Build It Right The First Time
Goji Labs is a web and mobile app development company headquartered in Los Angeles. Founded in 2014, the team of 30 has helped startups, businesses and non-profits launch 100+ digital products in a variety of industries. Our services include product strategy, UX research, UX/UI design, web, mobile app, and IoT development.
We are product and technology experts and specialize in reducing risk on behalf of our partners when bringing new software ventures to market.
We believe no great venture should be held back by technical execution. Translating this core belief into action, we work closely with our partners to launch new initiatives and scale existing ones. We work to understand your vision, help define your product, then design, build, and launch.
We work primarily with startups, businesses, and nonprofits. Our partners include the World Health Organization, World Wildlife Fund, UCLA, USC, and the City of Los Angeles

headquarters
other locations
Focus
Portfolio
World Health Organization, World Wildlife Fund, USC, UCLA, Digital Medical Tech, City of Los Angeles, Kitchen Table, Kangarootime.

Production Management Saas Application
Distro Pro is a SaaS platform that streamlines the management of film and television productions. This dashboard application transforms the industry’s existing, archaic procedures into simple, intuitive workflows. We’ve partnered with CommonMarker's founder to create a tool that will disrupt the movie production space for good. Most movie and television productions are still managed using a cumbersome and time-consuming process, which involves a high degree of paper-based, manual work. Their product, Distro Pro, is a comprehensive SaaS solution that streamlines the operations of production management.
In order to develop and flesh out the concepts and value offer of this application, we kicked off the project by conducting several rounds of audits and product workshops. We took an iterative approach to create a beautiful and intuitive interface for app, then proceeded to implement this impressive dashboard web application using Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL and React. The application features user role management, notifications, and an engaging production management dashboard that enables production managers to plan, oversee and control every aspect of the production cycle. Our team got to learn a ton about the movie production industry in the process of bringing Distro Pro to market. The project management tool and interactions we’ve created is lightyears ahead of any solution currently on the market.

Indoor and Delivery Asset Tracking Platform
Digital Medical’s platform streamlines inventory management and tracking of hospital equipment. We developed a proprietary solution deployed in hospitals across the nation. We wanted to bring a novel solution to market that would undercut the cost of other product offerings and perform more reliably.
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Mobile App Development
- Web Development
- IoT Development
- Dev-Ops
We built a highly distributed system of Raspberry Pi receivers running a customized Linux environment. These receivers listen for Bluetooth signals from beacons attached to devices throughout hospitals and send them to a centralized system via WebSockets, which runs in AWS Elastic Container Service as Fargate instances. The system in AWS decides which beacon is in what room. We developed an algorithm to make this determination efficiently across thousands of devices in an instant. This entire part of the system is written Go, and it pushes beacon positions to a Ruby on Rails application over a WebSocket, which records each position in a Postgres database. Users can watch the positions change live in their browsers in a floor map view, with no need to refresh the page, thanks to WebSockets' push capabilities. We developed a novel, scalable, and efficient solution, which has been successfully deployed in hospitals across the country.

Social Events Application
Kitchen Table helps hosts and guests build meaningful, in-person connections through intimate, shared dining experiences.
Kitchen Table is a social dining application that allows individuals to host community events. The goal was to create a community that would extend invitations to anyone - strangers, neighbors, friends and family.
We wanted to provide an experience for foodies, hobby chefs, and community builders that would transcend anything currently on the market. The objective was to create a platform that would bring people together around food to help foster relationships and build community.
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Mobile App Development
- Web Development
- Dev-Ops
We designed and developed a consumer iOS app, built in Swift, and a backend system using Ruby on Rails and Postgres. The backend system also powers a web application and an administrative dashboard for the Kitchen Table team. Hosts can post a community meal they're planning, and include the menu, the location, the price, and they can invite those they know. Guests can browse for meals in their area, and, if there's still a spot left, join one, and maybe make some new friends.

