4xxi

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a director and the Co-Founder of Challenge Social. Challenge Social is an app that allows users to create and engage in fun or serious challenges with their friends, family or people at the top of their game. Its aimed at bringing together communities with similar interests and providing them with a platform to engage in healthy competetion.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 4xxi?

We needed somebody to re develop our mobile aplication on both IOS & Android and code our website. We had already spent a whole year with a company developing these until we realised they had created us a terrible platform with 0 insurance & liablity. They really let us down and it took us a while to find a company we could trust.

What were your goals for this project?

To Create a world class platfrom that could be scaled on both IOS & Android and eventually web. To build a brand that could support the competetive communities worldwide. Scale over the coming year and continue to add features from our road map.

SOLUTION

How did you select 4xxi?

After lots of talks and recommendations from people we trust we started the process of planning and scoping the workload. And from day one they proved them selves.

Describe the project in detail.

We needed to create a native IOS and Android App to be scaled, 4XXI assured us a high quality code. They have done exactly that. We will contiue to work with 4XXI for the foreable future. The project has had to be completely re designed and coded from day one of working with 4XXI. They have given above and beyond to get us to where we are today.

What was the team composition?

We had 1 Backend Developer We had 2 IOS Devs We had 2 Android Devs We had a QA We had a BA We had a project manager Very reliable and excellent communication.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Please look at Challenge Social on the App Store or Google Play. You will see a great product working.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication is great, and 4XXI make great suggestions when coming to decision making. Accurate estimations and they provide a hard working, well qualified team!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their belief and drive for our project. They are a fantastic team and we wouldn't be where we are today without them!

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of engineering for Virool. We are a video advertising and branding firm that prioritizes entertainment. We work with large brands to create video content to share online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 4xxi?

Our internal engineering team was overwhelmed by our project’s scope, so we were looking for a reliable partner to help us build our platform on time and on budget.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a user interface for our advertising platform that was easy to support. Because our platform had multiple iterations, each needed a custom-tailored UI design.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to several software service providers following recommendations from colleagues. We got quotes and proposals from each of them. 4xxi offered the best terms and I decided to bring them aboard.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

4xxi worked on the UI elements of our customer analytics dashboard for our advertising platform. Eventually, they took over the entire dashboard, which included billing, campaign management, and analytics reports.

What was the team composition?

We mainly worked with a team of five. There was a project manager, a QA specialist, and three engineers. At our request, we used an agile methodology to help us keep the team aligned and autonomous. As our demands changed over time, 4xxi appropriately rotated and scaled their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the help of 4xxi, we were able to launch our platform on time and stayed within our budget. Over time, we were able to get funding from top investors in Silicon Valley.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I delegated projects and the 4xxi team acted independently. Their project manager efficiently managed their side so I didn’t have to spend much time instructing them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was very impressed by the quality of their work and their development speed. They finished the first draft within the first two months.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

It would have been nice if 4xxi has Ruby on Rails in their stack. They would’ve been able to help with more of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a platform that auditors and audit companies can use to search for services and look for each other. I had an idea and some metrics and wanted to expand it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

I didn’t have my own development resources and needs someone to help develop my startup and build its whole infrastructure based on my ideas.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I met with Evgeny (Founder and CEO, 4xxi) through Google Hangouts to discuss my ideas, after which he sent a budget plan and details regarding the scope of work and the schedule. I knew the whole process before they began the actual work, down to the tasks they would work on every day.

4xxi handled design and programming, providing all the documentation and code. While discussing the technology stack, they gave us their input on what they thought would be best for the project. Their team is made up of specialists in all areas, which all worked together to deliver as soon as possible.

What is the team composition?

There were five to six people assigned to our project, as well as a product manager who was in touch with us 24/7. He tracked changes and interacted with our CTO. We really appreciated his involvement.  

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

I contacted four programming firms and gave them my ideas, but none of them gave me the right feedback. Some wanted to charge a huge amount of money—two or two and a half times the price of 4xxi— and I couldn’t get a full scope of work and budget from them. I also looked at some reviews and found that they hadn’t performed well.

I asked my friends for recommendations and they referred me to 4xxi. I chose them because I got a good impression of Evgeny. He showed interest in the project.

How much have you invested with them?

I invested $100,000 in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in February 2017. The project ended four months later.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve gotten really good feedback on their work. Their quality is great and they delivered on time. 4xxi knows what they’re doing and the importance of delivering on time. We will work with them again to develop the next version of the platform.

