We Build Great Technology Products.
We are a development, data science, and design agency that works closely with founders and executives to build technology products that increase human agency.
We provide full-service product design, development, and data science. We act as your CTO if you need one, or integrate with your team.
Whatever you need tech wise, we can probably do it. We provide clean code that works, intelligent machine learning AI, user research and stunning UI, and many other things (oh my!).
Focus
Portfolio
Samsung, Berkshire Hathaway, Ritual, Chance the Rapper, Protocol Labs, WhereTo, Draper Venture Network, The Publisher Desk, Walmart, Gallant, Bloom Health, BioCentury, Streamoid
Bloom Health
Bloom is revolutionizing health tech with daily urinalysis to track your 15+ important medical bio-marketers: Ketones, Vitamin-C, Hydration, etc. The Bloom computer vision algorithm wasn’t performing where the team needed to reach their next inflection point, raise follow-on funding, and launch to the masses. Our team worked with them to dramatically improve their technology, add additional functionality, and get to the next level.
Improvement: +190% existing algorithm improvement.
Outcome: 5k+ pre-orders for the product, raised financing for launch in April.
WhereTo
WhereTo is a customizable, enterprise-travel platform we helped successfully build and manage to $8M in Series A funding. Now used by hundreds of thousands of employees, we worked with their with first Fortune 10 client and implemented core data science needed to intelligently pair the right hotels with the right flights booked at the perfect time.
Samsung NEXT
Samsung NEXT discovers and backs startups who are defining the future of hardware and software integration in areas such as AI, AR/VR, Blockchain, Edge Computing, and IoT. AE Studio designed and developed their entire VC portal from scratch, which allows Samsung NEXT to better service their portfolio of startups, investors, and advisors. The result was a modern web app which serves as a hub for all things internal at Samsung NEXT - conveniently accessible via desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.
Berkshire Hathaway
Marmon Holdings, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a global industrial organization comprising 13 diverse business sectors and more than 100 autonomous manufacturing and service businesses. In one of these sectors, the retail solutions sector, AE helped Marmon by developing a clustering algorithm and dashboard for tracking inventory changes in grocery stores. The company employs 19,000 people worldwide with revenues exceeding $7.7 billion in 2017.
Resolutions to Rituals
Ritual, a subscription women’s multivitamin brand, wanted to create a new stand-alone site for their new year’s resolution. The result is a first of it’s kind blend of retail and meaningful, mindful habit change for consumers. It's an amazing example of delivering value first, helping potential customers be better versions of themselves. Since Ritual was founded in 2015, they've sold 1 million bottles of vitamins and raised over $40M in venture funding.
"I’ve never had such an easy, bug free public launch before. This really speaks to the quality of the code…. We have tons of users already and everything is working perfectly - no alarms, no snags, nothing."
- Daniel Archer, Director Of Engineering, Ritual
Best Apps
Best Apps is a technology company whose products focus on custom apparel. Their platform allows fans to collaborate with brands, celebrities, athletes and more to create unique wearables. We worked alongside their team to build technology from the ground up, resulting in numerous rounds of funding.
With more than 320,000 downloads, their main iOS app also allows users to design a shirt from their phone/tablets in the easiest way possible. We also launched major A-list celebrities e-commerce stores featuring customizable merch, racking over 4 millions visits within 3 days and the sale of countless one-of-one products.
Gallant
Gallant is revolutionizing veterinary care by offering stem cell banking for pets. We started working with Gallant pre-launch and acted as their tech & product team until today. We redesigned the whole marketing website, added content and extra features to improve SEO and user experience, while the product launched nation-wide and the team killed it on Shark Tank!
We also developed Gallant’s custom checkout and complete back-end systems for lab technicians to manage sample data. Throughout this time, traffic more than tripled and website conversions increased 30x.
The Publisher Desk
The Publisher Desk (TPD) manages online ad space inventory for hundreds of online publishers. We worked closely with TPD to improve their existing portal for customers and employees. The result was an automated system to ingest, organize and display data from over twenty external sources, saving TPD employees time and providing their customers with new insights about their ad inventory performance.
