Empirical

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO, partner, and stakeholder of Crypto Charged, so I take care of our daily operations, interact with our customers, and provide the daily content they subscribe for.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

Our company operates in a subscription-based model, so we needed help to create a platform to which people could come, easily find content, and get through our e-learning modules to make their experience in learning about cryptocurrency easier.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Empirical came in to help us with two main things for our business. Firstly, they helped us create our branding and develop our website. Secondly, they created a roadmap for our MVP, for scaling, and for learning about the customer feedback loop. Additionally, they developed everything we needed for our MVP.

Everything Empirical did was custom-built from scratch. They used WordPress as the site’s base, but they also integrated various extensions and plug-ins. For instance, the site uses WooCommerce, Stripe, and some API integrations to pull information from sites like CoinMarketCap.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Rocio (Senior Product Designer), who was an excellent graphic designer; Marcelo and Federico (Senior Software Engineers), who were in charge of most of the coding; Yael (Senior Project Manager), who also doubled as a product manager, took all of our requests, and turned them into tangible and workable items; and Silvia (Senior Technical Recruiter) and Niv (Founder), who checked in with me once per month to ensure that the process was going well.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

My business partner had already worked with them previously, so they brought them into the project about a month before they brought me to start consulting on it.  He had had a good experience working with Empirical, so he trusted that they would do a good job for us.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent over $200,000. In the beginning, we spent around $23,000 per month, but towards the end, we spent between $13,000–$15,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Empirical around June 2021, and they launched the site in October 2021. In July 2022, we hired an in-house CTO, so we let Empirical go. However, we will hire them again when we’re ready to scale.

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

Empirical helped us, top to bottom, build a very custom and very beautiful product that we’re very proud of. Our first year has been a beta launch for us to ensure we have a product that fits the market, so we were very blessed to have a user base to test the MVP out. Throughout this process, Empirical helped us take that feedback and build pretty much everything we wanted.

Additionally, they were very creative about implementing our requests, so we never heard them say they couldn’t do something. Instead, they constantly offered better ways to implement things more efficiently and satisfy our customers still. Everything they built was perfectly functional as it was. Now, we’re slowly integrating into everything we had, so they essentially got us ready to launch.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

Empirical was always on time. If there was ever a delay or something came up, Yael was always very prompt in telling us about it and keeping everyone in the loop. She also kept everyone on track and was excellent at taking our ideas, condensing them into something feasible, and relaying them to the team.

As for the tools used, Trello was our most important project management and communication tool, and we also used Slack for team communication, which was crucial. Additionally, We met via Google Meet twice per week. On our Monday call, we focused on sprint planning, and on our Friday call, we reviewed everything we talked about throughout the week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Empirical did everything they could to be as organized as possible and to set whoever needed to come in next to have the highest level of success. When we brought our internal CTO to take over what Empirical had built, he was able to do a full knowledge transfer within three weeks because everything was very well-documented. I really appreciated this part beyond the hard work they did for us to get us launched.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback for them. Of course, there were certain concepts on which we compromised, but there was always clear and open communication and negotiation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re a business looking to scale up and be highly functional, they’re definitely the company for that. Additionally, be ready and ensure that you have a team in place ready to work full time on the project. Whenever they need feedback, it is better to give them that feedback as soon as possible so that they can build what you need fast.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a consulting advisory services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We needed help with app development for our business.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Empirical started by going through a brainstorming process to map the app and its flow. After that, they did the wireframing, the pictures, and the coding using Figma. Consequently, they developed the app from scratch using Apollo so it could be available for Android and iOS.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with four people from their team, including Sebastian (Founder) and Inaki (Developer).

How did you come to work with Empirical?

