AI Derivatives

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of Outdone, an AI-powered web application that recommends gifts. Users interact with a simple UX, briefly describing the person they are shopping for, and Outdone instantly displays clothing brands that our engine identifies as a good match.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AI Derivatives, and what were your goals?

We hired AI Derivatives for two main purposes: an AI recommendation engine build and general web app development. We came to them with a large dataset with the goal of using this to launch a gift recommendation engine in a few months time.

SOLUTION

How did you select AI Derivatives and what were the deciding factors?

We selected AI Derivatives for a number of reasons. First, their breadth of knowledge was second to none. Jason and his team had the expertise and resources to tackle many things — machine learning, web dev, scalability, content management and more. And on top of that, they were extremely professional from the very first call.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started out with a couple of calls with the team so that they could understand, in detail, what we were setting out to build. From there, AI Derivatives took some time to prepare a detailed and comprehensive proposal. The first steps were centered around the machine learning modeling, for which we very deliberately validated the outputs together before moving forward.

From there, AI Derivatives began front end and back end development using PyTorch and AWS to build the site infrastructure and integrate the engine into the designs we had been working on with a third party. The team at AI Derivatives worked seamlessly with both us and the third party throughout the process.

How many people from the AI Derivatives team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I believe AI Derivatives had 4 or 5 individuals working on the project at any given moment. Our main two contacts were Jason Wells and Salman Khalid. Jason acted as the team lead and technical project manager. Salman worked more in the weeds of site and engine development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Nearly everyone we've shared Outdone with has had positive feedback for us. Everyone is very impressed with our and AI Derivatives' work. The site delivers great recommendations via a virtually frictionless UI. Outdone has now been featured by a handful of publications and became a Top 5 Product of the Day on Product Hunt shortly after launch.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

AI Derivatives shined in many areas, but their project management was seriously top notch. They provided a very precise timeline from the beginning of the partnership and stuck to it without any major setbacks. The team was available to meet on a weekly basis and would readily respond on Slack more frequently than that.

The project was delivered on schedule and the final output exceeded our expectations.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The breadth of the team's expertise was impressive and useful. AI Derivatives was essentially a one-stop-shop for the technical aspects of our site launch. Everyone we spoke to on the team was extremely knowledgeable.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None that jump out at me. Communicating across time zones would sometimes cause slight delays, but this was never a major inconvenience.