Altar.io

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO and Founder of a financial technology company focus on an enterprise-level software solution for the capital markets.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altar.io, and what were your goals?

We were looking for a development partner to run point on tech for our start up. This would be to develop the first version of our product and help us integrate a number of data feeds into the system.

How did you select Altar.io and what were the deciding factors?

This was going to be a partnership and not just a transactional relationship. Our developer needed to have fintech specific expertise, good understanding of our aims and be aligned in developing and delivering an enterprise system.

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

We ran a detailed product scope process led by Altar. This used all the common collaboration systems to facilitate our workstreams. Ultimately Altar have presented to us a cloud-based system architecture which we believe will be robust and scalable in line with our business needs.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have dealt with seven members of the team including two of the co-founders, the CTO / Partner, head of marketing, project manager and two full stack developers.

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

We got a full project scope on time and on budget despite the scope and scale of the project growing through the process. The team were unbelievably flexible, super intuitive around the soft items and gave key feedback that we needed not just around the software elements but also on the business model.

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

The team are brilliant communicators, run the project well and integrate technology into the process. Such is the case, we have all been fully remote through the process and I feel we have managed to operate as one team. The only timeline slips have come from our end due to deliverables from client to Altar. They remain on track with all their project deadlines thus far.

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

They are more than professional developers. They are start up experts, they understand business models, can calibrate the set presentation of the business and really add value beyond the coding. In doing this, they are able to give us confidence as we run our fund-raising that we have the right technology partner.

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

Nope - this team is the real deal.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder of Kursy Living, an affordable online design service.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altar.io?

We hired Altar.io to work on our product scope. As a first time founder, I didn't know where to start. I was looking for agency to develop the platform. After speaking with Altar, they highly recommended doing the 7 days product scope before going into design & development. Looking back, it was the perfect way to create the foundation of the company and set a clear path to be followed in terms of the development of the platform.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal for the project was to come out of the sessions with a clear breakdown of the product and defined budget for the development phase of the MVP.

How did you select Altar.io?

I contacted a few agencies that I had found on clutch, but Altar.io was by far the one with the best proposal and course of action.

Describe the project in detail.

As a preliminary step, I was given a list of research topics with a framework to follow that I to prepare to make the most out of the following session. The Product scope started with an immersion session, where we focused on detailing the product vision by defining the value proposition and positioning. We then worked on the different assumptions required for the product and on an initial list of users stories.

What was the team composition?

The project was assigned a Product co-owner, Daniel, who was leading it from start to finish.

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

The project has enabled us to set a strong foundation for the company. On top of the valuable deliverables received at the end of the product scope, the whole process has been a great learning experience for someone like me who is completely new to the startup world. We have now started the development phase with altar, which has been going seamlessly thanks to the work done during the product scope.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Over the 2 weeks of the product scope, the project management was very good and the communication efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The outcome of the project was above any of our expectations. Daniel's input and involvement in the process has been extremely valuable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really, I am very satisfied with the work done.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Ovvio Products & Solutions Pvt. Ltd., a startup focused on transforming the way in which humans seek information and knowledge using the power of human knowledge.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altar.io, and what were your goals?

We hired Altar.io to conduct a Product Scoping exercise and to develop a Proof of Concept for a key technology component of our proposed product. Our goals were to narrow down the feature sets that we needed as part of an MVP and verify that it was possible to build a product around our value proposition.

How did you select Altar.io and what were the deciding factors?

We came across Altar.io from research on the Internet, and reached out to them. They proposed a call in which they understood our needs and then provided us with a step-by-step path towards achieving our goals, including pricing.

We selected them as we were impressed with their approach and experience.

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

The project included detailed discussions for several days where they led us through a systematic querying exercise to identify the key ideas and feature sets. They challenged us in many areas and enhanced our thinking in other areas, acting almost as co-founders.

These discussions were them encapsulated in various deliverables and provided to us in a form and manner allowing us to proceed to the next stage. During the discussions, we identified the need to test a key set of technologies, and they offered their software development services for the same.

We proceeded parallelly on developing the Proof of Concept, which was a success.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The effort was led by Daniel as the key person co-ordinating with us for the two simultaneous projects. He was fully supported by a team consisting of Pierre and Paolo supporting on project management, Claudio on software and technology, and Filipa/Rui/Ana on various other aspects.