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always online and available to speak with you at any time, which makes working with them really comfortable. We communicated through Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, and email, and had some in-person meetings as well with Evgeny, who was always willing to help.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They can look at a startup from different angles and provide insight on how to improve, coming up with interesting ideas that you maybe hadn’t thought about. They don’t only take your money and execute what you want, they provide added value with their input, getting into your customers’ shoes and finding the best way to do things. This means that their earnings will be lower at times, but they’d rather apply their vision and deliver an interesting and well-planned solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think everything has been really good. I don’t see any areas for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Emanuel Quant Services, a private investment firm. We invest family money in the public stock markets via various quantitative methods that involve numerical analyses, processing SEC filings, some machine learning, and other artificial intelligence techniques. We concentrate on the small market cap end of the American and Canadian markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

We subscribe to various financial and stock information databases, and we run daily screens to tell us what stocks, or tickers, would be good to buy or sell each day. However, we’ve had trouble coordinating all the data to get one multi-faceted consensus of what we should do.  We also didn’t have a way of seeing, at a glance, how many shares or dollars worth of a stock we owned, so we needed to develop something that would let us integrate all this financial information into one location. The task was to automatically query these various data sources and deliver various reports to our specifications that would better inform our choices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Typically, I would make a movie of my screen and narrate what information we had available, how our databases were structured, and what we wanted the final reports to look like. We provided specs on all the elements we wanted in the reports, and 4xxi told us what tools they would use and how they would use them.

We discussed whether MySQL or SQL Server would be best, and they provided various prototypes. They gave us sample reports, which we then critiqued or approved until we got what we wanted. They did the work in small segments, maintaining a test bed so we could toggle between past and current versions to see what had changed.

All of this was hosted by 4xxi; they did all the dev and hosting in one package, and the entire product was created from scratch.

What is the team composition?

For the most part, we only had contact with the project manager. He would interact with his team, which probably consisted of 5­–15 people.

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

A mutual friend, who was already one of their clients, suggested them. I was impressed with the amount of work they were doing and the price they charged, so he introduced me to 4xxi’s founder. We had a great conversation, so I hired them, and it’s been a great relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in February 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The people on my team who use the tool say it works well and is helpful. It’s essentially bug free, and my employees’ response has been positive.

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is responsive and organized. They make a list of proposed steps and questions to make sure everything is clear, and they’re good at reading, interpreting, and following my answers. Overall, their project management has been satisfactory.

We mainly communicate over phone, email, and through the screen capture process I described earlier.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their value proposition compared to what such a project would cost, were it done in the U.S., is extraordinary. It’s a great value. You’re buying a team of smart and focused individuals at a price that couldn’t cover a beginning programmer in the U.S. with much less experience. 4xxi’s best benefit is their dollar value proposition.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Working with 4xxi has been one of the best commercial experiences of my business life.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

AnchorFree has been offering a popular and widely used VPN [virtual private network] application since 2005, with more than 500 million downloads. I am the director of product for the AnchorFree Hotspot Shield brand. Hotspot Shield is a VPN product operating on different platforms, including Android, Windows, Mac, and iOS.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

We had an outdated website, and needed a new one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided consultation on how we should develop the site and what some of the technical and organizational challenges would be. They supported me as a project lead throughout the way. The site was built using a PHP framework with JavaScript on the frontend, which connects to our backend system. They used our guidelines and provided feedback on our UX [user experience] and UI [user interface]. We worked on the design together, but a part of the work was done by our own team. They have also gotten involved in the product side of the work.

What is the team dynamic?

I’ve worked with 3–4 people from their team, including Evgeny Smirnov, one of their senior people, and Alexey Syrkovskiy, who was our project manager. We also worked with a couple of developers.

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

One of their partners introduced us to the team in 2011 or 2012. I liked their work approach, so I have involved them in a number of projects since then.

What is the status of this engagement?

The website project started in March or April 2017. It has been completed, but our relationship with them is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone in our dev team was satisfied with their work. They had skilled developers who worked well with us without any significant issues. The new site is great, and we’ve received positive feedback from partners and anyone else we asked about it. For example, we’ve gotten good feedback on Behance, especially in comparison to the old site.

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

Their process was organized. While we were working on the project, Skype released an update that shut down all communication for us; everyone who used to use it now hates the software. We’ve switched to Slack, which works much better for us. The transition actually started at the beginning of our relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take what they do seriously, doing things well so they can be proud of the work. Based on our 5 years of experience together, they’ve always taken the product as a challenge. They brought ideas and asked why we wanted to do it in a certain way. If I were building a new product, I would definitely get their feedback since I respect their opinion a lot. They are generally a good team to work with.

