Apiko

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Experitix, a company that connects people to unique experiences through our online event and registration marketplace.

For what projects/services did your company hire Apiko?

I hired Apiko to develop our web application.

How did you select this vendor?

I found them through an online website for hiring freelancers and agencies.

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

Since I have a background in UI/UX design and project management, I worked with Apiko in a highly collaborative and agile fashion. They first developed an MVP for my web application, and then carried that through to a scalable, production-ready application. They also provide ongoing maintenance and support.

We have paused and resumed development a few times over the last several years. Each time I reconnect with them, they’re able to provide skilled developers to work directly with me.

What was the team composition?

The team has always been small, usually consisting of just one developer and myself. Sometimes, we would pull in a second developer if there was a lot of work for a certain milestone which could be easily be split across more resources.

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

Their help in developing a custom online ticketing and registration marketplace for local events really enabled me to have the business I envisioned. The application is the mechanism through which the company operates, so it is a key piece of the business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was minimal for these projects. Their CEO would have conversations with me to understand the work that needed to be done and assign the right resource. From there, I would work with the developer to create tasks, estimates, and plan sprints. We used Jira for tracking sprints and an agile approach for software development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their JavaScript skills and desire to be proficient in newer frontend frameworks and technologies is what originally impressed me. They also excel in communication. For working halfway around the world with a seven-hour time difference, I was very pleased with how easy it was to communicate with them, both in understanding and frequency. They also really care about the success of their clients. Overall, they are a great company.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I can't think of any major areas for improvement. They’ve done a fantastic job and it has been a pleasure to work with them. I've formed a great relationship with them and hope to continue to build upon it and work with them far into the future.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of engineering at Skin Analytics. We provide machine learning applications on skin cancer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Apiko?

We wanted to build a mobile app for our clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the design of the app screens based on some wireframes we provided them with. They also did the development of the mobile app, using React Native. The apps are for both iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one graphic designer for the design of the screens, and there were two backend developers.

How did you come to work with Apiko?

We found them on Upwork and chose them after speaking with their business development person.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $9,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May­–June 2018.

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

They delivered on time and the app works well.

How did Apiko perform from a project management standpoint?

We had regular points for check-ins during the project. They managed to provide me with clear communication around what the issues were and the work they’d been doing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’d be happy to work with them again if we have future needs around the mobile apps.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve the developers’ level of English which would improve communication. However, we did manage to communicate fine.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a company that develops software for the broadcasting industry, among other sectors.

For what projects/services did your company hire Apiko?

We've partnered with Apiko to work on many projects. These include server-side development with NodeJS, website development with Meteor or React, and mobile and TV app development.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed developers with JavaScript expertise to work closely with our in-house team.

How did you select this vendor?

We talked to different vendors to see which ones could support our company's needs. Apiko seemed like the best fit at the time, and we've continued to work with for nearly two years now. We initially talked to the owners and a project manager and then worked with one or two of their developers to test how they would work and communicate with our teams.

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

Apiko provides software developers to work as an extension of our in-house technical teams when we need extra resources. They have specialized knowledge of sophisticated technologies like Meteor and GraphQL. Working in close collaboration with our internal engineers, they take part in our standups and communicate with us daily. All of the projects we work on together involve JavaScript. Specific ones feature technologies such as React, Preact, Meteor, GraphQL, Koa, NodeJS and MongoDB.

What was the team composition?

Apiko provides teams of developers to work with our in-house engineers, project managers, business analysts, and QA staff. Their teams usually work remotely, but we've also visited their offices to work together face-to-face.

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

Apiko has helped us deliver projects and gain more expertise within our company. They’ve taught us about skills we previous lacked, such as GraphQL.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We provided our own day-to-day project management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Apiko has always assigned us skilled developers who have a thorough understanding of relevant technology. They work efficiently and communicate effectively with the rest of our team. If we find on the rare occasion that a developer isn't entirely suitable for our project, they quickly replace them with a more suitable one. The team’s flexibility concerning staffing is valuable for us.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

We're happy with our relationship with Apiko and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Canary Office, heading the whole organization. It's a small startup at this point.

We do a few things, including invoicing. We enable small contractors and small shops to run their businesses without having to worry about generating invoices. We also gather reviews for our clients into one place so that our clients can see all of their online reputation review rankings. When there are negative reviews or any issues that their customers are noting about them online, they see it in one place and react to it quickly.

What challenge were you trying to address with JSSolutions?

We were trying to create an app that would take all of those reviews and centralize them so that our client can see their online reputation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JSSolutions provided the full development and testing for the application. The created a service-side for the solution that would gather the reviews into the central location. Then, they created a client-side which would interact with the server to pull data for a specific client and place it on their phone.

We decided to outsource the work to JSSolutions because of timing. They had the experience, the software, and the technology. The whole project flowed faster with them doing it instead of me doing it myself. I provided a complete set of requirements for them to follow which outlined all of the features I wanted.

