Bananacode

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at Leo Burnett, an advertising agency in Costa Rica. I’m a producer in the production department.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bananacode?

I needed to create a landing page for a promotion that one of my clients was organizing with another brand.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bananacode developed a page where visitors could fill in their data and then play a game. The game included prizes in the form of our client’s products and the other brand’s products.

We went through the whole wireframing process and did some pre-launch beta testing as well. They also made a page that opened up directly from my client’s official page.

What is the team composition?

I spoke directly with two people, but I know that the team consisted of about 5–6 people.

How did you come to work with Bananacode?

Bananacode came as a suggestion from one of my coworkers. She used to be the digital department director here and gave me their contact information. I’m not exactly sure when she had worked with them but she gave me a positive review. 

We got in touch with them and together with our client, we decided that their proposal was the best that we had received from the three that we requested, both financially and delivery-wise.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $6,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first meeting was in mid-September 2020 and the project wrapped up exactly two months after in November 2020. The project is complete, though we occasionally talk just to follow up. 

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

The collaboration was a bit complex because our client required a lot. However, Bananacode helped us a lot. We had a tight deadline, which we were able to reach despite the delays that we had because of our client. We delivered exactly what was requested and we’re all completely satisfied with the results.

How did Bananacode perform from a project management standpoint?

We had to push our deadline several times because of our client. In the end, when our client finally settled on a delivery date, we worked with Bananacode on weekends and late nights in order to deliver.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Besides the website, which works perfectly, their communication with us and with our client was always great. They were very effective and transparent. Even though we had some complications, our client was always at ease and knew things would turn out well because of the confidence Bananacode gave them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve in explaining the technical aspects of the work so that we could better understand everything. We’re not programmers, so there were a few things that we didn’t understand at the start.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Yuhu is a platform for tenants, landlords, and property managers with many units. We wanted to enter the United States market. For now, most of our clients are in Canada and Europe.

I’m the CTO of the company, overseeing everything from delivery to scoping our projects.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bananacode?

Our clients needed a mobile platform, which we didn’t have until recently. Bananacode came on board to handle a small project for improving the renter’s experience on the app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app has features for maintenance tickets and tenant-landlord communication. They’ve been on the project for a month now and have set a foundation for our mobile platform.

They used React Native for iOS and Android development. One of the more complex parts of mobile development is notifications. Bananacode suggested AWS and ran some tests through that system. It turned out to be convenient for our needs.

In addition to providing those suggestions, they implemented solutions that properly aligned with the needs and requirements we described.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager, a CTO for high-level details, and two developers. I know that they hired a few QA specialists, but we only had contact with four people.

How did you come to work with Bananacode?

One of our project managers worked with their CEO in the past, and they stayed in touch. We’re a small startup, so that referral went a long way. Still, we sent out several RFPs to Canadian an Ukranian companies.

We selected Bananacode because they have great English and communication skills, time zones weren’t a problem, and our standards were aligned with theirs. They gave us feedback about how the software development should go early into our conversations, which gave us more peace of mind.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $35,000–45,000 CAD (approximately $27,500–$35,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the work in October 2020. We communicated prior to discuss requirements, how we would work together, paperwork, and more.

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

It’s been excellent. They’ve helped us with the platform, providing both development work and consulting on the best technologies to use. Delivering on all our expectations, they also gave us further peace of mind through QA. We know our project is in good hands.

How did Bananacode perform from a project management standpoint?

From the start, their communication was great, and we talk daily. They’ve been willing to work weekends, which shows they’re dedicated and want to push the project forward.

They gave us the confidence that they could tackle our requirements and have done so from the start. Their technical abilities to do things technically kept us free from issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really stood out with their initial proposal. They gave us a great roadmap for the project, despite having very little information to begin. When we had ideas, they visualized what we needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We'd love to see them make further suggestions on the design elements of the project.  Other than that, there’s nothing I could ask for them to improve.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a software factory, and we offer staff augmentation services for other software firms. 

What challenges were you trying to address with Banancode?

They developed our website, our blog, and other microservices for the site. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used Javascript and HTML to develop the website as well as Python for some of the microservices. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people: a designer, a developer, and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Banancode?

I found them by chance at a conference and checked out their website. When this project came up, I decided to give them a try. We were looking to collaborate with a young team that had the ability to solve problems with the newest technologies. They have all these skills and their portfolio reflected that.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent about $6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We collaborated from March–May 2020.

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

We had two main KPIs, one was to improve our design to a pixel-perfect level, and the second was to achieve success in publishing our content ourselves. Both goals were met completely.

How did Banancode perform from a project management standpoint?

They used agile methodologies, and that worked perfectly for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They met all our goals and expectations and were good value for our money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could work more on making their company more well-known. I met them by chance and know they'd have plenty of interest if they promoted their work more.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a menstrual products store.

What challenges were you trying to address with Banancode?

They developed our e-commerce, and have also helped us with social media, digital marketing campaigns, design, and more.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used Magento. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about 5 people. 

How did you come to work with Banancode?

I did some online research, they seemed like a great choice for us because they work with several startups, they have a great accompaniment process, and good prices. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for about two years. 

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

Their work has been essential for our business, without the website we wouldn’t have grown as we have now. Our sales grew exponentially after having e-commerce development done. 

How did  Banancode perform from a project management standpoint?