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

The project has enabled us to proceed with the next steps in taking forward our startup, and we are looking forward to work with Altar.io on the larger software development effort as well.

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

The project management was largely adequate, although there were moments when we had to request delivery scheduled/status updates on some parts of the work, especially when the 2 tasks at hand were linked and dependent on each other.

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

Altar.io is impressive in that they did not see themselves as a service provider. They actually donned the hat of a co-founder and treated the project in the same manner as us. It was truly admirable to see that they put their own business development efforts secondary to the success of the engagement.

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

The only areas for improvement we could recommend would be more timely updates on the project status, as well as increasing exposure of the clients to the technology aspects of the engagement.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder of a pre-revenue start-up working on developing solutions for tax professionals in the US.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altar.io, and what were your goals?

We hired Altar to initially develop a scope of work and initial UI/UX mock-ups for our planned MVP. The detailed scope of work would then serve to help us to better allocate resources and time for the development and launch of the MVP.

How did you select Altar.io and what were the deciding factors?

I had already worked with Altar in the past and was impressed by their professionalism, fast response times, transparency and high quality of the deliverables. When considering outsourcing for the development of our new project it was a no-brainer decision to work with Altar.

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

The project that we contracted Altar.io was for the creation of a detailed scope document for the development of our MVP. The scope document included competitive landscape, identification of ICP, user-flows, ui/ux design and time/cost estimates for the delivery of the MVP.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

there were 2 people that interfaced with most of the time, but there was a much larger team working on the deliverables on the backend. Most of my communications were with the Partner of the firm and a project manager.

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

The Altar team was able to deliver a very detailed project scope document along with mock-up screens of the UX/UI for the MVP.

Along with the scope document the team delivered a detailed timelines for the development of our MVP under two scenarios that were presented during the scoping calls.

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

Communications with the Altar team took place regularly during the duration of the project. Responses to questions or inquiries where quickly responded to and addressed.

Collaboration took place via video calls using Whereby.com and Miro.com for wireframing and use flow.

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

The team is extremely responsive and knowledgeable. During our collaboration the Altar team readily shared best practices and shared a ton of valuable insights with us.

We were very impressed with the overall talent of the team, the professionalism and quick turn-around on the deliverables.

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

None that I can think of at this time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a social network for fans.

What challenges were you trying to address with Altar.io?

I wanted to find a team that would help me bring my app to live and provide coding.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I went to them exclusively for coding, but they ended up helping me with a lot more. They brought new ideas and helped me get rid of things that didn’t work. They also provided general advice about how to establish my startup and make it a reputable business. 

The app includes a social networking feed, an analytics system, immersive videos, and the ability to follow and friend other users. 

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with Daniel (Co-Founder), but I also worked with Pierre (Project Manager), Rose (Product Expert), Gonçalo (UX/UI Designer), André Pinto (Partner & Lead Frontend), and Claudio (Partner & CTO). 

How did you come to work with Altar.io?

I found them on Clutch. I had spoken to them previously but didn’t choose them initially. However, my initial vendor didn’t provide as good of a value for my money. 

How much have you invested with them? 

So far, I’ve spent around $5,000, but the total project cost will be around €51,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in mid-June 2020, and we’re still working together. 

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

We haven’t launched the app yet, so there aren’t any success metrics to share. However, the quality of their work has been strong and the output is better than I imagined. I’m frequently blown away by their deliverables. 

How did Altar.io perform from a project management standpoint?

Sometimes things take longer than expected or there are mistakes. However, I don’t think this overshadows the overall quality of their team. They’re transparent and upfront about the progress they’re making. The communication is frequent. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They added so much more value than I expected from a development company. They walked me through the process of how to create a strong business, not just how to make a good app. They’re really involved and feel like an extension of my team. They take a very holistic approach. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project organization could be improved so that time estimates are more accurate and tasks don’t fall by the wayside. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Connect with them and discuss your projects. They only like to work on projects that they believe in, so see if they’re passionate about what you want to do and establish a connection.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m co-founder and Product Consultant of SprintProd.dev, a product design and development firm that helps startups and organizations to design and build digital products that clients love.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altar.io?

We are helping a client developing a next-generation AI multichannel marketing platform and we needed a proven tech stack to address millions of contacts imports, data cleaning, real-time segmentation and ready to scale on demand. Altar.io showed us a product that had these problems solved so they were hired to do a tech spike.

