Appinventiv

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of Blurbb.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

I needed a company to help me develop an app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide recommendations and oversee the development of the app. It's a social app that is compatible with iOS, Android, and tablet. They also developed all the wireframes and provided UX/UI design. The app is location-based and has a modern tone, which I like.

What is the team composition?

I have a project manager and work with a couple of other team members.

How did you come to work with them?

I was looking at different developers and the apps they had produced. I talked to 3–4 firms and Appinventiv was very diligent in following up. They were willing to take the lead on the project (it's an unfamiliar territory to me) and had the best rates, so I chose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was very nervous, but they took me under their wing and guided the process. We haven't had a soft launch yet, but we're hoping to launch next month. Every app has bugs and I expect we'll have them too, but I'm confident in the quality of their work. They exceeded my expectations, especially in terms of the value I got for the money I paid.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They're excellent. They work with my schedule and make the whole process easy for me. We mostly use email, Basecamp, and WhatsApp to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their technical expertise. They're very innovative and passionate about the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear plan, but be flexible and open to changes

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a company established in 2017 with the aim of creating a new website and mobile app that will offer discounts for online shopping.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

I’ve worked with them on building a full web app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appinventiv has been building the full product on my behalf. We went through a series of phone calls and emails to discuss what I wanted. They built a prototype based on that, and took care of any changes within a day or two. After I get more funding, I’ll go ahead and build the full product with them.

We’re currently using a CMS, which we’re planning to integrate through APIs. The purpose of the platform is to offer instant discounts for online shopping, as well as several other features which are still in being planned out.

What is the team composition?

I mainly communicate with a project manager from their team, though I’ve also worked with two other people on the technology side. Additionally, I’m in contact with their co-founder and managing director, who is friendly, helpful, and accommodating.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I found them on a review website, where they were listed as number one. I sent them a message and described my idea, and they were willing to help, so we slowly started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost has been around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Appinventiv in January 2018. The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve got a prototype that works perfectly, but we haven’t built any integrations with retail partners yet. I’ve worked quite well with them. So far, they’ve been able to handle everything I’ve asked them to do.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

When they promise to deliver on a date, they stick to it, unless there’s a hiccup on my side. They also let me know of any issues in advance so that we can adjust and accommodate for them. They work to the best of their abilities and do it seamlessly. We use email, Skype, and WhatsApp for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely good at the services they provide. Other companies I’ve spoken to weren’t as professional or diligent as Appinventiv is.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’m extremely happy with the service they’re providing.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Tell them what you want and they’ll accommodate that as they see fit. This happened to me when I suggested something. They were willing to take my directions, but also gave me an alternative that could save time and money and would make the system more efficient. Their knowledge and understanding are excellent.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an electronics manufacturer that does gesture recognition products for home and automotive use. Our product allows users to create a distraction-free environment while driving.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

A local team started the project, and then I migrated it to Appinventiv. Our Android app is complex, and we needed it to handle a lot of functions. We needed a company to help us develop our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app is piloted completely by our product.

What is the team composition?

We work closely with our main point of contact who is a developer. One other person checks in with us too.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I looked at 20 companies in India and interviewed 4–5 of them. Appinventiv seemed more professional in their approach. They were much more responsive as well. They had a background in IoT products and in Android and iOS development. They seemed stable enough to use my product and make a new app for it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €20,000–€25,000 ($23,124–$28,911 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development is going well so far. They have met the arrangements we made. There aren’t many bugs compared to what we expected for an outsourced project. It’s working well.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

We speak directly with the developer and we don’t have to go through the project manager, giving great transparency. The project manager is only needed if there are issues which we have not had. The developer understands the specifications when we discuss them with him on the phone. We communicate mainly through Skype.

