Bitbean.com

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Joint Marketing Solutions, which has been in business for about 15 years. It provides fundraising platforms for nonprofits, including donation processing, online charity sweepstakes, charity e-commerce sites, and other platforms. Now, we’re focusing on school fundraising. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

We wanted to create a platform targeted toward school fundraising. There was a lot of data that needed to be sorted in a simple, easy-to-use format. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bitbean.com helped us address two challenges associated with building a platform for school fundraising. This involved development and user research into people’s online habits.

A campaign might ask a thousand students to set up a page and fundraise for their program. But, a big challenge is getting the kids to create the page. 

I told them the challenge, and Bitbean came up with an answer. The school uploads an Excel spreadsheet with each student, each one gets an email, and the student simply needs to click to activate their page. 

After a student creates a page, they also have to email the link to family and friends. But, they don’t come to school with all those email addresses. So, Bitbean created a portal where parents can put in relevant contacts. Then, the students can send emails directly from that system when there’s a fundraising kickoff at the school.

They created one master admin, which can hold all the information for multiple fundraisers over multiple years. Students have accounts in the backend that can be reactivated for different campaigns. They accumulate credits by fundraising across different campaigns on the same platform. 

What is the team composition?

I met with the owner in the beginning. The head of programming sits in during the first discovery meeting and directs the team on what technologies he thinks will be best. 

Each project has a project manager, and mine is my point of contact. We sit together once-per-week for an hour-long meeting. They’ve also assigned a programmer.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

I realized I need to find a company with a great reputation. I started asking colleagues, and more than a few of them mentioned Bitbean.com.

Everyone I spoke to said that Bitbean develops software right the first time. They said they work flawlessly, and they love working with the team. I didn’t need to hear more than that.

I also looked at their website, and they’ve interfaced with some very big Fortune 500 companies. I knew I could trust them to build my software.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $150,000 for the first round. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July, the platform launched in October, and we’re in an ongoing collaboration. We’re constantly adding features to the campaign.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I had a massive project that should have taken six months, and they delivered it in three months. Everyone describes their work as flawless. I can’t overstate how professional it is.

Every feature they’ve described to me works exactly the way they told me it would. Also, non-technologically advanced users haven’t had any issues with the platform. 

I’ve had an easy time hiring representatives to sell the solution simply by showing them the platform. There’s a lot of seasoned representatives, but when I show them the platform, they say, “We want to work with a platform like this.”

People I’ve shown it to have said it is the best platform they’ve seen in the school fundraising industry, which is a multi-billion dollar industry. It takes me under five minutes to train the administrators and representatives on how to use it.

We were able to deal with the biggest challenge the school had — getting students on the system. The industry is going crazy for it.

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

Their organization is very well-structured. Their discovery process is exceptional. 

They did a two-week discovery process where they figured out the best functions to accomplish those goals with the best UX. The process involved speaking with students and coming back with reports. 

Also, they are incredibly accessible. The owner of the company is always available, and he comes up with many creative ideas. He’s good at simplifying complicated concepts to a layman.

The project manager updates me on every question I ask, and she’s constantly following up. The programmer has taken a call from me on Saturday nights when I have a question. Also, the team is always patient and happy to make changes. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

While something may seem complicated to me, they find a simplistic work-around. I told them what I wanted without knowing how to get there, and they ended up delivering a product with functions I never would have thought of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve already recommended them to anybody that may be looking for software. I’m ready to recommend them for any project, big or small. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a Medicaid pooled trust. We have a nuanced process, but, in essence, we manage funds and pay bills for disabled or elderly clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

We have a lot of money coming in and going out, and on any given day we may have hundreds of transactions across a wide scope of accounts. A large portion of our clients have money withdrawn within the first ten days of the month. We needed a simpler way to manage thousands of payments, deposits, and fees, and decided to build a portal to manage everything.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The portal takes several hours of work and condenses it down to just a few minutes. It’s largely automated, so it solves problems when things go wrong, and it sends various activity alerts.

It’s built on Python and MySQL and tracks analytics for our clients.

There are different login options for clients with varying degrees of technical aptitude, and the process is much more streamlined for users. We’re currently developing a phone app that communicates with the portal and makes the user experience even easier.

