Fulcrum

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of Hyfa Ltd,  a social discovery platform for products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We needed someone to do cross-platform app development for our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum handled all of our app development work. They inherited the work that had previously been done by another agency, but they had to start a lot of aspects of the project from close to scratch. They took us all the way from an early discovery phase of looking into what we wanted to get out of our experience with them and then set out a clear work structure of how we could get there and they continued on with that. 

The team then developed a React Native stack cross-platform product for iOS and Android. They had to build some custom functionality into the app and they did that very well. They added features that allow the users who we call curators — which are a sub demographic of cultural influencers — to share products of a specific niche and demographic. 

For example, the curator might be someone who is a massive coffee enthusiast, someone who knows a lot about a specific type of jewelry, or someone who has a deep understanding of a particular area of fashion such as 90s sneakers. 

Through the app that Fulcrum built, users can post photos as they would do on Instagram, but on Hyfa, they post photos with links that go back to the products they are talking or posting about in the photo. This solves a pain point they have on Instagram which doesn’t allow people to backlink to any site in general. 

Curators want to be able to link their audience directly to products or experiences. Fulcrum had to build that tagging process from scratch. They created a custom UI for creating posts and with tags that, when clicked on, take users to the product that the curator has tagged in the photo.                   

What is the team composition?

We work very closely with their project managers. They also have a team of developers, but we don’t engage with them very much. 

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

We worked with a development agency in Poland and we didn’t have a good experience, so we had to switch over. I started looking for a new agency and Clutch popped up. After holding a mini-tender with 10 or so agencies and chatting with their teams, I narrowed it down to three. 

I ultimately chose Fulcrum because, in the process of chatting with them, they actually sent us over lots of designs of how they thought the project would go and the direction we could take it in which stood out to us.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fulcrum in early February 2020, and it’s an ongoing project and will be for the foreseeable future.

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

Fulcrum had to build the custom UI largely from the ground up and they did a very good job. We’ve had generally good feedback from our users. Nothing has gone wrong that I can attribute to Fulcrum; just the usual learnings as you go through the launch process. There is an odd bug, but it happens. 

The previous agency we worked with had virtually no QA process whereas Fulcrum has a really tight QA process and 90% of bugs are picked up and fixed before they roll into production. The ones that aren’t picked up before, are being dealt with as quickly as possibly. Other improvements can probably be made, but I haven’t had a better experience anywhere else.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

We work very closely with their project managers on a day to day basis. They split the project management into two roles. One handles the day-to-day communication with the clients. The other handles less frequent communication with the clients, but their role is specifically in writing the scope of work which requires making very detailed feature descriptions and having in-depth conversations with the client. 

They then translate that to the developer, so they know exactly what they need to build. I hadn’t seen a project structured in this way before. I was quite skeptical in the beginning, but it works extremely well. We don’t actually engage with the developers all that much which, again, I was skeptical about because I quite like talking to them. 

However, in the previous agency, it got to a point where they couldn’t be bothered to talk to me and I ended up having weekend conversations with the developer who had no idea what was going on. It was a disaster. Our setup with Fulcrum is much better. 

I have bi-weekly discussions with their head of business development who functions as an account manager. He asks me how things have been going, talks through our progress, where we want to go and things like that which has been very helpful. There are no issues. If anything, I think they need to get some rest because they communicate very actively, and we’ve been very impressed. 

I think they ought to take weekends off every now and again. In projects, there are always delays caused by things you can’t see, but I would say Fulcrum has been very good at doing their best to make sure we meet deadlines. In the case of any delays that come up or roadblocks that appear,  they work as quickly as possible to address them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills and the processes they have in place are incredibly well suited to startups. The team really gets what we are trying to do. They understand that we have massive time constraints and that this product is our baby. Their processes are brilliant, and they communicate incredibly actively. Those are their two main strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions. I would really be scraping the barrel if I answered this question. There are always areas people can improve but, to be honest, I really can’t complain because they’ve done a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them because they know what they are doing, and work within the processes that they already have set up. CEOs are always very tempted, especially when in an early stage, to skimp on elements like QA and push to reduce things that don’t impact what the end-user is seeing necessarily.

