Where human-centered UX/UI meets agile development
At December Labs, we identify, design, and develop innovative software solutions, applications, services and platforms.
With offices in San Francisco, Houston, Austin, and Montevideo (EST), our team of 100+ top-notch Ph.D.'s, Architects, Researchers, PM’s, Strategists, Developers, and Designers specializes in creating vibrant, game-changing products through Mobile and Web Design & Development and harnessing the most avant-garde emerging technologies.
At December Labs, we are mission-driven, people-focused, applying startup-style customer development and agile engineering for new products and areas of business from concept to launch. We leverage your existing stack or analyze and recommend the best approach and solution for your needs.
► Web & App Development: From native and hybrid mobile apps for iOS & Android, data-driven full-stack web applications to enterprise-grade software, our Agile mobile app development, full-stack, DevOps and QA engineers build, test, deploy, and support custom solutions.
► Design Thinking, UX & UI Design: With a hands-on approach to design thinking, we identify UX tactics to validate and test design solutions that anticipate a user need or challenge and convert wireframes and prototypes to human-centered pixel-perfect web and mobile end-products.
► Scale Your Team: Our multidisciplinary design and development talent hub allows you to scale and upgrade your team, product, quality and velocity. A senior team of designers, developers and architects works full/part-time in a podular structure and integrates seamlessly with your team, process and workflow.
► Blockchain & AI: We harness Blockchain and AI to disrupt Healthcare, Logistics and Fintech. From Smart Contracts for Decentralized Applications to NFT marketplaces, our seasoned team of Blockchain, data scientists and Machine Learning engineers make clients’ products better but oftentimes even possible.

headquarters
other locations
Focus
Portfolio
Google, Accenture, IDB - Inter-American Development Bank, Pluralsight, Santander, A Cloud Guru, Brain.fm, Google Nest, Rise, Apollo Neuro, Biostrap, Trade PMR, Welwaze Medical Inc, Spruce, Snapstream, Carebridge, Databook, Liongard, Inspire Fitness

Seneca - Constituent Services for Local Government
Romulos is a Constituent Services Platform by Seneca Systems. From Houston to Chicago, San Francisco and Miami, Romulus seeks to strengthen the relationship between local governments and people by centralizing communication, service request management and reporting.
Seneca selected December Labs due to our cultural fit, time zone (as they had previously experiences problems with Eastern Europe providers), startup style and competitive pricing to create the Romulos mobile app in React Native from scratch. Transparent communication, on-time delivery and high-quality work were key to a successful project and satisfied client.
Deliverables: UX/UI, React Native Mobile Development, (iOS & Android)

EllieGrid - Award-winning BLE-enabled smart pillbo
EllieGrid is a Houston-based Startup that recently released its signature product Ellie - an award-winning Bluetooth-enabled smart pillbox.
December Labs was tasked with the complete makeover and rebuild of EllieGrid’s React Native mobile app that programs Ellie - The Pill Box with individual settings regarding which departments holds how many pills as well as alerts such as smart alarms and push notifications via Bluetooth connectivity. The application also builds reports about whether or not the user took their medicine, which is information that can then be sent to caregivers.
Deliverables: UX/UI, React Native Mobile Development (iOS & Android)

Biostrap - Dual-device wearable technology
Pro-sumer wearable platform Biostrap offers advanced heart, sleep & full activity monitoring through dual-device technology and machine learning integration. iOS and Android mobile devices can connect through Bluetooth technology with Biostrap hardware to record advanced biometric data and gather deep health and fitness insights, driving athletes towards smart data-driven workouts.
December Labs was approached to give Biostraps’ existing iOS & Android apps a true senior-level jump start and serve as strategic UX & IT partner who would take on product- ownership, help the client meet imminent and long-term deadlines and build innovative new product features. We provided a flexible approach to short-term needs and projected scalable growth.
Check out out full case study here https://decemberlabs.com/biostrap.html.
Deliverables: UX/UI, iOS, Android, BackEnd

Spruce: Mobile-first concierge platform
Spruce is a mobile-first concierge platform and Quality Broker for top-tier apartment communities for high- value services, such as pet sitting, dry cleaning & laundry, and housekeeping.
After having tried several dev shops and freelancers who hadn’t been able to deliver what the client needed, Spruce approached December Labs to become their full-service design and development partner. We re- organized and optimized the existing code, added multiple new features and functionalities and accompanied this startup towards its most recent funding.
Deliverables: UX/UI, iOS Development, FrontEnd, BackEnd