We built the whole portal together from scratch. We did all the designs and wireframing, and launched the larger portion of the portal within about a year and a half. Bitbean did a lot of the design work and the coding, and they made suggestions whenever I got stuck or was unsure how to proceed. After the initial launch, we continued to work together to make changes and add new features and functionality.

What is the team composition?

Including design, we had at least four team members. We had a project manager, an engineer, and a QA specialist for the bulk of the work. We did extensive testing before anything went live.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

I started asking around when I knew I wanted to build the software. I got recommendations from friends in other businesses and interviewed a few potential candidates.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around June 2015. Our biggest launch was two years ago, but we still work together on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have many examples of things that took hours that now take minutes. We were very involved and I always knew what they were doing. I like working with them. 

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is fantastic. They were easy to reach and did a phenomenal job. We spoke with the project manager about four times a week for two years straight, and we keep track of everything in Jira and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service is excellent. Our project manager was available whenever I needed her, and they always understood what I was doing. The project was complex, but they always found solutions when I needed a feature and couldn’t articulate it fully. They had brilliant ideas and always knew what to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any advice. They know how to give you what you want without much explanation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Chasdei lev. We’re a nonprofit organization that supports education professionals within our community. By partnering with manufacturers and distributors, we provide teachers with food and other household necessities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

Initially, we used a standard website template to host our platform. While that system enabled us to achieve our goals, we needed something more advanced to support our continued growth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bitbean.com began the engagement by creating some early wireframes. Then, they provided some cost estimations associated with each design. Once we agreed on an overall scope of work, they started redeveloping our web portal.

By completely reworking the platform’s backend infrastructure, they streamlined its order processing functionality. To further that effort, they also designed and executed a client-facing display. We’ve had issues related to cybersecurity in the past, so their team made sure to build a secure site that protects the information of our contributors. They’ve since completed the initial development, but we’ve continued to work with them on smaller projects throughout the years.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a project manager as our primary point of contact.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

They were referred to me by a colleague. We considered another firm at first, but Bitbean.com demonstrated an in-depth understanding of our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $85,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We hired them in 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The process of entering orders is incredibly streamlined. Using our previous platform, it took two full-time volunteers a significant amount of time to input 250 orders. With the system created by Bitbean.com, a part-time resource and I have efficiently processed over 4,000 orders. Users appreciate the site’s clean and simplistic UI/UX.

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed to complete the web development project within an aggressive deadline. The project manager provided accurate cost estimations and stayed within budget. For each new undertaking, we hold a lengthy conference call with their team to outline project goals. They kept their staff up-to-date regarding our mission and clientele.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They care about providing an excellent service. When the site first launched, Bitbean.com worked overnight to make sure each order processed adequately. That personalized approach made it possible for them to create a system that fits our needs perfectly. They under-promise and over-deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re too modest in describing what they can accomplish. Overall, they’re pleasant to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of administration for Chabad on Campus International Foundation. We have centers in over 500 schools across the US (where our main presence is) and internationally. These centers provide Jewish-related services to students on the campuses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

We run approximately 80 programs including fundraising, training, events, and trips to Israel. All of those require technology for administration such as registration and grant management systems. The challenge we faced was that all our technology was built 15–20 years ago and was done hastily with no real system architecture, resulting in an extremely poor main system.

Additionally, every new program that started in the last 8–10 years used a separate technology, so we ended up with 12 different databases. Our customers’ information was spread out through the various systems so we couldn’t see all the programs a person was registered for, and, if they updated their address or email, it was only done in one place. It was chaos and something we’d been wanting to fix for years.

We’d made multiple attempts with multiple companies that were unable to get a grip on it. Bitbean.com was the first to get a grip on our system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bitbean.com consolidated our databases into one place, and they updated our legacy systems. They’re reimagining all of our technical needs. Instead of just coding what we asked for, Bitbean.com tried to understand what we were aiming for, and they came up with appropriate solutions.

They’re doing a serious amount of web development work. We have three portals: a portal for on-campus rabbis and their wives, a student portal, and an admin portal for the head office, through which we can control everything and see all the data. Most of the system is being built from scratch, but Bitbean.com is also trying to maintain our current infrastructure.

We have a React website, which they’re transferring to WordPress for us. We have no CMS in place on React for managing the site, so making a change is a complicated task. The backend is .NET Core 2.1, with an SQL database.

They’ve also provided extensive documentation for our current system. Someone could come into the project not knowing anything and simply follow that document to build the system. 

