Bilberrry

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP Marketing of Outpost

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Outpost is a leading network of truck parking and fleet yard facilities with more than 20 locations and 10,000 spaces across the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Bilberrry to accomplish?

• Design and Rebuild Corporate Website

SOLUTION

How did you find Bilberrry?

Worked with them in the past

Why did you select Bilberrry over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Previous positive experience

How many teammates from Bilberrry were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

As part of our company rebrand from Semi-Stow to Outpost, we decided to rebuild our website from the ground up. That included scrapping the old Webflow implementation and rebuilding on Wordpress (WPEngine), plus a full redesign.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our new website was delivered on-time and on-budget. It has better performance, more customizable SEO, and easier to build pages. It's also a huge upgrade from our old design.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Can't say enough good things about the project management. In addition to the site being delivered on time, Mayelee and Emma were always proactive in their communication to set my expectations appropriately and ensure against any surprises.

What was your primary form of communication with Bilberrry?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The combination of strong project management, web design, and web development, along with good communication throughout the process to build trust. I consider the value we received from the project to be a bargain.  All of my experiences in working with them have been great. I highly recommend them and am happy to serve as a reference for other clients considering working with them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Bilberrry could have done differently?

Nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at a wealth management firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

Prior to my current position, I worked for my company’s marketing department. During that period, we had a corporate website that needed an update both in its layout and design. Thus, we engaged with Bilberrry for help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went through the full breadth of our website’s redesign with Bilberrry’s help. First, we had a discovery session, where we talked about our needs and goals, which included a transition from our current WordPress website to a new WordPress environment. Since we would migrate the content, we also discussed reorganizing our website and restructuring our navigation.

After the initial process, we worked with Bilberrry on the actual site’s design. They came to us with different design direction mockups made on Figma based on our brand guidelines, and we selected one of them. After that, they designed the wireframes before we migrated the content. They also helped us migrate the content, and they recently launched the new site.

What is the team composition?

My main contact was a project manager, but in a number of meetings, I also talked with a larger team from Bilberrry that included a few designers.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

I was looking for an agency in Seattle with a background and expertise in WordPress, and I shortlisted 4–5 companies, including Bilberrry, based on a broad internet search. One of our partners had worked with them in the past. They had a really good experience working with them, so they highly recommended them, and we decided to go with them at that point.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2021–February 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Comparing the last three weeks after we launched the site to the previous three with our former site, we saw a 25% increase in page views, as well as a 35% increase in time on site. Additionally, the average number of pages a user visits per session increased as well. It has been a short period, and we will continue tracking those trends, but I’ve definitely seen results.

Qualitatively speaking, we saw a lot of internal support about our new site, as well as very positive feedback from a number of clients that saw it and explored it.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Bilberrry’s project management was fantastic. We had to move our launch date once, but it was due to an internal hurdle. Still, they were always very flexible, and every time we had a deadline to hit, they always came ahead of it.

In terms of communication, Bilberrry was great. They were awesome at following up, and they always delivered work above and beyond our expectations. We had weekly check-in Zoom meetings with our project manager, as well as a shared to-do list. To manage every other aspect of the project, we just used email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The creativity of Bilberrry’s team was impressive. The wealth management industry is usually very conservative, and our competitors’ websites look almost the same. What I loved about Bilberrry was that they came up with different design options that set us apart in our field. We really appreciated their creative license, which helped us widen our vision and break out of the traditional wealth management company mold.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good if Bilberrry shared a project management tool with their clients. Not having one didn’t create any hurdles for us, but it would be helpful for clients who want to have a more tactical view of their projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you leverage Bilberrry’s entire team. They have various resources with different capabilities, which is awesome. Being able to leverage their resources and do a lot of different things in the project was really helpful for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of iMovR.com.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed development help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done every generation of two of our websites. The first site they did is a Magento site. Most recently, they converted the second site from WordPress 4 to WordPress 5 and an all-new theme.

One of our websites was hideously and extremely slow. We put site speed metrics they have to meet. It was an off the shelf theme that we used for reviews websites and that company was tiny and never updated it. We needed to replace a theme that was designed specifically for review sites. They had built a good review site before.

We wanted a theme programmed specifically to mimic what we had before, as much as possible, but at the same time, be more attuned to rich snippets and other SEO things that have come along since that old theme didn’t work well with. We were using plugins that were garbage. Our SEO performance now is integrated into the theme.