Hint - Business Operating System for Direct Pay Healthcare
Hint is a Business Operating System for Direct Pay Healthcare.
December Labs provided a Ruby on Rails staff-
augmentation Development Team that allowed Hint Health to build product effectively and in a cost-effective way. In addition, a design crew joined the team to improve the UX and offer intuitive and quality design.
Hint Health provided a specific on-boarding process for building a World-Class Rails team which led to a successful integration of our Senior Developers under the direction of Hint Health’s CTO. This ongoing project continues to grow, as the company is processing $150 Million currently and must continually iterate at a high speed.
Deliverables: UX/UI, FrontEnd, BackEnd

SinQ - Integrated health cloud and mobile-first platform
SinQ is an integrated cloud and mobile-first platform, empowering health plans and care providers to focus on @home care delivery.
After a kick-off sprint, December Labs gradually started providing SinQ with what grew to be a full-time full-service 6 person development team. Adding value since day one, when completing an initial piece of the project in 2 months which had been scoped by previous developers for 8 months, December Labs has been working with SinQ for over 2 years through ongoing iterations of their React Native iOS/ Android Apps and Web Solution. Showcasing out initial work at a conference, SinQ was able generating funding of $600-700K for the company.
Full case study here https://decemberlabs.com/work/sinq.html
Deliverables: UX/UI, FrontEnd, BackEnd, iOS Development, Android Development

Brain.fm - Focus, relaxation & sleep support through AI-composed music, featuring unique acoustic features with neurophysiology effects.
Brain.fm offers focus, relaxation & sleep support through AI-composed music, featuring unique acoustic features that is designed to have effects on neurophysiology.
December Labs was approached to help Brain.fm drive the look & feel of its brand towards a more personalized and communicative approach. From logo enhancements, applying color psychology to their color palette, a new brand book, brand collateral and marketing materials to a complete UX/UI makeover of Brain.fm’s website and webapp, we applied natural language concepts for an intuitive enhanced user-experience.
Deliverables: Branding, UX/UI, Brand Collateral, Marketing Materials

Semtive - Disruptive Clean Energy Technology
Semtive is a renewable energy company that offers vertical axis wind turbine systems for urban, remote and humanitarian use. Through a decentralized and democratized approach, the startup promotes an efficient and socially impactful clean energy solution that can be employed by eco-conscious individuals and companies alike.
December Labs was challenged with transforming the clients’ rough idea of how to guide potential customers through the purchase decision-making process coupled with high expectations into an intuitive and valuable user experience, providing thought leadership and guidance throughout a process of continuous product evolution.
Check out our full case study here https://decemberlabs.com/semtive.html.
Deliverables: UX/UI, FrontEnd, BackEnd

Trade PMR - Tech, brokerage, and custodian service
Trade PMR provides financial B2B services to independent registered investment advisors (RIAs).
Trade PMR approached December Labs for a complete UX/UI makeover of EarnWise, their WebApp advisor workstation, adding a clear hierarchical structure and providing its clients with a gratifying mobile-responsive experience. This projects’ success depended on us truly understanding the specifics of Trade PMR’s complex area of business - the trade sector. Our team of UX/ UI experts started out by studying all flow charts, dashboards and information to be displayed or used within the platform, but most importantly, we studied the trade market, how it works and what takeaways could be leveraged for an optimized customer journey.
Full case study at https://decemberlabs.com/work/trade-pmr.html
Deliverables: Research, UX/UI

Rheo - An award winning video stream curation app
Rheo is an award-winning video stream curation app that delivers a personalized stream of curated videos to the consumer.
December Labs partnered with Rheo to develop an original and powerful iOS app used by over a million users and featured as one of the best apps of the App Store. A senior iOS team co-located in San Francisco and Uruguay participated in the creation of the product.
Check out our full case study here https://decemberlabs.com/work/rheo.html.
Deliverables: iOS Development, Facebook SDK

Databook - Your AI powered company and industry insights platform
Databook is a B2B AI powered company and industry insights platform, leveraging data provided by publicly- listed companies.
Bringing together industry, technology and design expertise, Databook partnered with December Labs for a mobile-first value approach to B2B sales.
We designed and developed a Mobile and Web offering and partnered with this long-term partner for ongoing support.
Check out our full case study here https://decemberlabs.com/work/databook.html
Deliverables: Product Roadmapping, UX/UI, iOS Development, Responsive Web Development.