What is the team composition?

We have a team of 5–6 people on the project, and we’ll scale them up and down as needed.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

I read an article in a magazine introducing their CEO. I was intrigued by the way he spoke about tech, and I saw that he understood it. I was impressed from the first meeting with them. I spoke to a few of Bitbean.com’s other clients who told me they’d also used multiple companies, but, once they discovered Bitbean.com, they stuck with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000 with them so far. We plan to spend around $1 million per year for the next 1–2 years.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s an ongoing collaboration. The work is going to be significantly heavy for the next 1–2 years, and, then we’ll move into maintenance and tweaks as we get feedback. We might also launch a new project with them, where we’ll have to scale the team up. There’s no end in sight.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Metrics are a complicated matter, but we’re working to determine the benchmarks of the project. 

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

Within a few weeks, their project manager understood our programs and operation inside out as if she had worked in our office for years. She consulted program directors on better ways to run the project and gave us suggestions. 

The next product we’re building wasn’t supposed to be ready until mid-February. Bitbean.com was ready two weeks early. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand our needs, and they challenge us. They won’t go straight into development. They want to understand why I’m building something, what my goal is, and if there’s a better way to accomplish it. 

Generally, we’ve paid on an hourly basis on these collaborations. Instead of spending six hours with a project manager, she gets what I’m saying before I even finish my sentence. Those hours will be reduced tremendously. Multiplied by 80 projects, we’ll see a difference.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a media and tech company. We provide an educational video platform by recording different sermons and lectures from all over the world. We upload about 250 recorded classes every week. All the content is hosted on our website, a cross-platform mobile app, and a Roku Channel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

The original vendor we hired to build the platform produced low-quality code. We then brought in an independent developer, but the results still weren’t up to par. At this point, we needed to bring in an expert development firm to completely redesign the site’s infrastructure.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bitbean showed us their process and reviewed our code. They worked with us to create a business analysis report that outlined our expectations, what they were able to do to meet those expectations, and how they could do it. We decided it was better for them to rebuild the website from scratch instead of working with the existing code.

They redeveloped the platform and integrated the content delivery network (CDN) for video streaming. This process included incorporating advanced functionalities we need to manage the organization like payment processing and timeline tags. My tech director could better speak to the specific programming languages they used, but I can say they provided a long list of features.

Bitbean is currently engaged with us to develop our mobile app for iOS and Android. The UI/UX are being built to work in tandem with website’s existing infrastructure. We require everything they build to be scalable, so we can easily develop and deploy additional components with them in the future.

What is the team composition?

They have a large staff working on multiple projects, but we interact directly with at least nine members of their team. This includes the principles of the company, the lead engineer, the UI/UX lead, and a graphic designer.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

We interviewed a lot of vendors and found Bitbean through a colleague’s recommendation. We developed a relationship with them over the course of six to eight months as we continued to conduct interviews. Eventually, we decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent at least $80,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A challenge with any redesigning is balancing the implementation of new features while maintaining the aspects users have come to expect and appreciate. Bitbean made the transition go smoother than expected. They’ve brought our code to a world-class level and strive for perfection.

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

They handpick team members that will specifically benefit each project with their strengths. As a result, we had to delay a project while waiting for someone to become available. We understood this is part of their system to not overload employees with multiple projects.

They’re proficient in all methods of communication like Slack, Whatsapp, or phone calls. In-person meetings are our preferred style of communication and they readily accommodate us. It’s been a seamless experience.

They meet deadlines and never go over budget. Working with other developers, I’ve learned to expect deliverables to be completed later than originally quoted. This isn’t the case with Bitbean. They consistently under-promise and over-deliver.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of skill, professionalism, and passion they bring to the table is noteworthy. We never felt like this was just another project to them. Their will and desire to understand the project and our entire organization stood out. They work with us as partners and possess an efficient development approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't say I’d improve anything because they’ve far exceeded my expectations in every area.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of Eastern Union Funding, which is a commercial mortgage and brokerage firm that does some equity on the side but focuses mostly on mortgages. We have 120 employees and seven offices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean?

We were looking to develop a web-based platform from scratch in order to manage all aspects of our business. We needed everything from a CRM to deal flow with reporting all in one so we could keep track of our banks and deals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came up with ideas and we created specifications together regarding what we wanted to be built and what we were looking to accomplish. We dictated exactly what we wanted for certain functionalities. On others, we gave them different ideas as far as what we wanted but left it up to them to come back with a proposal, which they then built for us.

