive about Wve Labs?

Everyone in the Wve Labs' team, from the developers to the project coordinator, has worked cohesively on our projects. We never had to give out the same information more than once. Everyone was on the same page about everything, which is extremely efficient from our end.

Are there any areas Wve Labs could improve?

There's nothing substantial that we've experienced so far.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Wve Labs?

While Wve Labs is a relatively new company in the industry, they've been able to customize the experience for each and every one of their clients. Wve Labs' CEO has walked us through some of the other projects they're working on, and each of them seems quite different from the rest. Wve Labs is able to work with both startups and larger institutions, so they're pretty diverse.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of a company that helps certify electronic products made by different manufacturers. We are located in southern California and our employee size is between 100 and 150. Our target market is electronic equipment manufacturing companies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wve Labs?

Being a test lab, our customers needed quick test results. It is not unusual for customers to come to us with more than 1 product to test. In those cases, we have to use separate facilities for testing products from the same customer at the same time. As a certification body, our test engineers have to share their test results, sometimes in real-time, with other labs in 4 different locations. We found that other data-sharing methods were time-consuming and often unreliable. It became challenging for me to provide our test engineers with a platform for sharing test results. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our ultimate goal was to develop a mobile app for sharing information in real-time. We wanted a platform that’s easy to use, quick, and safe. We also needed the ability to add quick comments and possible amendments. I just talked to the Wve Labs people to make a quick app for us as a V1. We gave them a shot and it worked out great. We’re planning on using Wve for the next versions.

How did you come to work with Wve Labs?

I heard about Wve through a friend of the family and decided to give them a shot for the wireframes of our app. We loved their unique and user-friendly designs that we didn't see in other similar apps. We decided to go all the way through development with Wve Labs. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first prototype of the app is completed. Our test engineers used the app for a week and they feel like they've been using it for several years. It is very user-friendly. Our engineers didn't need any training at all before using it. It connects to the server quickly and has no dwell time within different operations. This app provided us a perfect platform to share our test data internally and a medium to integrate information from all 12 of our test locations. Communication among our locations have become far more efficient and sharing data has never been easier for us. We now use it for day to day operations. I really didn’t have to look back for any other app developers. 

BACKGROUND

Pairi is an app-based networking platform that utilizes an interface resembling that of Tinder's, matching students with the community around campus through jobs and tasks. We are part of the mobile/web app and the sharing economy industry, targeting mostly college students and the community around college campuses.

My name is William Huang, and I am a co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer at Pairi. I oversee marketing teams on five different campuses we are working closely with as well as direct Pairi's social media on Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram. I am the primary outreach for all business-related operations at Pairi and keep in close contact with development team overseeing value proposition and researching product market fit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

The challenge here is to connect the student population with the community around them. Many students need to study but also need a part time job. However, their schedules often conflict with those jobs, rendering them ineffective at both their schoolwork and work outside of school. We aim to change this by providing a platform for student services to be acquired by the community around them. The target market is the community around selective school campuses who need student services such as tutoring, moving and any community-related tasks.

Pairi will create an environment in which the community and the campuses become closer and interrelated, allowing both sides to benefit regarding cash flow and services provided. We are currently moving into the beta testing stage where we will test our product with the people we have surveyed in the past weeks.

SOLUTION

The solution is to build a mobile app platform with a very simplistic design, allowing people to easily integrate into its usage while receiving benefits such as money or service right from the beginning. We discovered Wve Labs through my relationship with Dave Shah, the CEO of Wve Labs. We met at a USC business seminar and have been friends ever since.

He was very professional and instructed his team to quote Pairi's technical needs in less than two days. There was a clear layout of the features to be installed and introduced by Wve within the first version of the mobile development process page. Our company's entire technical mobile application platform is designed and created by Wve Labs for an affordable and reasonable price. The project is to last 15-20 weeks with a two-month warranty and technical services after the publishing of app content.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Wve Labs has met all expectations with their services. Because of Wve, Pairi is able to exist for an affordable and reasonable price. As we have not finished the mobile development or concluded our business with Wve Labs yet, we cannot say that they have covered the agreed scope of deliverables yet; however, they have performed admirably in making Pairi's vision and delivered for every stage of development so far. The service provider has done everything up to a professional standard and did not exaggerate the services they will provide.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We offer a food delivery app that was made for college students by college students. It allows them to deliver food to each other in an Uber-like system. Users can switch from delivering food to having food delivered from one day to the next. I am a founder and the chief financial officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wve Labs?

I came up with the idea for the application along with my co-founder and needed to have it developed and launched to app stores. We received astronomical quotes from other development companies. Luckily, we found Wve Labs, which is an affordable solution for app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wve Labs developed iOS and Android versions of our app based on our requirements. We worked with one of Wve Labs' project coordinators, who took down the features we wanted and did a thorough job of ensuring that we provided all necessary information. After that, a scope of work was created by a business analyst from Wve Labs, giving us an outline of how long the development would take and how much it would cost. Wve Labs was flexible in working with us, bringing the scope to what we wanted.

After we came to an agreement and signed the contract, we were paired up with a project manager who was by our side throughout the development, conveying technical details. It was great to have a direct point of contact, which we could approach with any questions. We were kept involved during every stage of development, getting constant feedback, and receiving prototypes as they became available.

We were able to make payments on 4 installments. For a startup company like ours, with no immediate capital, this system was great. We were able to verify that our money was being put to good use.

How did you come to work with Wve Labs?

We heard about Wve Labs through word of mouth from someone who knew about our unique situation and told us that Wve Labs could provide an affordable platform.

How much have you invested with Wve Labs?

The total cost of our project with Wve Labs was around $50,000, which is much less than the other quotes we received.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Wve Labs in August 2015 and was completed in March 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're 100 percent satisfied with the quality of development. The app is functional and aesthetically pleasing. We were able to convey our ideas to Wve Labs' team, who took them down accurately, translating them into a product.

The app is live in app stores, and we currently have around 4,000 users. The feedback we've received directly and through marketing surveys has been great. The app is user-friendly, with an easy-to-navigate interface. Something we emphasized was building an app that looked professional, but also retained simplicity. It was important for customers not to get confused by it.

How did Wve Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Wve Labs has offices throughout California as well as an international presence in London and India, which made it easy for us to reach people in the company outside of business hours, whenever we had questions or concerns. We've had great customer service throughout the development. Wve Labs' project coordinator was very friendly, efficient, and professional.

What did you find most impressive about Wve Labs?

I'm glad that we've had the opportunity to find Wve Labs, and I want other companies to experience the same success we've had with their group. Wve Labs is a young company. So far, their development team and business analysts have increased in number quickly.

Wve Labs moved quickly while maintaining high-quality work. The pricing was lower, but Wve Labs also got our product out quicker than what other developers estimated. This is probably attributable to the fact that Wve Labs had people working around the clock, in various locations. Our goal was to get the product out into the marketplace as fast as possible, and Wve Labs achieved this.

Are there any areas Wve Labs could improve?

I can't think of anything specific. Wve Labs handled everything right from being timely to letting us know what was going on. Wve Labs delivered within timelines and stayed true to the cost.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Wve Labs?

Anyone looking for affordable app development in order to turn an idea into a functioning app should approach Wve Labs. We were struggling to find an opportunity to achieve what we were looking for. Wve Labs made our vision into a possibility. There are many pros and not many cons in working with Wve Labs.