YouTeam

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the founders of an IT startup company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with YouTeam?

I needed a frontend developer with a good knowledge of front end technologies, ie Angular, Git, Bower, Grunt. less etc.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a web application and we needed some new features built quickly. The challenge was to get quick turn around. We wanted to get a developer who would understand the project set up, be comfortable with the tech stack and start producing. The developer that was provided was just that. They understood the way the project was set up quickly, and produced the features as briefed in a professional manner. They were very adept at working with our methodology. This reduced orientation time saved us time and they started producing very quickly on their own. It was a bolt out of the blue.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with one person from their team at a time.

How did you come to work with YouTeam?

I found them online and a colleague of mine was familiar with them as well. At the time, I’d looked at five other companies. We started a conversation on LinkedIn, and it was their super friendly approach and their interest in our project and helping us that made us choose them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $5,000–$7,000. It was a retainer because of the nature of the work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in October 2017 and the project was completed in February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We will definitely continue with them in the future. I’m so happy with their work that I’ve recommended them to my other company as well.

There were no issues, it was really good. I gave a very loose brief, and the developer who worked for me had enough initiative to tighten it up by asking relevant questions. There was no messing around—it was done really well, with good, clean code.

How did YouTeam perform from a project management standpoint?

Despite some difficulties finding resources with English-language skills in the beginning, they pushed through and found the exact candidate required. It was great that they spent the time to do that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very good with follow-ups and at checking in to see if the performance met my expectations. They were very good and on top of things. I imagine that if anything wasn’t going my way, they would have rectified it quite quickly. They were very professional and it was a completely pleasant experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I felt weary about in the beginning was that I had to pay upfront before any of the work had been delivered to me.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO and CEO of a software engineering company that specializes in getting other development teams up to speed on a given project. Companies will come to us when they need something done very quickly, and we'll make sure all the developers are on the same page.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Youteam?

For this project, we were hired by a U.S.-based startup that needed an engineering team to build a social app focused on Instagram influencers. I have a few in-house developers, but we needed a larger team, so I reached out to Youteam for support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app we’re building is a service for Instagram influencers that assists in the processes of working with brands and managing content. After verifying a user’s following, it allows influencers to connect with similar users, and provides a variety of features that facilitate content creation.

The startup had an existing web-app prior to working with us, so they had a stack in place, which included Amazon Web Services and a variety of code already written. We needed a team that was specialized, and could tackle the various aspects of the app in several different coding languages. Youteam had a broad pool of talent to choose from, so I could get very specific with what I wanted for each aspect of the project. We were primarily writing in AngularJS on the front end, with some PHP on specific features. while the back end was in Java.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager and two account managers that we primarily interacted with. There was a whole team of developers of various expertise behind them.

How did you come to work with Youteam?

I was doing a lot of research in a few Reddit forums that focus on freelance work and hiring outsourced talent. I was looking for a team, as opposed to a group of individuals. Youteam came highly recommended, and I decided to reach out.

How much have you invested with them?

The startup hired me at a retainer, and I'm passing along the engineering costs from Youteam to the them. In total, the project has run between $50,000 to $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is ongoing. The product is being used right now, but were still working through module development right now. There are six or seven fully functional modules on the site so far.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The engineers are very talented, but they're also very observant. I've been told that with a lot of outsourced talent, if you don't make a ticket, nothing will get done. I haven't found this to be the case with Youteam. They've been great on picking up on errors and areas for improvement on their own and taking it upon themselves to fix them, which is exactly what you want from an engineer.

How did Youteam perform from a project management standpoint?

It's been good. With the time difference, their 5pm is my 7am, so I get a progress report every morning. I also meet face-to-face with them however often I'd like, and we've been doing that once a week. Our two account managers assist in adding/removing engineers on aspects of the project, and address any issues with billing, invoices, etc. Our project manager handles all other requests, and they've been extremely responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone I've talked to has been very friendly, which has been a breath of fresh air.

Advice for potential customers?

One thing I've learned is that you get what you put in. The more organized you are prior to the engagement, the less you'll have to worry about cleaning up their work and correcting issues. We were working on massive features, so it was crucial that everything was clearly presented before we all started coding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

GC Covert Security provides security services including guards and security officers for high-profile clients such as hotels and blue-chip companies in the U.K. I’m the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with YouTeam?

