Black Wand Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is a painting company. I’m the CEO and owner. I’m currently working on a separate brand — a startup app that connects homeowners to painters.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Black Wand Media?

Black Wand Media is working with us to build a platform for painters to log on and get jobs and for homeowners to log on and get an instant quote. Homeowners can ultimately edit the quote and book it right from there in the system, which will then get broadcasted out to our network of painters in the area. The painters then can look at the pictures and accept or decline the job. The customers will be able to pay and review the painters from within the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s currently a web app built in HTML5 and will soon be a mobile app. It’s a responsive web page built in either SQL or PHP.

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager and they have 1–3 people — designers and developers — that are dedicated to this project. They utilize others as needed.

How did you come to work with Black Wand Media?

I had a referral from a friend and was connected to Black Wand Media. It turned out to be a good fit — I talked to him and they understood my idea and gave me a good quote.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in January 2020. They’ve developed the first round already, but they’re going to stay on and work together with us as it’s an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m incredibly impressed with what they’ve done so far. We’ve developed something that works exactly as it’s supposed to. While it’s not rolled out yet, I know they have a great understanding of how to get something to market. They understand our idea of a lean approach. I’m very confident that it’ll be a success.

How did Black Wand Media perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s gone very well. They lay out everything ahead of time and check-in when they say they will. They discuss our next steps, ask for our input at the right times, and schedule meetings. It has worked well. It seems to have worked well to keep the project on track for the timeline that we chose upfront.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s very clear they know what they're doing and they know how to develop platforms well that are very complex. While our platform sounds simple, it has a very complex quoting engine. It’s very difficult to take something from somebody else’s head, understand the industry, and then build something complex. They did this, and it’s very impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. They’ve done a great job so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Explain the idea as thoroughly as possible. They got our idea right away, and you want to make sure you have a similar experience.