Element 14

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an employment matchmaking platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BROS?

We needed someone to custom-develop our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started this custom software development project by discussing the scope and backlog of work. They then started building over the platform our previous vendor developed and have been implementing changes and iterations to it.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with two Fullstack developers, a frontend developer, a backend developer, and the CTO.

How did you come to work with BROS?

I was referred to BROS by a CEO friend who had a positive working relationship in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

BROS has done more with a team of six than a team of eight did within the first six weeks of engagement. The team is quick at identifying every obstacle we have and resolving them.

The communication and development process were on point; whenever we couldn’t solve a problem, the CEO would take it upon himself to accomplish it.

How did BROS perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve exceeded our expectations from a project management perspective, as I’m spending half and getting twice as much done — they’ve highly increased the development capacity and productivity.

We use Asana for backlog management, while we communicate daily on Slack and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their ability to seamlessly scale their resources depending on our needs. It’s amazing how talented the BROS team is.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they need to improve at this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you first engage with them, they’ll put together a presentation and a couple of calls to show you what they’ve done. My advice is to hear them out because I’m sure you’ll be quite happy with what they can do for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a software provider that helps other SaaS companies with their DNS configuration. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BROS?

We needed their help on a specific software development project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BROS provides us with custom software development services. They’ve helped develop and design our product from scratch using various key technologies, including Node.js, AWS, and React. The product enables users to automate their DNS configuration process.

What is the team composition?

We work with one of their software engineers.

How did you come to work with BROS?

A vendor that I had previously worked with referred them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $75,000–$100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2021, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been having an excellent experience working with them — the product they’ve delivered is of high quality, and their team communicates exceptionally well and is very supportive.

How did BROS perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is great. They overcommunicate in terms of deadlines and understanding our requirements. They’ve also been really flexible with us, especially when it comes to our budget. We use Trello as our project management tool and communicate via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really great to work with; their support and communication have been superb. Needless to say, we’d happily refer to them 

Are there any areas they could improve on?

None — everything has gone perfectly, and we’d happily refer them to anyone who asks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to define the scope of your project as clearly as possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for Wenn. We have a recruitment application for companies and users, similar to LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Fishbowl. There’s a user profile to search for jobs, but the unique part is that people can research the company based on their marketing, Twitter, Facebook, and any social media they have to find the best fit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BROS?

We needed help with web application development. We started with a different company, but we spent closer to $156,000, and we only got about $3,000 worth of work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BROS provides web application development services. They’re using Azure and the cloud, so they’ve also implemented our Azure dev environment. Although another company started to code, BROS has taken the project forward almost from beginning to end. In the future, we see them as partners for growth, staff augmentation, and everything IT-related.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with a frontend developer and a backend developer. The project manager oversees the entire project, and we’ve been in contact with the CIO to give them the vision and mission of what we wanted the environment to look like.

How did you come to work with BROS?

Our CEO had a close networking friend, and BROS did the design for their application. They were done quickly and within the budget, so they came highly recommended. We thought they were a little pricey when we first saw them. However, their skillset surprised us; they were worth every cent.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We go into the actual code development to see how the quality is — performance-wise, their work is tremendous. Moreover, their most significant success metric is that they can operate on one-week sprints. They don’t have to implement agile techniques; they actually do development within a week. On Fridays, we basically have the demo, and the sprint backlog and refinement are done the following week.

How did BROS perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re 100% on top of it. BROS doesn’t have to oversee the entire team all the time; the stand-up meetings are five minutes or less every day. The project management is always on target; it’s phenomenal.

We use Asana and have a retired Confluence page that we could leverage if we wanted. Also, we use Figma to review our designs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of their biggest strengths is that they understand the requirements. We have the discussion, and they immediately implement it. Also, their skills are solid; they meet the one-week sprint intervals despite the vast scope and complexity we give them. Overall, we see them as great partners. We never want to lose their people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing for them to improve. They’re honestly the best company to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep an open mind. They hire nothing but the best, including students fresh out of school. The people they bring on are worth their pay, even if they may not have many years of experience. For example, one of them is about to graduate, and he’s performing at a two-plus year level of expertise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a gig economy platform that helps governments pay homeless people to do public benefit work and transition back into the workforce. It's a mobile app with React Native on the frontend, with TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL on the API layer, and PostgreSQL server on the backend. I'm founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BROS?

We hired them to help develop the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did everything for us, and they were excited about the product. I had a development game plan and a mapped-out database, and they went above and beyond to dig into the details. They made sure I considered all the contingencies, and they worked with the roadmap and high-fidelity wireframes. The documents they produced were extremely detailed, and they reconciled all the pieces I gave them. Our iterations were very detailed, and they always made sure they understood what I meant.