MedsPal - World Health Organization
The Medicines Patent Pool improves access to critical medications by negotiating licenses that allow for generic drug manufacturers to produce and sell these drugs in the nations that need them most. MedsPaL is a tool for the public, geared toward ministers of health and their staff, researchers, and drug manufacturers, to surface drug patent and license information in a simple, intuitive way. This allows the public to see drug licenses, drugs that are already off-patent, and those that are about to be, which helps ministries of health make purchasing decisions and provide medications to their people.
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Web Development
- Data Scraping
- Dev-Ops
Over the last few years, we worked with MPP to release and then enhance a comprehensive data administration dashboard. An admin can pull in patent data from the USFDA and the EPO, annotate records, approve changes, and then deploy them to MedsPaL for public visibility. This has allowed MPP to cover more drugs than before, which in turn helps treat and prevent disease.

HR & Recruiting SaaS Platform and Mobile App
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Mobile App Development
- Web Development
- Dev-Ops
Boon offers a game-changing recruiting solution that enables companies to source the best candidates by leveraging their employee networks. After working in the recruiting industry for nearly a decade, Boon’s Founder knew that referrals were key to successful job placements; Even the best companies continue to struggle with finding and attracting top talent. Recognizing the power and importance of referrals for the recruiting industry, he set out to create a platform that would give recruiters, executives, and employees alike the ability to become talent influencers. The key component? Removing the guesswork from knowing who the best candidates are for each opportunity.
Our team designed and developed a SaaS enterprise web application and a consumer-oriented mobile application using Ruby on Rails, React.Js and React Native. Companies can subscribe to Boon’s platform to post job opportunities and invite current employees to join. Employees can use the mobile application to explore and engage with their network, receive matches between open positions and their friends, create referrals, and collect referral bounties for successful placements.

Education SaaS Platform
Mozi is a research-backed EdTech platform that helps instructors improve the way they teach writing. After launch, the platform was having performance issues as the user base grew, while the original developer was unable to provide them with the proper resources and expertise. Mozi needed a long-term partner to take over product development and help them capture new opportunities in the education space.
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Web Development
- Dev-Ops
We joined forces with the Mozi team to audit their platform, address its performance and scalability issues, and continue to define and execute their product roadmap. We’ve spent a few years working together to design and build new features, expanding the platform’s value proposition and onboarding notable customers such as the Los Angeles Unified School District.

An Appetizing Life - Digital Food Magazine
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Web Development
Our team Redesigned and rebuilt this digital food magazine, which servers hundreds of thousands of users on a monthly basis

Umami Girl - Food Magazine
Our team Redesigned and rebuilt this digital food magazine, which servers 500k+ users on a monthly basis.
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Web Development

Productivity and Time Tracking Mobile Application
DayPoint is a native iOS application that helps you track where your time goes. By simply entering locations where a user spends their time, DayPoint can keep track of how their day is spent. In addition to calculating the time you spend at home, at work, or at the gym, DayPoint reports the time you spend walking, commuting and sleeping. It then offers various graphical ways to visualize your data and make meaningful insights as to where the time goes.
Services provided:
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Mobile App Development
- Web Development
- Dev-Ops
This native iOS app was implemented using Swift and Objective-C. The server-side was built using Ruby on Rails and a Postgres database. We leveraged multiple graphics libraries in order to provide engaging and rich interfaces to explain the data collected and provide detailed granularity into time data analytics for true ‘time nerds’ (like us). We also developed proprietary algorithms to calculate users' sleep patterns, daily commutes, and travel time. In addition to creating a rich and immersive interface that helps people practice ‘Timefulness’, we developed complex algorithms based on activity data, and launched this in the App Store.
Reviews
the project
Web Dev, Hosting & Maintenance for Facility Asset Mgmt Firm
"They make sure that we get what we really need as opposed to getting what we think we need."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the Chief Data Officer for ALPHA Facilities Solutions. We’re an architecture and engineering firm providing facility asset management services.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
We wanted to build a corporate website that could be edited and managed by our marketing team that doesn't have any web development experience. Our goal was to be able to change or upload content with minimal effort.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Goji Labs developed our website from scratch using the WordPress framework. We asked their team to design the pages in a way that was more text focused so we could describe our services clearly and in detail.