Sometimes we have to make sudden changes and adjustments and not everything can be documented. For those cases, we need somebody who understands rapidly what we want to accomplish and add something of their own if there are missing elements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have quick turnaround times. They’ve worked on many projects, which gives them a good idea of the new requirements and how to map them easily. One of their biggest strengths that I haven’t seen in others is how they fill in the blanks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re good on the development side, but they need to follow the style guides for the aesthetics side. I have a UI designer who provides the aesthetics. They should not take liberties in changing them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working with the developer that I was assigned to has been good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of Lewis and Sons Pest Control LLC, a home inspection, pest control, and energy assessment company that provides services across the U.S.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We're in the process of standardizing the inspection process by developing an app that would allow us to offer customers instant price quotes, as well as real time scheduling and reporting. Since rates, reporting, and restrictions vary from provider to provider and state to state, we wanted to create a solution that empowered the customer and made the process easier.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appinventiv developed a native app for iOS and Andoid that allows users to schedule appointments and get pricing estimates by entering specific information about their property. Custom features also allow users to add or remove items to their plan, updating their price estimates as they make changes, and to fill out and submit forms with more information about their requests.

What is the team composition?

I have one main point of contact who manages a team of iOS and Android developers.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I found Appinventiv on Clutch and decided to reach out to them based on their positive reviews.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested $15,000–$20,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2017 and just finished development in May 2018, but we're still in the process of testing and fine-tuning the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Appinventiv built an app that has helped streamline our entire line of business for the customer. It's allowed us to shift the ownership of work off the inspector and empowered the customer with the ability to decide what services they want and how much they're willing to pay. Although the app is not yet available in app stores, we're very happy with it overall and excited for the changes it will bring to our industry.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

We receive weekly updates from Appinventiv as they test the app through TestFlight. We haven't had any trouble communicating with their team and have been able to track milestones efficiently through Basecamp throughout the engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed by their level of constant and professional communication with us. Despite their location, we haven't had any issues with time management or language barriers. They were also been able to quickly understand exactly what we wanted to achieve early on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having assets and idea of what we wanted before going into conversations with their team helped us a lot. I suggest bringing as much information as possible to the table from the start, including wireframes or rough sketches if possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Kano Politics. We run a mobile app that issues political micro-surveys. We also have a user-generated discussion forum. We ask a variety of questions to gauge the political spectrum, find points of compromise, and move control away from political extremes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We wanted someone to help us build an MVP. We had some development experience, but we wanted to work with a well-regarded agency that would work within our budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us complete the initial release of the iOS version for market tests. We provided the main mock-up for the operational capabilities and they suggested features that would complement our ideas. They created an admin site with various controls. We can send new surveys, manage content, visualize data, and work with various user features.

All those elements are part of the MVP and we have other advanced processes in the background. We use Firebase, which has some ingrained JSON API export capability. They also did some PHP web development and front- and backend data management. We can run advanced analysis to provide better insight to policy makers and political parties.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with their project manager. He then relayed information to their development team.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

We found them on Clutch. Their services and their previous work looked good and it made sense to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2017. Because of some issues with the Apple app review team, we finished at the end of April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m very happy with it. We are working out a few little bugs, most of which were caused by the last-minute push to meet with Apple’s approval. It’s still too early to have a clear idea of user metrics, but the app is very good overall.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

They did really well. Their project manager was in touch with us at least once a day and more frequently as we got closer to approval. They were polite and in control of everything and they did very well with a 10-hour time difference. We communicated via Skype and used Basecamp. I’m not a huge fan of Basecamp, but they used it consistently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very accommodating and they followed through on their work. We paid them in full when we submitted the first time. When Apple came back with requests, they didn’t hesitate to jump back in and make changes. They prioritized us in their log and didn’t charge us extra. I’m very pleased with their customer service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This was my first submission to Apple, so it was a learning experience for me. The Apple review was quite subjective, which was not their fault. I hoped they would help us reduce more of the surprises in the review process ahead of time. A lot of that is out of their control, but it might be something they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as thorough as you can with your initial ideas and develop clear mock-ups. They do well with ambiguous requirements, but they will give you the best results if you solidify your goals ahead of time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm in the process of starting my own company by developing an airsoft gaming app that can track player locations in real time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

I needed to find an app developer to bring my idea to life. It's not meant to be readily available to everyone in the same way other apps are. We'll be supplying players with Samsung phones, so they don't risk damaging their own equipment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I came to Appinventiv with an idea of a gaming app that they've been designing and developing for Android devices. Through the initial discovery phase, they've been able to fill in the blanks with suggestions and input as needed.

