Five Pack

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of SwapIt Fast LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provider of an online Social Media App

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Pack to accomplish?

• Help scope and define our App's functionality
• Develop V1 to our specifications
• Develop V2 to our specifications
• Develop future enhancements and provide support

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Pack?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Five Pack over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing first our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Five Pack’s team?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

V1 has been to build an online events directory that enhances the UX to find events in their area of interest and geographic location chosen. Deliverables have been to scope, design, build, test and launch in Apple and Google stores within 6 months from start to finish. We are on track to meet this objective and then continue working with them on future versions/enhancements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• App functions as expected
• Timeline to launch is met
• Team collaboration between our companies
• Ability to work as business partners rather than the traditional Supplier/Customer relationship

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

All objectives to date have been met by or before our expected timelines. The entire Five Pack team we have engaged with have been extremely responsive throughout the project.

Very high aptitude for Project Management, able to keep things on track, push back on things we may not have needed and suggest alternatives and conducts themselves in a very professional manner. They are able to articulate the design and build process to those on our team that are novice in App Development and coding.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Pack?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

Their ability as a team to connect with us right from the start and work as if they were part of our own company. To me this is a true partnership and goes a long way in our ability to get our product to market quickly and succeed.

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

Not that I can think of. We are very pleased to be working with them and look forward to a long term partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Gameday Logistics is a full service sports travel company focused on streamlining team travel from booking to billing. I am the founder and President of Gameday.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We are currently using a CRM to manage all of our team trips and are in and out of multiple spreadsheets per day. We found 2-3 main bottle necks that were stunting our growth and have found a solution with Five Pack.

SOLUTION

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

We met with 5 vendors. Five Pack was the most impressive and every person on the team brings a ton of value in their own way. Overall a fantastic team to work with.

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

We're building a tool to tie teams (coaches) to vendors (bus companies, hotels, etc) by creating automation. Internally, we will have a dashboard to manage all teams and trips. Each client will have tools within their dashboard to manage rosters, trips, and itineraries. There will be automation also to help push along the contracting and booking process for travel by notifying coaches of what we need from them.

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

I've worked with everyone at Five Pack starting with Colin in sales up to about 10 people on the Launch Lab meetings.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Launch Lab was a painless 5-6 hour meeting. After our meeting, I felt they had a really good understanding of our business and what our bottlenecks are. This is a very unique business and I was concerned that it may take more time for them to fully understand but I walked out of Launch Lab very confident.

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

Communication is great. I don't believe there is a such thing as over communication but if there was, Five Pack would fall into that category.

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

You can tell it's a tight team, and they genuinely care about the product they are putting together because they want their client to succeed.

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

So far, none.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the General Manager for a family owned outdoor related media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had an existing App that needed an overhaul as well as some major new features developed. Our goal was to continue and service our clients by becoming a one stop shop/app for all things related to the outdoor related tasks they were trying to perform.

SOLUTION

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

We sought out several developers in order to dial in to the one that best fit our goals and best understood our clientele and what type of product we were trying to create. We felt as though Five Pack had a basic understanding of the Midwestern core values and beliefs that we held. Ultimately that and their workflow/staffing ability helped us make our final decision.

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

Our SOW was somewhat of a moving target based on the complexity of our existing app. There were a lot of moving pieces that were developed from a previous company and we needed to streamline that existing process as well as work towards the new feature set. Key deliverables up front were to create a new flow for the social/community feature within the app. That then parlayed into helping us during peak usage season with hot fixes and ultimately into a major new Mapping feature within our existing app.

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

We worked primarily with a group of 3 or 4 people from the Five Pack team. Overall, there are probably 6 or so people that we work with from time to time. Ranging anywhere from COO to Project Managers and Developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have had steady year over year growth since we released the app, but with the new Mapping features we have implemented new pay tiers that will ultimately help us realize our growth goals this year and beyond.

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

We work within Slack, Confluence and a Jira board primarily. Weekly touchpoint meetings help keep us all on track and working towards the same common goals.

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

I most appreciate Five Packs willingness to jump on any issue that we have arise within the app. They are very timely and always help us run down a hotfix.

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

Early on we all had a little bit to learn regarding workflow, but we are in a groove now and knocking out feature requests and updates in a very timely manner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of ConsumerDirect, a fintech company that helps consumers with their money, credit, and privacy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Pack Creative?

