Begin, LLC

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Provider Pool is a healthcare technology company based in Missouri. I’m the COO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We wanted to rebuild our technology platform to improve the UX design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Begin, LLC became an extension of our engineering team. We worked with a number of their developers on a fulltime basis. We provided the designs, and they helped us build, QA test, and deploy the platform. It’s a responsive web app built on the .NET stack. It’s a bit of an older stack, but it was used at our request, and Begin was comfortable with it.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 people from their team. Brandon (Co-Founder & Managing Director) filled the project manager role.

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

I asked for referrals on LinkedIn, and one of Begin, LLC’s founders got in touch. We asked for quotes and had a number of interviews with them and a couple of other vendors. We decided to take the leap with Begin, and we’re really glad that we did.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Begin in July 2020, and the first phase wrapped up in September. We’ll engage them again after we’ve designed the next phase of the project.

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

The platform is used by hundreds of nurses around the country, and we’re incredibly satisfied with it. It’s been instrumental in helping us secure a round of funding. Our nurses love it, and we’re getting a really high NPS (Net Promoter Score). 

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked closely and collaboratively with Brandon, and every deadline was hit. We had very transparent, proactive communication, and I couldn’t ask for more. We used Trello for task tracking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provided cost-effective, high-quality work. They were reliable, and their communication was top notch. We never wondered where they were at with a task or worried about them not getting something done. In the world of development shops, that’s incredibly rare.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t comment on any areas for improvement because we’ve had a wonderfully positive experience with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Begin, LLC should be treated as a real partner, and you should be transparent with them about what you need. They’re incredibly flexible, so they can simply execute a project that’s already scoped out, but they can also be more of a thought partner and help you think through use cases and features. The more proactive and communicative we are, the more we’ll take advantage of what they bring to the table.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run a product development agency and i'm the president

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin for multiple different client projects involving web development and mobile app development

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for our main project with Begin was to build a mobile application utilizing swift, java, and react framework

How did you select this vendor?

I interviewed a lot of vendors and Begin seemed like they were the most capable to get the job done

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project involved building two mobile apps for a client as well as building and maintaining their front end for their web platform. The Begin team was responsible for developing the entire app and front end on the client project. There were 3 developers from the Begin team involved that all did a fantastic job.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a senior swift developer, a senior java developer and a senior full stack developer that worked in Vue.js and node.js

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

Working with Begin had a major positive impact on our business. They provided great work and we were able to work with the client project they were on for significantly longer then the original contract we had with the client.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The Begin team managed the development of the project and ran sprint meetings with the client as well as interfaced with their team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were able to hit really tight deadlines and would consistently work weekends if needed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope, working with them was great.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a date night subscription box company that focuses on providing relationship-building products to couples.

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

We were looking for a custom piece of software to help with some internal project management processes in order to increase our efficiency.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal for this project was to create a custom piece of software based on our needs and design requirements and fast and as cost-effective as possible while still offering something that could scale in the future.

How did you select this vendor?

We learned about Begin, LLC through word of mouth and reached out with our product specs and designs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Begin, LLC was to take our ideas, designs, and functionality needs and create and optimize an internal piece of software to help us with our project management needs.

What was the team composition?

The project team had about 4 people, all of which we interacted with throughout the project. They were very courteous, well-informed, professional and each had fantastic communication skills which allowed us to complete the project on time and under budget.

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

The final product Begin, LLC delivered overwhelmingly exceeded our expectations. Not only did they finish the project before our goal finish date, but they delivered a well-polished product with no bugs and minimal changes needed. They were very efficient and a pleasure to work with.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Having dealt with other development companies (and ones with a much larger team), working with Begin was a breath of fresh air when it comes to outsourcing development. They had a clear hierarchy of command and communication.

Each team member knew what their job was for the project and clearly articulated their role with us. We really had to force ourselves to come up with questions to ask because they had everything running and planned out so precisely.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Begin's efficiency stood out to us the most. They worked quickly and effectively. Communication was never an issue (especially with us being "non-technical") and the quality of work was never compensated. We will definitely be using them again for future needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There isn't much more that we could'be asked for. My only suggestion for those looking to work with Begin is to come in with a clear and precise plan for your project. Their team is very creative and great at problem-solving and us having a clear idea of what we wanted made the experience that much more enjoyable.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

FourKites is a supply chain visibility platform, and we work with large shippers to help them get real-time updates across their different loads on truck, rail, and ships. I lead the digital marketing team for our website, digital campaigns, and paid advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We recently did a rebrand and created a new website, and Begin, LLC helped us to transfer our live network diagram to the new website, which involved transferring product APIs without taking the system down.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The complexity of the project came in with the design because we needed the plugin to remain consistent but also blend with the new website. Beyond just writing new API code and configuring the backend to handle the program, they helped us to maximize the responsiveness and optimize it for mobile and different screen sizes as well.