We used different tools for communications and project management, like Discord, we have meetings every month. So I don’t have any complaints in that regard. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The e-commerce development was outstanding. They’re a very young and innovative company. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I couldn’t say anything.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a startup with the idea to give the opportunity to small businesses to have their small e-commerce store without spending money and in just a few hours I am the CTO of this startup.

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

We wanted to build an e-commerce platform that will also let us create small stories inside and give access to different small companies to manage their catalog, sales, clients, analytics, etc, we hired Bananacode to design and build this entire platform

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

They have big experience developing e-commerce solutions using Magento2 which was the technology we wanted to use to develop this idea.

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

We worked using an agile process, where we had deliverables every week, they first designed the site then started with the development, me as CTO was in charged on thinking about how we would solve some of the biggest e-commerce challenges this project had and they got in charge of implementing them.

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

We were a small team of: 1 designer from Bananacode 1 magento2 developer from Banacode 1 CTO (me)

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

We are still working on improving the project every day, since we launched two months ago, from a development perspective, the implementation has behaved amazingly, we are still working on improving the platform number of clients.

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

We used Discord as channel of communication and Trello to keep every deliverable organized, also we used Notion to keep documentation and notes of the project.

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

Their experience working with e-commerce systems is amazing, also they are really organized and have a great client service, it feels like working with friends.

Are there any areas for improvement?

From a general perspective all good, but well there are always areas of improvement in every company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Motus Apps. We develop custom web and mobile applications for clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bananacode?

We had a particular client project, and Bananacode’s resources and tech stack were set up well to be able to help us with that. We contracted them as a development arm of Motus Apps to help us develop this particular project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bananacode helped us develop a web app. It was a customized system for scheduling teaching sessions to occur across multiple instructors and multiple classrooms. The tech stack was Node.js and React with MongoDB, which they were able to adapt to easily due to their knowledge base. My team started the project, and they were able to help us develop the last 80% of it. They also helped us tremendously in the testing and deployment of the app.

What is the team composition?

We worked with between 5–6 people.

How did you come to work with Bananacode?

I became aware of them sometime last year through a mutual friend whose company has also used them and seen good results. I keep the names and numbers of people like that close at hand, so when I had a project, I reached out to Bananacode.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together was from early March through the end of April or early May 2020.

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

The shining star of their organization is their tester. He actually uncovered a great number of bugs that even we had not found out about as of yet. The vast majority of these bugs were preexisting in the system that we asked them to build on top of. He was able to help us work through a lot of the inefficiencies of the system and make some great recommendations that Bananacode built on top of.

How did Bananacode perform from a project management standpoint?

We did not exceed the budget by any significant amount, nor did we go over on schedule, so both of those were very well-contained. In the course of doing what they had to do, they discovered inefficiencies in the preexisting system, so any missed deadlines were justified. Communication was good and on par with what I would expect.

From a project management standpoint, I thought Pedro (CEO & Co-Founder) did a great job of assembling the right sized team for the project and setting up the proper communication channels. We used Discord, and that worked well. They were all very attentive and responded in what I consider to be a very adequate amount of time. They answered all of our questions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with their testing abilities. They have a top-notch tester, and I’d absolutely use them again just to have access to him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Toward the end of the project, they had the same issue that almost every engineer I’ve ever worked with has had: they wanted to try and solve the problem themselves. From a project management standpoint, I’ve always appreciated when my engineers work on an issue or a roadblock for a day or so, and if they can’t get it, they send it to me and let me deal with it. It would’ve been better for them to come to me as quickly as possible when they had an issue as opposed to trying to bulldoze through it themselves.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a design and advertising agency.

What challenges were you trying to address with Bananacode?

We engaged them for development services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve had a range of different projects with Banan in projects that require web development, including landing pages and web apps. The team has used Wordpress and PHP.

What is the team composition?

I have worked directly with 3 people.

How did you come to work with Bananacode?

They were referred to us by one of our employees.

How much have you invested in them?

We typically spend between $3,000–$4,500 per project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first met with Bananacode about two years ago but it wasn’t until last year that we engaged with the goal of creating a sort of corporate alliance between our companies and to define projects we could take on together.

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

The engagement has been great. Being able to offer our services in conjunction with theirs has brought an added value to our services. 

How did Bananacode perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a project management tool called Didcot, which allows us to organize our projects very neatly. As for deadlines, we have had a couple of delays, but most of them were for changes made by the client, though some others for inaccurate calculations from their side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Bananacode knows the market and new technologies very well. They’re able to provide great orientation and consulting to clients, and help them to find the best option for them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve with deadlines and plan the calendar ahead with more caution. They could also integrate better with the client’s team to better understand the changes made along the road.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a digital media and startup incubator.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bananacode?

The team at Bananacode developed our website that allows for content management and integrates with subscription payment systems.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the website, the team used React, Mailchimp, and other technologies.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of 4.

How did you come to work with Bananacode?

My partner found Bananacode. They made a proposal and offered improvements to our previous platform.

Their team created several landing pages for us. After that, they earned our trust, and we continued expanding our collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $100,000–$150,000.  

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Bananacode started about two years ago.

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

Our collaboration has been great. As in every development project, we’ve had a couple of setbacks, but they have a great service. The team always responds to our feedback and manages to solve everything timely.

How did Bananacode perform from a project management standpoint?

The team used a project management tool for tracking. We also used emails and direct communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at Bananacode has a great attitude. They’re always willing to collaborate and find solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a few delivery delays. Some of them were caused by changes we made at the last moment, but they could also improve in that area.