We needed help with mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Pack Creative is creating the frontend of an app for us. We already had the backend developed, so we just needed them to build the frontend. Thus, we initially provided them with the full scope and documentation, but we also had some brainstorming sessions with their team. Their work is almost entirely focused on development, but their team includes a designer whose input has been really helpful at times.

We’re building this app for iOS and Android separately, using native technologies. Additionally, we use AWS, JavaScript, Apache, and MySQL as the technology stack. This app will help people primarily with their privacy, and also will help them manage their money and credit. 

What is the team composition?

We work with around 10 people from Five Pack Creative, including a project manager, an account manager, a designer, and various developers. The project manager is our primary liaison with their team.

How did you come to work with Five Pack Creative?

I don’t know how we found Five Pack Creative, but we went through a bidding process to engage them. This process included other companies, but we ended up choosing them because we felt more comfortable with them given that they weren’t a big organization.

How much have you invested with them?

This has been a multi-million-dollar project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure our project’s success by looking at Five Pack Creative’s ability to build what we ask them to build in a timely manner and checking if it works correctly. Throughout our project, we’ve established different timelines and goals, and they constantly meet them. We’ve also added features to our app along the way, extending their goals, and they’ve always worked very well around those changes. Overall, they’re doing a great job.

How did Five Pack Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Pack Creative excels at project management. We use Jira to manage the project and Teams, Slack, and Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Being an on-shore development company is Five Pack Creative’s strength. The hyper-technical nature of what they’re building requires very smooth communication at a native level, and they’ve satisfied that need while offering their services at a decent price.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is key.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Product Manager for many of the projects that FivePack has managed and augmented staffing for us in the past. Prior to this position I was a Product Owner/BA that worked directly with the team at FivePack.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Five Pack Creative, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to be able to outsource management of a mobile development project since we did not have the capability or bandwidth to take care of. Once we established a good ways of working we expanded the amount of assets that FivePack aided us in.

SOLUTION

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

I was not in the initial decision to select FivePack, but i am a part of continuing their current work line and pushing to use them for a wider range of tasks.

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

Every year we "re-launch" a seasonal sales app for our force in the field. It takes some tweaking and updating as well as new development every year. Their assistance in this product is integral to a successful campaign launch. After a couple of seasons of that we identified a specific affinity we have for working with this team and we started trying to expand the scope of what we can utilize them for.

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

It's a bit nebulous at this point because I've seen probably at least 10 different assets come in and out of projects as the different skillsets are needed but I regularly work with Kirk and Ryan. Jer is involved regularly in our conversations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After a successful launch of ACT in 2021, the team has continued to grow the tools within the app that lead to a direct increase of app utilization by 20%. The number may sound low but we are nearing 100% tool adoption.

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

We have a weekly meeting with Fivepack to get status and discuss any changes. The different facets of the teams interact with our PO's and engineers on a day to day basis

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

Five Pack Creative has all the skillsets we might need to augment our staffing, but their flexibility in ways of working helps them to plug in adapt to how that particular project was working.

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

I don't have any current needs that are not being met at a high level.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an Energy Compliance technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Five Pack Creative, and what were your goals?

We had too many projects and not enough software developers to meet the needs of our clients. Our first project was specific--we have a project to see if they could deliver. They did with flying colors. Then we decided to go into a long term contract with staff augmentation.

SOLUTION

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

We had hired a developer that had worked with Five Pack in the past and he made the recommendation. After meeting with them, we found them to be honest, trustworthy with delivery and helpful in understanding our pain points.

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

We used them for several projects. We had them develop a mobile app that tied into our internal LMS as well as three developers that were integrated into our internal teams to build out new features in our software.

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

Senior Mobile developer, QA team member, 3 mid to senior developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the project on time and have had great success with the time that we have engaged in working with the Five Pack team both from developers and management. Trust is not a word that I use lightly. They are professional and serve their clients and deliver.

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

Our dev team and Five pack developers integrated completely into our teams and we had no problem adopting or them adopting our specific workflow tools.

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

We've had a strong relationship with them. They have listened to our needs and delivered. Check-ins with upper management were clear and detailed as well as daily and weekly check-ins and work production with our software teams.