Just listen to Fulcrum and do what they tell you to do and you will be happy. I have personally already referred them to several of my friends who run companies.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager for an IT and software solutions provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We sometimes outsource some of our work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum is helping with the development of an iOS and Android food and beverage app. The app has a booking system for providers, as well as maps so that providers can see the locations of users. They use React.

What is the team composition?

They’ve designated a project manager to us. We’re in contact with three people, but I’m not sure how many other people there are.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

They were recommended by a friend who worked with them.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

We’re happy with the results. We’re also pleased by how Fulcrum connects with and responds to us. The bugs are very minimal, and the quality is really good.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

Our communication is really smooth. They’re really helpful, and they respond well. We use Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of work is really amazing. The technology they’ve used is really good. They’re flexible. They try their best to meet our expectations and provide us with a good experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re a really good team and company to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You don’t have to worry about anything; they keep their customers’ best interests in mind. They bring good value and advice to the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

artsnext is an innovation agency based in Zurich, Switzerland. We focus on two things: engagement with young target groups, and empowerment, specifically in the context of new work and change awareness. That’s the space that the project with Fulcrum falls into. We’re a startup company with eight people, only three of them fulltime. I’m part of the board. I would refer to myself as the director, and I’m the one with the technical background.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We needed a platform to pilot a training or personal learning program that could foster change awareness. It would be a way of learning that could be integrated into the working day without the activity becoming distracting. The target group is employees of larger companies.

We had a short timeframe to develop the platform for the pilot program. We had six weeks to develop it before starting a round of testing, and another three weeks before taking it to the prospective client, who came on board with 100 test users. That phase is running right now. We needed someone who could support doing this in essentially no time.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum developed the full web-based platform MVP. It involves a whole registration and authentication flow, with ‘Forgot Password’ and login features. The platform has two sides, with the first being for program participants to take part in the self-directed learning activities. Then, there’s an administration interface for creating the individual learning lessons. The platform is based on JavaScript, React, and AngularJS.

We spent a week in the discovery phase and provided some very lo-fi wireframes on paper. Fulcrum assigned a designer to essentially create the wireframes, including all of the developer assets, using Figma. We had a clickable prototype of what the platform would look like, based on which we made some design decisions. We also created the specifications in that first week.

Fulcrum essentially transformed our documentation into a more technical requirements analysis, and then they got to working on the project in phases. They did a two-week development sprint to put the whole framework together, with all of the login and user management features and a first version of the player. The player consists of a number of template screens that can be used.

What is the team composition?

We had a designer and a requirements analyst during the initial phase, and there was a part-time project manager throughout the project. Then, there were three developers; I only spoke to them once about the technical details, as they were fully managed by the project manager. We also had an account executive, who dealt with the contract, money, and so on.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

We put out an offer on Upwork for the initial discovery phase, and we had around 100 companies making offers within 24 hours. We made a shortlist, and I had phone calls with five of them. There were three that were ultimately interested, and we decided that we’d go through this discovery phase with Fulcrum. We looked at whether they could do it within our timeframe and budget, which was limited as well.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $15,000 so far. The discovery phase was $1,000, development was $12,000, and the rest was for maintenance. We’re still on retainer with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fulcrum in November 2019, and it’s an ongoing engagement.

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

Fulcrum delivered a working MVP platform. The thing that impressed me was the level of quality control and testing that they applied on their side. We went through a rather extensive testing of all use cases. Compared to previous experiences I’ve had, and given our shoestring budget, there was very little that didn’t work. They have a very good process for making sure that what they specify and the changes that come up are fully regression-tested.