"AE transformed loosely disparate concepts into a visually appealing product that added significant business value. They helped us see what was possible from a product standpoint based on the data we had. The perfect team for any project at the intersection of web development and data analytics."
- Jeff Misenti, CEO, The Publisher Desk
Protocol Labs
Protocol Labs is an open-source research, development, and deployment laboratory working on projects including IPFS, Filecoin, and libp2p. We've worked with Protocol Labs building open source tools and helping with testing and optimizations of various projects. Some things we've worked on with PL include building a network inspector style debugging tool for the Kademlia DHT implementation of go-libp2p, creating a network visualization and debugging tool using WebGL for Filecoin capable of visualizing large portions of the chain and ensuring consensus was happening as expected, and working on testing and optimizations for libp2p's gossip sub protocol in preparation for its integration into ETH 2.0.
Our News
Our.news had a Chrome extension which allowed users to rate and fact check the news through a crowd sourced method and wanted to build a mobile app. We created a native iOS app that allowed users to open articles with Flipboard, Facebook, etc and rate them, fact check them, and get information about the news source itself without leaving the app.
BioClarity
As a purveyor of plant-based skin care, bioClarity aspires to make healthy beauty more accessible and be a part of consumers’ overall well-care. Founded as a digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand, we helped bioClarity build a subscription management system to improve their customer experience. The system offers a self-service quiz to triage cancels and helps customers solve subscription problems while capturing insights to improve bioClarity’s product line. They recently landed $13M in funding.
Streamoid
Streamoid is building a superintelligent AI platform for fashion and retail and came to AE for R&D and to productionalize computer vision and natural language processing algorithms (both classical and deep-learning-based) to enhance their search and production recommendation offerings. We also worked with them to make their large-scale fashion data acquistion more efficient via sophisticated web scraping algorithms. They have since been included in Gartner’s list of “Cool Vendors in Artificial Intelligence for Customer Analytics”, were selected to join Target's Accelerator Program, and have brands from the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. group and Spains’ largest retailer among their customers.
Draper Venture Network
We worked closely with Draper Venture Network to build their new public site and an exclusive member portal. The portal allowed over 1000 entrepreneurs and investors to connect in a meaningful way like never before, delivering value to their 24 funds managing over $2 billion in assets across the globe.
"AE was great at taking this 30,000ft. idea we had in our heads and turning it into a tangible product that looks beautiful and works as our users expect. They translated our business goals into actionable user stories and helped us shape the product in smart, startup-y ways as we went. We’re thrilled with the results."
- Anna Diaz, Product Manager, Draper Venture Network
Project with Chicagoist
We’ve entirely redesigned the Chicagoist identity and product with Chance The Rapper. We can’t talk about it yet but it’s going to be great! As part of our work with Chance, we also created a site for the Chicago alderman election.
AE Studio is putting us in the best possible position... Here at The Chicagoist we are undergoing a complete relaunch and AE has been an integral part of this process. .. AE Studio is currently focusing on creating a solution that can accommodate large traffic volumes. Regardless of the complexity of a task, the team moves quickly to get things done on time.
Teryn Payne
Reviews
the project
NFT Dev for Media & Technology Company
"They truly went above and beyond in their support and guidance."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm the Chief of Staff at a leading media & technology company.
For what projects/services did your company hire AE Studio, and what were your goals?