From a high-level, we were looking to enable a user to set up links to their social media profiles through the app. They would put in the URL of the profile, and the app would pull all of the reviews from those pages. The app would then show all reviews and the user would be notified quickly of negative reviews.

JSSolutions used React Native for the development, and there were 3–4 team members working on the project. The composition of that team was consistent.

How did you come to work with JSSolutions?

I had a friend that knew them. I did consider an outsourced team, but the team I was considering was already working somewhere else full-time. I chose JSSolutions for timing reasons.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent between $10,000 and $50,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in March of this year. It took about three months for the first beta version to come out. Now, we're in beta, so we're working through some of the bugs and things like that.

The engagement is ongoing, but the deliverables we agreed to have been met. However, as with any software project we have the maintenance. I think we're going to be engaged for the long run, either way.

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

Not yet, because we're in beta mode. It's not fully released. It's released, but just a few people know about it. Not everybody.

How did JSSolutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. I was able to work with their lead in terms of requirements and things I wanted, and they were able to give them to the team to develop.

What did you find most impressive about them?

For the most part, they're responsive. They follow through with their commitments. Those are the two things that come to the top of my mind.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything right now.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of a web consulting agency in Melbourne, Australia. I have a few internal projects that I manage and I do development work for clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with JSSolutions?

We had an MVP for a product idea, and we’ve used JSSolutions for a number of other projects. They’re the developers we go to when we have an interesting concept that needs work. I’ve also used other developers for myself and my clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They exclusively handle app development for us on the Media JS platform. They are very strategic thinkers. My lead developer really excels at thinking through business problems. Often, people who write code have little connection to the problem. I’ll come up with an idea of what I want to solve along with some mockups. My lead developer will change them and come back with suggestions. I appreciate that. The guy who runs JSSolutions is great at sharing ideas. I’ve worked with 8 developers over the years, 2 of whom work for me full-time. I’ve only worked with them on JavaScript projects.

How did you come to work with JSSolutions?

We hired them through Upwork. We slowly brought more work to them because they did well with smaller projects.

How much have you invested with JSSolutions?

We’ve spent $150,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been my primary developer for the past year and a half. They’re a core part of my business, and I continue to work with them.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I do a lot of consulting, and they help me map the process. I juggle multiple clients, but app development is more of a side interest compared to my consulting business. I don’t have any metrics. The quality of their deliverables is very high. The lead developer will often come up with ideas to make things work better and faster. With remote development firms, you often pay by the hour, and they often want to inflate the hours. I don’t get that feeling with JSSolutions. I feel like they try to save time.

How did JSSolutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I am in daily contact with them through Trello. They’re among the best I’ve worked with. They’ve very organized.

What did you find most impressive about JSSolutions?

The communication is great. I’ve never waited for more than an hour for a response.

Are there any areas JSSolutions could improve?

No, I wouldn’t have stayed with them for this long if something was wrong. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

FindEd is a startup EdTech company in the UK.

What challenge were you trying to address with JSSolutions?

We commissioned JSSolutions to build an MVP application to test a teacher to school matching concept.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JS Solutions delivered a Meteor based application, hosted on Galaxy.  The application used AWS for email. JSSolutions developed the backend of our solution. They did not build the frontend, do any design of the frontend, or any design of the functionality of the application. The application is a web app and therefore platform independent.

How did you come to work with JSSolutions?

I found JSSolutions while searching online for development companies located in Ukraine and Russia who specialized in the technology that I wanted to use. I had already decided that I wanted to use Meteor as a framework for the application, so I found that they were specalists in that area and therefore considered them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with JSSolutions in October 2016 and the project was completed in March 2017.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

No, there are no direct reviews online or any feedback that could be attributed directly to the portion of work that JSSolutions did. They were the enablers of a pre-defined vision and design.

How did JSSolutions perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was completed on time and on budget. The project sponsor was very happy with the resulting application.

What did you find most impressive about JSSolutions?

They were professional and easy to worth with, polite, accommodating, and able to ramp up the team when required for a short period of time. Billing was easy, timesheets were well managed, and it was an all around easy process working with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a startup software-as-a-service company that has developed a system for continuous improvement and compliance management. I am a co-founder of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with JSSolutions?

We needed to find a software house that could develop our software to our specifications for a competitive price. Even though we were building a minimum viable product, it needed to be high quality, and those two requirements usually conflict with each other.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JSSolutions developed our solution using the MeteorJS stack, which is becoming a well-known technology with developers building our kind of application. It allows for applications to be developed faster than would otherwise be possible.

How did you come to work with JSSolutions?

Companies in Eastern Europe or Asia are more likely to be lower priced. We looked for an offshore software development house that could work in a rapid manner. We eventually landed on JSSolutions through the MeteorJS community site.

How much have you invested with JSSolutions?

