Around25

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a cryptospace trading company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Around25?

We needed someone to do an audit of the code that another team made.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had already developed the front- and backend and had all the code provided by another team. Around25 did the audit of the backend, deploying a matching engine for the crypto exchanges. The code was not clean; many bugs came out of our exchange, but they fixed most of them. The code was written in PHP but since there were so many issues we decided to transform the code into Golang, which Around25 uses. The platform is still the same, but we continue to add new things.

What is the team composition?

There’s a head developer, a project manager, and 2–3 others.

How did you come to work with Around25?

They’re all young developers with experience and they’re good mathematicians. They can solve points that aren’t easily solved by somebody else.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

Most of them are professional, and the only issue is the work isn’t being done very quickly, but they have a limited number of developers and our project is very huge. They’re a good team though, and they have a couple of really good developers, but their timing is their flaw. Their price and quality are very good.

How did Around25 perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very helpful and try to solve all the issues on time, but it’s not always met.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very good and have such good developers. They’re very good at what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their timing is the only thing that needs to be improved. If they had a few more developers and they could go faster, that would be very good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make a clear agreement for the time you want it delivered.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of PikPerfect. Our Zurich-based startup designs and prints customized wedding albums and photo books. Since we’re a small company, I perform many roles including overseeing website development.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

A different team offshores developed the initial prototype. While the deliverable was functional, we had a frustrating experience and cut that engagement short. We were lucky to find Around25. They did a fantastic job of picking up from where that team left off and helped us build a stable and scalable website. 

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a skilled and reliable development team with strong communication skills and the flexibility to adapt the number of hours worked based on changing development needs. It was also important that they’d want to grow with us. Ideally, we wanted a partner who’d continue to support our development needs for the years to come.

How did you select this vendor?

We shortlisted many different companies who best fit our needs and budget. After multiple rounds of interviews with each one, we requested samples of code they’d programmed. Around25 gave us the best overall feeling. We made the right decision in partnering with their team.

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

Our PikPerfect platform is built in PHP using a Zend Framework and is hosted on AWS. Around25 developed all the significant features and instated mobile compatibility. They continue to provide ongoing maintenance, updates, feature add-ons, and hotfixes for the site.

What was the team composition?

Most of the time, we were in direct and regular contact with one dedicated developer from Around25. 

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

Around25’s support has been critical to our success. We have built several versions of the website together over the years. Each new iteration includes added new features and improved designs. We’ve never had any significant issues or downtime on the site in our entire engagement. 

We’ve had such a good experience that we plan to expand our partnership into other areas like digital marketing and UI design. When we have found minor bugs, they’ve always been quick to get them fixed. They’ve even worked over the weekends or late at night to problem solve. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As a small team, we use Trello to keep track of all the tasks at hand and their corresponding status on each. We communicate via Slack or Skype and never have a problem reaching them when needed. Around25 keeps in close contact throughout the entirety of development. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Around25 is a team of highly capable developers. They work quickly, are very thorough, and genuinely care about our business and securing a positive outcome.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

The only area of improvement would be the more junior developers’ communication style. They seem a little hesitant corresponding in English. We’ve had no issues with the teammates we work with on a daily basis, though

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of Appeal Design, a company that creates websites and provides design services for various sized companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Around25?

My programming expertise and availability of time was limited, so I needed additional help with a large project for a client that included branding and website services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Around25 collaborated with us on a project that involved the rebranding, migration, and recoding of the CMS for an online print publisher. They built multiple custom sites using the Symfony platform, as well as PHP, and Angular for single-page application. They now provide ongoing maintenance and fix bugs as needed following the site's launch.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one to two designers, four to five programmers, and Adrian (Project Manager, Around25).

How did you come to work with Around25?

I had worked with Adrian on other projects in the past before he worked at Around25. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $69,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project had a six-month scope, so we got started in January 2018, did a soft launch around April, and released the rest of the site by June. They're now maintaining it and fixing any bugs that pop up as needed.

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

The client was extremely satisfied with the work Around25 did for them. Their website went from page loading times of 45 seconds at certain times of the day to under 2 seconds. Around25 delivered a responsive, functional design that enabled the client to sell their product. We're happy they were able to adhere to the scope of work and we hope to work with them on more projects in the future.

How did Around25 perform from a project management standpoint?

We had regular interaction with their team through Trello, as well as weekly status calls. It was a pretty seamless process and they were great about communicating with us. They also delivered a week ahead of schedule, which is rare with this type of work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're extremely responsive. Even though there's a time difference from their office in Eastern Europe to ours, they'd always respond quickly to any comments we sent through Trello.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Whenever you work with a programmer, especially when they're not native English speakers, it's well advised to have a specific set of specifications that are very well defined and to get a set of wireframes approved by the client.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a project manager for a website design company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

Around25 completed a number of projects for us thus far. We supply them content and design mockups, and they code the front- and backend.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted high-quality code that adhered to our internal standards and Drupal best practices. We wanted a quality finished result that met our agreed deadlines and budget.