We collaborated with AE Studio to launch our inaugural collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) built on the Flow blockchain.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We found AE Studio through a referral and ultimately partnered with them because of the team's strong domain expertise, familiarity with the Dapper Labs team, and proven track record.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
The AE Studio team helped build the web3 functionality on Flow, where users can purchase NFT packs that include a set of NFTs, allowing them to open packs to reveal and obtain the NFT assets included in their packs.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
There were 3 people in the core team, including a stellar CTO, technical project manager, and blockchain engineer.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We were able to launch the first collection on time and fairly smoothly, and achieve our goal of selling out within 2 hours.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Despite working across various time zones, the team was effective and timely, holding weekly meetings, communicating swiftly on Slack, and always on call to assist.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
We had direct access to the whole team and they truly went above and beyond in their support and guidance.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
We were moving on an aggressive timeline and some steps (e.g. approvals) took longer than we'd hoped, although this was out of AE Studio's control.
the project
UI/UX Design for Sports Analytics Hardware Company
"They’re the most professional organization we’ve worked with."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO of SIQ Basketball, a sports analytics hardware company that manufactures hardware inside a basketball. We connect to a mobile device via Bluetooth and provide advanced analytics for players on any court in the world.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
We were looking to refresh and improve our UX/UI, educate our consumers on using our product, and onboard new users.
What was the scope of their involvement?
AE Studio did a complete mobile application redesign, from understanding what our product does from a core UX level to simplifying and streamlining the entire UX. We had a previous design, but they did everything from scratch. The team worked on the UX and general flow of the product. Then, they also provided a total redesign of the interface, including iconography, fonts, and colors for the brand identity.
Our main feature is connecting the basketball via Bluetooth. Once the ball is connected, users can shoot it, and the app provides plenty of analytics. For example, we can tell if the person made or missed the shot, the release speed and angle, the heat map, and more. AE Studio worked on the data visualization, and the app also has a lot of social components so users can compete and play with each other. Additionally, there’s a leaderboard to showcase global ranks. Overall, it has a lot of built-in network effects.
What is the team composition?
We have three people on the team. Greg (Partner & COO) oversees everything from a managerial position, and we work with one project manager and one UX/UI designer. We mainly work with these two, and then we have a weekly check with Greg just to make sure we’re all on the same page and within budget and time.
How did you come to work with AE Studio?
We’ve worked with Greg on other projects throughout the years, and we’ve always had a great experience working with AE Studio. They’ve been nothing but professional, and the team delivers amazing results — they’re always on time and within budget. Therefore, we didn’t have to fix something that wasn’t broken.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent $25,000 on the first phase of the project.
What is the status of this engagement?
We agreed to work with them about six months before we actually started the project. We had some internal delays, and they were patient and professional. We’ll continue the project once we implement what we’ve designed. Right now, we don’t have the capacity to continue, and we also need to learn more about what the consumer wants before we can make more changes.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It’s been nice to work with a big fish. They’ve delivered professional results for our little startup. In terms of setting expectations and delivering goals, they were faster than expected and just right under budget.
Moreover, the entire process was incredible. We had a nuanced, specific niche, and Greg placed relevant designers to work on our project. Since we had a basketball-focused app, he found a designer who played basketball to work with us, which was incredibly helpful. We sent the product to the designer, and he actually took the product manager and shot the ball over 500 times to learn all the nuances of the app. Then, they applied those to the design process.
Overall, we’ve been thrilled with their process and learning the customers’ needs.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
We had a collaborative process. When the project was ongoing, they kept us updated every step of the way on how they were advancing the design. We interfaced through Sigma and Slack. Overall, the process was faster than expected and under budget, which was perfect.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re the most professional organization we’ve worked with. We’ve been lucky to find AE Studio and build a relationship with them over the last few years across multiple organizations. Everyone that I’ve referred to them has been very positive about their interactions. They’re borderline robotic in their process, which is a great thing for a service provider. It’s been an excellent experience, and whatever project we’re on to nex, they’ll be our top of mind.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Considering the resources and parameters we gave them, we couldn’t have expected a better outcome.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Their process is incredible, so trust it. However, you still have to put in the effort to communicate what you need. If you do it, they’ll deliver results.
the project
Custom Development for Digital Engagement Platform
"They’re willing to lean in and help find ways to get it done. They’re very product-minded."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the co-founder and CTO for Mandolin. We’re a digital engagement platform for the live entertainment industry. The company was founded at the beginning of COVID-19 due to the shutdown of the music industry.