What is the team composition?

I had one main point of contact on their team and I know of at least one designer and one developer who worked with him on the project as well.

How did you come to work with Begin, LLC?

One of my contacts referred them to me, and we set up a call to talk about his experience and what the challenge was. It seemed like a good fit, so we decided to work with them from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent in the range of $4,000–$5,000

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from November-December 2019.

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

From a value and cost point of view, Begin, LLC was able to save us a lot of time and money through their level of skill and professionalism. A lot of developers tend to go back and forth with things, and their team was able to get it right the first time, which I really appreciated.

We will have more data in a few months around time of use, but everything functions very smoothly and can be used in all of the ways we wanted it to, so we are very satisfied with the quality of their work in that regard.

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Our point of contact did a very good job of managing the project relatively independently. Once we explained our goals for the project from a high level, he worked with his team to take care of a lot of the details without having to come to us with a ton of questions about everything.

We gave them all of the deliverables upfront, and they did a great job of sticking to deadlines and getting things done on time. Any of the delays we experienced were on our end in terms of getting approvals or waiting on resources for the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They just have a really acute sense of professionalism. It was clear throughout the project that everyone on their team really knew what they were doing. Because they were able to incorporate all the best practices on their own, it saved us a lot of time and made the experience really great for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t really think of anything that would have improved this particular project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as the client has a clear idea of what they want done and communicates that well, the project is going to be cost-effective and successful.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CHASER is an event management platform that gives fraternities the tools they need to manage their events and ensure safety. I act as the CEO and project manager of CHASER. 

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin, LLC to develop our Web and Android platforms in vue.JS and supplement our internal development team. Further, they acted as mentors for us and advised us on certain decisions from time to time. Our company had just gone through a massive change, and we were scattering for developers. We're lucky we found Beg.in. 

What were your goals for this project?

We needed developers who could work with us to develop the platforms in a short 3 months. We were on a very tight time schedule, and we needed this done just in time for our launch. Every single other development company we reached out to said that it would take much longer, but Brandon (Managing Director, Begin, LLC) and the team helped us work through some features to pare down the time. 

How did you select this vendor?

We went through looking for tons of development teams. We used Upwork, other freelance sites, and even walked around in our WeWork to try to find developers. Lacking in all of them was communication and clarity. Beg.in acted as a partner in our journey of creating the product, and they were the clear right choice the second we spoke to them over the phone. Brandon, Cody (Lead Frontend Developer, Begin, LLC), and Johnmark (Lead Software Engineer, Begin, LLC) were welcoming from the start. 

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Before we came to Beg.in, we only had developed an iOS platform. However, we needed two platforms (Android and Web) made for our August launch. The web platform needed to be a full event hosting portal (like Eventbrite) and Android needed to mirror the iOS platform. After we came to them with our needs, they quickly suggested that we use vue.JS in order to supercharge our development. We took their advice, and everything turned out well. In two short months, they provided the products exactly as we wanted them. 

What was the team composition?

Brandon was the coordinator with our team, but that doesn't mean that we didn't speak to the developers every single day. Cody and Johnmark (our developers) would Slack us daily with questions or concerns – all in the hopes that we were exactly on the same page about what they were building. The result was a cooperative development workflow that I've never seen before. 

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that Beg.in has had on your business?

We were about to have to push back our launch when we realized that we had to build two huge platforms in three months before summer was over. We were lost. However, because of Beg.in's efforts and desire to help us out, we made it happen. We're forever thankful to Brandon, Cody, and Johnmark. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Slack to communicate. Brandon would reach out to me personally regarding billing, and we would work from there. We had a big Slack channel where the Beg.in team would send updates, ask questions, etc. We would also frequently get on Skype calls to work through tension points. Getting to such an effective point was naturally a work in progress, but once we figured out a great system that worked for both the Beg.in and the Chaser team, the result was amazing. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their empathy and ability to cooperate with the team they're working with. Beg.in is not a development company that you just hire and forget about. Not one bit. Brandon, Cody, and Johnmark are knowledgable people that work with you to battle through the roadblocks present in every single startup. They spent the extra hours to ensure that we were super clear on what needed to get done. 

More importantly, any time we had a serious business strategy issue, we also reached out to them for advice. We're grateful to say that Beg.in helped us out so much. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at all. Beg.in knows what they're doing and they take care of their clients. Seamless experience!!! 

Please describe your company and your position there.

Qikpix is a mobile platform where you can find and book professional photographers on demand. I am the CEO and founder of Qikpix.

For what projects/services did your company hire Begin, LLC?

Beg.in performed a range of services for Qikpix. My work started out with Beg.in to build a landing page that would act as the MVP to test the market for validation. After market testing was performed and our theory was validated we moved to full production the a website and mobile app.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals for this project were ever changing. Goals when building a startup are ever changing as they should be. Pivoting pieces of your company to point in the right direction is absolutely necessary.