The cost of JSSolutions' work has been approximately $40,000. The original contract was for $17,000 but was increased because of various enhancements and scope creep.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with JSSolutions at the end of April 2016. The site was launched in December 2016 and has been operational since that time.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We've gone through a rigorous testing process that generated a couple of hundred bugs, issues, and enhancement requests. JSSolutions worked through those in a methodical way, and we crunched them down to only a few issues at the end, achieving high-quality software. We've had a couple of customers using the platform since its launch. They've been very happy with it and found it reliable. Our experience has been good from a quality and reliability standpoint.

How did JSSolutions perform from a project management standpoint?

It has been difficult to communicate requirements at times with a few bounces between our teams before everything is nailed down. Offshore development makes this process difficult at times.

JSSolutions assigned a very good project manager for the duration of our work. He was very conscientious, took a lot of time to understand requirements, and followed through well at his end, making sure that the software was implemented properly.

What did you find most impressive about JSSolutions?

JSSolutions has a lot of expertise in the MeteorJS software stack. There were no situations of the team needing to learn a part of the language. Project management was better than expected as well.

Are there any areas JSSolutions could improve?

JSSolutions had a higher cost than we expected, given that our initial quote was for a fixed-price contract. One technical decision was taken early on to reduce the cost of development. It involved using a particular user interface framework called Blaise. We eventually chose ReactJS and needed to rewrite about half of the interface, splitting the cost for this between JSSolutions and ourselves.

LeanLanes is an innovative concept targeting Product Managers and Product Marketing Managers working on complex customer experiences.

I'm the founder of the organization and am responsible for business development and vision.

The solution is being used to develop growth and provide initial evidence for Round A venture capital investment.

The goal was to achieve as much value from the product whilst ensuring quality in order to deliver a proof of concept into the market. JSSolutions delivered a beta version for us, so we have been able to obtain excellent feedback, and now we are progressing to a second iteration of the product for commercial release.

We chose a Meteor service provider because Meteor is quick and uses a standard underlying language: Javascript.

We did a 1 week test with 2 providers. I reviewed the quality of work, professionalism of the team, and ability to support our needs.

Product management took place in Berlin. JSSolutions provided a lead architect also excellent in business, conceptual understanding, and UX. This ensured an easy 2-way exchange of ideas, getting to the features and adding the greatest value quickly.

The project lasted 7 weeks.

We were able to test the minimum viable product with 30 product managers. The feedback was extensive and helped us move towards a product that delivers the right value. In the next product iteration we can focus on building only the parts of the product that really add the greatest value.

The scope wasn't well defined, as we worked Agile. However, what was special about JSSolutions was their ability to identify ways to express user stories in lightning quick timeframes. Their ability to understand the problem, translate it into a meaningful solution, and build it in hours was exceptional.

We are a startup located in Amsterdam. Being a software development company, we are trying to develop solutions for automation of business processes. Currently, we are aiming at small to mid-size businesses, offering them a means to model the processes themselves, using our pay by use platform. In this way, the costs to start working with our cloud platform are absolutely zero.

As a startup we have relatively little development capacity. Finding and hiring qualified developers is a complicated and delicate process. The challenge is to keep our development up to speed without creating too much overhead in hiring too many (not properly qualified) developers.

We found JSSolutions through the internet on a software services market place. They stated to be familiar with Meteor, our primary development platform. After some initial calls, we decided to give it a try. The scope was not very well determined by then. We just enrolled some task descriptions for developing functionality. We had the idea from the beginning to work with JSSolutions on a continuous base, as long as they performed as desired of course.

In general, we are pretty happy with JSSolutions. Being a startup, we did not have a clear idea on how to properly outsource effectively. This resulted in shipping complex tasks that were too big. JSSolutions tried the best they could to understand the scope of these tasks, but without day to day communication it was hard to get the results we needed.

To improve the efficiency, we decided to ship smaller tasks. JSSolutions also offered to assign a primary contact person to communicate with. This is working very nice.

So far, JSSolutions is thinking along to improve the collaboration and results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the manager of the digital team. Our organisation serves people with eating disorders through innovative clinical treatment, research and policy.

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

Development of the mobile application companion to our existing online therapy platform for people with eating disorders.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Apiko spent a lot of time understanding what our features were while putting together their proposal

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

We provided Apiko with access to our existing online therapy platform and a feature list, they then created a detailed Requirements doc and mobile designs. They then began development and eventually testing, and submitted the App to the App Store and Google Play.

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

We had a core team of a project manager & client manager. Supporting them were developers and a designer, and a QA engineer.

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

App was developed in record time (around 10 weeks) with no major issues

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

Extremely communicative, very detailed, have a great understanding of how much to involve the client vs. manage things themselves

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

A great team to work with, go above and beyond. When looking through our existing web eTherapy platform to make the mobile app version, they tracked the bugs that they noticed on the website and fixed them on the mobile version without being asked to, and handed us detailed bug reports about what they noticed on web.

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

Nope!