Celbrea - Integrated Breast Health Monitoring System featuring a mapping device, an app with advanced dynamic AI algorithms and Blockchain Technology
Celbrea is an integrated breast health monitoring system for women, featuring a mapping device, an app with advanced dynamic AI algorithms and Blockchain Technology.
December Labs was approached by Welwaze Medical to build their Celbrea App, allowing women to predict, prevent, and monitor their health through different features targeting breast cancer, fertility and birth control. The natural target audience for the Celbrea app is very broad and diverse, which translates into countless user needs that would be very time-consuming to consider. The challenge thus was to narrow down and identify the main needs of a specific user base at a certain point in their life and provide them with a satisfying user experience.
Check out our full case study here https://decemberlabs.com/work/celbrea
Deliverables: UX/UI Design, iOS Development, Computer Vision

Round - Portfolio Investment App managed by real human investors

Apple Watch Augmented Reality (AR) Teardown
Utilizing Deep Learning and Computer Vision to detect the Apple Watch and its location, we are able to recognize the watch and project a 3D model on top of the real one. This magic happens thanks to Augmented Reality, which allows us to disarm the watch with just one touch, zoom in and out, to see in detail every tiny part from any angle.
CHECK OUT OUT DEMO

Pulse Cam is an iOS app that measures a heart rate through your phone's camera
Pulse Cam is a proprietary product we presented last year with our partner and client Biostrap. Pulse Cam is an iOS app created to estimate one’s heart rate by pointing the camera at any face. The December Labs team used advanced computer vision analysis to track involuntary micro-movements of a users’ head caused by the Newtonian reaction of the influx of blood at each beat and changes in skin tone and translate them into a heart rate estimate. Using ARKit available on iOS 11, we displayed the heart rate in augmented reality above the user’s head.

Thatch - A personalized travel service
Thatch is a personalized travel service offering curated trip planning & booking through insider experience-creators.
December Labs partnered with Thatch to build one of the most important pieces of their platform - the admin panel for experience creators. The main focus was a seamless UX, which was a weak spot when we were initially engaged.
We quickly extended the scope towards also building their consumer-facing webapp, supporting the growing startup throughout several iterations.
Deliverables: UX/UI, Frontend, Backend

Heaven - Lead generation and customer acquisition marketplace
Heaven is a lead generation and customer acquisition marketplace that brings trust & transparency to the Cannabis Retail through influencer video reviews and recommendations.
Heaven approached December Labs to design and develop their responsive video-centric e-commerce site, featuring Mux video integration built into SQL Server.
A growth-stage influencer-powered startup, Heaven is constantly evolving and has shown considerable growth in its short business life span.
Deliverables: UX/UI, WebApp Development (responsive), Mux Video integration

Apollo - Neuroscience-powered wearable
Apollo is a neuroscience-powered wearable, featuring customized vibration patterns that improve resilience, relaxation, sleep, focus, and energy levels.
Apollo selected December Labs as app design and development partner due to our specific experience with complex Bluetooth wearable integration within the health and wellness sector.
A team of 7 experienced professionals built this store- ready iOS & Android App in record time, while the Apollo team is introducing their groundbreaking, FDA-approval pending product to the industry. We are expecting accessibility for general public by end of the year.
Deliverables: UX/UI, iOS Development, Android Development, Bluetooth wearable integration

ELLU - Exclusive VOD Platform
VOD-Platform ELLU closes the gap between YouTube and Netflix, offering exclusive on-demand video content in different modalities (Free | Rent | Own).
December Labs’ thorough experience with multiple SaaS integrations made us a perfect match for VOD-Startup ELLU in designing and developing their responsive WebApp.
Our experienced team took on technical leadership throughout the project and built this content-agnostic robust platform in under three months.
ELLU is currently in negotiations with several content providers and is expected to be adapted for multiple verticals.
Deliverables: UX/UI, WebApp Development (responsive), Firebase + MUX video + Algolia integration

Prepaid2Cash - Convert gift and prepaid cards to easy-to-access cash
Prepaid2Cash is a mobile solution to convert gift and prepaid cards to easy-to-access cash by sending extracted funds securely to the users’ bank account.
To ensure the highest level of security when extracting cash out of their gift or prepaid cards, we wanted users to scan their card numbers versus manual input. While there are existing computer vision frameworks for credit card scanning such as card.io, the numbers on gift and prepaid cards are usually not embossed, and thus not detectable.
Besides custom app design and development, our team created a custom Computer Vision solution for Prepaid2Cash, featuring an OCR module that is able to recognize non-embossed numbers on prepaid and gift cards. We then embedded our module directly into card.io to leverage the functionalities of this existing framework, enhanced through our custom solution. In addition, we applied 256- bit SSL data encryption and bank-level security to keep user identity and sensitive information safe and secure.
Deliverables: UX/UI, iOS Development, Android Development, Computer Vision