I wouldn't have been able to reach the goals I had set for myself without the dedicated work from Begin, LLC. They didn't help me just reach my goals they helped me achieve better than what I had even thought possible at times.

How did you select this vendor?

I met the members of Beg.in through a co working facility. I didn't want just a dev team, I wanted a real team. Beg.in was reasonably priced and they showed the passion and dedication that I was looking for in team members. Team members helped me navigate the murky waters that are web and mobile development.

Describe the project in detail.

Qikpix was a project of many levels. The first part of the project included building an MVP product that was a website with a few basic selection options for customers.

Beg.in helped me monitor and change the MVP as needed and helped me reach my product validation goals of customer acquisition and photographer acquisition. We then went on to build the website which was the first part of the product.

The website allowed customers and photographers to sign up and register with Qikpix. Customers were also able to submit photos fro editing through the website. The mobile App was developed for both android and iOS. The app works in conjunction with the website. 

Users find and book photographers through the app and photographers are able to accept request that are submitted. Customers had the ability to search for photographers within any geographical area and photographers could accept request as well.

What was the team composition?

The team was composed of 4 software developers. Two team members were UX/UI developers and two were full stack developers. The team did grow over time to about 12 people. This included an admin team from my side of the company. Beg.in members communicated with everyone on a daily basis and were involved in every meeting.

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

Qikpix went on to raise over $100K with the help of Beg.in. We achieved a CAC of about $3.5 and we had over 150 photographers nationwide that had signed up through the platform along with roughly 100 editors located overseas.

We received great customer feedback, customers who used the platform loved how easy and simplified the process of hiring a photographer had become. We would have liked to see more adaptability but this was due to lack of funding for marketing.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The work relationship couldn't have been better. Team members from Beg.in went to speaking events and advertising engagements around the country with me. they were always ready to fix any problem or bug that was found.

We used many different communication tools such as slack on a daily basis. There were quite a few tools that we tried to weigh the benefits, begin members helped me understand some of the communication and development tools better.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The dedication was what was most impressive. The energy that all the members had made it a great work environment. Having a dynamic team that can be cohesive is something every founder wants, I was lucky enough to find this first and that is what helped me even create Qikpix in the first place!

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, just ask them!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO at GovFlex, where we produced an e-commerce platform that connects service providers or freelance consultants with government contractors and agencies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Begin, LLC?

We hired Begin, LLC to develop a set of functionalities for our analytics tool to enhance it. Our team calls it opportunity analytics. It’s a tool that allows our customers to forecast the probability of wins against a given federal opportunity.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially had an introductory conversation in which we explained our requirements. That was followed by an evaluation and quote. The first phase of the project consisted of us getting them up to speed the technology. There are several data sources needed for the analysis, so they needed to understand where they lived and the various APIs associated with them. 

Once they had access to the appropriate data, we provided them with a business logic algorithm that would produce calculations on the probability of winning. They digested that information, integrating and refining their code.

The third part of the engagement concerned the UI and how users interact with the interface. Their team laid out the solution graphically to most effectively visualize our conclusions and recommendations. They helped us present the findings in a web-based report format for our customers’ benefit.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four of their teammates in total. That included a project manager, a database specialist, a UI designer, and an analytics professional. Brandon (Managing Director, Begin, LLC) was my main point of contact.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2019, and our teams continue to collaborate.

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

Statistics on the utilization and feedback from our users is not yet available, but consumers are activating it in high volumes. 

Internally, it’s reliable. Some of the underlying data we use comes from systems we don’t control. They deserve credit for looking into calculations that weren’t working properly and writing specialized code that will alert us if these external systems suddenly stop working. Their code is protecting us from the repercussions of that. We feel very confident in the work they did.

How did Begin, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked closely with their project manager, who provided us with updates each week. Even though we made some changes to the project along the way, they were able to accommodate our adjustments and deliver an ideal solution in the end. 

Their team was very honest, even with their shortcomings. There was one instance when the project manager informed me of a cost evaluation oversight, and it was corrected from there. I understand that it happens and was appreciative of their transparency in that error.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They showed an authentic interest in the problem we were trying to solve. Several past partners focused only on the technical details of the project, without achieving a basic understanding of why we’re building what we were building. From the very beginning, they had a legitimate understanding of what we wanted to create and the product’s implications. They wanted to know how the product was designed to work before jumping right into the code, details, and technology.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything—they deserve a very good score. Their team communicated well and was responsive throughout. Sometimes, when you work with an outsourced team, figuring out how to schedule meetings can be challenging. They delivered without any difficulties.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be available for communication because issues in that area often cause real problems downstream. Make sure your requirements are clear. As things change, communicate them swiftly and effectively.