Chromedia

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a fantasy sports startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromedia?

We engaged them to create an MVP.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chromedia developed the MVP of our mobile app. They initially had to understand the whole project and then translated it into their own language. Their team then executed on the deliverables, creating a playable game. This was for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with two senior developers, two junior developers, one quality control analyst, and one project manager.

How did you come to work with Chromedia?

I found them through a recommendation.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $50,000–$100,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in September 2020.

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

The quality of their work’s great. Chromedia has hit all of the deliverables.

How did Chromedia perform from a project management standpoint?

Their main project manager, Mign (Product Owner), understands our needs and communicates them to the team. We have daily standups, and Mign leads the meetings. For tracking tasks, we use Jira. We’re always kept in the loop, which wasn’t always the case in our previous experiences. Their project management is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is one of the best parts of working with Chromedia. It’s been a great experience working with their team. They’re great people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend Chromedia.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a hair stylist app. We connect clients with grooming professionals through a location-based, photo-sharing application.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromedia?

We needed a partner to do the engineering on the app and consult for us on the best route to create our product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a Native solution for us in Android and iOS. Though we came in with designs and a programming plan, they took it to the next level. They ensured all our functions would work correctly and created all the details that went into the application. We worked hand-in-hand with them through this process. The app and website both had to be easy to use.

Beyond the creation of the app, they advised us on how to get the most people to use the app, as well as to track user behavior. We weren’t familiar with a lot of these aspects of the business before we started this project.

What is the team composition?

I’m not exactly sure how many people are working on their backend but it was 3-5. First, I worked with Jason (Co-Founder) and then they moved me to Greg (Co-Founder) and Mignonne (Web Development Project Manager). I generally work with two people directly.

How did you come to work with Chromedia?

Our attorney introduced us; we have a mutual attorney. We were speaking to different developers and had narrowed the choice to two firms. I asked Jason to tell me in 1-2 sentences what it is we were trying to accomplish since most people were confused by it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000-$170,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January until December 2016.

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

Our clients love the app. The booking feature went live less than one month ago and it was the missing piece for us. People liked our concept before but including that booking ability really is getting us new users every day. And they’re using the app a lot more too.

This is really the first version of the app. It’s the beta, technically, and people love it. We haven’t heard of too many major things to change from users.

How did Chromedia perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really great. They keep me in the loop on everything. Anything I don’t like they respond to quickly. It’s easy for me to correct things that aren’t right. They have great talent over there. For communication, we use Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did a great job breaking down in layman terms the route we should go. I don’t have a technical background but they familiarized us with the different ways to program our solution. This ensured that we didn’t have to redo any of the work.

They’re upfront about how long things will take. We were impressed with how they courted us and their talent. They’re trying to see us make it through. It feels like we’re one team. I’m very comfortable with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We all could be a little clearer on some things, including expectations for things coming out. It’s not the biggest deal but if more questions get asked on the front end we could avoid miscommunications.

Additionally, if someone isn’t in the tech business there can be surprise costs. These projects are not cheap and we were surprised at a few moments. We trust them to do what they need to do for us so it isn’t really their fault.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have as much planned out and thought out as possible before you give it to them. Also, have different ideas about what you think could happen and ask them directly if they can be done. They’ve never lied to me at all. Have a plan and hire them to work the plan and it will go smoothly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, however. This will help you do things the most efficient way.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of One Foot Productions. We used to produce large television events. Now we produce stream events and content for television, web, and media. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromedia Inc.?

We developed a software solution to manage logistics for really large celebrity-driven events, and we hired them to take over development, revamp it, recode it, and continue management. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we hired Chromedia, we were in a really tight crunch; we had about six weeks to take this software — originally built in Flex, a very old technology — and rebuild it in a package that would work on modern browsers. We couldn’t push back the deadline, so we were in a little panic when we contacted Chromedia.

Chromedia does front- and backend development. They manage all of our servers and anything related to the software. They’re on call if there are any problems with the software.

What is the team composition?

At minimum, we work with 3–4 people, but we’ve gotten up to eight people. That includes a main developer, a junior developer, a QA person, and a server person. Greg (Co-Founder) or James (Founder) is usually the team lead.

How did you come to work with Chromedia Inc.?

While I was a CTO of another startup, we had hired them to help us with the development. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $330,000–$350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July 2017 and is ongoing.

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

In six weeks, Chromedia delivered everything we needed — maybe even a little more – in time for our big events. What I really love about them is that they have no ego around the work. They’re collaborative and take direction really well. Their team is just wonderful. I’ve been part of many technology projects haven’t delivered on time. If there are times where they just aren’t going to finish a feature on time, they communicate that to us in enough time so that we can make adjustments. That lead time is really helpful.