The site has been launched, and Goji Labs currently provides hosting and maintenance. They also act as our consultants and are specifically involved in helping us design and develop any major updates and changes.
What is the team composition?
We’ve mostly worked with David (Founder & CEO), who also does most of the consulting with us.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
Goji Labs developed a website for another company that we happen to work with. They were a highly recommended agency to work with, and we liked what we saw on their website, so we decided to engage them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent around $30,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in Q1 2019, and they’re still providing maintenance services to this day.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The website came out really nice, and Goji Labs has done a great job of developing everything quickly. We’ve launched successfully with little to no issues.
The website now allows us to make very quick edits and changes ourselves. Even without any technical experience, I’m able to go in, tweak the content, and easily publish whatever has been saved. We consider it a big success that we’re able to independently operate our site without the need for a third party.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Anytime we ask for something, Goji Labs responds quickly and responsibly. They provide us details on matters we’re uncertain about, and they make sure that we get what we really need as opposed to getting what we think we need. Their ability to meet deadlines and present quotes are all very good as well.
We mostly communicate through email, but we’re able to see any changes or updates they make on the website itself. That’s usually how we work back and forth, with them updating the pages and us going in to update the content. We also do video and phone conferences from time to time.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’m most impressed by how we get to interact with the decision makers, and I believe that’s owed to the size of their organization. We can do things a lot faster because we’re working directly with the people who can make the necessary changes for us. David’s involvement is also very assuring; it’s how we know we’re going to get good quality services.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I can’t think of anything. This is our first time going into a project like this, and Goji Labs has set the bar.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be sure to know what you’re looking or asking for. It helps to draw it out or put together a visual representation using screenshots, mockups or even just Word or PowerPoint documents. This will make it easier for your development partner to project what you’re looking for.
the project
App Development & Design for Digital Gaming Space Company
"They’re a boutique developer, so we’re getting high-level products without working with a huge company."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO of a mobile technology company in the digital gaming space.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
We needed someone to design an elegant mobile application on a swift timeline.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Another company had started the project, so Goji Labs picked it up, improved it, and completed it. They did 90%–95% of the project.
What is the team composition?
We’ve worked with four people. We have a project manager, a backend developer, a frontend developer, and some other people pitching in here and there on different aspects.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
I think we found them on Clutch; it was either that or a personal reference. We initially vetted about 20 companies, then made it into our top five. We went with another company to make our discovery for the mobile app design. They did a decent job, but we didn’t think they were the right company to continue development.
We went back to our other finalists, and Goji Labs was the best and most capable for the project. They had all the skills we needed, good technical expertise, reasonable pricing, and they could deliver the project on time. All in all, they were a boutique developing company — we’d work with the decision-makers and get a high level of service.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent roughly $225,000 at this point.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in July 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Goji Labs was consistently on track; we got what we wanted under time and budget. Also, the early feedback from our user base is that the experience is excellent, so it’s exactly what we intended it to be.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management is excellent. We mainly communicate through Slack and have weekly meetings on Zoom. If we need to, sometimes we can do phone calls as well.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The first thing is that they’re a boutique developer, so we’re getting high-level products without working with a huge company. Therefore, we receive terrific service. Moreover, they have ample resources for our projects, and it’s helpful to work with the people who run the company.
Also, Goji Labs has a great designer, and it’s hard to find places where they can deliver on time. Most people run over the deadline.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They could’ve been more clear about how the pricing would work in different project phases. Overall, they could’ve communicated a bit better, but these are nitpicking. We don’t have many critical things to say.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Communicate clearly and regularly about what you want and stay involved — that’s worked for us, and the results have been good.
the project
Web Development for Healthcare Complaint Technology Company
“Goji Labs was really great to work with.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the senior director of marketing at MedTrainer, a healthcare compliant technology company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
We were addressing various challenges. Essentially, our website was deficient.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Goji Labs built a very robust site for us, which included 150 pages. They built all the functionality that we wanted and implemented a modern look and feel with animations and movement while keeping a high page speed score.