Skill-wise, they are reliable. I can trust that whatever they make is going to work. We’ve had stability and quality issues with other vendors, but 4xxi builds software to their own quality standards, which are high even compared to Silicon Valley. This makes them a good partner in my opinion.

Even though they have strong opinions, they’re also flexible. When they didn’t agree with our tech team on an item, they explained why we might have issues in the future in terms of scaling. It helped us all understand potential issues and shortcomings.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only friction between our teams happens when they are too protective of their ideas. It’s not that they are unreasonable or emotional. They provide specific examples, sources, and references that highlight why their solution is better. I wouldn’t say that this is necessarily a bad thing since it’s good to find someone who cares about what they’re doing and who is confident about the solutions they’re suggesting.

We sometimes agree with them, but we also decide to proceed with the initial solution at other times. However, I would rather involve their team in a similar project rather than a group who does exactly what they are told. It’s always good to have reasonable feedback.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The collaboration depends on whom they’re working with. 4xxi is a well-organized team for a startup, but, if they were working with someone like Microsoft, I don’t know how well they could perform. They can adjust and be flexible, which is conducive to the startup culture. Their processes are a reflection of their size and client base, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the General Manager and Chief Product Officer of WorthFM. Our organization is a financial media services firm for women. We have an online media site, as well as several educational products and a robo-advisory platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

We wanted to build our robo-advisory platform. The current financial services and platforms were very much framed within the financial services industry jargon and user experience. For the audience we are working with, which are mass affluent women, that framing did not appeal to them and was not engaging.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they started working through the architecture of how to connect to banks and custodians, as well as the front-end development and the application we were building for our product set.

4xxi used Ruby and React to develop the platform. They also continue to help us with some of our marketing platforms. They were involved in front and backend development, project management, architecture, as well as some design, and QA.

What is the team dynamic?

At the high point of the project, we had about eight members of their team working on the development.

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

4xxi were recommended to us by one of our integration partners. We are an early stage startup, and when we contacted 4xxi, we were impressed with their experience in FinTech. They have since become our primary development organization for the financial services platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2015, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team feels that 4xxi is incredibly responsive, dedicated and smart. When something is not clear, they ask the right questions. I have been particularly impressed with the skills of the lead engineer, the architect, and project manager being able to take a business requirement and really turn it into technical specs.

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly communicate via Slack, and we did have daily video scrums as well. We instituted a process of using visual requirements and style guides to map out a lot of workflows and edge cases that worked really well because of the language barrier with some of the developers on the team. They were able to take the visual requirements, which were very easy to create based on the style guide, and implement them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other offshore firms I have worked with in the past, 4xxi is the best. They are so responsive, thoughtful, great communicators, and really challenge and ask the right questions. They are dedicated to making sure things are done with high quality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing I would ask them to do differently. They have been organized, and have created good English language documentation.

Do you have any advice for potential clients? 

The only advice I have for someone looking to hire 4xxi, and in any kind of outsourcing relationship, is to identify the senior people and make sure that you have a good communication process with them, from both a technical architecture and project management or business analysis standpoint. Make sure you have a really tight relationship with the senior people who are managing the team on the ground.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and founder of a technology company that offers a service to help government and corporate organizations coordinate their responses to crises in a more efficient way.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

Originally, the vision was to build a complex consumer application similar to a note-taking application like Evernote, Wunderlist, or Microsoft OneNote. The challenge was to get all of the data and all of the information to synchronize in real-time. If you add something on the web, it would need to synchronize directly to the iPhone; if you add something to the iPhone, everything would have to synchronize back to the web, and vice-versa to Android, etc. We needed their help to provision the application, make it secure, scalable, and create redundancies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The 4xxi team developed and built an application for us that started as a consumer application. They developed a cross-platform app, initially on iOS. Afterwards, we launched the web and Android versions, respectively. We decided in the last year and a half to pivot into the B2B space. This tool helps people on the frontlines, like security directors, emergency operation center managers, crisis managers, and responders, to coordinate their response to any situation, whether it's a terrorist attack, a fire, a flood, or any kind of unexpected incident. In some cases, expected incidents can be much better coordinated because everybody gets on the same page a lot faster using our app.

What is the team dynamic?

In addition to performance and delivery, youthful, creative, passionate energy, and belief in this project is what makes this relationship work.

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

A Russian friend recommended them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since June of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We would not be here today if 4xxi was not involved in this project.

They did a great job of having the information synchronized cross-platform in a timely manner. Not only did they design an app and add functionality, but they secured it and made sure it scales for tens of thousands of registered users. We haven't had any significant performance or security issues; they've done an amazing job on that, too. We're having great results in the B2B space.