Santander - Mobile app to request loans, check balance, see transactions
With over 102 million customers worldwide, Banco Santander is a Spanish Banking Group with operations across Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia. Its Uruguay branch is the local leader in private banking in terms of profit and business owner of local consumer finance institution Creditel, which has 100+ branches and is renowned for its innovative services and high-quality standards.
December Labs partnered with Creditel to develop their official native iOS and Android app, giving customers the possibility to obtain personal loans in only a few hours. Additional features include balance information, a rewards program, bill payments, and branch maps.
Today, the Creditel app has over 200K users and is local category leader in all app store rankings.
Deliverables: UX/UI, Android Development, iOS Development

VascTrac - iOS-powered peripheral artery disease (PAD) study
VascTrac is the world's first iOS-powered peripheral artery disease (PAD) study, developed by Stanford University researchers focused on understanding changes in your activity.
December Labs partnered with VascTrac’s research team to build an iOS app for participants, enabling the study to run nation-wide without any limitations due to time and location. We leveraged Apple’s recently published open-source SDK’s (Software Development Kits) Research Kit and Health Kit and worked along Apple’s recommended UX-UI practices. The app consisted of survey and exercise modules, featuring data from the iPhone’s pedometer and accelerometer sensors, as well as a graphic dashboard to display results and improvements to the studies’ participants.
Deliverables: UX/UI adaptation, iOS Development with Apple’s open-source Research Kit & Health Kit

Liongard - IT environment management
Liongard automates the management and protection of modern IT environments at scale for IT MSPs — Managed Service Providers and Enterprise IT Operations. Liongard engaged December Labs to provide development bandwidth support, integrating with their in-house team. The scope of our UX/UI and development team includes improving their SaaS interface, optimising their database, adding indexes on to foreign key columns and executing major navigation changes to the platform.

Tribal: Relationship and community-building
TRIBAL (now Rev) is a relationship and community building platform that uses the power of strategic storytelling to help companies connect their employees to build meaningful relationships and to resources for hope, help and purpose. December Labs partnered with Tribal for the UX/UI Design and Development of several components of their platform. The Tribal web platform consisted of an admin portal for employers and content creator portal, both connecting with the Tribal mobile app for employees. A multi-disciplinary team built a robust platform of the course of several months while Tribal was building their in-house team.

Heroly - A dog-walking and pet care app
Houston-based startup Heroly is a dog-walking and pet care app. It helps you connect with friends and neighbors or "Heroes" to look after your dog when you can't be there. In addition, 20% of profits are donated to animals shelter. December Labs partnered with Heroly to develop its peer-2-peer app for dog lovers. At its core, the app is a local marketplace including a scheduling/on-demand, payment, and charitable platform. It also offers a profile for each pet, messaging and localized content of interest to promote neighbourhood activities and help local animal shelters. As additional highlight, the initial design prototype helped Heroly secure funding to develop the app.

A Cloud Guru
A Cloud Guru is leader in AWS, Azure, GCP cloud certification & training courses. With offices in Melbourne Australia, Austin and London, they were in need of augmenting their engineering team of both, A Cloud Guru and recently acquired Linux Academy. Since 2021, A Cloud Guru is a Pluralsight Company. Selected among multiple development agencies, A Cloud Guru engaged December Labs initially for a team-augmentation of 8 PM’s, engineers and designers. Our team members quickly convinced through their technical and soft skills and easily integrated with cross-functional in-house teams from multiple locations. We recently moved to Phase 2 of our partnership, evolving in additional senior roles such as Product Owner and Project Manager for Data Privacy Compliance.

Inspire Fitness - Smart gym equipment
Inspire Fitness is a preeminent provider of high-quality gym equipment to the leading brands for home and commercial purposes.
The latest addition to the Inspire product family is smart fitness equipment that allows users to set and track specific objectives for their workouts through a mobile app. Users are able to measure specific data while exercising (speed, distance, calories, heart rate) and send this data to a mobile app for weekly goal setting and progress reports. For an extended experience, this user-facing mobile app offers live and VOD (streaming) workouts from Inspire Fitness trainers. Our scope also includes the development of a specific tables app for trainers, as well as the console app living inside the equipment.