What is the team composition?
I worked directly with two people from Goji Labs’ team: David (CEO) and Birgitte (Project Manager). Additionally, a few more people were working behind the scenes.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
We worked with a design agency to create a completely new website for us, and they partnered with Goji Labs to develop the project.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent around $20,000–$30,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from April–June 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The fact that Goji Labs was able to launch a website as big and with as much functionality as ours without compromising its speed was amazing. We had speed scores of 98 on the desktop version and 90 on the mobile version.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Goji Labs was really great to work with. They offered a great balance, making us feel like we were working with an enterprise-level vendor from a skillset standpoint while providing the one-on-one support of a small company.
Communication was one of the best parts of our engagement because they were very flexible about it. We used Slack and had one-on-one meetings; it was always very easy to communicate with them.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Goji Labs offered the skill set and processes we expected from a large development company while providing us with a personal approach.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I’m not sure if Goji Labs could have improved on something. They were great, and a lot of the challenges came from us not being prepared enough. David did a great job preparing us, and he and his team went above and beyond their developers’ role to ensure that we were ready. They also were great at letting us know about things before they happened.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Make sure that you get time with both David and Birgitte; they’re both really great.
the project
Account Opening UX Design for Financial Services Firm
"They're very professional without unnecessary pomp in the way of progress."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the president of a direct-to-consumer financial services company
For what projects/services did your company hire Goji Labs?
We were losing a considerable percent of visitors through the process of filling account paperwork, funding accounts, and making initial investments. We hired Goji to develop an improved UX to address this opportunity and increase returns on acquisition spend.
How did you select this vendor?
We searched nationally for top UI/UX design firms, with a focus on those with experience in complex applications like finance and insurance, consumer-facing, with a rigorous methodology and testing-driven philosophy. Goji's engagement style fits our needs well.
Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.
The project team did a round of internal discovery, making sure to document the current process as a base for changing flows, including moderated testing with existing users. They then sketched out flow diagrams of alternative orders/different ways to acquire the same information/etc. That evolved into lo-fidelity wireframes, which were then used to conduct moderated and unmoderated testing and uncover any new problems they introduced.
Those wireframes were refined based on feedback, then expanded into high-fidelity designs, with constant refinement along the way, including one additional round of unmoderated testing. The result was a thorough and well-document Figma project with all screens needed to move to implementation.
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We had a main project designer who did most of the lift. He was joined by a supervising project manager on almost every call, who also put in some input to the discussion. The owner joined early and late in the project.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We were pleased with the quality of the work that came out of the team, including their willingness to challenge our assumptions and their own along the way. We have not yet implemented the new design, and that is ongoing, but have confidence it is an overall improvement from our current setup.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The team communicated well, with regular check-in meetings as the central point for discussion. They came to every meeting prepared with findings, new designs, and discussion items. The asynchronous feedback asks, especially on finer details of exception planning (missing data, failed validation, nuances of certain account types) could have been better handled with more frequent between meeting asks. But, overall, very professional without unnecessary pomp in the way of progress.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Their distinct focus on testing early and often, making sure to hear what real users had to say about a flow, was exactly what we were looking for and was quite hard to actually find.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Asynchronous feedback between check-in meetings, using forms as simple as copy docs and text notes, would have cleared up misunderstandings earlier than waiting to see them in the next design rev at certain very detailed and nuanced intersections in the project.
the project
Frontend Dev & UI/UX Design for Recruitment Startup
"The team has done an excellent job from final product delivery to relationship building."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of an internet web application company that helps recruiters connect with employers and candidates more effectively.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
Our company was facing a lot of challenges to get the platform built. We had the backend covered, but we needed frontend developers and UI/UX designers desperately, so we contacted Goji Labs to help us with this.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Goji Labs worked with the backend our in-house team had already developed and built the frontend of the website from scratch using React Native. They also took charge of UI/UX design.
