Benevolent Tech

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Product Maven provides virtual product management and expertise to small businesses and startups. I am a co-founder and the CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Benevolent Tech?

We were working on launching a tech product in the hiring space. We needed to bring on a tech expert that could help us bring our concept life.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was looking for some technical leadership in order to scope out our technology stacks. We recruited Benevolent Tech from a CTO perspective and continued to work with them not only from a tech-leadership basis but also for developing the first version of our product. This included everything from setting up our entire backend and frontend, design work, testing, and an eventual market launch.

When we brought Benevolent Tech on board, we had already gone through the prototyping and market-validation phases. We actually needed to build a first version beta for the market. Benevolent Tech stayed with us through to market launch.

We were creating the Uber of hourly jobs, which would be a marketplace for individuals looking for hourly work as cashiers, wait staff, and so on. We were focused on bringing them to the application, helping them create a resume, discover their skills, and find jobs with those skills. On the job side, we were helping them better evaluate and manage on-demand hourly labor.

We worked with three developers from Benevolent Tech's side. Brian Dombrowski, their founder, was our lead.

How did you come to work with Benevolent Tech?

We found Benevolent Tech through AngelList. I was looking to find some early team members for our project and ended up meeting Brian. I got to know him and Benevolent Tech and brought them on board after a couple of months.

How much have you invested with Benevolent Tech?

We had an interesting arrangement with Benevolent Tech, by which we paid some cash up front but also gave them equity in the company. I appreciated the flexibility.

We had a senior engineering resource with a $100 hourly rate. The other team members had more junior-level pricing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Benevolent Tech in February 2016. We eventually got to market in July of that year and tested the product for around four months. There were some issues with the business model and we ended up pivoting into something else.

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

We saw a very low number of defects or issues. Benevolent Tech kept close attention on quality, which I appreciated. We never needed to worry too much about unit testing.

The traction to the market was nothing to hang our hats on. We had a couple of hundred users and received some feedback. We were trying to find a market fit but didn't really find it in the time we had.

How did Benevolent Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

For a founder, deadlines are always yesterday, but Benevolent Tech was always realistic in this regard. This is key when working with development shops. I have had nightmare experiences, so finding an honest partner was important.

We had a three month period from the beginning of our relationship until we delivered a first prototype, which was quite impressive. From there, we continued to iterate for an additional three months in order to stabilize version one.

What did you find most impressive about Benevolent Tech?

For an early-stage company, resources and time to market are important, in addition to other metrics. Our launch speed was key for the work with Benevolent Tech. They supported us with quick iteration cycles based on what we were learning from early adopters.

Are there any areas Benevolent Tech could improve?

I would have liked to have seen more design resources being brought onboard. Benevolent Tech was good at delivering the development elements, and we did address design elements with them. I believe that Benevolent Tech has since made those additions to the team. Beyond that, I was very happy with Benevolent Tech.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of APM Food Works, LLC. We have three affiliated companies at different stages of development: popcornandnuts.com, mealessential.com, and Grow Fresh Salad.

What challenge were you trying to address with Benevolent Tech?

Our main business challenge was to build the websites and get our name out on the internet.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brian, the founder of Benevolent Tech, is helping us on all three sites. After we get the store set up, we will take them to the next step.

We’re doing marketing and e-commerce for the Popcorn and Nuts site. We sell online and we also do direct wholesale distribution and retail.

I worked mostly with Brian but he had some help, I think, putting it together. On my end, we probably had three people that worked on developing the text and the photos. We used the same templates in Weebly on the second site, and that also helped to keep it simple.

Over the past two weeks, Brian and I have been working on a master website for APM Food Works and putting all our products into one marketplace on the new website. We're very excited about the prospects.

How did you come to work with Benevolent Tech?

My daughter, who does some of my creative and social media work, recommended them to me. Benevolent Tech is in DC and my office is in Maryland, so it’s good to have somebody in proximity. We get all of our stuff made in Pennsylvania, and we target the Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City markets.

We had an earlier company, and we used another developer up in Buffalo, New York. He was good, but the distance was kind of unhandy. I like having somebody close by so we can brainstorm and pick each other’s brain like I did with Brian. It also helps that he has his network for other services like photography and search engine optimization.

How much have you invested with Benevolent Tech?

It’s interesting. We have a complex relationship in terms of payment. We’ve been talking about Brian being more involved in our company. The cash outlay was pretty modest, probably in the $1,000 range just to get the work ramped up, and then over time, a similar amount.

What is the status of this engagement?

In May 2016, we started the Popcorn and Nuts site, and this past fall, the Meal Essential one. Grow Fresh Salad is up but we probably won’t get it going until the summer. We have an ongoing engagement with them to keep up the website and we’re just starting to do SEO [search engine optimization].

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

We started with an informational campaign and we’re just getting started on the sales. Last winter, we were out sending out samples and it has helped to have the marketing material. People want to see the website before buying the product, and we’ve gotten really good comments. Benevolent Tech also helped me with some labeling and trying to get a consistent message across. He encouraged us to use Weebly, which has been great as well.

How did Benevolent Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. Once Brian knew how we operate, we had the Meal Essential site up in a month. We needed an informational website. We weren’t doing any e-commerce, just information, and that was great.

What did you find most impressive about Benevolent Tech?

Brian has so much experience in this field, so he knows what works and what doesn’t. It’s easy for him but not for me, so that’s where he comes in. He really knows what he's doing in terms of making it easy for us to manage our website.

Are there any areas Benevolent Tech could improve?

It’s one step at a time. I’ll probably know better and more about that in the next month or so, like when we get into the SEO. It’s very important to get visibility, and I hope he’s got that figured out. So far, I haven’t had any disappointments or misgivings.