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

I cannot think of anything that stands out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering and technical lead for GoDaddy e-commerce public product offerings. GoDaddy is a hosting company that helps ventures get online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Pack Creative?

We’ve had several different mobile endeavors that Five Pack Creative has helped us out with.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Pack Creative has played various roles in several projects. The first project they worked on at GoDaddy was to develop a voiceover IP mobile app. The team worked on and maintained the latest revision of the company-wide GoDaddy mobile app. They helped us uplift older iOS and Android apps to more modern versions of the platform, and they contributed solid engineers to our newer platforms as well. 

Besides filling core engineering roles, they’ve also provided project management assets who help determine what work needs to be done and then provide estimations. An example of this would be the uplift of our older mobile apps. We’ve also worked with their QA folks who help us test changes when we’re short-staffed.

They’ve helped with some of the creative and design on a couple of the projects, but they’ve mostly provided technical support because our styling is fairly corporate-specific.

What is the team composition?

They’ve provided different team models depending on the project. For one project where we needed to update an outdated iOS and Android app, they provided a full team, including a project manager, mobile engineers, and QA resources. The project manager came in and helped sort out what work needed to be done, how to phase it, and what the estimates of the work were.

For other projects where we were either short-staffed or starting a new project and needed help proofing it out, they’ve been able to provide engineering resources with mobile expertise in iOS, Android, and React Native.

How did you come to work with Five Pack Creative?

I’m not sure how GoDaddy first heard of Five Pack Creative. My group learned about them from the team at GoDaddy that had contracted them to work on the voiceover IP app project. I spoke with several global options for mobile development, and Five Pack Creative was able to provide a wide breadth of support services. They also had great experience and were engaged. They understood our needs and talked through how to execute a lot better than some of the other options we considered.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work with Five Pack Creative began in October 2018, and they provide ongoing support. I believe they completed the voiceover IP app project. They’ve done 4–5 projects for my team, and they’ve finished the larger ones where they were doing core engineering for active applications. Now, they’re just supporting and continuing to uplift one of our legacy apps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Five Pack Creative has taken apps that would’ve completely stopped working under newer phones and platform versions and brought them back to life. Since they’ve done the uplift for us, we generally don’t see issues with our legacy apps; they basically cleared out our bug backlog. They also scaled by months some of our newer kickstart efforts. 

How did Five Pack Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Pack Creative is super flexible in how they execute. They’ve embedded themselves into the tools we use, like Confluence, Jira, and GitHub. They manage the projects within our ecosystem.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their collaborative, flexible spirit in helping us get things done has been most impressive. We’ve had such varying projects that we’ve needed help with, and Five Pack Creative doesn’t pigeonhole themselves into just one service that they provide. If they don’t have the expertise in-house, they go out and find someone who does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want in terms of outcomes. Be clear about what resources you need; they can find them, but you’ve got to let them know.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and co-founder of a small company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Pack Creative?

We needed help with mobile app development. I had an idea and a good amount of details regarding what I wanted the app to do and how I wanted it to look, but it was all very raw and initial.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our mobile app, taking my vision and bringing it to life. I knew it wasn’t going to be too complicated technology-wise, but it needed a lot of professional work and they were the right team to deliver it.

They provided the whole package. They did the development, design, testing, QA, and every stage that a mobile app needs to go through up to the release. We’re now thinking about an Android version, as well as some additional updates and upgrades because it’s an MVP at the moment. There are a lot more components that I’d love to add, but I’m waiting on the users' response.

What is the team composition?

There was a project manager, developers, designers, and QA.

How did you come to work with Five Pack Creative?

I approached several development and design agencies and collected some recommendations from various sources, including Clutch. I got proposals from five agencies.

Five Pack Creative stood out because they were passionate about the idea about working with me. It showed that they were passionate, and they didn’t seem like a contractor; I felt they’d be a true partner. They had everything skill-wise and team-wise, in terms of experience and knowledge.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2018 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been an achievement. They delivered within schedule, even though quite early on, we faced an unanticipated roadblock. We found ourselves having to do additional development work, strategy, and brainstorming. There were a good three or four weeks that were invested towards that and they still managed to work around it and have the app released within the schedule we initially wanted.