Accenture - Custom informative tool for World Econ
The World Economic Forum Value-at-Stake was searching for a solution aimed at transforming the way CEOs and policymakers think about generating value for their business and society, including support to incorporate societal concerns into their decision-making on digital transformation.
December Labs partnered with Accenture Liquid Studio to deliver a solution for the specific needs of the World Economic Forum Value-at-Stake. From concept to prototype and development of our custom tool, we are proud of our agile design and development efforts for one of the world’s leading consulting firms.
Deliverables: Wireframing, UX/UI, FrontEnd
Reviews
the project
App Development Services for Medical Device Company
“They go above and beyond their responsibilities; their resources are passionate about what they’re doing.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CPO of CardieX Ltd, a medical device company centered around blood pressure.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We were trying to rapidly scale our development team. Our firm was struggling to find internal resources with experience in connected devices, such as wearables. As a result, we hired December Labs.
What was the scope of their involvement?
December Labs is involved in building a number of our components. We have an internal technical lead, while the team supplies the experienced software engineers that we require.
Currently, we’re building a native iOS and Android app and a cloud-based app. We’re creating a web portal in addition to an Android tablet app. For software, we’re using native technologies for each platform. The app’s main functionality is to provide an interface for our connected devices.
Apart from development services, December Labs provides QA and UI/UX work for us. The team also handles the product management of our tablet app. Our company continues to add projects for them.
What is the team composition?
December Labs have assigned mid- to senior-level resources to our projects. We have one Android developer and one iOS developer. For the web portal, we have one cloud system architect and a QA specialist. The tablet app itself is handled by a UI/UX developer and a product manager.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
I found December Labs through another group I knew quite well. That group had used them in the connected devices space before — it was tricky to find good developers in this niche. I reached out to a colleague within that group, and he had great things to say about the team. Apart from that, our initial review of December Labs went well, so we hired them.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in May 2021, and we’ve just hit our one-year anniversary with them.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Like most development groups, we run in an agile environment; we’re constantly looking at the cadence of our sprints. So far, we’ve had a pretty consistent cadence among the group. We’ve continued to add to the work, but we’ve had no complaints about December Labs’ capabilities.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
We use Jira heavily for project management and Teams for communication. We’re moving toward FDA approval, so we require plenty of documentation. We have a number of standups during the week and plenty of screen-to-screen meetings. December Labs has been responsive during our regular sprint meetings.
What did you find most impressive about them?
December Labs moves quickly out of the gate. They’ve easily become part of our team. Moreover, they go above and beyond their responsibilities; their resources are passionate about what they’re doing. Whenever there’s a problem, they’re transparent in not only asking for our feedback but also returning feedback back and forth.
Our company is in startup mode, so whenever we have needs, the team is quick to help us in any way they can. Overall, they’ve been a true part of our team from the get-go — this is highly unusual for me. I’ve worked with a number of contractors, and I haven’t had as great a relationship with them as I have with December Labs. They’re a well-oiled machine.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there aren’t any. Most of the time, the team is proactive and responds to our dilemmas. If there’s any need for improvement, it would be around our firm’s growth and paint points.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Consider the expertise that you require. You get what you pay for — there are cheaper groups out there, but in terms of value for money, December Labs is one of the best groups around. Trust that they’ll put good people into the project. They want to do the right thing.
Overall, I recommend December Labs to anyone I know who needs extra development help. I don’t do that for many other companies.
the project
Mobile App Development for Fitness Company
"Their ambition and drive to be the best are really impressive."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm software product manager at Inspire Fitness. I work with our teams to design, and deliver customer focused features. We provide on demand and live streaming fitness classes on our mobile app and connected equipment.
For what projects/services did your company hire December Labs, and what were your goals?
We work with December Labs to stay ahead of the competition in the areas of design, mobile, and software on connected equipment. Our goals were to release products and features to the market that were easy to use.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
December Labs operates like a startup and are flexible to changing priorities and customer requirements that are heard from the 'field'. The expertise in the areas in which we find ourselves was attractive as well.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
We have a team of QA, Mobile, Design. QA tests the features that we generate, they create test cases, tickets on Github. QA uses tools like Qase to document finds and transfers those to GitHub.
Design works closely with our team members and other departments (Marketing) to come up with product designs along with other collateral such as user guides that people will use with our fitness equipment. Design uses tools such as Figma, and Sketch.
Mobile team is split up into mobile app and connected fitness. On the mobile team the team members roll out features that are being asked of by stakeholders. The team uses React Native and is very knowledgeable in this area. They played a key role in delivering a large feature that resulted in an uptick in subscriptions.
Connected fitness team develops the app in Android and has to support software across multiple equipment lines so the work is quite involved. The team lead communicates daily about requirements and the team members execute on features, bugs that come up. Challenging features such as offline mode were done, along with building a custom 'web view' in the app.
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We are working with a team of 7 people. Two QA One UI / X Designer 2 Mobile app - React Native Developers 2 Console app developers - Android
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
With the milestone release we saw an uptick in subscriptions last quarter.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
We use Slack, Github, Clickup, to communicate. Communication is effortless with the team. Everyone is very flexible and fun to work with.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Their ambition and drive to be the best are really impressive. The culture that the company has set is wonderful and it shows people enjoy working there.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