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

We established the processes early on, which was challenging. We burned through two, if not three, project managers before finding the right one about a year and a half ago. So for two and a half years, it was definitely more challenging than it is now. It's been easy since then. We use Skype all the time to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their passion, their energy, and their youthfulness impress me. Their management and leadership are senior, which is a good thing, but the development team is composed of younger, hipper, smarter, cutting-edge application users who are able to transfer ideas from cool apps and implement those ideas.

I received three quotes from onshore companies, which were 5–15 times higher than 4xxi. For what I've developed to date, if I had done it onshore, it would've cost more than $10 million. We're spending a fraction of that. We're getting incredible value from 4xxi, in addition to incredible brainpower, commitment, passion, loyalty, and more. Forty-eight invoices later, it's obviously a good relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything to improve on. They've become smarter about how they build and run their business over time. They've learned a lot in the course of this engagement about how to make their operation and their development environment work smoother.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Iterium Ltd.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Some DevOps was in place before we hired 4xxi, including a PHP/Symfony-based backend, but they implemented some continuous integrations and scripts to satisfy regulated security standards.

What is the team dynamic?

The team size varies, but always includes Aleksandr [COO, 4xxi], four specialist developers (iOS, Android, backend, and PHP, respectively), a QA [Quality Assurance], and a PM [Project Manager]. Sometimes, they bring other developers onto a project, or add designers or technical architects on a temporary basis. Whenever we need advice, they bring in extra people.

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

A friend who works for a digital agency in Russia recommended them. I live in Britain, and had to fly to Russia to meet them in person, but they work reasonably well for me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £150,000 [$202,080].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in August 2016. Development is on hold because our client lost their biggest client.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are a lot of little things, but nothing serious.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CEO and founder of Industry Index, a ratings platform in the media and marketing technology space. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

The challenge was that we needed to develop our technology platform, which encompassed the various feedback loops, registration, and all technology related to it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

4xxi was my engineering team, helping us think through the process of the technology build and what the steps would be. They worked with my CTO to scope out the project, track it and deliver against the set objectives and timelines.

They built the platform from the ground up. Another creative agency helped us with all the designs, and 4xxi worked on implementing them, connecting all the pieces by building the backend and frontend. It was a custom platform, given its complexity, we didn’t use existing solutions.

We were building a ratings and reviews site which had to connect to LinkedIn. We had API integrations for data, in order to enable the consumer to rate various technology partners. We had a review process on the backend, where every rating and review had to be validated by someone in our team. The profile data had to be kept up-to-date, giving different sets of permissions to various types of users. We had a rating methodology which had to be applied based on the type of company, its vertical and segment. In addition, the site had advanced search functionality based on keywords across all the content on the site. There was a detailed taxonomy of the various companies, platforms, and segmentation.

What is the team dynamic?

I don’t know exactly what the team size was, but they were always available when needed.

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

They were referred to me by my co-founder who had worked on a mobile app platform using 4xxi.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their services was around $60,000 per year, so around $240,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with 4xxi in September 2012 and I sold the company in 2016. I continue to work with 4xxi at my current company, as an outsourced engineering service.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I grew the company from zero users to over 5,000 active community members, who produced over 10,000 ratings and reviews.

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

I had a CTO who worked with multiple groups in Russia, India and the US. He always thought that 4xxi was one of the best he’d ever worked with. They were always available, making us think they never slept. We used a project management tool which helped, but I also had a project manager and a CTO involved.

They’re good communicators, but there will always be a language barrier, no matter what. We documented issues extensively and having a project manager with good attention to detail helped as well. We needed to support 4xxi’s team, and we had a good system. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

4xxi’s costs were great. Paying that much money to develop something can get scary, but I always felt fine about paying the bills and they delivered against what they committed to. This can be an issue for people working in non-funded companies; I was pretty much funding the work myself, with no investors. 

They were also always available. I’ve had emergencies with the site going down or being attacked by a hacker. 4xxi got back to me right away and solved my problems. It’s been a good partnership, and I have people I can trust. 4xxi is not afraid to take on any kind of work, they are not pushing me off for the next project, and they’ve definitely taken the time to work with me on anything.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a great job. The biggest challenge for me when outsourcing, was that I was outsourcing. 4xxi is not an in-house team, but they were phenomenal. I definitely needed people who could help 4xxi understand what’s going on, but there was never a question of them not being able to deliver against what was being put in front of them.