What is the team composition?

We work with three individuals, including their owner.

How did you come to work with BROS?

We completed an exhaustive search for developers, and we interviewed several shops and potential technical co-founders. I had an incredible experience with BROS from the moment our designer introduced us, and the technology stack they offered was ideal. They had a lot of experience with both JavaScript and React Native, which was good for our budget. 

How much have you invested with them?

As of now, we've spent about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September or October 2019, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're still in development, but I rate them very highly. I would hire them again with no question, and I think of them as a friend. My startup is the essence of who I am. They appreciate that and care for my company as much as I do.

How did BROS perform from a project management standpoint?

Our experience with them is phenomenal, and we’ve had an excellent relationship from the beginning. They use my project management tools, specifically Airbase. No other development shop communicates as clearly as they do. I'm impressed by how willing they were to incorporate GraphQL, which is a big upgrade over REST APIs. They're keenly aware of tech decisions major players make, and they stay at the forefront in the industry.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do much more than just complete requirements. They ask a series of detailed questions to make sure I've thought of all the contingencies. They add their own suggestions, and they provide a lot of creative input. We also face no language barrier, and working with them is like I was working with someone right across the street. The proximity of time zones is convenient, and our experience is very different from most outsourcing stories I hear.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have anything they should improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They will build more than just an MVP. They will establish your foundation, and you'll want to keep the structures they provide throughout the entirety of your business. They are meticulous in their documentation, and they will make it easy to facilitate a handoff to an eventual in-house development team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the head of marketing for Dogtown Media, which is a mobile app development agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BROS?

We were trying to update our website. At the time, we were positioning ourselves as catering to startups but were trying to cater to more enterprise-sized businesses. As the head of marketing, I tried to put more enterprise case studies on the website. I tried to go to our internal developers first, but they were wrapped up with client work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BROS provided web development services. Rather than startups, their team helped position our site to accommodate enterprises. They integrated about two new case studies per week. We passed them Sketch files, which they implemented through WordPress.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two team members: A project manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with BROS?

Colleagues in Uruguay recommended BROS. Their workflow was similar and their team was familiar with our development style because they worked out of the same co-working space as our Uruguayan developers. As a result, we started employing their services for web development. Before our engagement began, they were familiar with our process, which made implementation quick.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of the collaboration, we spent around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the collaboration in March 2018 and the project was completed around April 2019. After I left, I don’t know the history of the collaboration. By all accounts, it seems that BROS has continued to do work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our overall lead generation increased by about 56% year over year, which I attribute strongly to BROS' efforts. By the time I left, we started getting leads from big-name brands because of the case studies their team implemented. The project would have languished with our internal developers, so it was a successful engagement. They were also quick to fix any errors that occurred.

How did BROS perform from a project management standpoint?

Originally, they had Trello. All of our work was done in JIRA, and their team switched. We’d put the tasks in the platform and their team was prompt in moving tasks from the backlog, to in process, and then to complete. Their team was responsive. Unlike other development shops, BROS provided constant communication. We were in contact daily by Slack about what had been achieved and what the developer was working on. This gave me constant purview over their work, which I could report in detail to my CEO.  For me, having to hit my marketing goals, it was useful to have such a responsive team that was quick to implement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The key aspect is their unique understanding of what we were trying to achieve. Too often, developers get into a mindset of building a product and that’s it. BROS was focused on learning the point of these case studies and how we were optimizing the site for SEO. They were a collaborative partner in what we were trying to achieve to grow the business. Their level of strategic thinking was exceptional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t be appreciative enough for the work BROS did.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a fintech startup based in US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Element 14, and what were your goals?

We needed to supplement our development team with backend, frontend, and QA resources. Our goal was to increase the speed of development with a staff that can work on features on their own and in conjunction with our internal team.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were referred to the team. We had considered few others but after understanding their expertise and flexibility, we chose to work with them.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They execution and tested pretty much every part of our app throughout our relationship -- dashboard, invoices, integrations, payments, etc. For this app, they worked in Angular and .NET even though their expertise is in React and Node. They also created automated testing for us.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Throughout the engagement, it fluctuated, but we had on average 5 teammates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

As a startup, we measure outcomes in terms of speed of iteration and learnings, and with this team, we were able to 2-3x, which was critical.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The team's project management style is great. Very communicative on daily basis, but also flexible and proactive when issues come up. The right experts were brought in for various pieces, and progress was always communicated well.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was always impressed with the quality of code, but also, they were so easy to work with. They felt like an extension of our team, and I would work with them again!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not that I can think of. I loved working with them, and will do so again.