Dream Factory

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and the CTO of Tolar HashNET. We develop software for other businesses and also have our own products. One of those is a platform for distributed consensus, which enables keeping nodes and servers in-sync across a network. We’re mainly focusing on this at the moment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dream Factory?

We developed the platform ourselves, and we wanted to make it easier for other developers to create apps and games that used the platform. We leveraged Dream Factory’s expertise in that area.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dream Factory developed frameworks that would turn our platform into an ecosystem for other developers. Our platform was mainly developed in C++, and the only way of interacting with it without the use of an external SDK was through gRPC.

The first thing we saw was that most of the people that wanted to build apps through the platform wanted web interfaces. We looked into having a JavaScript and a Java framework done. As a distributed consensus platform, it can interpret and run other languages, and we wanted to have a similar architecture to other frameworks like web3.js and web3j.

That was the first step in development. Dream Factory built a service that acted as a bridge between JavaScript, Java, and gRPC, and built the frameworks required for writing, reading, and sending data. As a second step, they created a demo application for monitoring the entry and exit of people in different regions. Everything is written on a decentralized platform so that nobody can tamper with the data. The application will be further developed.

What is the team composition?

We had contact with four people from Dream Factory: their technical director, a JavaScript developer, a Java developer, and a Solidity developer.

How did you come to work with Dream Factory?

We have offices in Croatia and Slovenia and wanted to find someone in our region. They needed to have experience with JavaScript, Solidity, Java, and smart contracts. We came to Dream Factory through recommendations from friends who’d worked with them.

How much have you invested with them?

This project cost around €50,000 ($59,100 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Dream Factory in April 2019 and the original was delivered in July 2020. We were satisfied with them so we’ve started a new project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our first metric was whether web developers could start using the platform without any problems, and that was 100% accomplished. Everyone developing on it now has a much easier time than they did before, and they’ve told us that this was the thing they were waiting for.

The second metric was on the accuracy of the framework. We’ve run our own acceptance tests to check whether different methods executed through it produced the correct results. All those tests passed before we accepted the project.

How did Dream Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their technical director handled most of the communication, planning, and management. He gave us a plan at the start of the project and they pretty much stuck to it. Everything was as we agreed, including the cost and timeframe. Since they were knowledgeable in this area, we appreciated Dream Factory’s input on how to solve certain problems. We’re satisfied with their advice and general ability to lead the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical knowledge stands out the most. Our company is mostly made up of C++ developers and we wanted this platform to accommodate other languages, and we didn’t know what all of its features should be. Dream Factory consulted us based on their experience with those other languages. The users of the frameworks have been really satisfied.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve started another project with Dream Factory, so we’re pretty much happy. Things could always be more affordable, but I wouldn’t mention that as a negative. They’re actually reasonably-priced for this part of Europe.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If someone is looking for work in the technology field that Dream Factory’s people are experts on, namely JavaScript, Solidity, Java, and so on, I would say that they have a lot of experience, and it’s good to listen to their advice. There were parts we were unsure about, but we listened to their advice and things turned out great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of hiddenunderground.com. It’s a website designed to be a business-run offer site.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dream Factory?

I was originally using a different group of individuals to build out the MVP. I wasn’t satisfied with what they had put together for me. I explained to Dream Factory what it is I wanted to do, the site I wanted to build, and how I wanted it to function and operate for MVP. They were brought on to build a new version of the website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The solution is relatively complex; it’s not just a website. I utilized Dream Factory to build out a microservices architecture on Spring Boot for the backend. The frontend was built on ReactJS, utilizing a single-page application. The system itself utilizes a containerized approach running Docker Swarm, and it’s deployed via AWS.

What is the team composition?

I had one main contact, and there were 3–4 other team members.

How did you come to work with Dream Factory?

I was referred to them from another consulting services shop.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from June–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been very happy because I saw the work quality of another team, so when I saw Dream Factory’s quality, I was impressed. I’m pleased with the solution because now I have a true MVP. I’ve already presented it to businesses and got businesses to sign up; I call that success.