As of now we've been very happy working with them.
the project
Mobile App Design & Backend Dev for Software Developer
"They were always available for advice. They also worked through any technical challenges."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am a freelance software developer. I mainly work with software agencies working on mobile and backend development.
For what projects/services did your company hire December Labs, and what were your goals?
We had a mobile app project that needed a scalable backend solution. We brought December Labs in to design and build the backend architecture for the project.
How did you select December Labs and what were the deciding factors?
I knew December Labs from my local co-working space. Since I also work in software development, we had already had several conversations about collaborating. I also knew of several projects that they worked on that went well.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
December Labs helped us design and develop the backend architecture for a mobile app. They developed an Express app in Node.js hosted on EC2, designed and setup a PostgreSQL database on AWS RDS, and setup several other AWS services like S3, SES, Cognito, and Lambda. They setup a Postman instance for our QA team so we could QA their work while the front end was still being worked on. They set up a Forest Admin account so we could easily make changes to our data as needed. They provided us with technical documentation and support after the main development was finished.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked with 2 people. One senior architect and one backend developer.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
December Labs went above and beyond and finished their work faster than expected. They stayed available to help as our other dev continued to finish his work. We were extremely happy with their work, and they were a pleasure to work with. The dev we worked with was available at all times, and gave us constant updates.
The senior architect was available to help us make structural changes when the project direction pivoted here and there. We asked them to work on several different cloud services, and they did a great job incorporating all the different services. The code quality was great and we loved having their dev available to work with our mobile dev on the project.
After the project finished they provided support and technical documentation as questions came up. I am looking forward to working with them again on future projects.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.
Both of the individuals we worked with were available to chat with us whenever we needed to. We used an Agile setup with a Kanban board on Trello. At the beginning of every sprint we worked through what work would get finished and what the major goal of the sprint is. We also set aside some QA time for our team, so we could address any issues as they came up. Their main dev worked directly with out mobile dev, and their senior architect was available to meet when needed.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
They did not simply join the project to do development, they got invested in the quality of the work and made several recommendations that greatly improved the project. They were always available for advice. They also worked through any technical challenges. Working with their team was seamless.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
No, we were very pleased with their work and will work with them again.
the project
Dev for Oilfield Navigation App
"Their commitment to their work is their most impressive quality."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the marketing director of a company that offers a mobile application that allows users to find and navigate oil field locations across the US.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We acquired the company in early 2019 and wanted to redesign the app from scratch.
What was the scope of their involvement?
December Labs evaluated the initial version of our app. Their team then completely redesigned the platform.
We provided input on features and feedback from users. We discussed the flow and logic, so what we wanted to happen when users perform certain actions.
Their team then designed mockups and made adjustments based on our feedback. After creating the mockups, they started the development.
We tested the app internally and then their team created a beta version that we tested with users. We then released the platform and got more feedback from live users.
They continue to add features and conduct research for us. We tell them what we want to do, and then their team figures out how to do it.
What is the team composition?
We’ve worked directly with four people from December Labs including a project manager.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
We met at a startup incubator where we both had offices. They had a lot of clients in Houston, so their team came highly recommended.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent over $100,000 on their services so far.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our work together began in March 2019. We launched the new app in February 2020 but we’re still working with December Labs. Basically, they’re our outsourced developers.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Their response time’s quick, addressing bugs within 24–48 hours. There’ve been a couple of bugs here and there, but those were mostly due to user errors.
Their team frequently pushes out updates that have greater impacts on users. We broke our sales record in March, which was a team effort. Now, the app has all five-star reviews. All of our new users love the platform.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Their team communicates well and meets deadlines. Although, no one’s perfect and we’ve had delays. If the delays become significant, they don’t charge us for the extra time. Their team’s great about working through weekends.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their commitment to their work is their most impressive quality. For example, the project manager’s wife was in labor and he was still on the line with us addressing an issue.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, not at this time. It would always be nice for their rates to be lower but that’s an unrealistic expectation.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Work with them through the process. They have expert designers who can give you recommendations. If their team doesn’t have specific expertise, they’ll find someone who does.
the project
Custom Software Development for Computer Software Company
“We've tripled our output from 20–25 to about 60-70 story points per week.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the lead platform developer at Liongard, a tech startup based in Houston, Texas. We provide a product that helps manage service providers, allowing companies that manage IT for other businesses to automate some of the things they do manually.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We engaged December Labs to provide additional development support as we build custom software solutions in order to achieve our goals in a more timely manner.
What was the scope of their involvement?
December Labs provides development bandwidth support for our team, working on our SaaS platform to make improvements to its interface. They work on the backend and UI design, using technologies like Node.js, PostgreSQL, and React. They've significantly optimized our database, adding indexes on to foreign key columns and making some major navigation changes to the platform.