They're also creating an online administrator panel so the game and player locations can be managed by one person. They're incorporating functionality that allows the administrator to create a map area and track devices. The players will be able to access the map through the app.

What is the team composition?

I work with four people, including a designer, project manager, developer, and marketing manager.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I had researched companies online and reached out to many for quotes. However, most vendors required a deposit for an estimate. I ended up working with Appinventiv, because they were the only company without that requirement.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent about $70,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I've been working with them since December 2017 and the app is almost half-way developed as of now [March 2018].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There were many aspects of the game I wasn't expecting Appinventiv to grasp, but they've done more than I could've imagined in a relatively short amount of time. Any details I haven't liked, they've been quick to change. The overall design and functionality is coming along quite nicely.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

I don't have any complaints about working with their team. I've been very happy with all of the ideas they've contributed thus far. We generally track project progress through Basecamp and stay in touch through weekly Skype calls and meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very friendly and easy to work with. They make sure I'm happy and take the time to communicate with me regularly to put me at ease.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They ask if I have any complaints during our weekly check-ins, but I have yet to be unhappy with anything they're doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m with an online bartering platform that allows business-to-business trading of goods at wholesale value.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We hired them to create our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform allows businesses to register and trade value with other users. Companies can create a profile that includes their name, photo, a brief description, and their website. Any user can access this information and request a trade. If both parties agree, they exchange monetary value that can be redeemed at a brick and mortar location.

I worked closely with Appinventiv throughout the project. In the beginning, I gave them a detailed outline of the functionalities we were looking for and our target clientele. They then created the UI design and developed the frontend. We have iOS, Android, and web versions of our platform.

They also created a super admin site that allows us to control the backend functionalities and monitor usage.

They continue to provide maintenance and updates.

What is the team composition?

Their division head made himself very available, so I spoke to him several times, though I primarily interacted with our project manager. We went back and forth to outline the scope and he passed our requirements on to their developers and designers, who I also had access to if needed.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I found them on Clutch. They received a lot of positive reviews online and had experience with similar, high-budget projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent roughly $500,000 and have a separate contract for ongoing maintenance.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2016 and our relationship is ongoing. This was a long-term project and we continue to fine-tune some aspects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We performed a beta test on the product and found that it functioned very well. Based on the results and client feedback, we realized we needed additional design work to make it more user friendly. We went to Appinventiv with this request and they completed the edits in less than two weeks.

We’re preparing to relaunch. The project has moved as expected and Appinventiv has held up their end of the bargain, completing tasks in a timely manner.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

They were highly responsive and did an excellent job of making themselves available. While I was initially concerned about the time zone challenges of working with an Indian company, this was never an issue.

They used Basecamp and Skype to coordinate the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The biggest benefit was their responsiveness. They're quick to address any concerns and stay on schedule, which I find refreshing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re responsive and provide quality work, so we’ve had a positive experience. I don't have anything negative to say.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very thorough in explaining developmental details and make sure communication is clear so that everybody's on the same page. This is true for any vendor.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an entrepreneur that is creating a social app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

I wanted help building my app. It's an app to connect friends and plan activities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re designing and building the whole thing as an iOS app. It allows friends to either post activities they’re planning or to browse friends’ planned activities to attend. There are calendar and map functions built in.

We’re going to use a combination of preexisting social media with some customizations. We’re limited by some restrictions on major social media sites, but the goal is for users to share the app on their social media profiles and encourage their friends to join.

What is the team composition?

I initially interacted with a member of their sales team. He told me about their services and we discussed the project. Once we began, I was assigned a project manager. I also interacted with the head designer during the design process.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I searched Clutch for companies with good reviews. I reached out to a number of them, Appinventiv was the first to respond. I was impressed by their high level of professionalism and customer service, right from the beginning.

How much have you invested with them?