It’s a combination of site performance, load speed, UX, and look and feel. On the backend, it gives us a lot more control over things that the prior theme didn’t allow us to do. It makes my team more productive.

What is the team composition?

Our account manager was Adam (Co-Founder/CEO). There’s a graphic designer and a project manager as well.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

Adam used to work for me before he launched his company. I was his first client with our first website. He actually came up with our company name in about three minutes. He’s a very great guy.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $80,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re a state-of-the-art agency. I will continue giving them my business. Their skillset and especially their U.S. based team has really improved.

Everything went so well. We gave them a spec of what we wanted. They gave us back a detailed proposal. Then we had very little interaction. They just executed really well. They gave us two rounds of review on the screen designs and then after that, it’s just been bug fixes and they’ve been fixing them at light speed as soon as we bring them up.

I continue working with them because we’re experts in our industry but we’re not experts on WordPress or Magento. I can tell them what I’m looking for and they come back and say they can do that but then also tell us what else they could do. They add enhancements to our spec of things we’re just not aware of.

We still get 1.2 million users a year. I give them 5-stars across the board. We rarely give a 5 to anything.

We’re not live yet on the second site because we’re finishing content changes.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is 5-stars. They were on time to the day. They took our feedback really well and listened extremely well. They had their own advice to us of things we could do even nicer and better which we took. Bug fixes have been incredibly fast.

We communicate via email. There hasn’t been much need because it was so well done. The spec was clear. Their proposal was clear. They built exactly what we asked for. We haven’t had a need for any more ways to communicate. There’s a Google Doc where we’d put errors or questions when we found them. They’d get an immediate email when we posted something in there. They responded within hours on everything.

We get very good value using their Ukrainian team but we speak with a small staff in the US. We don’t have to ever deal with translation. They’re very intelligent with SEO which is critical with the design of the sites.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really get a deep understanding of our business. I’ve worked with a lot of agencies and I’ve never found a software development firm that actually listens to you and learns your business as if they’re a Bain or Accenture consultant.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve. They took my feedback on the project three years ago and they now have a well-honed organization.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Both sides have to walk that extra mile. Explain your entire business well and you’ll get a better result. Have a good grasp of your audience demographics. The more they understand about what your business is, the better their advice is going to be on features on your website.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Grand Image is an art publishing and creation company. We intake commissions from our customers as well as create brand new content that we also sell. We create that art, print it out, and help with the install and the publication. We have a variety of clients across the architectural and design communities, as well as hospitality and other markets. We also do 3D art, so we make sculptures. A lot of our art is digital or 2D. My role is COO, so I’m in charge of technology as well. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We needed to update our marketing site and have it integrated with some of the backend sites that we have, which is basically our catalog. We have an extensive catalog of about 60,000 images of the works that we’ve created. When our customers log in, they need to have access to that catalog, because they make purchases from it and also browse it to get ideas of how their work is installed. We also needed a CMS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bilberrry built a new marketing site from scratch that is focused solely on marketing to new customers or people that want to know about Grand Image. They also implemented a WordPress CMS.

We told them what we were looking for. One of the unique things that Bilberrry did, and a reason we decided to go with them, was that they did some initial design mockups. This is pretty unique, because they really wanted to work with us and did some quick mockups to show us what the site could look like. They were pretty simple mockups, but nobody else was willing to go so far as to present something to us. Our owner is really driven by design and the aesthetics of things, so he really appreciated being able to visually see the site instead of having the possibilities described to him.

We will have an ongoing contract with them, where they will host the site for at least the first year before we move it over to AWS. We will also have them come back and add in some more functionality that we want, like an e-commerce site.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three people on the Bilberrry team, including Bryan (Graphic Designer). Our main point of contact is Arthur (Director, Digital Strategy & Product Management), and he’s been phenomenal. Around six people from my side have been deeply involved in this project.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