I found them through Adalo, so I reached out to them, had an interview, and decided to work with them because they’re US-based, had everything structured and laid out, and were also invested in understanding more about our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $50,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Our team likes the flow, look, and simplicity of the app. Additionally, they quickly fixed all bugs that we encountered along the way. Other users have also said good things about the platform and are interested to learn more about it.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent; they have an organized team that uses systems and processes that keeps everyone updated and involved in the project. They also do a great job at ensuring that I understand everything regarding the process; I don’t have the technical knowledge and terminology, but Empirical is very thorough with their explanations. In terms of communication tools, we mainly use Google Meets, Slack, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They take an invested interest in what we do and care about the app’s success. Their team also provides recommendations on things that could work on our project, and if something doesn’t go well, they’ll find a way to improve it and make our visions come true. Also, they’re upfront and honest about the total budget of the process; if a task is going to be more costly, they let me know and explain the reasons. 

Overall, they’re a personable and reliable team that I can trust, even though we’re in two different locations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they’re doing great with everything. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Come prepared to ensure that they can do their work without complications because going through that process after engaging with them might take more money and time. Also, clearly explain your ideas and what you’re looking for in terms of look and feel, including the wireframing, color schemes, and different pages across the product — that’ll help the process go smoother.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder of INDX. INDX is a social learning app that helps you curate and share the best podcasts, articles and videos for learning.

For what projects/services did your company hire Empirical?

They helped us translate our low code app into detailed and high fidelity wireframes.

How did you select this vendor?

Seba and team was incredibly helpful and offered a fair price.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Worked with a PM and designer to translate the low code app we built beforehand into detailed wireframes. Meetings to walk through user experience and value, iterated on wireframes and then tested with users.

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

2, PM and a Designer. They were excellent!

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Highly successful. The wireframes allowed us to build our iOS app faster ensuring we were creating value for our users. We were able to use the wireframes to raise our friends and family fundraising round.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Highly productive. Seba and team were professional and went the extra mile.

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

We appreciate the level of ownership and care they put into their work. It feels as though they are truly a part of our team.

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

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the product designer at Moment, which builds tools for mobile photographers and creators. We make high-end lenses that can attach to iPhone or Android devices via phone cases, along with various camera apps.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We have had an iPhone app for a while and we sold a fair amount of hardware and phone cases to Android users, but we didn’t have an Android app yet. This project was building a higher-end, professional-level, manual camera app from scratch on Android.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’m the primary designer for Moment, so the project implemented the wireframes and overall design that I created. Empirical was responsible for the software development.

With a normal camera app, users open it, press the shutter button, and the phone takes and saves the picture. There’s a lot of auto exposure and auto focusing involved. What our app does is allow users to use their phone like a DSLR camera. Users can manually focus and adjust shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, and white balance. Users can also shoot in RAW, which is a really large file format.

What is the team composition?

I’ve interfaced with the founder, who has a software development background and is one of the sharpest engineers and project managers I’ve worked with. I also had one primary software developer assigned to the project.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

I found them through a service called Crew.co. I’ve worked with them previously as a freelance designer. People can post a project and Crew looks for suitable matches that they have vetted. I didn’t want to work with a bigger agency. I wanted a smaller company where I could potentially work directly with the founder. I received that with Empirical.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2018. We are nearing the end of development. We are fixing the final bugs before it is released to the public.

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

Empirical has been helpful in setting up a beta launch through the Google Play store, and the response has been amazing. The amount of downloads and sales we’ve had has exceeded what we expected. The feedback from users has been mostly positive. The only negative feedback we’ve received pertains to features we didn’t implement, as opposed to what we did include and how it functions.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