How did Dream Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great with project management. We had weekly touch bases, and they were responsive. We utilized Google Docs and Asana. This allowed me to track the features, functionality, and any bugs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understood what it was that I wanted to do and even provided recommendations and suggestions on ways to enhance it. They made recommendations on certain technologies and gave me different options. Their team was very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With my level of happiness with what they provided, I don’t have anything at this time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’ve mapped out or put together a business plan or documentation to clearly articulate what you want to build. Do your homework before you start the engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is called NextUser. We are a marketing automation platform. I joined the company in 2015, and am head of product. I manage both the marketing automation platform and also custom projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dream Factory?

They managed some of our features on the marketing automation platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dream Factory has helped us with different types of products. They developed some of the features that we have in the automation software including recommendation algorithms and product feeds. For the custom projects, they helped us with the backend services.

They mainly use Java, but they also have expertise in other programming languages. In terms of servers, they work with a lot with Amazon Web Services and they use Docker for deployment. 

What is the team composition?

I work with the CEO. He supervises the project from a high level and takes care of the architecture of the project. There is another person who is implementing the project and develops the code and submits it to the CEO for validation. There is also another person who helps with all other aspects of development. When there is a piece of code missing, he usually works on that and assists the other developer in the development work. There are other team members but I haven’t had the privilege to work with them.

How did you come to work with Dream Factory?

The CEO used to be an employee of NextUser. He was the head of engineering and then he left to create his own company. We maintained that relationship even after he left, and we have been working together since that time.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent about $5,000-$7,000 per month. It is about $5,500 per month on average.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe it was January 2020, and the work is still ongoing. We are working on multiple projects together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can say that all the projects have been delivered successfully and our clients have never had anything to say about quality issues when it comes to the infrastructure or the backend development that they’ve done.

How did Dream Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very good with availability. I give them the business requirements and they scope out the technical solution to my requirements. Then they quote us and work on the scope.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I can reach out to them at any point and I will for sure get a reply within the next 24 hours, which is essential to us. That is what makes them special in our eyes, at least besides the good quality of work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think over time, they plan on beefing up the team and that will benefit us as there will be shorter turnarounds. Even though the turnarounds are pretty good today, I believe that adding more team members on their side will benefit us as well.

Sometimes, quotes could be slightly more accurate, even though we only went slightly off when it came to one project out of the 6-7 projects we’ve done together, which is still quite good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Business requirement clarity is important, and knowing what to ask is also important to get the most out of Dream Factory.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that offers a product for licensing cloud solutions. It’s basically a cloud API for managing licenses within software applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dream Factory?

We’ve created a series of endpoints, namely several C++ environments, .NET environments and Swift and Objective C environments, and some of our larger customers were asking for a Java SDK.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built the whole system that manages and keeps records of different licenses and their statuses. Then, we provided two types of APIs: client-facing and management-facing. The client ones get distributed with software and the management ones help create internal reports and integrate third-party vendors.

Dream Factory built a connector specifically for Java so that its really easy to import this capability into existing Java projects. Rather than building the client API and the management API for each client they would just have to import the libraries, enter their own API key, and would be ready to go. Dream Factory built the SDK that all our Java clients use.

First, we introduced them to our system. They were very independent in that sense and figured it out quickly by looking at our GitHub and internal documentation. Then, they created a first iteration of a solution for one of our large customers. They helped them use the SDKs and created documentation for that. Now, they provide updates based on new features that we release.

What is the team composition?

I communicated exclusively through Vice (CTO). He did the first iteration and changes are done by his team of two developers. Vice directs and reviews the work and brings it to me when it’s ready.

How did you come to work with Dream Factory?

I’ve worked with other Java developers in the past, including Vice, on some other projects. These led to mixed results but I’ve never had issues with Vice. I knew what to expect from him going in.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $15,000–$20,000 but it’s going to increase because we’re adding new features.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started discussing and briefing the project in January 2020, and we started officially developing in February. The relationship is still ongoing.