We initially found Bilberrry through Clutch. They had good reviews. One of the reasons that we really liked Bilberrry is that they used WordPress. Millions of sites use WordPress as their CMS, and it gets updated regularly. We’d previously worked with somebody that had a custom CMS solution, and we didn’t like that because we were tied to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a total of $50,000. Our hosting contract will be $150 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We contracted them in late December 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. Being an art company, we’re always looking to change some of the art or aesthetics of it all, and we’ve been updating our content a lot. The site’s code has been complete for many weeks now, but we have a ton of content, so we’ve been going through to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward. We fully expect to actually launch this week and transfer over to the new website. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t share any metrics because we haven’t launched the site yet. However, Bilberrry has always been on top of everything. They really helped us put together a visual, professional site. Our previous marketing site has an interesting design, but it’s completely nonfunctional. It’s difficult to navigate through and has too much parallax animation going on. Bilberrry helped us create a site that is pretty to look at; as an art company, we need a visually-acceptable site, to say the least. We also wanted it to be really functional so that if somebody dropped into the site, they would immediately know what to do, and it would funnel them directly to contacting us as quickly as possible.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Arthur is just wonderful to work with. Every week, he checks in and lets us know what is due from us. He manages the project quite well. With COVID-19 going on, it would be very easy for us to focus on other things, but Arthur has always been there to keep us on target. They had a project plan from the beginning, which laid out the steps they’d take, the projected dates of when things would be done, and the areas where they’d need interaction from us. They’ve had constant and consistent follow-up on at least a weekly basis, if not more frequently. They’ve even followed up on weekends. 

It was pretty simple project management from a software standpoint; we weren’t using anything complex like Microsoft Project. All we needed was a spreadsheet, which we referred to quite consistently. We also used InVision so that we could see the website’s design and how it would function. That was really useful, especially for our owner. 

Most of the work was done remotely, but they flew in their designer from Nashville to work with us for a day and make sure that we got the design right before it was finalized. Also, we met with one of their co-owners, Adam (Co-CEO & CMO), a couple of times during the initial phases. He was able to give us a lot of information about ERP software. It was really good to meet with Adam and Arthur to go over future enhancements and things that they could possibly help us out with. They were really informative, helpful, and honest. They let us know when things would cost us more, even though it would be beneficial to them to have us on as a client.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I thought they were and still are excellent at communication. They’re just on top of everything, and that’s really appreciated, especially considering it was difficult to get our last vendor to provide any information on the project’s status. Bilberrry lets us know what’s going on and what they need from us and when, and then they follow up on that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there really isn’t. To be honest, they have just been a fantastic vendor to work with. I have really enjoyed the process with them.

Any advice for potential customers?

Bilberrry is going to guide and direct you to get the most out of the engagement; they’re really quite good at that. Just sit back and let them take over, which is the perfect way for a vendor to function.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We develop curriculum and programming for health sciences graduate students to learn about teamwork and collaboration.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bilberrry?

We hired Bilberry for web design and custom web development. We needed a nice looking and functional student portal.

What were your goals for this project?

An intuitive and mobile friendly online portal for university students to learn about and register for specific educational opportunities at the University of Washington. A flexible admin panel/CMS that allows our staff to easily manage website content and add new program offerings without technical support.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to Bilberrry by a friend.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Bilberrry was included in all aspects of the project. From ideation, design, development, testing and deployment. They helped us define the design and functionality of the student portal, provided recommendations on how to best implement specific features and efficiently executed on the deliverables.

What was the team composition?

Our primary points of contact throughout the engagement were the Lead Product Manager and Lead Designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The student portal has allowed for a more streamlined and organized registration process. Over 1000 students are now able to view and register for programming on the student portal. And, we can proudly direct people to the portal to showcase our programming.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We communicated via phone, email and in person meetings. The team was great at communicating and implementing in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They not only delivered on what they promised on time and on budget, they also communicated the technical aspects of the project in a way that we could understand.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of a fast casual restaurant concept with multiple locations throughout King County.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bilberrry?

We hired Bilberrry to design and develop a custom online catering portal that allowed us to productize our catering offerings and streamline the ordering process for catering customers.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for this project were to design and build out an online ordering solution for our catering business that allowed us to increase our catering orders and reduce the back and forth email communication between our customers and our operations team.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to Bilberrry through our personal network as they came highly recommended.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our existing website was built using an out of the box Wordpress Theme that was slightly customized to fit our needs. When it came time to expand our business into catering, the existing theme did not have the flexibility we needed to achieve our goals. When we approached Bilberrry about our needs, they discussed several options we had to choose from.