An additional challenge with outsourced resources is that there needs to be a technology leader in place, who can drive the strategy and execution. 4xxi were implementing a strategic plan, but there needed to be someone leading the conversation, and understanding how the technology needed to be built in order to scale. 4xxi is excellent at understanding issues and delivering against the problem, but they’re not strategists at a CTO level. They’ve definitely made very strong and smart recommendations on how to build things and think about them, but they are not out there selling the product, working with sales and marketing. Within the project guidelines and deliverables they excelled, came up with suggestions and were proactive. I always felt that my work with them was great, which is why I’m giving this review. When it comes to these types of projects, we have to think about the highest-level problem being solved and put research behind it, building a ratings platform was not an easy thing to do. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of Nutmeg Aspirin. We are a discovery platform for people to crowdsource their tips, go to fixes, their triumphs, and anything that they do to feel good and get better. We're about real experiences, from real humans, for real well-being.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 4xxi?

I came into this with very little knowledge of how to build a website. Through my learning process, I was exploring whether to do a Custom WordPress site or utilize a WordPress template. I was introduced to 4xxi and they presented the opportunity to do a custom site at a great price, and I went for it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built everything. What makes the project a little more complicated, and why I didn't know if we would get the full functionality from WordPress, is that we're a place where anybody can go on, at any given time, and post immediately. We do not filter the content, we let our community filter the content. That means that when you read something that someone has posted, you as a community member can react. We provide a space for people to share their experiences. That being said, we have to build something that will be very user-friendly.

The site is built on Amazon Web Services and Digital Ocean. 4xxi has done every single thing to set up the site and the infrastructure support. Additionally, 4xxi connected us to a free photo site so that people can just seamlessly search for a photo to put with their post.

It was amazing to me how complex it is to build a website, it is like building a house. You have to architect every single aspect and it all has to work together.  4xxi was great at guiding us with their input and suggestions. Anything we came up with, they implemented for us. We would tweak things and sometimes have glitches, but then they would go back and tweak it again to make it work better.

Right now we're redesigning the whole site based on user feedback we have received. We are waiting for their estimate on the new changes and designs but they've already written back with questions. This is not something I have found with other developers who simply just take your work and implement it with no sense of ingenuity or ownership of the creative process, 4xxi is unique. 

Additionally, 4xxi hired a team of strategists and what I learned from them was that I need to scale back the site and return to the basics. There’s a ton of functionalities, but people are not using it because they don’t really understand it. We are going to scale it back to core basics and then build in the functionality.

One functionality we are about to implement is called Karma points. That was 4xxi’s suggestion because the whole idea is that we want to intrinsically reward people for contributing content and encourage them to do so. Our site really is about Karma, you’re sharing something that helps you feel better and that is going to help somebody else. As you engage more, you move up our levels and earn kudos on the site. These kudos could be in the form of being featured in our newsletter or shout outs.

We will be going to the market place, so what I like about 4xxi is that they are completely equipped to grow with us. I have a huge vision for the site but I'm trying to be patient and really perfect our base and what we do at its very core. I want to wait for the additional features, but I know that when I'm ready to do that I know that 4xxi can make that happen.  

What is the team dynamic?

I don't talk to the coders directly, I really deal with Alexey [Project Manager, 4xxi] and Evgeny [CEO, 4xxi].

How did you come to work with 4xxi?

I was at dinner with a friend and I explained how I was completely frustrated because the designer that was going to help me with a WordPress template decided that she didn't have the time for me. He was kind enough to share his resource with me and connected me with Evgeny.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $65,000 and $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in late July or early August 2016, and the relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People say it's a beautiful site, and if there are any glitches, 4xxi is very responsive. 

How did 4xxi perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very professional. They set everything up in JIRA and we can see how they're managing the task, the amount of time that is taking, and when it is completed. We can use JIRA directly to input what we need to be fixed, but I can also email Alexey and he puts the request in for me and it gets done.

The beauty of working with them is that it's a constant evolution. They're able to adapt to us and make changes. What I do love about working with them is that they don't just take the words that we say and implement them, or the functionality that we want and implement it. They are great at giving their feedback from their experience of what they see works and doesn't work. So they're almost a part of our team as far as helping our business to grow and evolve.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I did not grow up in this digital world, so my learning curve is exponential. It has been a pleasure to work with 4xxi, they are a great partner. They deliver on every aspect they say they are going to. I already have a great site, but it’s about to get so much better.

They're good value, that’s the bottom line. Their price is very reasonable and if I were to invest in a U.S. company it would be a lot more expensive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're Russian, so in the beginning, there were typos on the site that they wouldn't necessarily catch because English is not their first language. There’s a little translation stuff, but I really have nothing negative to say. It is an absolutely positive experience working with 4xxi.

Advice for potential customers?

My advice is to hire a developer that you can trust, is very experienced and can guide you. I got lucky that is what 4xxi did, they definitely guided me on this process.