GeekyAnts

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a cofounder and CEO of an internet startup that is giving people back the control of their data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekyAnts?

Create a completely encrypted peer-to-peer file sharing app using our new internet protocol.

What were your goals for this project?

This was one of the first apps developed on the protocol, the app is intended to show people what is possible with the protocol and the GeekyAnts helped test our SDKs. The app is just now getting into the App and Play stores.

SOLUTION

How did you select GeekyAnts?

Cofounder and CTO, Colin C. happened across their flutter dev and documentation and was impressed. Since our first SDK was Dart and Flutter they seemed like a good fit. Also, usability and design is super important to us and they clearly had those skills. We are working with multiple developers so we decided to do a test project with them. We now plan to engage them in many more projects.

Describe the project in detail.

We had very little for them to start with, a very light-weight spec document. We worked with them daily on the design phase. They quickly honed in on a workable design. In the development phase they worked very closely with our core development team to build on top of our new protocol. We provided a logo, but they did all the designs.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and design lead in the beginning and then worked with the same project manager and a development lead. Everyone was extremely good at their job and a real pleasure to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app is just now getting into the app and play stores. But it was finished on time and on budget. Which is amazing given what we gave them to start with.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had an extremely effective workflow. The communication was great and they adapted to our preferred communication methods and tools. We are located on the west coast of the US and they are in India, but we were able to meet with them on a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was used to having to spec things out in a lot of detail when outsourcing. But they worked like part of our team, creating an excellent design and workflow with realtime feedback. They also went above and beyond to meet our deadlines, the whole time being an absolute pleasure to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we gave them a big challenge - develop a new type of app on a brand new protocol - and they came through with flying colors!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Core Sports Technology, a startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GeekyAnts?

We wanted to develop a game.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GeekyAnts created an entire game platform that involved integrating Raspberry Pi tablets, Wi-Fi connections, and Bluetooth connections. They created a soccer training game that I’ll be using for my startup.

What is the team composition?

I worked with about nine teammates in total.

How did you come to work with GeekyAnts?

I came across them on the internet. I was looking for something very unique, and it was tough to get that for less than $100 per hour for a developer in the US. GeekyAnts had good value, seemed to have their stuff together, and followed through. They had also worked with Google, which was reassuring.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in February 2020 and the project lasted 4–5 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of COVID-19, I haven’t been able to take it to the public. However, it’s a new product so people are excited about it. Once the pandemic hopefully ends, I do think we will have a viable business. 

What I asked of them was a little bit out of scope for a lot of companies, so the fact that they pulled it off, even if it took a little bit longer, was good.

How did GeekyAnts perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a big company, and they’re getting bigger, so we dealt with a wide variety of people including experts and some teammates for whom this is their first job. They have different experience levels, so sometimes it takes people longer than it should’ve. 

It didn’t cost me financially when it went overtime because of inexperience, so it was okay. It was also a bit of a challenge for them to not be able to work in-person with their teammates due to COVID-19. We had a few trials because of this, but they got everything done at the end of the day. They had some good experts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

GeekyAnts’ salespeople were great, and their follow up was good. We got a call from the VP every couple of weeks to see how everything was going. When we had issues, they always addressed them.

You’re always going to have bumps in projects like this, but they always addressed our issues and made sure that we felt good. Their customer service and interaction were great on all levels, but especially on the higher levels. 

When they messed up, they owned up and fixed it. I was blown away by their ability to take care of the problems that we put in front of them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to have a plan as far as how you’re going to get them to understand exactly what you need out of the project. My position was unique because what I was doing was out of the box.

If you can communicate your vision and make sure they understand it, that will put them on a better path from a project management standpoint. That’s where we sometimes got off base. GeekyAnts recognized that and tried to put better tools in place to make sure that everyone was on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder of an early stage travel tech startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

An extended technical team to support us while we develop our launch product. This included frontend and backend software development.

SOLUTION

How did you select GeekyAnts and what were the deciding factors?

I was impressed with the quality of the work GeekyAnts was doing both in services and in the product domain. They were also easy to communicate with.

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

The developers worked on react frontend and node backend services.

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

We had a team of developers - react and node working with us as an extended technical team who very much behaved like an internal dev team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been able to build periodic iterations and ship it to production. Our beta site went live in August.

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

The commitment and hard work of the team are very commendable. We use slack for communication and that has helped us achieve very quick comms and feedback cycles. We also had daily standups, technical calls, weekly all-hands etc.