We initially focused on live streaming concerts. Since then, we’ve evolved into all aspects of digital live events, such as live streams, VIPs, and on-demand content. We also have web and mobile applications, and we’ve recently added our non-fungible token (NFT) platform for collectibles around the live experience.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
We were initially working with them on some data-related initiatives. We talked for 2–3 months about different projects as an early-stage startup. Our roadmap constantly evolved, especially since the pandemic was impacting our industry so significantly.
Therefore, we discussed data science projects around fan enrichment and how to understand our user base at a deeper level. Then, we got things going with our NFT project, and we worked with them this year on our data and Blockchain projects.
What was the scope of their involvement?
First, AE Studio built the application to connect MetaMask wallets and integrated it with OpenSea SDK so we could put NFTs into our show experience for buying and bidding within the Mandolin platform. It took them four weeks.
After that engagement, we envisioned the 2.0 version of the platform, and they worked on a second project for 5–6 weeks. We leveraged a third-party platform called FullContact, and AE Studio built a custom data pipeline in AWS with Lambda and tied it to our authentication service. When a user registers or purchases a ticket, we bounce their email against FullContact, and it gives us publicly available information around demographics, household income, and so on to store the data in our data warehouse.
Then, we focused on NFT 2.0, which allows us to sell NFTs on our custom Shopify app. Users can buy those NFTs using fiat money or cryptocurrency, and we have a custom infrastructure using the polygon Blockchain solution for Ethereum and a built-in wallet powered by Magic.
Additionally, they did frontend development on React as part of the entire web application.
What is the team composition?
At any point, we had between 2–5 people. We had a project manager, a tech lead, and 2–3 senior developers.
For the last project, I was in charge of project management because we had a tight budget. Nonetheless, we’d already worked together, so we had that established rapport. We also had the same developers as the last iteration, so they knew the codebase.
How did you come to work with AE Studio?
They reached out to us. Jevan (Executive VP) sent an email back in November 2020, and it was a compelling outreach.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $250,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began the project in Mach 2021, and it ended in September 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We were able to get something off the ground very quickly. We had a well-sized engineering team, but we also had a lot of rigor in how we managed the project. Also, bringing them in to build something out was key, and it was a significant signal to the market that we’re really innovative.
On the data front, we were able to identify some segments within our fan data population, and our marketing team has been running some test campaigns to look for a lift in higher net-worth individuals.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
I’ve worked with many outsourced dev shops, and I like to develop requirements in real-time and move forward on a daily basis. In that sense, AE Studio was with us every step of the way. They had a project manager to keep the trains moving and ensure everybody was communicating well. Overall, we operated with flexibility.
What did you find most impressive about them?
First, the speed at which they were able to execute our requirements and their professionalism were impressive.
The project touched on five different parts of our infrastructure, from our web app and through our API and everything in between. They ramped up in a week, understood where things needed to plug in, and executed all at a high-quality level.
Moreover, the engineers were outstanding. It was great to work with people who could code, translate product requirements quickly, and communicate well.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I don’t think so. We’re 100% satisfied with AE Studio, and we’ll definitely be doing business with them in the future.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If you’re the type of organization that wants to build in a flexible and fast-paced manner, they’re a great partner for you. If you think something is too big for a given time frame, they’re willing to lean in and help find ways to get it done. They’re very product-minded.
the project
Custom Software Development for Digital Marketplace
"Their project management style and communication are the best!"
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm the VP of Products at Prosperity Digital Marketplace, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Way Western Connecticut. We are building a marketplace like platform that aims to meet the needs of those who live paycheck to paycheck - a population that spanned 40% of the American population (pre-Covid)
For what projects/services did your company hire AE Studio, and what were your goals?
As of today, there is a huge population that are defined as ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained, Employed) - these are people who work hard, often more than one job, but do not qualify for Social Services or Federal aids, because often, they make a dollar too much. COVID has also brought them into the spotlight - they are our essential workers. There is nothing currently available that can be an easy, one stop solution for all their needs - they are hardworking and proud and do not want to take away from those in need, and yet busy and do not have to time to jump hoops and spend hours trying to find what they maybe eligible for, that could make their life easier.