Another helpful thing is that they’ve been incredibly responsive in terms of dealing with small bugs that came up on the weekend or other times outside of the agreed-upon response times.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. The team essentially did two sprints in two weeks. They used Airtable to break down the project and for communication. They put the project plan into Gannt charts. We also used Jira to look at the backlog. They were quite proactive about recording their progress. There were a few bugs and misunderstandings afterward, and we used Jira to deal with those.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their internal quality control process sets them apart. I assume they have the size to also tackle bigger projects. They have sufficient resources to add an extra developer when things get tight. They keep all of these resources together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For some of our questions, I wish the project manager had more technical expertise. There were many things she had to take back to the team. It wasn’t a problem; she just couldn’t give me immediate answers. I got the sense that she didn’t have a technical background, but it was okay in the end. As long as she had project management in her control, it was fine.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It depends on the situation. They have technologies that they have mastered and are comfortable with. I’ve gone with their advice on a number of things where either I lacked experience or just didn’t know. What I would not recommend is that the client tries to impose their own preferences on Fulcrum, if it’s not something they’re comfortable with. If the client wants an application built in JavaScript, and they have a company that’s more comfortable with PHP frameworks, it’s probably not a good idea. If they’re more comfortable with AWS, they shouldn’t be forced to go on Google Cloud. I’m pretty pleased with Fulcrum’s advice, but I also didn’t try to move into something they were uncomfortable with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Subbxi Media, a platform that splits video into several segments, allowing linguists to create subtitles collaboratively and in real-time. They can also get feedback from one another and flag errors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We hired Fulcrum to develop this web application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team is working with us to create a web app. Right now, they’re working on the prototype, developing the front- and backend from scratch.

What is the team composition?

There are about seven people involved, but I don’t work directly with each of them.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

Someone that I found on Clutch recommended Fulcrum for my project. After hearing they were invested in the work we were doing, I knew I wanted a team that had a lot of passion and energy for our project. I had a bad experience with a previous company, so I chose Fulcrum because I could tell they really wanted to work with us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €30,000 (approximately $33,400 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019 and the project is ongoing.

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

Though the platform has a long way to go, the prototype is essentially ready to show to investors. It’s functional and looks great visually. Overall, I’m very satisfied with Fulcrum’s work so far.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management approach is really good. We communicate via Google Hangouts, Slack, and occasionally by phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Working with them is very easy and they fight for our project’s goals. They put in the effort for our ideas as much as they can. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although it’s not a big problem, their English communication could be improved. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to clarify things to avoid any miscommunications.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a mobile app developer. We also offer web-facing solutions integrated with our apps. I’m a co-founder and the CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

As part of a new venture, we’re developing multiple mobile applications with different capabilities. Fulcrum helped us develop all the solutions related to the web side of our apps. This included front- and backend work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fulcrum assisted us with full-stack development for the web aspect of our apps. Our company offers two applications. One is for phone calls and the other is a calendar app. They each have web-facing features, and Fulcrum has helped develop those.

We have our own backend team, but we’re busy with other work. Their team has enabled us to develop faster. We’re very happy with the results so far. The technology stack is based in Node.js and React.

We’ve developed different features, including a system for scheduling meetings, a web data scraper, an email system, and a call assistant that reminds people to return missed calls.

What is the team composition?

They work with a part of our own team in Kyiv. Fulcum have their own developers, and the work with them is very open.

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

We have our own team in Kyiv, Ukraine, so we’re familiar with the area. We looked for companies there and met a few of them. In the end, we got a very good impression of Fulcrum. We’ve worked with other companies in the past and didn’t have good experiences.

How much have you invested with them?

On our end, we invested $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fulcrum in May or April 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

We’re now integrating most of their work into production. Fulcrum has really helped us in boosting our development effort. Because of this, we didn’t have to find developers for ourselves.

It felt like they were part of our team, which was our goal. We wanted to find a company that worked synergistically, rather than merely sending tasks to someone and getting a result in the end.