Currently, the team takes care of fixing bugs, helps us manage the app, and updates it — they’re like an extension of our firm.
What is the team composition?
We've worked with a project manager, two senior developers, and a UI/UX designer.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
Our team had tried working with freelancers, but that didn’t work out, so we decided to go with a serious company and did some online research. Our business had had Zoom meetings with four different companies, but we went with Goji Labs because they were the most professional and their portfolio was very good — we were very impressed with them.
How much have you invested with them?
Goji Labs works now for a monthly retainer, and we’ve invested around $50,000–$60,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement started in January 2021. The staff finished the app and launched it in April of the same year. However, we are still working on an ongoing basis.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Goji Labs’s design and UI/UX work are really good. The site functions very smoothly with minor bugs that are inevitable in a platform like this.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
The team’s project management is great. We message back and forth through Slack and have a weekly meeting where we give updates and ask questions. I’ve never felt stressed at all about communication; they always get back to us quickly and take good care of us.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Goji Labs is professional and accessible. The team has done an excellent job from final product delivery to relationship building, which is something that we are looking for.
The aspect that most impresses me is Goji Labs’ internal communication and organization that allows them to have a good system in place so that processes go smoothly. For instance, if I give them a list with edits I want to be made to the site, they relay that information effectively to get the work done.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Goji Labs could have a little bit more transparency. For the development stage, the costs went up a lot higher than our initial quote. I’d say there were some miscalculations in terms of what it would cost to make a project like this. There was also a miscommunication regarding an issue about the responsiveness of the platform to mobile devices.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
You get out what you put in, so if you are as professional as the vendor, you’re bound to have a much better experience. Be empathetic and reciprocal, that way you’re far more likely to get the kind of service you want.
the project
UX/UI & Web Development for Health Care Nonprofit
"The ongoing support they provided was really useful to ensure the success of the project."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work at Integrate Health. We’re a nonprofit that provides health care in Togo, West Africa. I’m the development communications manager.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
Our website was designed a few years ago, before I started working at Integrate Health. The backend was coded poorly, and we were unable to make long-term changes to the design.
Essentially, we wanted a professional-looking website to show that we’re experts in our field. We also wanted it to be really photo-driven and easy to navigate.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We hired Goji Labs to do an entire website overhaul; from the front- and backend, so it could be easily edited by our staff. They developed it from scratch using WordPress.
We started with the discovery process; it was a few weeks of UX/UI audit of our website. They interviewed the founders, board, and staff from each department, both in the US and Togo, to capture enough people who used the site. We had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted, but through the UX/UI audit, they essentially created a whole new design.
Additionally, some special features they developed were a knowledge library that houses our blogs, articles, research, and press, which we previously didn’t have, as well as some nice graphics and an interactive map of where we work.
What is the team composition?
The discovery process had two parts, so the UX/UI audit was conducted primarily by one person. He engaged with multiple team members and created an entire report on how the website would look like.
In the design process, that person continued working with us, as well as 1–2 designers; one took the lead and the other one was secondary. At that time, we also had the web developer sitting on those design discussions, and then we moved it into the web development phase. For that part, we primarily worked with one person. Thus, we worked with 3–4 people overall.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
We had worked with them previously. They helped us fix some bugs on the backend of our old website. At the time, I think they were referred by a board member that had worked with them on his previous role.
Overall, we conducted some research to decide who to choose. We ended up choosing Goji Labs because they understood our current issues and they've worked for a lot of nonprofits. Furthermore, they offered the best package.
How much have you invested with them?
We invested $35,000 for the website all around.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in October 2020, and we launched the website in April 2021. We’re now in a support contract with them.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We don’t have any metrics to track that, but since we launched the site externally, we’ve received a lot of positive feedback from staff, founders, and board members.
