What was the scope of their involvement?
When we first met with Calibrate, we only had the initial concept, so we relied on their team to fill in the technical gaps. Calibrate made all of the UI/UX designs from scratch. They came up with three different versions, and we tweaked our favorite until we arrived at our final design. Once the design was in place, Calibrate developed Android and iOS versions.
Our application offers several games that allow users to win money and prizes. Calibrate was instrumental in determining how we could create interactive, live games and non-live games. Similarly, they configured the application so that it did not kick users out or experience lag time when many users are on the app at once—a problem that has plagued other trivia and game apps.
One feature we are particularly excited about is a VIP game room where users can pay to play in games hosted by celebrities. In those cases, we cap the number of winners at anywhere from 3–10 depending on the number of entries. Unlike other trivia games that have thousands of winners earn small amounts of money, for example, we wanted to ensure that our winners received much larger sums. We leaned on Calibrate’s experience to determine how we could do that, not only from a legal standpoint but also from a payment transaction perspective. To facilitate payments through the app, Calibrate included integrations with PayPal and other methods.
What is the team composition?
I had two primary points of contact.
How did you come to work with Calibrate?
I learned of Calibrate through a recommendation from another member of the Young Entrepreneur Council I participate in. I arranged a meeting with Calibrate’s team and was impressed by how quickly they could come up with solutions.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent between $80,000–$95,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement spanned September 2018–March 2019. The project is complete, but we haven’t launched yet because we have recently introduced MJ.com. We want a one- or two-month focus on the website before we launch the application.
Calibrate met all deadlines and successfully delivered a practical application that has received promising feedback from industry executives about the product’s marketability. The team’s design abilities are a particular strength, and their responsiveness adds another level of customer service.