On the other side, there are businesses and non-profits that are aiming to help this population and give back to their community in a trusted manner. We aim to be that trusted solution that connects those who need the help to those who can help. A single platform that helps our users in all their needs, be it financial, career based, basic needs etc - that lends a hand up, not a hand out; one that can also be the single source for both business and non-profits to be able to expand their reach and offerings that help both the community and them in a way that they can trust that the people that get these benefits are the right ones.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
They came recommended by a trusted source. We interviewed them for technical capabilities and practices, and also looked up their reviews on Clutch and spoke to references.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
They have built a Strapi based platform that allows our stakeholders to build content, (offers, programs etc.) that can be made available to our users in way that that it gets customized to the needs of our users. Users have to apply to qualify as members. They had a discovery call where we discussed the scope of the project in detail, through discussion and some exercises, they got a sense of our priorities and vision. Together we prioritized the approach to be taken and have been delivering in 1 week sprints in an extremely agile, iterative and responsive manner.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
initially, 1 account manager, 2 to 3 developers and 1 product designer/product manager.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We were able to have. POC up and running in about 2 months! this gave us the ability to demo to investors, and have our stakeholders initiate content development, while we worked on refining features and build for security and scale. The interface designed is extremely modern and does not at all feel like a "social service site" . AE has been critical in providing us with solutions and tools to get what we need. Within the first month, we are averaging a 4% conversion rate for our funnel!
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Their project management style and communication are the best! Extremely transparent, really good with prioritization, taking ownership and very very responsive to stakeholder needs. We use Pivotal Tracker, Slack, GitHub and Heroku. Dev Ops has also been very smooth.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
They are consistently great with their deliverables and the style of managing the project. This definitely reflects on their leadership and their ability to set company wide standards on soft skills, which is unique and refreshing. We are enjoying working with them and are assured in the quality we are receiving all around.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Once so far, there was miscalculation of effort, and gaps in communication, but they more than compensated in their efforts and results in delivering what was promised.
the project
App Dev, UX/UI Design, & Data Mgmt for IT Wellness Startup
"Their technical knowledge was a pivotal aspect of our product’s success."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO and co-founder of Indicator, an IT wellness company that currently focuses on developing a mobile application that measures cannabis effects.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
We needed a team to help us make our MVP more user-friendly and integrate new functionalities.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Prior to AE Studio’s UX/UI efforts, they built our app's backend and performed data science-related tasks that led to machine learning and AI integration. Additionally, they created an AWS-based dashboard to help us view and sort our app's raw data. As for the design, their team implemented web visualizations and patterns that provided our users with an optimized viewing experience.
What is the team composition?
We worked with Greg (CTO), whom we met with regularly. From a project management standpoint, our main points of contact were Dan (Project Manager) and Ben (Product Designer & Manager).
How did you come to work with AE Studio?
Their team was referred to us by a friend who worked with them in the past. One of the main factors as to why we decided to go with their team was that they were the only agency that offered the range of services and expertise that we needed for our project.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project ran from September 2020–March 2021. The entire timeline consisted of a two-month design and development sprint, internal testing, and limited data testing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve successfully deployed our application to the App Store and as of writing, we have more than 500 organic downloads. AE Studio worked hard on improving the UX/UI of our platform, and we feel that we truly got what we paid for through their dedicated services.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
We mainly communicated via Slack. AE Studio was a responsive team that adjusted well to our preferences and canceled meetings. Additionally, they were also highly receptive to our feedback — we always received their edits and solutions within the day. The accuracy of their deliverables also sped up the entire process as we didn’t have to allocate too much time in going over the same things.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We were truly pleased with the smooth flow of their work and our collaboration. AE Studio had a great balance of efficient communication skills and reliable expertise. Their technical knowledge was a pivotal aspect of our product’s success — they worked swiftly according to our timeline without sacrificing the quality of their deliverables.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I didn’t encounter any areas that needed improvement. Even when one of our sprints went behind our expectations, their team handled everything for us.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be very open in communicating your goals to AE Studio’s team and value their technical capacity — AE Studio will take it from there and deliver what you need.