What were your goals for this project?

The tech spike goals were:

1. Importing up to 50 millions of contacts in less than 3 minutes
2. Data cleaning and indexing the main segments
3. Real-time segmentation via a front end interface.
4. Tech stack architecture

How did you select this vendor?

We found them via a Google Search. They had built a similar product that reflects a client´s use case – hutsi.com. Altar.io presented a very lean and agile process. The time to complete the project was only 3 days and the price was reasonable.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The tech spike delivered:  

1. Importing up to 50 millions of contacts in less than 3 minutes
2. Data cleaning and indexing the main segments
3. Real-time segmentation via a front end interface
4. Tech stack architecture

What was the team composition?

We work with Daniel (Co-Founder) and Claudio (CTO)

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

The product is still being built, so it is not in the market yet. Altar.io delivered a fundamental component of this product.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project was delivered on time and in budget and communication was done via Skype and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Altar.io has an impressive cross-industry experience in product and software development covering verticals like fintech, real estate, fashion, and music, applying deep tech like AI & ML.

They deliver the service through a lean and agile process aligned with the best practices of designing and building modern products. Their team is smart, fast, and entrepreneurial. They combine tech, business and user value to deliver fast and high-value service to the client.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The experience working with Altar.io was flawless.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the General Manager of Sendit, a portuguese company spcialized in digital communication providing several services including SMS Marketing, Email Marketing, Voice on IVR, Mobile Ticketing and Digital Consulting.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altar.io?

Sendit is developing a new platform and we hired Altar.io services to produce a POC about a specific part of our project which is related to massive data ingestion and query.

What were your goals for this project?

Validate the better tech stack that should be applied in our project to solve our problems and got the best possible advice about best practices when managing large sets of customer data.

How did you select this vendor?

Our project team includes a PM which is also responsible for searching opportunities in the market that accelerate the development of our platform and companies that may help us conclude the project in the shortest time possible.

When facing a tech decision dead-end, our PM does a search on the web and in its network connections and he came up with Altar.io as a possible solution for a POC. They also had in their portfolio a similar project that gave us enought confidence that they were the perfect choice.

Describe the project in detail.

We had some discover meetings in the beginning to understand the project scope and what were our goals since we were asking for a POC and not for an entire project. The Altar.io team was amzing. The discovery stage was led by one of its founders (Daniel Ruivo) and Claudio, the CTO led the development stage. The project was competed in about one week and our goals achieved. As an output, we got a report containing the tech stack that could be applied to our project and some performance indicators.

What was the team composition?

Daniel Ruivo (Founder) with his skills of marketing, product and strategic decisions covering data science and Claudio (CTO) with the technical approach to solve the problem.

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

After one week, as estimated, we got the POC and the results covering the best tech stack possbile to solve the problems we're facing in our new platform.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication was perfect and we understood each others points of view since the beginning of our conversations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their experience and ability helped them come up with several solutions in a very short period of time. Very agile, with a lot of knowledge related to data science and always commited to help us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied about the relation with them and with the work produced. Maybe in a bigger project we came up with ideas for improvement but for now everything went just as expected.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Datahouse is a data science company based in Switzerland. We combine data expertise with our competence in building innovative web applications. In that way, we offer added value and unique solutions to our customers.

I'm a senior project manager and, among other things, responsible for the development site in Lisbon and coordinating the collaboration with Altar.io.

What challenge were you trying to address with Altar.io?

It is hard for us to find the people with the necessary skills here, so we decided to build up a second development site to complement our existing one.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Altar.io supported us to establish a team of software developers in Lisbon. They do a preselection of the candidates, take care of the administration and provide the office space. The team itself is dedicated to us and is fully managed by us. We started with two frontend developers and after a while we hired a full-stack developer and we’re still hiring.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work together with one of the owners.

How did you come to work with Altar.io?

They were referred to us. We did some Skype interviews first and after that went on-site to get an impression of how they work and who they are.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000–$100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2018, and the work is ongoing.

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

The effort for recruiting on our side decreased very much and we are able to scale much faster.

How did Altar.io perform from a project management standpoint?

The documents they provide us are always very structured. They are reliable and punctual and are very open in communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have always been very happy with the candidate preselection for each vacancy that was perfectly tailored to our needs. They have a very broad and strong professional network and care about people a lot.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Opera Co-Pro, an online marketplace for the top management of opera companies and performing arts centers, to get together and share projects, or coproduce shows together. It’s the first global marketplace that allows performing arts managers to get in touch with each other and collaborate.