What is the team composition?
Our main point of contact is Marcelo (Co-founder and VP of Business Development, December Labs). We also work with a couple developers and designers on their team as well.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
They share a coworking office space with us in downtown Houston, so we had crossed paths a few times and learned about what kinds of services they offered. Once we had a need for them, we reached out.
How much have you invested with them?
We've invested between $75,000–$80,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We've been working with them since January 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Measuring development throughput is famously hard, but we use tools like Jira that we attach story point and tickets to that they've significantly expanded. We've tripled our output from 20–25 to about 60-70 story points per week. We're very impressed by the number of ticket closures and the complexity of the work they're able to complete regularly.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
They're fantastic to work with. It's difficult to find developers capable of communicating clearly and taking the time to listen to and understand the reasons we do things a certain way. Everyone I've worked with on their team has gone over and beyond to understand our goals and been very thorough in their approach. We mostly use tools like Jira, Slack, and Bitbucket, which have all been hugely helpful in the process.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Everyone on their team has a lot of talent and knowledge in what they do–there are no weak links on their team.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Not really at this stage. We had a small hiccup in the beginning that turned out to be a blessing. We requested they build a Windows installer, but we didn't scope the project well and their resource was not an expert in that framework. They ended up not charging us for most of the work and we learned a lot from that experience, so it's been smooth sailing ever since.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Communicate with their team regularly and clearly. We've had a lot of success using tools like Slack and Jira to accomplish that.
the project
E-Commerce MVP Dev for Lead Generation Startup Platform
“They’ve been accommodating and reliable 100% of the time.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the CEO of Heaven, a lead generation and customer acquisition company.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We hired December Labs to get our MVP operational and up and running.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Using HTML5 and CSS, December Labs developed an e-commerce site with video capabilities built into SQL Server.
What is the team composition?
It varies based on our needs, but we work with anywhere between 3-6 people from their team.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
I received a referral from a friend who had worked with December Labs in the past.
How much have you invested with them?
At this time, we have invested about $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started engaging with December Labs in March 2019, and the work is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
December Labs generally delivers work on time. They’re a very reliable team. Overall, our relationship has been great.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
The December Labs team has been very responsive. As a startup, we sometimes have new insights and have to reprioritize. They’ve been accommodating and reliable 100% of the time.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They have a good breadth of experience and can build an array of digital products. December Labs communicates well. I’m very happy to continue working with them.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Nothing specific comes to mind, but it would be nice to start negotiations on a long term contract.
the project
Mobile App Dev for Smart Pillbox Startup
"They’re the highest-quality development firm I’ve ever worked with."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the CEO and a co-founder of EllieGrid. We've designed a smart pillbox for people who take multiple medications. There are hardware and software components to it: the pillbox itself and a mobile app that allows you to program the pillbox with individual settings and alerts.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We initially worked with individual developers and a few other firms to build a skeleton version of the application. We engaged December Labs because we needed to build it out more so that we could take it to market.
What was the scope of their involvement?
December Labs built the application for Android and iOS using React Native. We relied on their team to complete the backend and frontend development of the app. Within the product, users can create an account, connect to the pillbox via Bluetooth, and program the pillbox with information such as which compartment holds which medicine. December Labs also programmed the app to include smart alarms and push notifications that present a window of time for people to take their pills. The application also builds reports about whether or not the user took their medicine, which is information that can then be sent to caregivers.
What is the team composition?
December Labs has been flexible in terms of how many resources they dedicated to our project. Their team size has ranged from 1–3 developers at times, but they’ve also added designers when necessary.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
Their co-founder initially introduced himself to us to be friendly because we’re both in Houston, and I later ran into him at an event. We discussed his company at that time, but we were focused on other projects. Once the need arose for a development partner, I reached out to December Labs again to see if they could help. From that discussion, I determined that they could be a good fit.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent over $80,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement began in 2018 and remains ongoing as we continue adding features and making improvements.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I don’t have much in terms of metrics, but qualitatively, I can firmly say that December Labs has provided excellent service. I previously worked with other firms because they were inexpensive. December Labs was a step up in that regard, and I learned that you get what you pay for. They are more reliable than past vendors in terms of quality and speed of their development. They can work quickly without sacrificing product quality.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
December Labs was flexible in being willing to use Slack and Trello as we requested. We found those methods to be the best way to communicate and track their progress without bothering their developers too much. We also have weekly meetings.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’ve been honest and forthcoming in all matters during our time together. I once asked them to complete a one-off project separate from the original product, and they gave me a price and a timeline quote. Though they didn’t meet the deadline estimate, they didn’t charge any extra costs, which has been rare in my experiences with development teams.
Additionally, their team has made an effort to visit with us in person, either in California or in Houston. Their management team has been very present and available. It’s refreshing to work with people who are dedicated to our project. December Lab is staffed with good, honest people who also have excellent technological capabilities.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, they have exceeded my expectations, to be honest. They’re the highest-quality development firm I’ve ever worked with.