How did Chromedia Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We change organizational patterns all the time, so we’ve struggled to organize our thoughts and how to deliver them. Sometimes, we deliver tasks to them in Asana, and other times, we make shared Google Docs. Chromedia has been super flexible and never forces us into a system; however, they have systems available if we need them). They offer daily standups and use Jira a lot.

They’re almost always to communicate. A couple of times, we’ve had to wake up a developer in the middle of the night. We try not to do that, but I like that they take it seriously. The daily standups are great, I don’t attend every one, but it’s nice to know I can jump in if I have to communicate things. organization issues are on our end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their consistency stands out. Chromedia delivers what they say they’re going to deliver in the timeframe and budget they promise. It’s important as a business owner to be able to count on a partner like them. All I have to do is communicate my needs to our team lead, and they figure out how they’re going to get it done and let me know if there’s a problem. I know what to expect from them, and I get that consistently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have obstacles in remote communication, including some language barriers. Greg helps with that communication, but it’s so much easier to have someone who can come to our office and sit down and talk over some complex topics. Maybe we need to learn better tactics to handle remote work given the coronavirus forcing everyone to work remotely.

If you outline exactly what you need done, they’ll do that. They’re not as good at out-of-the-box thinking. If we ask for suggestions, they won’t come up with the solution that we may eventually settle upon. So, when it comes to creative brainstorming, we don’t do it with them.

Lastly, due to cultural differences, sometimes holidays sneak up on us that we don’t celebrate in the US. That’s in part due to me not paying attention. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Be as clear as you can be about what you want and what your timeline looks like. I think a part of our success is because we entered with a clear idea of software and functionality along with mockups and examples. With clear direction, they work faster than other developers I’ve worked with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Spoke Health, a health-tech platform that helps self-funded employers tackle high-cost care episodes.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromedia Inc.?

I hired Chromedia to further develop our existing platform in order to advance the product for client implementation.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In this project, one of our clients had given us requirements that needed to be integrated into our existing platform. We took their specifications to Chromedia Inc, who made a plan for the new features to be incorporated.

The new functions included consumer digital tools — specifically surrounding hip and knee surgery. Another was a concierge platform intended to manage a patient’s journey as they go through surgery.

They’ve continued to provide additional support and development work. They’re continuously evolving the platform for client implementation. Currently, they’re supporting our compliance and security upgrades.

How did you come to work with Chromedia Inc.?

While I onboarded the company as CEO 18 months ago, they had long been the company’s development partner; they were the ones who had built the solution for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $700,000 over the course of our relationship. They’re contracted on a monthly basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

That particular project began in October 2018 and wrapped up in May of 2019. They provided ongoing support throughout the summer.

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

They oversaw a smooth implementation into our client’s system. We were able to deliver on time and within budget for the scheduled integration. After that, we tracked the incidents or issues that our client reported, and over 90% of those were due to human error — not bugs in the system. We thought that was pretty remarkable.

We also conducted patient surveys for our end users, and we saw an incredible 100% satisfaction rate, along with a 98% tech-compliance rate.

How did Chromedia perform from a project management standpoint?

Chromedia’s leaders are particularly adept at guiding the team for rapid, high-quality production.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a very deep understanding of the healthcare industry. They have a special competency in healthcare technology, and we appreciate their expertise because it’s hard to find in the development arena.

I’d also highlight the fact that despite being offshore, the team understands the nuances of the American industry. They consistently produce solutions that are better than we had originally envisioned. They’re very reasonably priced for the quality, speed, and value that we receive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I absolutely recommend them. I direct prospects to them fairly regularly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CTO at a computer software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromedia Inc?

We needed to quickly ramp up our development capability. We wanted to do that in a way that optimized costs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a SaaS application for the real estate and property development industry. We iterated on a cycle of getting some customer feedback and turning that into product specifications and use cases. From there, we built out an Agile backlog and we worked with the developers at Chromedia to complete that in two-week sprints.

Internally, we managed the backlog and worked with them on development sprints. We also had someone from their team provide QA for any issues that came up. It was a very typical development cycle.

What is the team composition?

It varied over time, but at the maximum, we had 4-5 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Chromedia Inc.?

They were referred to us and we reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?    

We’ve invested approximately $200,000.           

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2016 and wrapped up in October 2018.

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

We saw a quick turnaround on the work and quality was always super high. I was able to work with their US-based staff to make sure that things were clear. They were always very responsive.