The project started with a web-based platform but we eventually built it out as a mobile app. They mostly used PHP, SQL, and MySQL. Ultimately, the key thing was the ability to run reports from all possible ways and track different data from different perspectives.

What is the team dynamic?

We have the flexibility of dealing with just one contact point but have been working with more than that. At times, we find it very beneficial to speak with the actual programmers, just to make sure that we fully get the mindset across.

How did you come to work with Bitbean?

One of our employees is Bitbean’s principal’s sister and she let us know that he could help with what we were looking to do. So, we spoke to him and he proposed an idea. At that time, we looked at one or two other providers but liked Bitbean the most.

More importantly, even within Bitbean, we initially entertained taking an off-the-shelf product and customizing it versus customizing everything from scratch. We liked the service they were providing and we went with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent well over $1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2009 and the work is ongoing. The platform has been completely launched and it is working great. We keep evolving it by doing more every day; it’s still a work in progress.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From a global perspective, our whole business runs based on the system. It would be fair to say that if one day our system was down, we wouldn’t be able to operate. We live and breathe based on the programming work that was done.

In the very beginning, we had some bug issues, but those have since been ironed out. In the past three to four years, Bitbean has been much better at releasing new updates, which are tested for bugs for the most part. Very rarely do we have issues with bugs at this point.

How did Bitbean perform from a project management standpoint?

We deal with one project manager—she knows our system in and out, she knows our pipeline, and exactly what is coming up. She is also aware of any new projects ahead of time and is very helpful.

We use a system called YouTracker, which shows every single thing we want to do, whether it is correcting a bug, adding a new feature, adjusting a feature, etc. It all gets put in there along with a rating and priority system as well as an estimate of how long it will take, the release date, and more.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Bitbean really strives to understand our core business and not just the programming aspect of it, which has benefited both of us. By understanding the core business, they recognize why we are building certain features and can then come back with the right feedback and suggestions based on their understanding of where we want to get to and why.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. If you have a request and you want it done, they will do the job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a company that processes orders for catering on private jets all over the world, including remote locations and smaller airports, any time of day or night. We have vendors everywhere, and we facilitate and arrange the catering. We do own some facilities, but they act as vendors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

We currently have a complex, custom system that was built for us to help efficiently facilitate and procure with quality and accuracy hundreds of orders a day from any departure point in the world including nearly 10,000 airports worldwide. But we needed something state-of-the-art and cutting-edge that does a lot more than what anybody can imagine. That’s where Bitbean came in.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Bitbean’s agenda wasn’t just to build software. I spoke to the owner for hours, and he challenged a lot of assumptions I had about what I thought my business and the industry needed. He said, “Who said any of that’s the case?” Unlike other companies, Bitbean spends all of their time upfront figuring out the right solution for your business. I spent a lot of time on them before signing with them. Once I realized what they were going to provide for me that was different from other companies, it was obvious that I should choose them. I think I’ve spent 400 hours with them already, and we’re still in pre-development. Most other companies would want to start building right away.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

I spent several months researching development companies. I just assumed that I wouldn't find one, because you could always find these “mom and pops” who claimed they could do anything, but then ended up farming out all of the work, which isn't right. If you want to build something state-of-the-art that’s going to change an industry, like Uber or JetSmarter who do their development in-house, you need a real development company. I knew what I was trying to do with my software, so I looked and looked at development companies. I think I found about 8 real finalists, including Bitbean.

A lot of the companies provided proposals based on the 25-page discovery document I had written up about all of the specifications and requirements my software would need. Everyone looked at it and was able to provide a quote, but Bitbean had a whole different approach.

How much have you invested with Bitbean.com?

We’ve spent $60,000 on Bitbean’s services so far. I would say that once the project is complete, it’s going to cost around $300,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2017 and the work is ongoing. Bitbean is about a week away from actually developing the software.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

Bitbean has project managers, and they’ve always kept me updated. I’m completely in the loop. They’re a very structured company, which is fantastic. I have a structured company myself, though I personally may not be very structured. Bitbean has scheduled meetings, which are great. There’s no question that we have fantastic communication, and I'm as involved as I want and need to be. They’re unbelievable on timelines too. They know exactly how long things are going to take and what they need to do. A lot of my personal process was thinking. They would take a week and not communicate with anyone, essentially go into hibernation and let what we’d been doing so far sink in, then the project resumed exactly one week later. That has helped me with my own business. They’re not just developing my software; they’re taking my whole business and helping me change an industry. They’re all so knowledgeable. It’s unbelievable to see.

