AndPlus

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

Our sales have grown every week since we launched the app last spring. The first launch of any pet product involves stabilizing the systems and fixing bugs, which we’ve done. We’re amplifying the launch for the fourth quarter.

Amazon reviews rate the product at about a 3.7. We just released the collar on Chewy, and early reviews are at 4.8.

How did AndPlus perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re communication was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work quickly through different technical challenges. They’re very good at estimating an efficient timeline and number of hours.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their graphic design capabilities. Their UI/UX [User Interface/User Experience] is good, and we’ve gotten to a good place, but design from a graphics standpoint could be stronger.

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

We have been an Inc. 5000 company for the last three years as a direct result of the work that AndPlus has done for us. Without their platform, we would not be able to be growing at the speed that we are. The quality of the coding has been very good. They completely custom built it to exactly how we wanted it. We’re continuing to make usability better all the time. They’ve made the user interface very custom in that functions like checking into work in a production area is a simple user experience.

I own another company as well, and a different company built that platform. I find AndPlus to be way easier to work with than that company. Even though it’s more expensive on the frontend with AndPlus, we spent less for the results that we’ve gotten because they don’t have to go back and rebuild things over and over. It’s part of a learning process for us. We're finding that what looks cheaper initially, probably isn’t cheaper in the long-term.

How did AndPlus perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a really great relationship with AndPlus — they are very responsive. We have a shared document that we work together on. We have a weekly call that my marketing department, office management, and external marketing team are all on with AndPlus. There’s a window each week that they tell us the things that they’re working on, things that they’re pushing, and things that are on the test site for us to test.

We currently work in two-week sprints where we assign tasks and they put values on it based on time. That allows us to control what we think are the most important new features for our system. If there are any pushes or changes, we can let our team know that the changes are going to happen and when it’s going to become live. There are no surprises for our customer service team or our production team or whomever that push may affect. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They genuinely care about the success of our business. I care about their success so they can be a vendor for us long-term and they care about our success. That’s the most distinguishing of the key vendor relationships that I have in our business. It’s a ‘we’re in this together’ feeling.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They seem to keep up to date with things that are happening in the industry. They come to us with solutions that could speed up the website or that Google or some other SEO advantages might happen because of this. At this point, I can’t think of anything they could do differently. Their communication is good. Their development is good. I’d recommend them to everybody if I wasn’t so selfish that I want them just to do our work.

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

The product they built contributed to multiple millions of dollars of revenue for us. We wouldn't have been able to sell the products without their support

I was very impressed that they were flexible to change their work methodology to fit what our needs were. For the first year, there were some points in time where we felt that we could make improvements in the working style of our partnership with regards to how often we talked about who was responsible for what. They were always willing to change everything at the drop of a dime to make sure that they satisfied our needs. We profited from that type of relationship.

The quality of the work got better over time, which is a product of their understanding more over time of what we were trying to build and what our coding style is like. We really needed a partner who could offer us consulting on how things can be done efficiently and that is something that they were able to do for us as well.

How did AndPlus perform from a project management standpoint?

They had their own project manager that they assigned to the project that worked directly with me from the beginning. They had someone who kept everyone in line and made sure items were finished on time. The project manager was my point person if I ever had a question; I would reach out to receive a response within an hour.

We liked that the CEO of the company was also very involved with us. He would call me every few weeks to make sure things were running smoothly. Any time I couldn't get in touch with someone on the project team (which was rare) I would reach out directly to him and he would facilitate communication back to us in a very timely manner. We really got the feeling that they were committed and dedicated to us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their ability to learn and understand the product. We worked with a lot of different vendors in different capacities and the amount of time it took AndPlus to understand what we were trying to build and the quality of the developers they gave us was spot on to our needs. They are a true partner rather than just a vendor.

Their coding capabilities are also high-quality. The quality of their work was very strong. It's hard for me to say whether they are the best vendor we have worked with because that’s hard to measure, but their coding was very strong, as well as their overall communication. The way they treated us as a customer goes above and beyond the other vendors we work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing explicit. If we ever had any issues, they were resolved very quickly. For example, in the beginning of the project they didn't respond for a few days. Once we made that known, the problem quickly went away; there wasn't another two day period that they didn't respond. If there was a particular coding principle that we needed to be changed, didn't agree with, or had an issue with, it was quickly changed. Nobody is perfect. What is valuable is that they are willing to change, get better, and improve.