They bill in increments, which allows me to pay for each milestone we achieve. I’ve sent about $15,000 so far, and the total budget is around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started work in October or November 2017. We’re not quite halfway through the project, and are currently finalizing some of the design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still building the app, so we don’t have outside feedback or metrics yet. This is a really collaborative process. I have ideas for how I wanted the app to look, but this is not my background. They have been so helpful with thinking through the functionality, design, and features, and they support me.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

At the beginning of the project, they provided a proposal with all the milestones scheduled. I can contact them multiple times a week, and they feel like they might be in the next town over. We’ve never had problems with the time difference and have a tremendous amount of interaction. They walk me through all the steps of the process. We use Basecamp and WhatsApp to connect.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an absolute pleasure to work with. They have strong customer service and are available at any time to answer questions. They’re happy to go through tremendous detail and make any changes I want to make. They never complain about time commitments to me, and are always willing to do what I want whenever I need them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any complaints. This has been a smooth, easy process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. They’re very knowledgeable and experienced, and gave suggestions for things I wouldn’t have thought of. They feel like a real partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

English 4 Call Centers is an academy that teaches people who are applying to call centers how to speak English. We train them to sound more natural, improve their intonation and gain confidence so they can get a better job. The local call center business in El Salvador is growing, and it pays three times more than the minimum wage. We also have a branch in Guatemala. I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We had a lot of trouble while working with another Indian company. We decided to move three of their ongoing projects to Appinventiv, with whom we already had an ongoing project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We outsourced Appinventiv only for application development. Our first project was an application that connected students from around the world with teachers, on a one-to-one basis, helping them improve their skill in any language. It was sort of like Uber for idioms. It proved too expensive, so we had to let it go, but we’ve developed two other applications with Appinventiv.

One of those was E4CC, an application for other companies. It features our pronunciation videos, as well as videos from a different series to which we had the copyright. It has grammar tips, vocabulary and everything a student needs to improve their English for free in no time.

The app has a community messaging functionality, post reactions, and a newsstand. Users can set goals within it and access PDFs, Word and Excel files, and online or offline dictionaries. From the admin panel, we can upload videos and remotely configure the font and style.

We’ve also built a weight loss app with them for another of our companies. People had to sign up and use a code to access the application. The app provided weight loss tips, videos, recipes, and a story sharing community.

Both applications are available for Android and iOS. We’ve also built a webpage that allows students and coaches to create profiles. It features different click channels and integrations, including one with a service like Prezi.

What is the team composition?

They assigned three people to our project: a QA person, a developer, and a project manager. We had a different manager for the second app.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I found them in the Noida Yellow Pages while we were in India. Meeting their team made me feel confident that they could get my project done.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work has been $500,000. Based on the experience I’ve had with other companies, Appinventiv’s cost is not that high. We also had up to six months to pay our bills.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Appinventiv in October 2016. The Android version of our first app was launched in October 2017, and the iOS app will be released tomorrow. The second app was released in December 2017 for Android.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform Appinventiv created for our website was awesome. It’s up and running with no issues. They’ve given us great advice about site hosting, and showed us how to reduce technology costs using Amazon S3 buckets.

The app is free, and has brought us a lot of new customers. After its first launch, the application attracted 5,000 users, and we currently have 7,000. Almost 2,000 students started subscriptions this month, which is more than we expected.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve had a great experience with them. Appinventiv managed to fit into my schedule despite our 13-hour time difference. Sometimes, they connected with us at 2 or 3 A.M. their time, when it was 2 P.M. our time, or scheduled meetings at 4 A.M. on my side. There was never a problem with communication. They responded in a couple of hours, at most.

Appinventiv used Basecamp for communication, TestFlight for iOS previews, and APKs for the Android apps. I could also view designs on Wireframes.org, and I was given a lot of screenshots during development. The screens were made with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated their communication and ability to treat clients as business partners. I’ve never felt that they were simply asking for money.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Take a leap of faith and start working with Appinventiv.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an early stage startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appinventiv?

We’re working on a prototype for an electronic storybook platform. We’ve had some validations through rough wireframes, InVision interactive wireframes, and interacting with folks through surveys. It’s all been conceptual in terms of what the idea is.