How did Five Pack Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They're wonderful. Responsiveness is important to me, and they’re top notch in that area. We always feel like somebody is taking care of us. At some point when the development pace became faster in the last month, the project manager was in contact daily with email and phone calls to update us about the status. As an entrepreneur, who is investing a lot of private equity into something, it’s good to have this peace of mind. They don’t disappear or make us wait for responses.

I’m very happy with their work. Whenever we have meetings, everybody is very cooperative and puts their mind into working around problems, offering solutions, and working very smoothly. For example, they had the layout for the project since the proposal stage, so I knew what was coming, every step of the way. Overall, the project management worked perfectly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their sense of partnership, familiarity, and passion make them stand out—they were the only ones that were so passionate about working together. Everybody else wanted the work, but none of the other companies expressed such willingness to work together as partners.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At one time they thought they’d exceed a part of the budget and they came to me with the issue a little bit later than I would have liked. It didn’t create a problem though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t think its coincidence that I got a group of really special and talented people. Every single one that I worked with was so good, it shows something about the culture of the organization. If you’re looking for a development agency, if you’re honest and you believe in your idea, and if you’re serious about it, you don’t need to look any further.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of a dating app for the Coptic Orthodox community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Five Pack Creative?

Five Pack Creative helped design, develop, and test our app, then deploy it to the Apple store.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to build a solid MVP so we could prove our concept in the market.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We researched many vendors, shortlisted a few, and asked them for a proposal. Five Pack Creative was the clear frontrunner in terms of experience and budget.

Describe the project in detail.

We started by developing wireframes for iOS. Then we began development and testing around those features. We went back to the drawing board a few times, but there were no major surprises. We also leveraged some of their in-house UI/UX design resources, but always came back to our style guide.

What was the team composition?

Our team has a project manager, a software developer, a QA tester, and a designer. These resources have stayed consistent throughout the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within one month of our app launching on the Apple Store, we have around 1000 users. It's great! This has definitely exceeded our expectations. Our users are generally pleased with the MVP and ready for us to take it to the next level.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our project manager is always easy to contact and responsive over email. When we need things from other members of the team, she can quickly loop them in. She also uses an internal ticketing tool to track development and testing progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As a project manager, I appreciate their responsiveness and sense of urgency. They're app experts. They've guided me through many decisions and brought items to my attention that I wouldn't otherwise recognize. It feels more like a partnership than a vendor relationship, which is great.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We ran out of time to develop and think through some features. If we'd had a more extended timeline, we could have been more proactive in resolving items rather than working on them after release. That's on us, though, not Five Pack Creative.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior program manager for a credit monitoring company. We offer a direct-to-consumer credit monitoring product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Pack Creative?

We don’t have an in-house development team, so we hired Five Pack to develop our mobile app for iOS and Android.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The mobile app is an extension of our product’s web experience, so Five Pack’s task was to translate the essential features into a functioning mobile build. Our customers come to the web platform first, so cramming every functionality we possibly could into a mobile app wasn’t necessary. Five Pack worked with us to define the platform’s crucial features and deliver a product that aligned with our priorities and overall business philosophy. They also provide support, maintenance, and additional developments as needed.

What is the team composition?

An account manager is our primary point of contact. Beyond that, their team mostly consists of iOS and Android developers. We also utilize one of their designers to help with frontend work.

How did you come to work with Five Pack Creative?

I wasn’t a part of the initial committee that contracted Five Pack, but I know they were selected over several different firms. I’ve worked with a few mobile agencies in my career and Five Pack’s approach particularly benefits our product.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our most valuable customers are our app users because many of them log in to the platform daily. Therefore, creating and maintaining a high-quality app was integral to our success. Five Pack delivered that and continues to correct issues as they occur to minimize downtime for our users.

How did Five Pack Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Pack has limited access to our Jira account where we manage the project on a Kanban board. We create user stories and Five Pack picks them up and gets them done. Most of our communication is done through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility and responsiveness are what I appreciate the most. They make us feel like a priority and act with an immediacy that I haven’t experienced with other vendors. I firmly believe that they are the right fit for our current needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like to see more transparency on their side in terms of how they track their hours and progress. Increased visibility in this area would ensure that both parties are working toward the same goals.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Five Pack might be best utilized as an extension of an existing development team. They offer development strategy services as well, but I haven’t used them in that capacity. Due to my lack of personal experience, I’d suggest that potential customers ask them more questions if they’re being considered for a full-service development role.