the project
Custom Quiz Experience for Sleep Aid Provider
“They were always available when we needed to fix anything, and the speed at which they got to it was amazing.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of RealSleep, which is a personalized plant-based sleep aid provider. We use plant-based ingredients to address personalized sleep issues and deliver customized formulas. We also include cannabinoid-derived ingredients like CBD and CBN in our formulas, so we’re categorized as a CBD company.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
We wanted to enhance our website’s UX.
What was the scope of their involvement?
AE studio built a quiz experience for our website. They used Sigma to build the quiz from scratch, using databases and records. We requested that it asked for the user’s name, age, gender, and sleep habits to help us provide personalized aid.
They also built a web-based app which was a mobile-compatible version of what they built for our website.
What is the team composition?
Arun (Data Scientist) was our project manager. We also worked with Greg (CTO) and Ed (Head of Data Science).
How much have you invested with them?
The full project’s cost was around $125,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from March–May 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’re in the data collection phase of the survey. We’ve installed Amplitude to track how many visitors we have and how much time they spend on our website. We’ll be in the tracking period for the next two weeks. We’ll then start our PR marketing push, so it’s too early to give specific metrics.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
We had a Slack channel where we had access to their leadership team and people working on the project. In addition, we had a 15-minute stand-up daily. On Tuesdays, we had working sessions to discuss what we were working on, and on Wednesdays, we had project review meetings with Greg and Ed.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They were always available when we needed to fix anything, and the speed at which they got to it was amazing. The scope was constantly changing, so I appreciated their flexibility and ability to add more members to get everything done on time, especially when we moved from a web-based survey to a mobile web app.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The design process could be improved. Usually, you tell them what you want, and after some iterations, you get to see it in action. However, our timing didn’t allow for the optionality that I believed would’ve helped us. Nevertheless, we were happy with the design — they did a great job.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be as open as possible. Communicate often and tell them everything you want, and they will deliver.
the project
Startup Support Portal for Technology Company
"They empowered our org to build better relationships through providing real value to our startups."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
Samsung NEXT is the innovation arm of Samsung. My role was Head of Platform at Samsung NEXT Ventures, leading programs, resources, and support for our portfolio of startups by leveraging Samsung's global reach and resources to help our startups get to their next phase of success.
For what projects/services did your company hire AE Studio, and what were your goals?
AE Studio worked with us to design and implement an exclusive hub for our startups to have all of the tools, advisors, and research needed to problem solve the challenges early stage startup leaders face.
They also helped us explore a tool we wanted to build for analyzing and leveraging strong professional network connections.
How did you select AE Studio and what were the deciding factors?
We selected AE Studio for their teams' skills and knowledge best matching what we knew we wanted to accomplish, as well as their project leaders providing great clarity at the forefront on how we would accomplish our goals together.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
We wanted an in-browser, mobile-friendly platform hub for our startups. We knew that we needed to honor our startup leaders' varied roles, from CEO to Finance to HR, in how we selected tools for notification and communication.
AE Studio was incredibly thoughtful in making sure we stayed focus on designing for our specific audiences and kept to scope. They were very good at managing expectations on timeline and what would be delivered in that timeline.
As far as I recall, they used fullstack JavaScript and used vendors such as Heroku and GitHub for easy handoff back to us to maintain.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
5 at its peak. They didn't always keep 5 positions because, depending on the phase of work, there wasn't much for them to do(which was very respectful of our budget and their time). Design, engineers, and lead.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
AE Studio worked with us a few times to iterate over the portal as we got data over time as to what we needed to change (they had nothing to work off of when we started for user feedback because we greenfielded).