the project
Web & App Dev for Apartment Concierge Platform
“They took ownership of the project and made sure it was a success.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the CEO of Apartmentbutler.com. We're a B2B2C platform for apartment communities. We sell our services to large management companies and they offer those services to their residents as an amenity. Our platform is three-sided. We have a technical side for the property management companies to engage with their residents, and we have a supplier side, which we use to partner with local businesses. In addition, we have a dashboard and a web app that they use to schedule their jobs.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We were looking for a company to help us migrate our tech stack from version 1 to version 2.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We started with a mobile app and we were designing a new database schema. First, we brought them on for a very small project–they were going to do the migration for us. But the scope of the project expanded quickly and they brought more developers on. December Labs successfully implemented every project we gave them, properly estimating the costs and the timeline. They were primarily working in PHP with MySQL database. They also used JavaScript and React on the frontend and node.js on the backend. In addition, they did some iOS work for us.
They were very engaged and brought a lot of things to our attention that we were missing, such as security issues and better ways to do the schema. Relaunching our whole teck stack was a large and costly project, in which December Labs played a vital role.
What is the team composition?
We worked with a project manager and four developers, some of whom are still engaged on a retainer basis.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
We desperately needed additional capacity. One of their co-founders lives in the area (even though they're primarily based internationally). He was working out of our co-working space, so we got in touch with him. We were lucky to find them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $400,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in 2017 and the project lasted eight months, so it was completed in 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We recently closed our first venture capital round. We don't have in-house developers, which our venture capital considered a red flag. So having December Labs on our team made a big difference: our new investor became more comfortable (despite the fact that December Labs is an independent contractor) and ended up securing a deal with us.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
It was a collaborative process, and we mostly used Trello for project management. Also, they were great at meeting our deadlines.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They took ownership of the project and made sure it was a success. That's something you don't see often from a contractor. They're still part of our team.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can't think of anything.
the project
UX/UI Design for Financial Services Firm
“December Labs provided high-quality design work, and they delivered exactly on time.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the director of strategy for a financial services firm.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We're launching a workstation for our clients, and we engaged December Labs to design its UX and UI.
What was the scope of their involvement?
December Labs designed the UI and UX for our custom platform, producing mockups in Sketch.
What is the team composition?
We worked with one designer.
How did you come to work with December Labs?
We found them through Clutch after researching various design firms. We liked that they had experience in our industry, and they also offered competitive pricing and had a very professional website.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $20,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together on the project from April–June 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
December Labs provided high-quality design work, and they delivered exactly on time. They estimated the work would take eight weeks, and they weren't a day late.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
They were very easy to work with; any feedback we provided was incorporated well, and they understood where we were coming from. We mostly communicated through Skype without any issues.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We enjoyed working with them overall. One of their representatives even visited our office, which showed how much they cared about the project.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No.
the project
Mobile App Dev for Breast Cancer Detection Startup
“They take ownership of the product and operate as an extension of our startup.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the CEO of Welwaze Medical, a startup that is developing technologies for early breast cancer detection. We have two products: a pad that detects cancer and an app that reads the pad’s results.
What challenge were you trying to address with December Labs?
We needed help developing the full app. We didn’t have the expertise we needed in-house, so we partnered with them to complete the development.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They provided a full solution. They oversaw project management, design, front- and backend development, and all the technical aspects. They also worked with AI to develop a computer vision algorithm to read results.
They have multiple technological capabilities and really took ownership of the product. They asked to speak with an oncologist to understand the data and get their insight. They were very involved and were like a part of our company.
What is the team composition?
We work directly with Washington (Executive VP of Mobile & UX, December Labs).
How did you come to work with December Labs?
I needed a team with a range of capabilities, including computer vision expertise and blockchain knowhow. I interviewed four different suppliers and December Labs was the only company that could fill all our needs. I explained everything over several calls and they came back with suggestions. I met with them in person and decided they were the right group to work with.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve invested around $400,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in January 2018. We’re currently in development and will launch the beta in August 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They’ve delivered a good quality product.
How did December Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
They execute everything according to the project plan. Their timelines are always realistic and they’ve hit every milestone.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They take ownership of the product and are a part of the team. They are available at all hours and their level of commitment and engagement is very high. They understand our philosophy and are willing to argue their points and make improvements. They operate as an extension of our startup.
The company is happy with December Labs’ capabilities. They maintain a good development cadence, and they hit the ground running — the resources have worked as a true part of the client’s internal team. They’re proactive and responsive, and the team is always ready to provide help whenever needed.