I had worked with a couple of developers based here in Hong Kong. My original strategy was to meet the developers and get to know them, but I wasn’t making the connection I wanted. I took a totally different approach and decided to find somebody who does 100s of apps, has a big team, and can draw on deep resources.

The purpose of the app is to get more user feedback. We want to have a more functional prototype than what I was able to produce in rough wireframes before. The platform has the producer/author side and the consumer side. The niche we focus on is children’s storybooks.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The idea was well developed. I haven’t devoted a lot of resources other than my own time in talking to different people, getting feedback, and looking for the solution. I gradually made progress with the 2 developers I had from Hong Kong. I gave a robust, functional design document including the wireframes and detailed functionality to Appinventiv. I needed a more functional prototype that I could put in front of people. They could then interact with it and give feedback as to if it will work or needs some other functionality.

The first developer I worked with did a web prototype. The takeaway from that was very difficult because we needed good control over microphone and camera. Web development was going to be less expensive. I presented the web prototype to a number of folks and got feedback. It was a mess because everybody had a different version. Even if you told them they should use Chrome, everybody had a different version of Chrome.

Appinventiv developed the app for iOS. We did some strategic thinking about that. It was clear that iOS has a higher spending customer base and expectation of the design. People appreciate the design. They were helpful in making it a sound decision. If we get traction and everything goes as we hope, we’ll move on to Android.

There is a future design element that would be on the computer, but that’s a few steps down the road. It's a digital platform that allows users to easily create and distribute electronic story albums. It consists of a series of pages, each containing a combination of texts, visuals, and audio information. The author of the story would control the content and format.

What is the team composition?

There’s 1 lead person and 1 on the development side who does development and manages a team on the other side. There’s another woman who helps from the UI/UX perspective. I find it very helpful to have one point of contact.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I used Clutch as a tool for finding Appinventiv. Clutch was the most informative and most helpful site. I tried to triangulate what development companies were mentioned the most and had the most positive reviews. They were very professional and made the onboarding process easy to get to the point where we had a final proposal with a detailed budget. They were accommodating in breaking it up into discrete stages.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent $40,000. Once this stage is complete, it will be about $100,000. The full proposed amount is $800,000–$900,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have an MVP yet. We have a somewhat functioning product with 40% of the features. I’m more than happy with that because it has given me a chance to see how they work and to go through the full process of getting something out to TestFlight and get feedback from users. It’s a work in process.

How did Appinventiv perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been a very managed process throughout. They’ve been very cooperative in working with me to stage development. We’ve broken it into a number of component parts, gradually building up functionality so that we can roll out small improvements and get feedback on those as we go along.

They’ve generally been early in meeting their deadlines. They’re responsive within 24 hours maximum. They’re very easy to work with.

We use Basecamp as a repository for all the communications. We use InVision for prototyping. We’re using TestFlight for beta testing with live users.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Appinventiv is very competitive relative to Hong Kong, but Hong Kong is not the greatest place to find talent. Being able to find someone economically is very good.

They also seem to be a big team. The lead developer I’m working with has worked on many games. I ask him about a specific functionality and he gives me five different solutions. It’s amazing. I didn’t have that depth of experience to be able to talk to someone on the other side who has deep resources, even if that person doesn’t know the answer.

I don’t talk to the founder regularly, but he’s accessible. My project is small compared to others they work on and they still offer high-quality service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the discovery process, I was looking for them to give me ideas and test what I had been thinking about. We’ve spent time revisiting things and still landed pretty close to where we started. It’s all been fine. I’m happy with the process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more specific instructions you give, the closer they’re going to come to delivering what you want. If you just give some concepts and let them go, don’t be surprised if it’s not what you expected. Having wireframes, functional design document, and being very clear about what you want will help you. I recommend breaking it up into parts.

In my experience, the best outcomes I have had are when I’ve given somebody a small project. I sometimes give a really small project to multiple people and choose the one who does the best job. You don’t have to tell them that. You’re not going to know until you see results.