Also, with the feedback that has come in, we’ve been able to easily edit the website ourselves to ensure that it’s continually accurate, which was something we were unable to do in the previous site.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
They performed pretty well. They were super organized and generally kept track of everything really well. We used Slack to do real time, back and forth comments and feedback, and we had weekly calls during the entire project.
For the discovery and development processes, we primarily used Google Drive to track feedback and see it in real time. Then, in the design process, we used Figla and Slack.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They listened really well to our needs and what we wanted. They were generally very easy to work with and accommodating to our large, bilingual team. Overall, they were very professional and on time.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There were no areas of improvement. We were very satisfied.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If you want to accomplish a similar scope of work, I definitely would advise you to choose Goji Labs. They were on top of everything, very professional, and the ongoing support they provided was really useful to ensure the success of the project.
the project
iOS & Android Dev for University Research Group
"By working with Goji Labs, we got a product that pleases us and our end-users."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, which is a multidisciplinary training and research group at the University of Southern California. We create new knowledge and insights and then translate those into various public spaces.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
Over the past decade, we created a ton of materials to help mostly public sector workers. We created all of these materials that weren’t accessible to people. For example, we wrote courses for FEMA and the American Red Cross but the materials were scattered. We wanted to create a product that housed all of our content and materials and needed it in a format that made them accessible for users.
What was the scope of their involvement?
As we knew our market, we had a good scope of what our end-users wanted. We met with Goji and told them what we needed. Their team then created wireframes of different pathways for us to navigate the information, so it could be highly selective. For example, if a user needed to schedule a meeting with a group of multifaith people, they could select different religious groups in the platform to understand any logistics issues. Their team came up with categories and selection processes that enabled users to make highly specialized searches. They eventually came back with iOS and Android versions of the app. Their team’s still updating and hosting the product.
What is the team composition?
We've only interacted with two people from Goji Labs.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
I met David (Founder and CEO) at a party during which we mentioned that he was a developer. When we needed a development company a year later, my husband reminded me about him and suggested I learn more about his business. We looked into Goji Labs and other companies because we had a negative experience with a different group. I told David that if we worked with him, we needed a functional app in the end. He promised to deliver that.
How much have you invested with them?
The project cost probably $50,000–$60,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started the project in the fall of 2019 and finished in October 2020. The process took longer than I initially thought because it was harder for us to standardize and format our content than I anticipated. We have a contract with them to retain their services to help us if any problems arise.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We launched it in the last week of October 2020, and we’ve had 12,000 active users. It’s a niche product, so that’s great for us. We’re happy with that considering the pandemic and the administration change impacts our audience. When there’s stability with the new DHS and FEMA, our hope is the number of our users will increase. We have all five-star reviews in the App Store.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Overall, we only had one hiccup throughout the process. David and I had a disagreement that we solved. We’re able to resolve our differences, and that’s why I’m comfortable working with Goji Labs.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They gave us what we paid them to build. I had a high bar of concern that we would invest the money and at the end of the day receive a deliverable that didn’t work. By working with Goji Labs, we got a product that pleases us and our end-users. David didn’t give us the runaround like a lot of other companies did.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I wasn’t familiar with the development process and would’ve preferred a better briefing about the project’s various stages. For example, I wish we fully created the Apple version and then created the Android version. Instead, we mostly created the Apple version and then created the Android version. We then had to make changes to both. If we better understood the order in which to complete tasks, we may have saved some time and money.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Have a clear sense of what you want and know your end-user. It may be helpful if you scope the project and understand what you need to do before you start the engagement. It will make the process more efficient. Their team also built a system that allowed us to control most of the updates ourselves, which was a great solution.
the project
Web Design for Real Estate Tech Startup
"We appreciate their focus on working with startups and how they collaborate with us as a partner."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We’re a real estate tech startup, and I’m the CEO of the company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
We hired them to conceptualize our product, so they helped us ideate workflows and translate our vision onto paper before creating wireframes and product maps.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Before we could develop our product, we needed mockups, designs, and workflows. After contracting them, we started with a discovery phase where we worked through our problem and direction for the product and MVP.