What did you find most impressive about Bitbean.com?

The value they bring is their expertise and their extremely creative people and independent thinkers who help you plan what’s best for your business. If the best solution is to build everything custom, then they’ll do that. If the best solution is to build some of it custom and some of it off-the-shelf, then they’ll do that. They’re going to build whatever is best for you, and I completely believe that and have experienced it with them. If they really wanted to, they could have made this a multi-million dollar project. They also have the ability to challenge me in a professional way. They take my assumptions and turn them on their head. That’s something I have yet to see another company do, so I think Bitbean is unique in that respect. I worked with another development company to develop the 25-page report I gave to Bitbean, but they didn't do any of that. They were good, but they didn't compare to Bitbean. Bitbean’s whole thing is they’re going to sit back and put your project through a process where they rethink a solution for it. As the business owner, you may know your business but you don't necessarily know the technological solution. That’s Bitbean’s expertise.

Are there any areas Bitbean.com could improve?

I know they’re trying to grow quickly and to do that they have to continue to hire more people. They have such a unique and phenomenal process they put projects through before they do development; it’s like their patented process. They should continue to apply that same process to industries and big companies to do good work. Whatever they do is good to go. I’ve had an unbelievable experience across the board, and I completely love the people there. It’s better than I could have imagined.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an owner/operator of multi-family residential and commercial property throughout the Tri-State area. I’m chief technical officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

We had some internal facing web applications used by a number of our employees. We were looking to streamline it and get a mobile app running that would mimic the website and free employees from their workstations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did a very exhaustive discovery process which was very efficient and on-target. It eliminated a lot of misunderstandings that we’ve had in the past with other vendors. Once that discovery process was signed off, they proceeded to the actual development process. For the first engagement, they took an existing web application and they developed a mobile app for both Android and iOS. The mobile app was built from scratch natively. The mobile app has a far greater feature set that’s directed to a different person than the desktop. Before, the employees were locked to their desk. This opened an entirely new avenue for us. One of the side benefits was our web application generated a tremendous amount of paperwork, but the app keeps everything inside a database. They gave us a delivery time on the mobile app, and they came in ahead of schedule by two or three weeks.

When that project was successful, we contracted with them to develop some web applications from scratch. There were six people from Bitbean assigned to our projects. We had a project manager, business analyst, and the developers.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

One of my peers suggested them and told me they’re very efficient and honest. That’s really what drew me to them. It wasn’t so much their skillset. When I spoke to them the first couple of times, it was obvious that they were honest. That’s a rare commodity.

How much have you invested with Bitbean.com?

We have spent a total of over $100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2016, and the work is ongoing. Right now, they have four or five projects they’re working on for us. That’s the greatest vote of confidence you can give for somebody.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The initial app was delivered six weeks ago, so we haven’t measured anything yet. The fact is, the app is a revolutionary thing for us. The end-to-end process for any given software process on the current web application takes six minutes. We hope to be able to measure how much time and paper we’re saving over the next couple of months.

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. In the beginning, I wanted to use our project management tool, but they had things under control. Once the discovery process was done and our requirements were mapped out, the rest was delivery. They gave me a deadline of three months. I asked for weekly status reports as the deadline approached.  

What did you find most impressive about Bitbean.com?

I was impressed with their honesty and their discovery process. Their discovery process is very exhaustive and doesn’t leave anything out. They’re pretty skilled at understanding business needs.