How did you select this vendor?

We conducted a long vetting process and in-depth discussions about our requirements.

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

Around25 creates all our templates, CSS and custom JS required to build the websites to our provided specifications. Then, their team populates the site's content with our supplied materials. They always make sure the site is responsive and implement speed optimization methods.

What was the team composition?

We work with a project manager and a web developer.

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

They deliver projects on time and to our specifications. Their reliability and consistency are important and crucial to the success of our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We're in different time zones, so we communicate via email or Skype. We have been working on projects together for some time, so there's no surprises or anything that requires in-depth conversation. They keep us updated and ease our concerns.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're reliable and always deliver on their promises.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Their QA could improve.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder of MEIN JOB, the first online job platform for German-speaking employees and employers in Romania. Our company is a small startup with less than two years of experience. We help companies and German-speaking people who are searching for jobs or for personal and professional development opportunities.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

We hired Around25 to fully develop our online platform. They provided a range of professional services, including consulting, design, web development, testing, UI/UX design, and SEO.

What were your goals for this project?

Since we had an old, useless online platform built by unprofessional foreign freelancers, we wanted to create a new website from scratch. We wanted a local company that was reliable, easy to reach, and professional in both their work and their customer service.

How did you select this vendor?

My team searched online for web developers in Romania and neighbouring countries. After an online conversation or in-person meeting with each one, we narrowed our search results to two or three local companies. We selected Around25 based on their fair price, the smooth interaction between our teams, and their location in our city.

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

Once we agreed on the final conditions for our partnership, we had a series of planning meetings with their team of executives, developers, and designers. We also exchanged several e-mails to refine the structure and functionalities of the website. They provided mockups and an implementation timeframe for the entire project. During the implementation phase, we had feedback sessions every step of the way.

What was the team composition?

One of their executives was the main contact person, but the team consisted of several front- and backend developers and UI/UX designers. When the project was finished, they assigned the same contact person for future enquiries. One developer was responsible for maintenance and future updates.

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

We received good feedback on the look and usability of the new platform, both from previous partners and from users who already knew about our project. With a new, user-friendly platform, we could finally promote our platform to a wider national audience.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Having one contact person for the entire time was a huge help to the development of platform and to our business. We stayed in touch through phone calls, social media chats, and occasional meetings. We were truly grateful that we worked together throughout the entire process. The other members of the team were also helpful. They constantly responded to our enquiries about the website's functionalities.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The experience was positive and satisfactory. We were thankful for their professionalism, both in technical matters and customer service. We also appreciated the genuine interest that every staff member and executive took in finding the best development and business solutions for us. They provided not only IT services, but also business consultancy and general advice.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Both teams' communication systems and channels could have been improved. We should have structured our communication more. However, the quality of their services was not affected. We are very satisfied with the product.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Art transforms lives. It provokes us to think, to express, to explore our own creativity, to envision new possibilities. We expanded the museum to provide a better experience for our visitors and a better home for our expanding collections, including our own collection and other collection, one of the finest collections of contemporary art in the world.

The new museum, designed in collaboration with an international architecture firm, opened May 2016. With this project, we are transforming not just the museum's physical presence, but also our contributions to the community, enhancing our role as a place for learning, inspiration, and interaction for visitors from the Bay Area and beyond. We are making our museum a magnet for contemporary art and for the audiences who will engage with it.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25, and what were your goals?

As the Director of Digital, I hired Around25 to help both augment existing structures and build new ones. Our most recent project has been a complete overhaul of the website CMS. Our website receives millions of visitors a year. Covid has only served to underline the importance of web based communication. As a result, we wanted to rebuild the "out of the box" CMS to our current needs.

How did you select Around25 and what were the deciding factors?

I chose Around25 as they came highly recommended from my previous boss who is an engineer. He reviewed their code and was very impressed. I reached out to Around25 and gave them my own code test. They passed with flying colors. Since that moment, we have been in an ongoing relationship with them on projects ranging from maintenance to a large CMS overhaul.

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

We have a roadmap of 25-30 features we are currently working through to complete a Wordpress CMS overhaul.

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

We work with two main individuals - Paul and Adrian

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

Around25 is fast, efficient and lovely to work with. We check in on a weekly basis and I am always happy with the progress of the project.

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

We use slack, Jira and weekly meetings.

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

Their willingness to jump into anything and everything is impressive!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a company called Dash Delivers, a convenience store mobile application. We are like the Uber Eats of convenience store items like toilet paper, energy drinks and condoms to name a few.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

We built a concept and Around25 brought them to life. They built the whole mobile application from scratch and joining it with all the relevant plugins.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals for this app is that is becomes a household name, but we needed it to be built within a budget, so we could prove concept and expand further into different areas.