By the end of our project work, thanks to suggestions from AE Studio, we had formed relationships with 20 startups who had been near silent with us prior and were able to provide quick expiring opportunities to our startups where prior we had 1 week turnarounds for any communication back and forth.
They empowered our org to build better relationships through providing real value to our startups.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.
We had a regular weekly calendar of meetings, from design to debugging and demo/updates. From my experience, AE Studio offers a modern design-thinking focused project management style without spending too much time in the weeds of the brainstorming phase.
We did this design phase work in-person for one project, and in another used collaborative, online tools for group work(stickies.io and figma, iirc).
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
They have strong opinions, as they should in their areas of expertise, and honor the strong opinions of their clients that allows for a great finished project and doesn't make you feel railroaded.
They are very diplomatic in handling such discussions. AE Studio is good at managing expectations with timeline and outcomes desired weighed against the budget you've laid out.
They also take care in trying to figure out how the handoff to client will work once the project is completed.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
N/A
the project
UI/UX and Mobile Development for Fitness Tech Firm
"It’s one thing to have technical skills, but they’re great human beings that are also great at their jobs."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We’re a consumer technology startup that’s at the intersection of wearables, connected devices, and analytics. I’m the CEO and co-founder.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
We needed them to build an agnostic health and wellness platform for us.
What was the scope of their involvement?
In the health and wellness space, the big user pain point is finding what works for them and what to do next. We were solving that by building an agnostic platform that used gestural technology to provide personalized insights. Lastly, it was intended to turn those insights into an actionable takeaway.
For instance, if a customer’s goal is to increase athletic performance, the app may recommend a class to help you achieve your goal. It’s a complex product, and we needed someone to create the app as well as the analytics architecture, backend infrastructure, and first integration with the Apple Watch. This was a technical undertaking. We have machine learning and AI models on the backend that manages data processing as well as creating recommendations. They created the platform for iOS, but we used React so we’d be able to switch to Android pretty quickly. Our target demographic generally uses Apple products more than Android, so we decided to start there while leaving the opportunity to scale open for the future. We’re live in the App Store today.
What is the team composition?
We worked with five people. Our most direct contact was Melanie (Head of Technology). We were in weekly check-ins with her about how they managed the priorities of the last week. In addition to Melanie, we worked with Amelie (Director of Product & UX), Lucas (Senior Software Engineer), and Arun (Data Scientist).
How did you come to work with AE Studio?
We were an early-stage startup that was searching Google for an ideal partner after putting together funding. I have a technical background and helped guide our team on what to look for in a development shop. We ended up vetting them and two other teams. AE Studio was proficient in a wide range of technologies and platforms: mobile apps, websites, product design, machine learning, and more. Their experience with recommendation engines and scalable architecture really stood out because those skills would be necessary for our project as well.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent about $125,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working together since August 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We measured their success by examining speed, efficiency, cleanliness of code, and QA. Our team measured them against our benchmarks on a weekly basis during our weekly meetings. Internally, we were very pleased with their capabilities.
In terms of external feedback, users find the app to be beautiful. We also haven’t experienced a single crash since we’ve entered the App Store. Most players in our space can expect a 16% retention rate, and we’re experiencing a 46% retention rate. From a product standpoint, we’re impressed with that.
Their development speed impressed us as well. When we started the engagement, our goal was to complete the development in nine months. AE Studio blew us away by immediately telling us we could complete the work on a faster timeline. They helped us return to the scope and ramp up technologies we didn’t even know we had access to. In the end, the development only took about four months.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
They're some of the most efficient project managers I’ve ever seen. We have at least five touchpoints each week with the team, including demos, an account manager check-in, and a weekly retro or recap.
Our check-ins with Melanie were far beyond transactional. They covered timelines, updates, and more. The documentation is so good that I can look back and still see their reasoning for each edit they made throughout the project.
Melanie was instrumental in the structure of the entire project. Through her, we were able to learn how their company operates. The team was cross-functional and fit our team like a glove.