The CEO and software developer had daily standups with each other via video conferences. I was invited to all of those and attended three or four per week. The developer was based in Australia but altered his working hours when necessary to match my needs. In addition to the standups, we communicated through Trello, Github, Slack, and Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Android operating system is available on thousands of different phones, and they all operate a little bit differently. To develop an Android app that functions well on a great deal of them is a huge software development undertaking. What we asked of Empirical was extremely complex, but they delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would have welcomed a few more developers on this project, but I also specifically wanted a small team, and they did great work with what they had. They stayed to our budget really well, and they are fun to work with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a co-founder of Plugin Corporation. We are a boutique software development firm focusing on web RTC technologies for small business and education.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We wanted to build a prototype beyond clickable screens but still functional using RTC technology so we could explain the concept of our product to our investors.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The core functionality is allowing users to plug into a session and interact through videos, photos, documents, or audio. We collaborated with a company called Team 8, one of Empirical’s service providers. They worked together on the wireframe, and we customized it to show its features. They recommended the proper technologies and languages that would be fast, agile, and scalable. We decided on Ruby on Rails and worked screen-by-screen until it was complete.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a few developers, but I did not interact with them. Team 8 was the liaison between me and the project manager, who relayed all development advances and challenges.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

Our lead contractor initially worked with QuirkyByte, which outsourced our work to Empirical. Eventually, it was decided that it was best for us to interact only with Empirical, so the project was transferred.

How much have you invested with them?

The budget for the project was $32,000, but I don’t know how much of that was allocated to them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2017. The product was delivered in January 2018.

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

The MVP functions as we envisioned. It is reliable for its current stage. We have met our objective, and we’re testing with more than 600 users to receive the feedback we’re looking for.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

They were professional, detail-oriented and responsive. The project manager made himself accessible beyond normal working hours. The whole team was flexible and finished within our timeline and our budget. They have made it an easy choice to work with them again. To communicate, we used Slack and Zoom, among other more traditional methods.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were transparent with the capabilities of the product. They were thorough and realistic of what could and could not be done, but they found solutions to all challenges.

Any advice for potential customers?

If future clients are not well-versed in the technology space, they should at least be clear with what they envision for visual design and UX.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a boutique software development agency that specializes in legacy code products. We remove technical debt from older code bases, adding features to get them up to standard so that they can communicate with newer applications. Our core business involves squashing bugs and stabilizing older infrastructures.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We were working with a client who was in the early stages of building a mobile app, which wasn’t within our typical scope of work. We quickly realized that we could handle some parts of the project but not the entire work. In order to remain cost-efficient, we sought a vendor specializing in early-stage app development to augment our team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We served as the liaison between Empirical and the client, while their team built the app. We provided the flowcharts, which they used to develop the functionalities and make it compatible with the App Store. Initially, the client wanted to develop native apps for both iOS and Android. But, due to conflicting requirements on the client’s side, they decided to build the app for iOS. The app featured an array of media-playing abilities such as video, and they added a content library. Beyond coding and implementation, they also leveraged their experience building new applications to give professional insights and guide the direction of the work.

What is the team composition?

I worked primarily with Sebastian (Founder, Empirical) who served as the project manager on their side. People from my side worked with two of their developers who wrote and executed the code.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

I believe our director of business development spoke to Sebastian, so we set up a brief interview with them. We felt that they would be a great cost-efficient solution for the components of the project that we weren’t specialized in.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work lasted from November 2017–January 2018.

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

As far as I know, the client placed the project on hold to receive extra funding, so we haven’t completed the app yet. However, our CTO praised their code for its high quality. Overall, they did extremely good work. They were helpful and professional, and we would hire them again for other projects.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack and Zoom to communicate. While they might have used their own internal platform to keep track of the tickets, I’m not sure and have no concrete insights on that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other vendors we’ve worked with, their strong code and professionalism really amazed us. Their team was very responsive and flexible, which made it easy to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have open conversations with Sebastian about your project’s vision, budget, and prospects. Talk about what the necessary requirements are for a minimum viable product versus one where money was no object. It’s important to go through these points because Sebastian has good insights on how to reset those assumptions.