They’re very flexible and possess a wide array of knowledge, including front- and backend development. In terms of web development, they know how to work effectively and use modern technologies.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a project manager for each of our projects who serves as the communication point, helps build the roadmap, and gives us status updates. We can communicate with the team directly, but the project manager is usually the main point of contact. We have Jira and Slack, which allows for open communication. We have weekly status meetings for each of our projects where we raise issues. They solve them as fast as possible and the experience has been very good so far.

With Fulcrum, we have open communication and I feel they really try to give us the correct status of a project. Other companies we’ve worked with didn’t tell us what was going on with the projects, the date estimates were incorrect, and everything was a mess.

They try to give us the correct estimates on time. We haven’t experienced too many delays.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s rare to find a company that’s able to communicate well and also deliver. This is definitely one of their strengths. They mention any issues instead of trying to hide them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the things that’s helped us work well together is creating a very good specifications document for what we’re building. I know from past experiences with other companies that failed to produce that. We’ve tried to give the clearest possible picture. However, when something was missing, they just knew what to do.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If you provide good specifications of what we’re trying to build and know all the aspects of it, the project will be effective.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are LastCall. A Norwegian startup making discounted tickets for cultural events available for everyone. We have created a CMS for organizers and an app where users can get access to content and book tickets. I am a co-founder and CTO of the company

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

Our landing page was out-dated and didn't serve our need of getting downloads and onboarding new event organizers. In addition we wanted to make app content available on the website and follow best practice regarding marketing setup. Being a startup, we are always short of resources and we needed external help from someone we could trust to build that site for us

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a new landing page that could serve two main purposes: (1) Trigger downloads from app users and (2) onboard event organizers so that they can add more content and increase sales.

How did you select this vendor?

We searched wide, and even tried out freelance platforms and contacted companies that had sent us "cold" emails promoting their consulting services. One of those services recommended Fulcrum and we arranged a video call to get to know each other. That meeting was very productive. I liked the way they structure their work and I also felt that they were trustworthy. We selected Fulcrum because liked their reference projects, price and how the work process was structured

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

First we provided a very high level requirements document describing what we wanted to communicate on the site and what services we wanted to use and integrate. Fullcrum then took those requriements and created a high level wireframe that and description of the project with estimates. This first phase was a part of the project and on billable hours. To us that was very useful because the price was known after this phase and as a startup we are very sensitive to budget overruns. The delivery was then split into phases, with a checkpoint at the end of each phase. We also used Slack to do continuous clarifications during the development. This made it all more agile and created room for changes within the defined budget.

What was the team composition?

Fulcrum did involve a few people but not everyone 100%. One junior and one senior developer, one designer, test and project management.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

First of all, we would never have had a new site if we were to do it our self since we don't have the time and resources. In addition we needed someone we could trust as we have a very strong, personal ownership to our startup. As of project completion, we have not deployed the site yet, but the feedback from testers and focus groups indicate that the new site will serve its purpose.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As mentioned before, we did a pre-project that defined and detailed the scope and price. Delivery was split into milestones and we communicated on slack and sometimes google hangout for demos. English level is good, but it's will always add a layer of distraction talking over video or voice calls. As always it is important to verify what both sides think and agree on.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are young and really engaged in both the tech and the solution created for us. I feel that they are on our side in this. The ability to be confident in pricing is something I have never experienced before. I think the pre-project setup is very productive as long as you are able to keep agility in the project execution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Difficult to do bigger changes in the middle of the project since we have more or less fixed the scope after the pre-project. I suggest having a buffer in the budget to use in case we find some bigger changes we want to do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of BUFF, a gamer loyalty program.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fulcrum?

We were looking for an end-to-end development partner to develop our product. We had a vision and wanted someone to build out a live product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our desktop app, which is a loyalty program for gamers. It’s a technology that sits on top of the most popular existing video games. Using truly smart AI technologies, the app records and analyzes the data of everything that’s going on inside the games and gives incentives to gamers based on their achievements within the games. 