What challenge were you trying to address with Altar.io?

I started the company three years ago, and the first version of the platform was done by a member of the organization. However, their skills were not sufficient enough to develop in the direction I wanted.

I decided to outsource the project to a company, and the big problem I faced was to find someone knowledgeable about performing arts, specifically opera. This worked out great with Altar.io because Daniel (Co-Founder) had a background as an opera singer.

When I presented him with a project to create a marketplace to connect opera companies from all over the world, he was very enthusiastic. He invited me to discuss the project. We got along incredibly well, but Daniel was still willing to challenge my way of thinking to ensure the best outcome.

The first challenge was creating a global marketplace. We had several questions, including what was the best way to get in touch with people speaking different languages, and whether it was feasible to make an MVP in multiple languages.

The second challenge was regarding user analysis. We wanted to have a website that wasn’t just a database, but one that also analyzed user movements and actions to make useful suggestions to those users.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked together for over two months to recreate the structure of the platform. This included creating an MVP in multiple languages and developing a database for website analytics. 

We also created a registration system for new members to sign up online. With the system we had before, whenever a client wanted to register on the site, we had to send them a contract via email, which then had to be printed, signed, scanned, and sent back. With the new process, they can sign up directly online, and everything is done digitally.

What is the team composition?

Paolo (Co-Founder) and Daniel were my main points of contact. I worked with the same team throughout, and I think they brought in more people along the way. There was a core team of five people working on my website. Depending on what was needed, they brought in other members.

How did you come to work with Altar.io?

It was word of mouth initially. I had interviews in London, with both freelance developers and companies. I ran interviews for a few months, and I couldn’t find anyone that had the right level of expertise. The big problem was finding someone with industry knowledge. 

Altar.io was recommended by a friend of Paolo. We had a couple of preliminary meetings in London with him, and I went to Lisbon for two days after that, where I had a great meeting with Daniel and the rest of the team. 

How much have you invested with them?

The overall project cost €40,000 (approximately $44,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with Altar.io in May 2019, and it’s ongoing. The platform was launched in mid-November of that year, but we continued to implement improvements. 

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

I’ve received good feedback from clients and journalists who visited the website. We also managed to register a lot more clients through the website. In the first two years, only about 10 out of 200 total clients managed to actually sign up their contracts online. With the new website, we already have 50 clients in three months.

How did Altar.io perform from a project management standpoint?

We were assigned to a project manager that was fully dedicated to us. Communication was great. We were both on email and WhatsApp, and I could contact our project manager at any time of the day or night, and even during weekends. Whenever there was a problem, we tried to address it immediately. I’m quite satisfied with the way we were treated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their problem solving was great. They don’t just help the client build an app; they follow them across every aspect of business management.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, I felt a bit lost because I didn’t understand the development process. It would be best for them to outline the project in advance.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company called Quartal Financial Solutions. We are a provider of revenue and expense management and software, and our clients are mostly banks and asset managers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Altar.io?

We were looking for a company with experience in UX/UI design to help us with the refresh and redesign of our mobile application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The process started with a 2-3 month analysis phase in which we were gathering requirements and prototyping different proposals for what the new UI would look like. After that, we went into implementation, in which their team worked with us to build the architecture and designs for the new frontend, followed by the implementation of the product.

What is the team composition?

They were recommended to us by another IT company that had been collaborating with them and was very happy with their work. When we met with them, we were impressed with their niche focus on UX design, so we decided to move forward with them.

How did you come to work with Altar.io?

We work with a team of people from their company, but our main contact is Daniel (Co-Founder).

How much have you invested with them?

Our total investment in the project was around $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from February 2019–February 2020.

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

We were very pleased with the cooperation as a whole. The outcome satisfied all of our expectations, meaning we now have a prototype of our new application that meets all of our demands with regard to usability and design.

How did Altar.io perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was delivered on time and in budget, which was definitely a big win for us and is not always the case in IT projects. We communicated with them through a combination of WebEx, Microsoft Teams, and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of engagement and communication with their founders is very high, which makes them much easier to deal with than some larger companies. They gave the project a very personal touch that made it enjoyable to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing in particular that I wish they did differently.