We ultimately decided to work with them to build out custom designed pages and functionality to achieve our goals. The process involved brainstorming how we wanted our customers to interact with our catering menu, and how to clearly communicate our offerings.

From there, Bilberrry presented multiple design options based on our input. Once the designs and user flows were selected, they moved forward with implementation, testing and deployment of the new pages and functionality. I was impressed with the feedback and communication throughout the process and the speed of which they executed.

What was the team composition?

We worked primarily with a Lead Product Manager at Bilberrry. Other Bilberrry team members who were involved in the project include a UI designer, a Wordpress Developer, a Quality Assurance Tester and a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Right away we saw an uptick in catering orders with the new website. The simplicity it afforded for the end user had a bigger impact then we imagined. Repeat customers even commented on how much they enjoyed the new website. Made me wish we had done it sooner!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had 1 main point of contact which made things really easy for us, not sure how they self delegated on their end.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We had an idea of what we were going for but didn't know exactly how to get there. Bilberrry helped us actually think through the solution. They asked us questions related to our business goals and proposed solutions to best help achieve those goals. We felt as though we could give them very high level information related to our business and they could come up with the right solution and also execute on it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Overall, it was a great experience working with Bilberrry and we were thrilled with how it turned out.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of IT for Evergreens Salad, a restaurant chain. I manage a variety of systems and technical projects for restaurant operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bilberrry?

We hired Bilberrry to render web design services that would have been otherwise impossible with our time constraints. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our previous website was something relatively inexpensive that still provide our customers with enough functionality for an overall 'good' experience. We contracted Bilberrry because of their outstanding rapport and communication skills, knowing that we could achieve the appropriate interface that could represent our brand.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The president of my company reached out to many of his connections to review potential vendors we could hire. He has a very specific taste in mind when it comes to representing the company as a whole, and Bilberrry checked all the boxes.

Describe the project in detail.

Bilberrry redesigned our website with a professional finish that better reflects our branding needs. While I came into the project later on, we needed to communicate the development of the concept, strategy, and overall design to a group of senior management that lacked experience with backend web development and IT solutions in general. My role in this project was to provide necessary accounts, process payments, and take over and manage the website as a whole after the project came to completion.

What was the team composition?

The CEO himself served as the project manager. His team of developers chimed in as necessary and worked behind the scenes to finalize all of our content requests.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our previous website was bogged down and increasingly difficult to manage. Now the site performs even better than intended. Overall, our guest experience and feedback on the website has significantly improved.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Bilberrry excelled at management communication and scheduling. The team set the bar for expectations early and let us know if there were complications. They kept things moving extremely smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

No matter our budget or the size of the issue at hand, Bilberrry was ready to go above and beyond to meet our needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

While I always believe there is room for improvement for any company, I am thoroughly impressed by how smoothly the entire project went.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the managing director at Atomic Brand Lab, a portfolio strategy consultancy that helps mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies create ways to unlock acceleration.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bilberrry?

We hired Bilberrry to assist with the launch of a global accelerator program for a major food company.

What were your goals for this project?

Bilberrry was in charge of creating an inviting UX for program info and applications, as well as a usable backend database for innovation pipeline management.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I selected Bilberrry from a number of recommended web development companies. After going through a comprehensive selection process, we felt that Bilberrry met all the criteria for an agile, creative solution provider.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Bilberrry was involved in all aspects of development, including design and programming. The team was also a part of database creation and admin services.

What was the team composition?

I primarily worked with the CEO but engaged with the designer and developer on several occasions. The size of the team stayed constant throughout.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our launch exceeded the number of views and applications we predicted. The final product was simple and engaging on the UX side, and intuitive on the backend.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Once we briefed them on the concept and goal, their team handled all aspects of project management. Our point of contact made everything seamless and efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I appreciate their responsiveness and creativity. Bilberrry approaches every challenge with a can-do attitude, always having a solution or answer.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, nothing I would add.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a managing partner at Altus Alliance, a firm that provides coaching and growth planning for small businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We wanted to develop an online planning platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bilberrry developed our web-based platform from scratch, which is divided into several sections. Users can define a target audience and value proposition, as well as a three-year strategic plan. There's an implementation dashboard tool for work that's being done in the current year and sections for uploading files, having discussions, and adding collaborators to the plan. There's also a feature that allows users to set deadlines, so collaborators are reminded as a deadline is approaching. We haven't yet linked the platform to others, such as Google Docs or Slack, but may work with Bilberrry to make those integrations as well in the future.