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

The dedication to the client and doing the right thing for the client. We have been able to support each other very well during this pandemic times which speaks about the health of our partnership. They also have been able to ramp up/down engineers as and when we need.

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

As always with technology, there are always areas of improvement of general technical competence and experience but I understand they are continuously improving on it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Pencil is a creative SaaS platform which allows performance marketers at brands and agencies to generate ads using AI algorithms. I am the CTO & co-founder of Pencil Technologies Pte Ltd

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

GeekyAnts was hired by Pencil to augment the development of a new React SaaS platform. The goals of the team were:

1. Development of new React frontend platform based on UI specification and utilising Pencil Platform APIs
2. Development of a HTML5 based canvas editor to allow users to edit content on the platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select GeekyAnts and what were the deciding factors?

GeekyAnts had very strong recommendations from very reliable sources. Their cost structure was transparent and industry standard. Great on-boarding process also helped developed good rapport with their team early on.

Also, ability to screen developer candidates and arranging peer reviews by developers on both sides helped develop good confidence on either side.

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

Scope of work:

1. Development of new React frontend platform based on UI specification and utilising Pencil Platform APIs
2. Development of a HTML5 based canvas editor to allow users to edit content on the platform.

Technologies used:

1. React frontend with Redux and other standard platform tools
2. HTML5 based canvas editor

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

Vendor team configuration: 4 Frotend developers - 3 engineers + 1 senior engineer 1 Tech Lead / Product Manager 1 QA Engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

100% growth in revenue after the new product has launched. Clients love the new platform and the new editor experience. Has allowed us to target an entire new segment of customers.

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

Daily standups with client, vendor engineering teams and tech leads to track sprint activities. Tools used: Slack, ClubHouse, Gitlab

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

• Excellent developers with great work ethic
• Fantastic ownership of deliverables
• Great communication and timely response on all queries despite teams being completely different time zones and geographies.
• Excellent participation in sprint and good planning of stories.

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

Better use of tools like Clubhouse to make it easier to track progress.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a business analytic in SINAM LTD. SINAM LTD is a leading IT company in Trans-Caspian region that offers the wide range of IT services and products. Recognized as an e-government solutions provider and system integrator SINAM provides turn-key solutions that embody the full value chain from integrated hardware and software complex to consulting, support and warranty.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekyAnts?

We hire GeekyAnts for development of cross-banking application for individuals and merchants in Flutter for Android and iOS platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

Deployment of mobile applications for individuals and merchants. Applications unify clients bank accounts in to single wallet like application.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We select GeekyAnts online. There were two companies were considered. Deciding factors for selecting vendor were experience, estimated project deployment timeline and successful demo implementation.

Describe the project in detail.

Applications included implementation of payment operations thru QR code and TOTP functionality Storyboards and functional specification documentation were provided. GeekyAnts provided detailed scope of work plan for project implementation. Applications developed in Flutter for ios and android platforms.

What was the team composition?

There were 8 people involved from GeekyAnts: Project manager, Senior developer, 5 developers and QA manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Applications currently being intensively tested. Most of the functionalities were developed without any problems. Debugging process was organized well from GeekyAnts .

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was organized productive. We used suggested by GeekyAnts task management platform Trello. Feedback was processed in timely manner. There were no or minor difficulties due to the language barrier.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

GeekyAnts has a good understanding of project goals and is very flexible. Implemented large amount of change requests on the go.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, especially for any IT involved company. Quality assurance process was significantly improved during our engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Sprive, a mobile fintech application that we’re looking to launch in the UK to help homeowners pay off their mortgages.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GeekyAnts?

We needed someone to develop the MVP of our mobile app in React Native and a mobile backend in Node.js.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with them from a development perspective. We engage a different company to do our branding and another company to design our wireframes. We came to GeekyAnts with a bunch of wireframes. GeekyAnts took those and designed the backend and frontend interactions. They built the app based on those wireframes.

What is the team composition?

There’s an engineering manager/architect, a React Native frontend developer, and a Node.js backend developer.

How did you come to work with GeekyAnts?

We knew we wanted to develop a full JavaScript tech stack of React Native and Node.js. We were looking for an agency to help build this. Our COO is in India, so part of our strategy was looking for someone in that time zone if not in India directly. We also looked at a couple of agencies in Ukraine. 