From there, we introduced their UX designer onto the team, working with them and the CEO on the wireframe design process. Based on those wireframes, we continued to ideate and tweak flows as needed. We weren’t through usability tests and were able to convert everything into high-fidelity mockups.
At this point, we’ve moved through the design phase but haven’t started with development yet. We’ve collaborated through Figma and Google Suite tools. The mockups will be applied to both a web and mobile application.
What is the team composition?
We worked with three people, including the CEO and two different designers. Their CEO was our main point of contact.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
We evaluated several potential firms to work with. Their firm has a startup focus and are full-service. They seemed to understand our product’s concept right away, and it was great to see that both their CEO and CTO were very involved with the project.
The full-service potential of the firm was also attractive. They were able to answer questions about development during the design phase because of that. Having a firm that specializes in the full cycle of developing an app was great for our time and budget concerns. We knew we’d have insight into the entire process from day one.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent about $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working with them since around April 2020. The design phase is complete.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They’re great to work with. We’ve been happy with their full scope of understanding about every step in the app creation process. They always gave us insights into how our decisions could have a downstream impact.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Collaborative, they function more like a partner than a vendor. In many cases, external vendors simply follow requirements. However, their team is vocal about their thoughts and feedback in a helpful way. At the end of the day, it’s our decision as the client, but they operate as a true partner looking out for our best interest. We used Slack, email, and phone calls to communicate.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We appreciate their focus on working with startups and how they collaborate with us as a partner. Their specialization in startups has been very beneficial.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything negative that happened throughout the project. Of course, little things happen. But, there isn’t anything major that stands out that they should improve upon.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If you’re non-technical and in the world of startups, they’re a good choice. In the early stages especially, they can help your product in a meaningful way.
the project
WordPress Web Dev for Technology Nonprofit
"I valued their willingness to adapt to our needs."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the advocacy and communications manager for a technology nonprofit.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
We wanted to launch a new website because our existing one was 7–8 years old. Our organization evolved over those years, but the website didn’t evolve with us. The content and infrastructure were poorly built.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Goji built our new website on WordPress. They created a Figma file with the platform’s design and modules. Their team created the overall design and highlighted the modules present on the website for us to reuse as we continue to evolve. Another major deliverable was the website itself. Their team included a few engineers who created a new template for us.
What is the team composition?
I know three people from Goji worked on this project. I interacted with David (Product Strategist), a UI/UX designer, and a project manager. They also collaborated with two other people who I didn’t meet.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
I actually found them on Clutch. I read their reviews and assessed their star ratings. As a nonprofit, we had a budget on the lower end. Based on those parameters, Goji stood out to us.
How much have you invested with them?
We invested between $40,000–$50,000 in their services.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement officially kicked off in February 2020, and they met all of their deliverables. However, we’re still engaging with them as we wrap up on our end.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our goal was to create a new website that captured our identity. At the end of the design phase, I pitched their deliverables internally. Everyone felt that their design captured our new identity. We also shared the website with a few internal stakeholders who were satisfied too.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Goji had a process and stuck by it. They dedicated a project manager who organized their team and kept up to date with assignments between meetings. Goji was communicative about the project timeline. If the design phase veered outside of the scope, their team let us know because it could cost more money.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I valued their willingness to adapt to our needs. We made changes, and their team was flexible with us. We wanted to play around with the design, and they allowed us to explore ideas before committing to them.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, it was overall a great experience.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Set internal goals and be transparent with Goji. Try to make sure that you’ll meet your organizational vision.
the project
Custom CRM Build for Educational Nonprofit
“Goji Labs has really knocked it out of the park”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the director of programs for Youth On Their Own (YOTO) in Tucson, Arizona. We're a nonprofit organization that strives to help young people experiencing homelessness to graduate high school. We do that by providing financial assistance. Students earn a monthly stipend based on grades and attendance, and then we provide basic needs items, hygiene items, clothing, and others.
