1st Main

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Masterlife, an e-learning platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 1st Main?

I needed someone to help with the development and UX/UI of my mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we did a five-month project with them to build a prototype and get it out live with content and all the pieces I wanted. It’s built for iOS and Android. They used Flutter and Firebase.

When I went to them with the wireframes and the branding guidelines, they built the actual visual designs end-to-end of the flow of the app in terms of the colors and look. They also did quite a bit of custom development early on.

I was clear about my customer persona. They did the initial customer interviews as well with 15–17 people. They built the visual designs, and when it looked good, they started building the mobile app on Flutter.

From there, we did a beta launch in March. We officially went live in April 2020. They’ve been supporting us in the last five months as well with enhancements of the product.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Kiran (Co-Founder & CEO) and Kinnari (Co-Founder) early on when there were a lot of UX/UI team members involved. Now, we work with Kiran and his dev team of 2–3. From our side, we have 2–3 people as well.

How did you come to work with 1st Main?

A friend suggested them. I got in touch with the two founders and told them that I had already drawn up the visual designs and wireframes on a piece of paper. I knew exactly what I wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1st Main is very design-centric. It’s a well-designed app that’s premium for our market. It’s been a positive experience with their team. I’ve referred them to 5–6 people already.

How did 1st Main perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good at keeping timelines. Clients won’t worry about their execution.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve seen a lot of apps out there. To create a global product from India is not easy. For this project, there needs to be someone who can think globally and manage everything well.

Just the fact they were able to deliver a nice, well-made product, that was impressive. I’ve been more excited by their design than their UX/UI.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Earlier on, I had to message them for updates. That was a process we had to put in place.

Mondays, we had sprint calls, and I’d want an email by Monday evening or Tuesday stating what they’re going to work on and deliver by Friday. By the next Monday, we’d have things that move from a test slide to live. There’s some for manual or automated testing that they should completely do before sending it out so that I don’t have to point out the bug. That’s just one piece they could figure out internally.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend them to anyone looking to create well-crafted and well-designed mobile apps or desktop versions. That’s their strength. Be clear on what you want and what problems you need to solve. I was clear about the exact details I wanted and was able to save some time.