We were trying to manage our workforce and CRM system. We found there was nothing that matched what we needed to function as a business. We decided to have one made for us. We wanted to improve efficiency of our business sand have everything in one place. We’ve got hundreds of staff that we send out to hundreds of clients in different locations. It’s very complicated to organize that many people on a daily basis. We wanted to make that as easy and efficient as possible to reduce our long-term costs and enable us to grow without needing to increase our overhead in additional office employees to organize people. We also wanted to maintain client and employee information including payroll, etc. Essentially, we wanted an all-in-one system for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped the initial phases of creating user journeys, creating the concept, and MVP planning for the product. In speaking to them we also decided to convert it into a software-as-a-service when the project was finished so we can sell it to other companies. We figured if it worked for us, it would work for others and there’s a gap in the market. The product is a cloud-based software and it runs on our own servers.

What is the team dynamic?

YouTeam doesn’t have developers in-house. They were the project manager of the project. I dealt with Andriy [Chief Customer Officer] and Bohdan [Client Success Manager]. They handled the communication with the developers.

How did you come to work with YouTeam?

I found them online while searching for development companies in London. I met with 3 other companies. A lot of them were very expensive. We almost went with another company, but I’m glad we didn’t.

I like to meet people in person, so I met YouTeam in their offices and I really liked them. I met Andriy and Anton, the CEO. I went through what we needed, and they did a great proposal. They’re very competitive in pricing and are a lot cheaper than London firms. We started the project, and it became clear very quickly that the quality of work was very good.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent £20,000. By the time we’re finished, the project will be between £260,000 - £270,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2016, and we’re likely to finish development in February or March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been using the software since January, and we’ve been adding features since then. The project will be finished when it’s ready to sell on the market. The internal product should be fully completed by the end of November. Then it will take a few months more to convert it so that it’s a software that can be bought online by other companies.

The quality of their work is very good. There’s very few bugs. All the data is secure. In the beginning, there were issues because it was a brand-new software, but they responded very quickly to those problems. All it took was a few comments on Skype and an hour later, everything was fixed. We’re a 24-hour business so if there’s an issue, we need it fixed right away even in the middle of the night. Our software needs to be up all the time.

When we first started using it, there were 2 or 3 times where we experienced a little bit of downtime, but they responded really well. We haven’t had any downtime since which is quite impressive. There’s a lot of data that goes in there.

The employees really like it. It’s much better than receiving a text. Using an app is much better. There are 2 apps, iOS and Android, for the employees to use. They can see their schedules and where and when they’re working. They can view their time sheets and look at their holiday accumulation and pay. In the security industry, there’s also those that are self-employed. If they’re self-employed, the platform allows them to create an invoice to issue to us.

How did YouTeam perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their people skills make them quite lovable. They’re nice people. The actual development happens in Ukraine because that’s where their partners are. That’s why they can provide cheaper service. They’re very talented. I’ve gone to meet them personally 4 different times.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’ve been really happy with their service.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am chief innovation officer for Sweet Tree Connect. We are a startup with an assisted living platform here in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Youteam?

We had just defined what we wanted for our IoT [Internet of Things] platform in terms of user interface, rule engine, database, and notification. We were looking for a company to do a proof of concept and then a scaled down version of our dashboard. We needed it to show tradeshows, where we could get future user feedback, and to also show to potential investors. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We only had four weeks to do a proof of concept app. We sent them all the information about the sensors and the data format. We’re using a cloud hosting solution, a RESTful API, which they became familiar. First, they developed a dashboard version and they made a small video in four weeks. The same team then added features like text notification or email alert. 

We’ve kept it as a web-based app with a few subsets of functions that are doable from the mobile. For example, the first time you register and install the sensor, that’s done using your mobile. After that, everything is done within the web portal. The app has a variety of passive sensors. From the portal, you can look at trends, sleep quality, and a rules engine where you can set alerts on your mobile phone. It’s modular, but it’s also personalized. The algorithm gets more and more intelligent as time goes by. There’s that kind of personalization using artificial intelligence and opening the platform. 

How did you come to work with Youteam?

We approached several companies who said they had mobile development experience. What we were looking for was a company that had done IoT projects before, but we couldn’t find that many that we liked. That’s why we turned to Youteam.

How much have you invested with them?