What is the team composition?

We work with Adam (Co-founder and Project Manager, Bilberrry) and about three to five developers at a time.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

I knew of Bilberrry through a friend of a friend. My partner, Steve, also had some experience working with them in the past and was impressed by the breadth and quality of their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested about $60,000 in their services thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them sometime in 2012 or 2013 to create the first version of the software, but we engaged them again to update it in 2017. We continue to work with their team on upgrades and updates as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bilberrry created a software solution that has helped differentiate our business from others in our industry. Thanks to their efforts, we have a competitive edge when it comes to small business planning. We've received lots of positive feedback from users, including the customers that tried the product during beta testing phases.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

Adam provides regular updates on project milestones effectively through Basecamp, so we had complete transparency of the progress of work leading up to the launch. They're good at keeping us on schedule as well, sending reminders through Basecamp for any assets they need from our end. In addition to great communication, they also deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Having worked with a lot of software developers in the past, I'm most impressed by their level of transparency and accuracy. The code they produce is clean and has very few bugs or issues compared to others I've worked with. Our software isn't highly complex, so I don't think we've even come close to tapping their full range of capabilities, but we certainly look forward to engaging them more in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest with their team, even if issues or delays come up. They're good at switching gears and handling any situation with complete transparency, so I just suggest communicating honestly on your end as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of Blueprint Registry. We are a marketplace for life events, including wedding, baby, and graduation registries. We’ve been around for three years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We had a beta version of our website, but the code base was pretty bad. Our two previous development teams weren’t doing good work, so we needed new developers to build and maintain a new version of the site.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re maintaining two separate websites for us. They used the existing code base and architecture from the beta version to iterate on the website, and they’re also rebuilding us a new version of the site. It’s all custom PHP.

Bilberrry has developed a couple interesting features for us. One is an everyday import feature, which was a complicated technical endeavor. Users can register with top national retailers with whom we’ve partnered, give us their ID, and our site automatically syncs that account with ours.

They’ve also helped us optimize our payments, building features for honeymoon, graduation, and down payment funds. Their UI/UX work, for both the frontend and backend of the site, has been aimed at our features for group gifts, sharing, and contributions.

What is the team dynamic?

We started out with a single project manager, Adam [Brazg, Cofounder, Bilberrry] and two developers. As we scaled up, Ross [Dzikovskyy, Cofounder, Bilberrry] became our single point of contact, and we now have four developers.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

One of our previous development teams was too expensive and wasn’t producing good work. The second team was even worse than the first. I then met Adam and Ross through a referral and engaged with them.

When we look at firms, we do extensive due diligence and RFP. We gave them a test case to work on, and they did a great job. We felt that their philosophy in terms of building and iterating matched ours. They do what they say, which is actually really rare in the development world.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Bilberrry since February 2016, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website wouldn’t be alive without them. We have no other development options, so we owe a lot of our success to their work. In fact, we’ve doubled in sales without any additional investment in the past 18 months.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good communicators. We work through their project management system, Trackolade, for tickets and development initiatives. We do real-time communication through Slack, and we talk on the phone. We meet with them periodically in their office.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, they’re able to very clearly articulate how decisions will impact developments: “If you choose X, Y will probably happen,” etc. At a resource-constrained company like ours, we need to understand how all those decisions impact each other, and Bilberrry is very good at explaining that.

More importantly, they can build anything. There hasn’t been a single thing we’ve asked of them that they said they couldn’t build, which is incredible. They’ll tell us how many developers it will take, and the cost.

Other developers we’ve seen have said they could build something, but never completed it, giving us “maybes” or reasons why they shouldn’t be building it. That’s never happened with Bilberrry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think it would be helpful for them to more clearly explain how they are different from other firms, maybe on their website or in their proposals. For example, our past two firms gave scope estimates of what a project will take to build, but it costs time to give that estimate. Bilberrry’s philosophy is different; instead of wasting time scoping, they’ll start working on the actual project, and then tell you how long they think it will take. This allows them to excel at being agile. It’s a subtlety that I think they can explain better, because it’s a real advantage.