After weighing the initial proposals, we settled on GeekyAnts because they looked as if they were thought leaders in this space, especially around React Native. They have a bunch of open-source contributions in this space. They seemed to have a very good public profile, and they fit into our budget. It also helped that they were in the same city as our COO.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the product has been excellent. Since we’re new to the fintech space in the UK, quality is of the utmost importance to us. We were essentially looking to launch alongside some very high-profile apps that are getting a lot of publicity. It was critical that the quality of the build felt really good. We’ve gotten some feedback from early testers saying that it feels like a quality application. I’m very pleased with the quality of their work.

How did GeekyAnts perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, project management has been excellent. We defined a fixed scope of work, and my team put together a bunch of user stories alongside some wireframes that we did in Adobe XD. The engineering manager took those and broke down the requirements into more technical specifications. 

We collaborated using Google Drive, Draw.io, and architecture diagrams. We had daily standups using Google Meet, and we worked in 2–3-week sprints. They’d get us a build each week. We adopted the principle of the demo as frequently as possible.

Communication was excellent, and even the junior developers were forthcoming with their communication. Most of our communication was over Slack. Everyone felt comfortable sending messages in the channel directly to my colleagues or me. I’m very pleased with the way the project was managed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team went the extra mile to make sure that they really understood the problem we’re trying to solve. They got up to speed really quickly with the industry. They understood what we were trying to achieve from the ground up, which is helping users pay off their mortgages and become mortgage-free. They took our vision and showed a lot of enthusiasm. They went very far to ensure that they delivered on time. If there were any bugs, they fixed them. They understood the requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The way that we worked evolved over time. It was really important to us that the communication was always flowing; that was always a high standard from day one. I wouldn’t say there’s much to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try and get as much detail down on paper as you can about your requirement. Have a good idea of what you’re asking them to build. This ultimately helps them to estimate out, and it will help you ensure that what they’re building is to spec. 

They’re trying to become thought leaders in the whole mobile engineering space; they’ve been at the forefront of React Native development, but they’re also starting to look at Flutter, an emerging technology. They’ve got some really enthusiastic and bright individuals at their company. Any company approaching them should go there with an open mind and be willing to hear their ideas. They have lots of experience and projects under their belt. Don’t shy away from having really deep technical discussions; I’ve enjoyed doing that with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Chief Business Officer at I.AM+ responsible for commercial delivery of AI-enabled products and services. Founded by innovator and global music artist will.i.am, i.am+ is a Hollywood-based technology company whose mission is to create technology hits that create a ripple effect across pop culture. Our vision is to create a community of creatives and coders and believe that through music and technology as the first step, we can usher in a powerful new era built on AI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekyAnts?

We hired Flutter developers from GeekyAnts to augment our existing team. Given there is a growing demand for Flutter and limited experienced resources, we were looking for candidates that could be productive from the onset, which GeekyAnts were able to provide.

What were your goals for this project?

Goal of the projects was to develop multiple apps using Flutter on top of I.AM+ AI technology/platform. Meeting quality and time dead-lines have been the key objectives so far which GeekyAnts has been performing well against

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Reviewed the rating here in Clutch which led to us interviewing candidates from their pool.

Describe the project in detail.

We are building multiple Flutter apps that take benefit of I.AM+ AI and voice technology. Details are confidential at present - but hopefully you will hear about I.AM+ and the service we are launching from June 2020 onwards.

What was the team composition?

Started with 1.5 developers, extended to 2.5 developers and we now have 3.5 developers sourced from GeekyAnts. The lead developer is spending half of their time managing the deliverables of the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project is still ongoing but so far, the team at GeekyAnts is performing well. They have been open to offering improved rates as we grow the team which allows us to continue using their services on a long term basis.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

In comparison to other agencies, GeekyAnts provided half time of their team lead resource which made the onboarding and ongoing work more seamless. Having a team lead at the agency is key and this has been instrumental in the work so far.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were quick to highlight issues which showed they were interested to help the project succeed which is rare in most agencies you hire

Are there any areas for improvement?

Reduction in rate is always an area of improvement since we are also a startup but GeekyAnts has already take some steps with recent hire we brought on board. The other area could have been more availability of their team lead resource which so far has only been available 50% of time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a helicopter company with operations across Canada. My role in this initiative is project director and I am entirely responsible for the development and implementation of the project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekyAnts?