For communication, we use Notion, which they were happy to adopt. Additionally, they used Pivotal to manage the development roadmap, Amplitude for product management, and Figma for designs. Figma allowed us to engage in live design-based discussions with Amelie. Early on in the engagement, we mapped out architecture with Lucidchart as well. We communicated solely through Zoom, but still maintained several touchpoints each week. There was plenty of cross-functional collaboration, so we hopped on calls whenever needed.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re great human beings. It’s one thing to have technical skills, but they’re great human beings that are also great at their jobs. That speaks volumes about their company culture. For companies looking to hire people with strong proficiency in their field, great know-how, extreme adaptability, and great personalities, then they’re the team for hire.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I wish they would’ve told us “no” a little more often. Early into our planning, we had tons of ideas. Sometimes, they would discourage them when they knew they wouldn’t work. However, other times, they would attempt to investigate those ideas to satisfy us. I wouldn’t have minded them telling us “no” more. That could be considered semantics at this point.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They’re extremely valuable when you treat them as a partner. Don’t be afraid to lean on them and treat them as an internal team. Then, they’ll best be able to pull from their internal experience and apply it to your project. You’ll see a significant return on your invested time and possibly craft an ongoing relationship.
the project
Web Based Tool for Behavior Change Novel
"They were excellent — it’s why I’m planning to do more work with them."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the owner of BJ Fogg, LLC.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
I was trying to make it easier for my customers to interact with my content.
What was the scope of their involvement?
I wanted a web-based tool — not an installable app, but something simple that users could access on any web browser or mobile app. I had some ideas when we first started working together, but there wasn’t any code yet. AE Studio built it from scratch.
The design is very simple and neutral. On the backend, AE Studio built an admin tool, so I could enter and adjust content as well as view analytics.
What is the team composition?
Greg (Partner & CTO) is my main point of contact.
How did you come to work with AE Studio?
They reached out to me for some advice. After our phone call, I was really impressed with them, and decided to reach out for their services
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from August–December 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It’s not necessarily a metric, but I was most concerned with whether the site was easy to use and would actually help people, which it does and is. I would say it was a successful project.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
AE Studio was superb. They were very impressive. The team made very clear how the project would be managed: they set expectations, brought in really talented people, and did a great job of introducing us and helping us develop relationships with different people.
AE Studio was clear about meetings and deadlines, and they were flexible whenever things came up. They were a delight to work with.
It was totally remote, so we kept in touch through voice memos, phone calls, Slack, and Google Docs.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Working with AE Studio was really good. They asked me for feedback on a regular basis, which demonstrated how much they cared about our success. They were excellent — it’s why I’m planning to do more work with them.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There’s nothing that comes to mind.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If you can, work with AE Studio. They’re very good at asking questions and bringing out of it what you want.
the project
Web Dev & UI/UX Implementation for Studio Production Partner
“Their attention to detail is superb.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the chief architect for Entertainment Partners, a production partner for a lot of studios. We help them create content.
What challenge were you trying to address with AE Studio?
They developed a new informational marketing site.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our design partner created the look and feel, and AE Studio implemented it. They used Gatsby and GraphCMS to rebuild the site from the ground up.
What is the team composition?
We worked with two full stack developers and one project manager.
How did you come to work with AE Studio?
They’re a GraphCMS integration partner. We received pitches from a handful of companies, but AE Studio understood our needs and knew how to help us meet our goals. They didn’t try to upsell us, either.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $150,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project lasted from January–October 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They did an excellent job and were great to work with. I look forward to working with them again.
How did AE Studio perform from a project management standpoint?
They did well and used Pivotal Tracker to keep things on schedule. They delivered on time and on budget.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their attention to detail is superb.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Nothing comes to mind.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If it’s your first time using an outsource agency, define the scope and get it in writing ahead of time. You should also be engaged in the process. Some companies assume that once they hire another company, they don’t need to be as involved, but then they don’t get the results they wanted.
AE Studio’s efforts allowed the client to successfully launch their NFT collection, meeting expectations. They displayed effective and timely project management despite working across various time zones. Their accessibility and dedication were impressive.