How did you select this vendor?

Around25 was one of 3 companies presented to us by our mobile application consultants. Around25 by far was the most experienced and economical company to deal with.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we went with Around25, we have a Google Hangouts meeting and went through the brief of what we wanted to achieve with the app and our objectives, both short and long term. We had to troubleshoot exactly which additional API's we required and software we needed to manage our inventory. We discussed timelines and how exactly we needed to launch.

What was the team composition?

I dealt with the managing director and was introduced to a project manager, who was my point of contact. who dealt with me and my COO. The project manager ran her team to complete the tasks and timelines.

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

I as a founder need to operate within a budget, but also want to achieve the best outcomes. Around25 was able to find solutions to suit my needs by getting their in-house technology experts involved. We were able to use third party software providers, that still looked professional and easy to use.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was great, we worked on a spreadsheet of what was required from us and what was urgent. This allowed our team to dedicate time to fullfill their requirements so that the project could move forward smoothly and meet the milestones.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I found they were quite flexible and really put the customer first. They explored different options and were very patient with our skill level in technology and tried to see what we wanted from our point of view.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Perhaps a real-time timeline to see where the project was at and the task needed to be done or items outstanding.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of Bittr, a company that allows customers to convert euro savings into bitcoin. We do this through recurring European bank transfers (SEPA).

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

I was looking for a partner to develop software that automates the process of converting euros to bitcoin.

What were your goals for this project?

The software needed a fast, multilingual frontend and a stable backed to support the conversion service. It had to read out transactions from a bank account, place and withdraw orders from various bitcoin exchanges, and pay out to customers’ bitcoin accounts through the bitcoin core node.

How did you select this vendor?

After evaluating three software development companies on Upwork, I selected Around25 based on a recommendation from a friend in the local startup scene. They also impressed me in our initial conversation and by offering to bill me based on hours estimated upfront (as opposed to after the work was completed) until we developed a trusting, working relationship.

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

We developed a 5-page project outline of the requirements and steps for each stage. Then we implemented the banking API, bitcoin exchanges API, and bitcoin core API. Around25’s developers handled all the technical aspects. They converted the design—built in HTML and CSS—into the React framework for the final working product.

What was the team composition?

I worked with one developer who saw the project to completion. A different developer has taken over maintenance.

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

We are still in the initial development stage, so it hasn’t had an impact on my business yet. However, without Around25, I couldn’t have brought my vision to life.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We decided to not set specific deadlines for the work completed. We communicated throughout the project via phone calls, Skype, Slack, and one face-to-face meeting to get to know each other (which I highly recommend to future clients of Around25). We also used GitLab to oversee progress. Despite the distance, we operated within roughly the same time zone, and their English proficiency was strong.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was struck by their professionalism and their fast and friendly communication. Around25 has exceeded my expectations in delivering high-quality software and excellent customer service.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Assigning one developer to the entire project felt a bit precarious to me. While nothing happened in my case, I wasn’t clear on what would happen to my project if my developer, for example, left Around25.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m the CEO of Hookfy, a search engine for second-hand products.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

We needed to develop our website from scratch, including both the front- and backend.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to grow our user base, especially via organic means.  

How did you select this vendor?

We found them on Angie’s List.

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

They built a crawler that scraped together data we manage from different aggregators (around 4 million products). They also created a UX and a unique database based on our needs.

What was the team composition?

We worked with their CTO and a full-stack developer.

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

Starting from zero, we’ve grown to over 12,000 users in a single year. 30% of them are organic, too.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had clear and easy communication from day one with weekly phone calls and emails. They put each of the tasks on Trello and would follow-up after every call. They were always available to respond to us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to solve problems that arise for startups like us was outstanding.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There’s nothing to mention.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We offer a system for business chatbot management. I'm the co-founder of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Around25?

Since we're a startup, we needed a good senior development partner. We specified our requirements, and Around25 did all the development and development operations (DevOps). 

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to build a MVP and establish our business.

How did you select this vendor?

We did lots of research and contacted many different vendors, and Around25 made the best impression. Since we have plenty of experience working with development teams, we knew the keys to a healthy relationship. We made the right choice.

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

We gave them the requirements and designs, and they coded the back- and frontend from a DevOps mindset.

What was the team composition?

The team had one project manager, two developers, and one tester. 

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

We achived what we intended and built a MVP. Now that we have a great foundation, we'll continue to develop the solution.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The MVP didn't require much project management, but they did a good job when it was needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They delivered good work and understood what we wanted to achieve. We had good discussions and attained optimum results with them as our sparring partner.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

It would have been good to discuss the requirements a bit more during the kickoff, but we didn't have all the answers in the beginning.