With over 60 aircraft, we were using purely paper-based operations systems to manage the entire company. With $10s of millions in annual sales, it was expensive, labour-intensive, riddled with errors, and couldn't scale.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was a complete digital transformation whereby every employee would use AirOps on a daily basis, regardless of location, for most business operations.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were specifically looking for a vendor that had significant experience in Flutter and React (or VueJS). In particular, what was attractive about this vendor was their community involvement in Flutter, their deep experience, and their history of contributing to the Flutter project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We build an iOS and Android app using Flutter, A web app using React, a backend system using Aqueduct (Dart) and Postgres, and a BI/Reporting system using JSReport.

What was the team composition?

Although we initially started with 1, and then 2 mobile developers, we eventually scaled up to a stable team of 6 people. That team consisted of 1 technical lead, 2 mobile Flutter developers, 1 backend (Aqueduct, Dart, Postgres) developer, 1 Web React developer and 1 BI/Reporting developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The entire platform (all 4 systems) was completed in 4 short months. The result is a beautiful and highly effective digital solution that is used by every employee. The company is now able to run their entire operations through a single digital solution, greatly reducing errors, significantly reducing costs and labour, and allowing the company to grow more efficiently. This solution has completely transformed their operations.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Working with Slack, Trello, GitHub and other tools, the project flowed very well. Ongoing communication was clear, concise and constructive and the team worked very well together. We used Agile processes including a daily standup and weekly sprints. Sprints were completed on time and every epic and feature was delivered exactly to spec (or so close that only minor changes were needed). Additionally, features were delivered bug-free and error-free.

The team maintained a high standard and consistently delivered quality results. As project director, this was the most complex project I have managed, yet it has been the best and most trouble-free project I have been involved in. This is due to the quality of the team, the quality of their work, and the personal ownership that they took in the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is intelligent and responsive. They anticipated potential problems and recommended solutions. This a rare skill. Furthermore, aviation is a complicated domain, but the team took little time in understanding it and becoming proficient in this domain. Also impressive was their personal commitment to the project's quality and success.

Additionally, and in a more general sense, GeekyAnts provided support outside of the project itself with such things are scaling the team and resource flexibility, legal documents and engagement commitments and other similar things. They made my life easier and I was well taken care of; GeekAnts cared and wanted to make sure I was happy and the project would be a success.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No areas to improve. I want to work with GeekyAnts forever, on all sorts of projects!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The group is a nonprofit that specializes in educating the public on the real contents of the consumable goods they purchase every day.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekyAnts?

Website development of a new version of the website.

What were your goals for this project?

Launch a user-friendly updated website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

a previous employee set up this contract.

Describe the project in detail.

I inherited this project in the last 3 months of the project. Once we were able to establish a clear cadence of communication the project was completed quickly.

What was the team composition?

I think many of the team members rotated in and out of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We successfully launched a new website at the beginning of April.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Once we understood that they needed specific and detailed instructions, it was easy to communicate the needs for the website.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I did appreciate that they adjusted their hours to make sure we could have live conversations at least once per business day.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are finding that the back-end programming of the website does not allow for easy changes. One of the reasons our contract ended with them is because we hired an in-house web developer, and his ability to update and modify this website has been a challenge. Also, the embedded search engine (I'm not sure how picked it) is quite expensive for a nonprofit, and the way the website was built causes much more than necessary "search" requests - driving up the cost of the resource.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Twirl was an idea I conceived of and I funded its development for 2020.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekyAnts?

Twirl is a mobile, social app. A small group of us began development on Flutter in the last half of 2019, but we were not as productive as we would have liked. After a thorough search for vendors, I found Geeky Ants, a Flutter specialist. We hired GA to essentially re-build and finish Twirl.

What were your goals for this project?

We had hoped to build the entire app for deployment in both iOS and Android stores.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our primary focus was to find Flutter developers. There, GA seemed to have good credentials. Next, we spoke with key team leaders to understand how their team works and what communication we could expect. We also gauged their ability to understand high level concepts and key build choices in Twirl. We found their understanding and communication to be excellent.

Describe the project in detail.

Decline to describe the project aside from a social, mobile application.

What was the team composition?

The team composition at GeekyAnts included a primary developer and a primary client manager. On occasion, GA added specialized resources for design or back-end architecture.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is 95% complete and GeekyAnts also did a good job through Q&A and communication with Trello.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was good. we leveraged Slack and Trello well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team really did not fail to understand or deliver a feature.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Q&A really improved during the back half of our relationship.