In our case, the client had lofty expectations, which is common during early stages of development. Sebastian drew from his knowledge and experience to help determine what was realistic or unrealistic.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a live video platform that distributes a single feed across social media platforms and users' timelines.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We needed to utilize the correct stack in order to build a social media aggregator for live video distribution. By the time we met with Empirical, we wanted an interim CTO and a team to build the required framework.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially engaged with Empirical’s founder to help us build our minimum viable product (MVP) using AWS Lambda, which has since gone through various iterations. He assisted with the onboarding of our initial team members, structured the project, and created a timeline for the build. His involvement, and the involvement of the team he created, reassured us that we had a framework and the agility to deploy and develop upon the platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked mostly with their founder, who was able to contact developers he’d worked with previously to join the team. We contracted with those developers directly, and he managed the project.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

I met the founder via a Slack forum regarding a technology I wanted to utilize within our stack. After connecting, I met him in San Diego soon after to discuss our project and his potential involvement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017, and although the partnership has slowed due to budgetary restraints, the project is ongoing. We have continued need for the team’s work and soon hope to develop a larger team that includes Empirical.

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

We were able to quickly iterate our ideas and test different technologies. Even though the process took longer than we’d hoped, their ability to turn an idea into an MVP illustrates their effectiveness.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided exceptional communication, transparency, and content management. We set weekly objectives and held daily standups to review our progress. Additionally, we used Trello and Slack to stay in contact with the Empirical team throughout the process.

Overall, the project took longer than expected, but that wasn't necessarily the fault of Empirical. We were testing technologies that were new to the market and that didn't have the maturity they needed at that time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They offer experience and knowledge regarding project management and team leadership. Their abilities to build a team from scratch and architect a concept are exceptional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would have been aided by more effective time estimates. There were many elements that caused our product’s delayed release, many of which were outside Empirical’s control. However, I think research around certain parts of that technology would have indicated whether the market maturity was there.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The company should determine the available technologies—those within Empirical’s skill set—before engaging with them. Ideally, you should engage the company to code and work efficiently and effectively, as opposed to going through a time-consuming learning process with them. Overall, make sure you stick with technologies that are within their capabilities or that have been proven and tested.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of design and user experience at Robolink, a company that teaches programming skills to kids using robots and drones. We have after-school programs in San Diego, and we also have robotics kits that we provide to schools so they can teach programming and engineering to kids in an engaging way. We find that programming education is much more effective when there’s something tangible to use. I handle website marketing material and the building of the user experience for the learning process.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We brought them onboard to help build the software behind the learning experience. In order to learn code, one must have the right software. Before we started working with Empirical, we started off using the Arduino platform, which is an open-source robotics programming environment. We wanted to create something that was a little more accessible and easy to use for teachers because many of them don’t come from a technical background. The new app is easy to use and compatible with the most common laptop in education, Chromebook.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a native version of the Snap programming language, which is based in a block environment and depicts programming in a visual form to expose younger kids to the concept. Although we had this native version, we wanted to be online as an app to broaden access to the educational community across different operating systems via the Chrome browser for Mac, PC, and Chromebook. Empirical was responsible for bringing the app online, and we’re currently working to make it a full-web application rather than just for Chrome.

We used ReactJS for the frontend and JavaScript for the Snap block coding and user interface. We also used the Chrome library for connecting the drone we have as one of our robotics kits to the app. Empirical used that library interface with the Bluetooth Low Energy connection to the drone.

Users can access the Chrome app to connect their serial port to our Bluetooth board, which then connects to the drone.

What is the team dynamic?

Sebastian [Founder, Empirical] was the project lead, and he was in charge of managing the technical side of the project. I was in charge of designs, layouts, mockups, and prototypes. I did all the designs, then sent all of it over to Empirical.

Pablo was responsible for the implementation and was actually in between the development and making sure things meshed up to the design I had made. He made sure that the people who designed the drone put in the latest firmware, and that this firmware was being pulled from the drone and launched in the Chrome store. Essentially, there were 2 people on their side, and 1 person on our side.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

I had previously worked on a project with Sebastian. I knew him through my network, and really enjoyed working with him, so he was one of the first people I thought of when this project came up.

How much have you invested with them?