$12,000–$18,000. We expect to have to spend another $30,000-$35,000 to finish the MVP [minimum viable product].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2017 and the work is ongoing. We’re now looking at a 3-month software development period where we will implement some more sophisticated functionality.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still in the testing phase. We want to test scalability and make sure it’s easy to install. We have about 12 users and we’re going to collect their feedback. We expect to launch in the beginning of 2018. 

How did Youteam perform from a project management standpoint?

All the work was delivered on time even though the timescale was very short. When there were bugs, they were very open to having them corrected. There was good communication on a regular basis. I have no complaints. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They respond quickly and they give realistic estimates. If we tell them we have a deadline, they will tell us what they can have done by that date. They’re constructive in that sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing that could be improved is to have the testing phase built in, both in terms of time and budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Areobooks is an online bookstore. I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with YouTeam?

We needed to build a company website from scratch. At that stage, the company was more of a seed in my mind, so YouTeam didn't have many details on which to base their work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

YouTeam built my website from scratch. I also worked with YouTeam in the first quarter of 2016 on updating my website, based on customer feedback and our own usage of it. We wanted to make a few tweaks to it, most of them cosmetic. We focused on making the homepage and blog more interactive and interesting. It was a small, discrete project, but the benefit that we got from it came from the level of understanding that YouTeam acquired for the Areobooks website. This made the process easier.

Our website was built using Python and Django. The templates have been posted on GitHub, so I can evaluate YouTeam's work at any time. Their expertise is much greater than mine, so I don't have a need to do it.

We have various online repositories where information and workflows are pulled. YouTeam posts queries which I can answer directly. We used InVision for sharing designs. YouTeam's designers created wireframes which I could comment on. I found this to be a good way of finalizing designs.

We have worked with a project manager from YouTeam. He acted as the conduit between me and the actual designers and developers. Typically, we've worked with 2 frontend and 2 backend developers simultaneously.

Our latest project only had one designer, one frontend and one backend developer, as well as a project manager.

How did you come to work with YouTeam?

I got in touch with 2-3 London-based vendors for quotes. I picked YouTeam mostly because they were much more enthusiastic about the project. As soon as I started talking to them, YouTeam adopted a hands-on approach. Project plans were put together before we were charged any costs, just to create a scope that could help me get a better idea of YouTeam's capabilities and pricing. Compared to the 2 other vendors, YouTeam was much more impressive, convincing me to choose them. I think that I was one of the earliest clients of YouTeam, so they didn't have the same depth of references that they have now. The decision to use YouTeam was made by comparing them directly to the other candidates.

How much have you invested with YouTeam?

Our first project with YouTeam had a cost of $32,000, [25,000 GBP] while the second one was $7,000 [5,000 GBP].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started building the scope of the project with YouTeam at the end of January, 2015. We've moved into a slightly different phase. YouTeam's primary market consists of startups, so they've provided a bit of advice on our business trajectory, acting as more than web developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We updated our landing page earlier in 2016. The changes were more cosmetic and I provided guidance in terms of how everything should look, with considerable support from YouTeam. We've had a lot of positive feedback for the new page. Given its importance for the whole website, it made a huge difference.

How did YouTeam perform from a project management standpoint?

Our first project was slightly larger and ended up going slightly over budget and taking a bit longer than anticipated. This was in large part due to changes made to the scope. We didn't make large modifications but, because we were building something from scratch, the outsets couldn't be anticipated. For our second project with YouTeam, we actually came in under budget. It was nice to see that this is actually possible. Time-wise, YouTeam also performed well.

Besides using a project management tool, we had update calls with YouTeam on a regular basis. Depending on how busy we were at each stage of the project, we had team calls once every fortnight. Any discrete queries were communicated through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about YouTeam?

I got along with the team really well. Because YouTeam has a London office, we went out for beers a number of times, in order to catch up. On one hand, we pay them as professionals to provide a service, but it's great to be able to go out, have a beer and relax. It made our relationship with YouTeam so much nicer.

Are there any areas YouTeam could improve?

YouTeam could consider being more regimented in terms of updates. If a project is running for 3-4 months, having a weekly diary that everyone sticks to, making sure that things don't slip, would be important. We had update calls, but we didn't have a weekly timeslot, which meant that we had to synchronize everyone involved every time. It's a minor point, which didn't cause any lapses, though.