How did Chromedia Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well early on when we first started with them. They provided a project manager who was able to add structure.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very adaptable and responsive to what we needed.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hatch is a marketing strategy platform. Our core (SaaS) product enables businesses to quickly gather campaign ideas, forecast projections & create calendars, dashboards, playbooks & reports. Hatch makes planning easy for businesses by providing a library of hundreds of campaign outlines across a spectrum of online & offline media, channels & tactics for all industries.

Marketing teams can share their plans with a quick link, export a file or print out a beautiful set of calendars, dashboards, reports & playbooks. These information-rich deliverables enable businesses to have productive planning discussions around campaign integration, priorities & business objectives. As Co-Founder and CEO, my responsibilities span the organization, products, and partners.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chromedia Inc.?

Custom software development of our core product.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to grow businesses and to empower marketing teams to share their plans, calendars, and playbooks.

How did you select this vendor?

Evaluated and compared various businesses on their people, capabilities, quality, and speed.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The Chromedia team provided custom development. My team provided the wireframes and design artifacts and Chromedia architected and built the software.

What was the team composition?

The Chromedia team included a project manager, a business advisor, technology lead and three to five software engineers.

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

We were accepted into the MergeLane accelerator program in early 2016 as a direct result of the Chromedia team's work. From there we launched our business and landed our first customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The development team was led by a project manager running two-week sprints. We were encouraged to participate in daily scrums and met with senior advisors on a regular basis.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is fantastic! They consistently went above and beyond. Yes, the work was great and they hit deadlines but the thing that sticks with you is the relationships. It was a meaningful partnership and together we built something amazing. I look forward to the next time I get to work with Jason, Greg and the Chromedia team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The team exceeded our expectations in every way.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former owner and CEO of Portland Pedal Power LLC, a delivery and online ordering company for corporations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chromedia Inc.?

We had a developer on our team who had built our software but he only stayed for a year. After finding another developer to help us, but we struggled. We worked with another developer, who, sadly, passed away. Again, we partnered with two different Ruby developers here in Portland, but it wasn’t great.

They were expensive, weren’t delivering great results, and weren’t carrying out testing. That’s when we started working with Chromedia Inc.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were able to work with us to take care of everything, including our outdated Ruby. They redid our Ruby on Rails, got our security running, moved us into AWS, and provided us with backup. 

Chromedia Inc. helped us incorporate some smart technologies such as recurring orders, pop-up calendars, and closing abilities. The team is now working on us to get over some of the unique development tools that we have on our side that the new owners of our company don’t. 

What is the team composition?

I work with a team of four core individuals. Jason (Founder) also jumps in occasionally when needed. When we have big pushes, the size of our team can go up to eight individuals.

How did you come to work with Chromedia Inc.?

At the time, I had onboarded a new COO, who worked with us part-time, to grow so that we could sell the company or take on investments. But we knew that we needed to work on strategic elements of the software to get to that point. 

One of the COO’s colleagues had used Chromedia Inc. for an app development project for medical software. I was vetting Ruby shops because that’s our code. I interview five different shops and had them provide proposals. 

By far, the Chromedia Inc. team, who was recommended by a friend of a friend,  was much more holistic and had an idea of how much time it would take. They were also less expensive, allowing us to do more work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial project bid was $60,000 but we ended up spending about $90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in January 2018 and this project was complete in November 2019. We’re working on another project now and using Chromedia Inc. for the integration of the Pedal Power software.

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

Our company grew, which was significant. We were able to move from one merchant service to another, allowing us to save money. We were also able to sell our company and technology, which is a huge metric. The usability of the platform is much better, so we were able to put in more work with fewer employees.

How did Chromedia Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very flexible. As the owner of the company, I didn’t have enough bandwidth to do continuous development. So, initially, we worked with them in a series of 4–5 sprints for 2–3 months at a time. The team was open to doing things this way.

They have been flexible in allowing a customer relationship. I like to be involved in the process. They’ve able to manage whatever integration we want, whether that’s giving them all of the work, or allowing us to be in the daily scrums and calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Having worked with three individual developers and three other companies, Chromedia Inc. is great. The team is good at setting expectations, notifying us when a certain story doesn’t work well. In comparison to other companies, they’re timing is quite good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When we first started working together, they had a frontend developer come on and start to develop what they thought the flows would be on the site. They didn’t spend the time walking through the expectations with me as the customer. 

They’re doing a better job of this now after I confronted them. The team has done a much better job of onboarding the company that purchased us, talking through all of the expectations. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend that they get to know the developers and spend the time to help them to understand their workflows. It’s hard to onboard a new company when you don’t know the workflows. It was easier with us because we’re in the same industry, but that won’t always be the case.