For this particular project, the total ended up being around $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We finished the launch of the Chrome app earlier this month. The project started in July 2017, and it took about 3 months.

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

It’s still too early to tell, so we haven’t fully inspected the analytics yet. We’re just testing it with early adopters right now and getting feedback. I don’t really have any concrete numbers yet. So far, we’ve had a few people who have had issues with the app running properly on Chromebooks, but we’ve also received feedback that the firmware update made it a lot easier. The user experience has also improved.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

They exceeded expectations. They were good about keeping deadlines, communicating with us as needed, and being responsive to us. Everything was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The openness of communication and willingness to adjust along the way makes Empirical stand out. These are also the reasons why I’ve always enjoyed working with Sebastian in particular. He understands the Agile approach to software development very well and makes sure to manage expectations properly so that he’s not promising things he isn’t capable of.

He usually ends up over-delivering because things that seemed fairly challenging at the beginning end up working out. Being able to connect to the drone with something that runs in a browser is pretty rare and new, and also something we were unsure of at the beginning. Now, we’re getting pretty consistent behavior within just a couple of months.

Do you have any advice for potential clients of Empirical?

They should know that the Empirical team, especially Sebastian, is very capable. They’ll impress clients with what they’re capable of. Even if things seem ambiguous at first, that’s the nature of a lot of projects in software and hardware. The ambiguity is something that people who work with him will need to be aware of, and I believe Sebastian does a good job of managing that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Purr, Inc. which is an in-home pet sitting company in Chicago that caters to cats.

What challenge were you trying to address with Empirical?

We had been using a non-custom booking service that allowed clients to book and pay online. However, we were quickly outgrowing the model that was being used. We were looking for a more customized build.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built a custom booking system using Ruby on Rails. The system allows our clients to go online, book their service the way we prefer the booking to come in, and then pay for the service at the same time and get an email receipt. It also allows us to delegate the bookings to employees.

How did you come to work with Empirical?

I went through a service called Crew, based in Canada. I gave the details of my project, and they matched me up with three companies. I had a chat with each of them. I talked with Sebastian, at Empirical, and seemed like he related to the project. He wanted to know more about how I run my business and get a good understanding of it before starting to build a solution.

How much have you invested with Empirical?

It was $75 an hour when we started, and I think the total was about $24,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began at least a year ago, but I don’t remember the exact timeline. The work is complete. I now have another on-call developer to make small tweaks to the site.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The quality was superb. I haven’t heard anything negative from the developer who is now working on it. Everything works like clockwork. We’re not getting error messages or crashes.

How did Empirical perform from a project management standpoint?

Empirical excelled in this area better than any developer with whom I’ve worked. Sebastian delivered work on Fridays, and we would go over the next tasks. They would go to work all week long, and if it was going to take longer, he would let me know ahead of time. I would know on Friday that my deliverables were ready, we would talk about them, and then move on. It was very good project management; I didn’t have to deal with it whatsoever.

What did you find most impressive about Empirical?

I’d say it’s the project management. I’ve always had to get more involved than I wanted in other projects. It seemed that Sebastian was able to take what was in my brain and put it into the results. I didn’t have to remind him of the details. They delivered on time and within budget, which was very nice. I only wish I could afford to continue the relationship with them. They’re a great company, and I definitely recommend them.

Are there any areas Empirical could improve?

I don’t think so.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of a steel distribution company and building materials retailer

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

Our company's growth was urging us to modernize our IT and logistics software. We were overwhelmed with customer deliveries and needed to incorporate technology into our operations. Our data was in silos, completely fragmented. We needed to find a way to make our data actionable.

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

Had previously worked with Empirical on a platform development

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

Project went from ideation - research of current technologies - building a business case to assess the validity of developing technology from scratch - development - implementation of new software

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

Interacted with founders and other project managers

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

Saw a 50% increase in customer deliveries and increased customer satisfaction

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

Always organized and reliable

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

Our collaboration genuinely felt like business partners.

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

The project took a bit more time than planned.