Fulcrum developed the app’s front- and backends. They also did QA and project management. They used Python, React, and AWS and did lots of integrations with third parties, like PayPal and other payment solutions. It’s a partnership, where we’re doing the UI, product requirements, and the technical documentation, planning, architecture, and execution.

What is the team composition?

There’s a product manager, QA person, backend developer, and frontend developer. We have an in-house designer working with them. My main point of contact is Igor (CEO, Fulcrum).

How did you come to work with Fulcrum?

They were referred to me from someone I worked with in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

The main metric we look at is whether our milestones are met. We plan three months ahead, and they’ve met all the expectations so far. We also consider second look retention metrics. We’re exceeding KPIs for user behavior and engagement with our product. The product is very strong and reliable, and it’s done really well.

How did Fulcrum perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on time and in budget. We have really close communication on a daily basis. We use Slack and Jira to communicate. They also travel to us, and we travel to them. It’s a very hands-on partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Fulcrum is really proactive. They’re involved in product development and the milestones. They’re not just executing; they share their own ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

So far, it’s a five-star rating from my end; they by far excel other companies I’ve worked with in the past. I have no negative feedback I can give.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get them really involved and see them as partners.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the president of Gus Skarlis Inc.

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum Rocks?

My company hired Fulcrum Rocks to build out our mobile application.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to offer a mobile app that would be easy and simple for our clients to use.

How did you select this vendor?

We researched vendors for about forty-five days before we selected Fulcrum Rocks.

Describe the project in detail.

Fulcrum Rocks connected our web platform to our mobile app via API calls.

What was the team composition?

My team worked with a project manager and three developers.

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

Fulcrum Rocks completed and delivered the app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their communicative nature and quick response times met our needs.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Fulcrum Rocks understood what our app did and made the development process easy.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The deadlines could’ve been tighter.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO and founder of our company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

We hired Fulcrum to build a mobile app for iOS and Android using the React Native framework.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to deliver a complete and fully tested app into the store

How did you select this vendor?

Originally, we considered three companies. Fulcrum stood out to us as the most creative and understanding team. We picked them based on their ability to provide creative input. They also had experience building a similar app in the past. 

Describe the project in detail.

The project had already set specifications and required Fulcrum to use various API libraries and technologies while working with AWS DevOps team. They performed perfectly and went an extra mile to help us deliver the apps into the stores.

What was the team composition?

Fulcrum assigned us a team manager, and about 3-4 other people were involved. We chose the easier method of communicating with just one person, the manager, instead of the whole team.

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

Fulcrum followed the milestones we set out perfectly. They went above and beyond.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was really great; the work was well-documented and there was no friction between the teams. They kept a professional approach from beginning to the end.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Knowing we could trust Fulcrum with any task was the most important value for us.  They used best practices and common sense to deliver each milestone. I definitely appreciated the team’s ability to work independently.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If I had to pick one area,  it might be paying attention to detail.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of a gaming platform that seeks to increase the use of crypto within the industry.

For what projects/services did your company hire Fulcrum?

We needed a vendor to create a website along with APIs based on our designs for external developers to implement into their games.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a user-friendly website and APIs for gamers and developers, along with a functioning exchange within a store.

How did you select this vendor?

We found them through an online search for a vendor. We were impressed by their professionalism and we thought their asking price was fair.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We spent two weeks meeting with them in order to ensure they understood our project in detail. They then worked to create a minimum viable product by the end of a two-week hackathon, followed by ongoing support.

What was the team composition?

We hired four developers from their firm: a blockchain developer, a frontend developer, and two backend developers.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our business remains in a startup, so I can’t address any impact. They’ve worked throughout the engagement to keep the project on track.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We communicated with the developers through a single Slack channel. Fulcrum’s director served as the project manager.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their communication and English-language skills proved very helpful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I can’t think of anything.