We provide guidance and connect students to community resources and post-secondary planning. We also help them figure out what they are going to do after they graduate high school among many other things.
What challenge were you trying to address with Goji Labs?
We needed a whole new client management system because we track almost everything. Our system was complex and difficult to manage, so we knew we needed a custom solution.
At first, we worked with two other developers that didn’t work out before finding Goji Labs. The first developer used Microsoft Access, but it wasn’t user friendly or cost-effective. The second tried a web-based platform. In the end, we still needed a better partner.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We track everything, including what services we provide, how many times we engage with students and what that engagement was like, and how many students enroll in our program. We also have volunteers at each of the schools we serve, and they have a part in the enrollment process.
We serve about 2,100 students each year and about 120 school liaisons engage with us in addition to our 16 staff. It wasn’t a small system.
We did have a really tight timeline because we needed to launch by the beginning of the school year.
What is the team composition?
I worked with David (CEO), and he worked with us directly for most of the time. There were a couple of developers that joined our check-in calls, but David helped us navigate this project, and has been continuing to meet with us alongside our point on the project.
How did you come to work with Goji Labs?
I did a Google search and found Goji Labs on Clutch. We initially searched locally, but we weren’t finding many local developers that could do what we wanted. We talked to a couple of Phoenix businesses and a couple in California. Then we threw it out there for a few companies to put in proposals for our project.
How much have you invested in them?
We have spent about $180,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
It began in February 2020 and we launched in August.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They really were amazing. They hit the timeline without a problem, and the system is so much better than what we had before.
They really helped us streamline our processes which saves the staff time. The amount of data entry that we do is time-consuming, and they really helped us to minimize that and make our processes more intuitive.
This program allows us to save our files digitally, too. Traditionally, we've been very paper-heavy, but this benefited us tremendously when COVID-19 hit.
The pandemic completely changed our service model because we are so in-person, school-based, and paper-heavy, and with all of us are working from home, it was really nice that they threw that in.
Now we're able to track all the things online instead which has been tremendously helpful and useful. We haven’t had to scramble to build that post. That has been pretty amazing.
We are now doing tweaking and are finishing a couple of projects. We see a long-term partnership with Goji Labs and have several projects planned over the next four years.
How did Goji Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
Goji Labs has really knocked it out of the park. They are super communicative. David met with our staff who is working on this project 1–3 times a week when we were getting close to launch, and now they meet once a week. I talk to him at least once a month and there is a ton of email communication.
When I have questions about billing or budget, I don’t hesitate to ask David. He is really transparent about where the cost is coming from. On top of that, it has been nice to work with developers who show that they care about the project. They really listen to us. As a result, our system is definitely reflective of our needs and so far.
Because we originally worked with other developers, we needed to build the system in half the time we originally anticipated. It was a short and tight timeline to build a lot of functionality in this client management system.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They showed an extra level of care. They built a really great system for us that is user-friendly. We work with people ranging in age from 12 years old to retirees, and they have varying levels of computer literacy. Nevertheless, the system is super intuitive for all of these different stakeholders which is really awesome.
They've also thrown in additional service without charging us because we are a nonprofit. They have been willing to work with us on a budget, and I think they have built a lot more functionality than what we have paid for.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They use a system called Figma to outline all of the wireframes which is really helpful because it’s visual, but we'd appreciate it if they taught us how to use that tool. We did okay with Figma, but there was a learning curve because we had never used it before.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Definitely let go of the old way of doing things and have an open mind is really. Goji Labs was really helpful, but we could have maybe just been a little more open to their ideas.
Really committing to spending the money is worth it, but it is definitely going to cost money to build a really great system that is going to be long-lasting.
People should really communicate what their needs are and not be afraid to ask all the questions. Goji Labs was super responsive and receptive to what we had to say and what we had to ask. There was no question that was off the table and that was really helpful.
In keeping with the client’s main goal, Goji Labs has developed a website that’s easily administrable for people with no coding experience. The team excellently informs and executes every update, ensuring that the client has a good staging ground for their own content changes.