Are there any areas Bitbean.com could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

CardCash.com is a platform where consumers can come and sell their unwanted gift cards from major retailers in the US. We purchase the card from the user at a discounted price and resell it on the platform. Everyone is happy: the seller is getting rid of an unwanted gift card, and the buyer is able to get a gift card for less than it’s worth. I’m the executive vice president of operations and product development. I’ve been at the company for four years and focus on the product and technology side. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

The business was built on an open source shopping cart platform that we customized. The uniqueness of our business didn’t work with this platform, and we needed to build custom software. We didn’t have any technical resources on staff. We originally commissioned Bitbean to build a small platform and were thrilled with the work they did. Their commitment and devotion to the work were impressive, so we decided to give them more work. They have built many components for our system. As we grew, they integrated with our technology team. Our developers work hand-in-hand with their developers, and we have a close relationship with them. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We operate different platforms for retailers, which is the first project Bitbean worked on for us. In the beginning, we worked with a project manager and some of their designers. Then, the developers would take over the project. We worked with five resources from Bitbean. They took the time to understand our business and our goals. They were really effective. From the time we contracted them, it took them six weeks to get the platform up and running, which is unheard of. We had retailers who were interested in getting this white-labeled gift card exchange product out, and Bitbean understood that urgency. They worked weekends and nights and were extremely devoted to the project.

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

We had some personal references from companies that had used Bitbean. They’re located close to us, and that was the primary driver in working with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September of 2014, and the work is ongoing. We have a large team of developers and designers now on staff now, but we still use Bitbean for projects. We have some of their employees that work at our office. They were extremely accommodating to our growth. As we grew, we knew we needed our own team to manage our own platform, so they pulled off their team as we hired new people. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When I came to the company, CardCash was doing $6 million in revenue. When this project was completed, we did $16 million. That was followed by $55 million. Originally, the relationship was project-driven, but now as we’re building our team, we’re also directing their team, so it’s hard to separate the metrics and attribute them to anyone specifically.

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is excellent. When we started working with them, they were a smaller company, but they’ve grown since. I was talking to the project manager multiple times a day at first, and they were able to get the work done quickly. We have project management tools that we use, including Trello and YouTrack for bug tracking.

What did you find most impressive about Bitbean.com?

They understand the business needs and were able to work with us over the whole period, which allowed us to grow and build a team. Their devotion and care for the project are impressive. At one point, our platform had some serious performance problems when we got too much traffic. Bitbean worked on the weekend to fix that. It wasn’t part of their contract, but they had the technical experience, saw the need, and were eager to help. They wanted our business to grow and looked to find ways to add value to our business.

Are there any areas Bitbean.com could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. We were happy with them overall. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the advertising and sales manager for matzav.com, an internationally renowned news website. We are one of the leading Orthodox Jewish news websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitbean.com?

To establish ourselves as the GO TO for Kosher News.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with them from the beginning. They created our original website, but I wasn’t part of the company then. When I came on board, I wanted to turn up the notch, so we brought them back in for a company meeting. Over a year ago, we revamped the whole website. They came up with a new design that they felt would create a better viewer experience for the reader. They also switched us over to a much simpler process. We’re uploading minute-by-minute, and they changed process completely. We went from a complicated, technical, and annoying process to a much simpler and easier experience. From news posting to uploading ads, they put everything in one place for us. Their team has made our work much less time-consuming.

We’ve worked with a couple different team members. If an issue arises, I have three people who I know will always pick up my call and address it. They have a separate billing department, and it’s pleasant and nice to work with them. 

How did you come to work with Bitbean.com?

There was a mutual friend who introduced us. Again, it was before my days with the company. They’ve grown tremendously. The experience really keeps getting better.

How much have you invested with Bitbean.com?

Over $25,000. One month, we had a horrible spam attack. They spent hours and hours over the weekend and through the night cleaning everything up. They were amazing.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in January of 2012, and the relationship is ongoing. I speak to them two or three times a month for regular service updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new site did tremendously well. They had an idea in mind, and I couldn’t believe it would work. I trusted them, and they were 100% right. Our path has gone up, and our viewership went up tremendously. Our numbers increased over 35% in the past year, which is tremendous growth. Our users say all the time that the site is easy to use and they enjoy it. We have about 3 million visitors a month to our site. There’s a lot of activity.

How did Bitbean.com perform from a project management standpoint?

I would highly recommend them. They’re good. We usually communicate by email or WhatsApp, and they’re very responsive. I don’t know how they deal with newer clients, but I have the CEO and COO’s cell number. I could just pick up the phone and call them. They deliver on time and within budget. They tell me when a project will be done, and it’s always done by that time. They give me an honest timeline. They’re an excellent team to work with, whether it’s support, design, ideas, updates, crazy crashes that happen, or bugs that come up.  

What did you find most impressive about Bitbean.com?

They’re friendly and here to help. They’re nice and personable. They’re real people.

Are there any areas Bitbean.com could improve?

Not as of now.