Hattrick IT

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director and founder of Tipple.m, an app on Google Play that helps users find bars and pubs that fit their mood. The app tells them if a bar is within their price range. It also lets them know if a bar is relatively close and how many people are currently there. We make our money by selling that data back to the bars so that they can better target and send push notifications to individual users.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hattrick IT?

I was looking for someone to develop the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Hattrick developed our entire technology stack on Android. We used Android Firebase. They helped me build the minimum viable product so I could go to market and test it. Since then, I’ve been using Hattrick to improve the app.

Right now, Hattrick is essentially my IT department. We do most of our work in sprints of 20 hours, and I pay them an hourly rate. That helped me build up the business while keeping up with the development costs. I’ve worked with 2 developers, Juan [COO & Co-Founder, Hattrick IT] and Martin [CEO & Co-Founder, Hattrick IT].

How did you come to work with Hattrick IT?

I found them on Upwork. I felt like they were the best fit because we are a bootstrap organization. I provide all of the money for developing, marketing, and sales.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent between £5,000 [$6,481] and £10,000 [$12,962] for the app.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2016, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve done very little marketing on the app, but we’ve gained users organically. We launched the product 6 months ago as an MVP to 30 people. Since then, we’ve increased to 500 users globally.

Hattrick IT gives me high-class service in a timeframe that suits me. Whenever I’ve needed updates or features added, I’ve been able to work with Hattrick to get those completed. Hattrick helps me understand the technology stack. They also assisted with setting up my business email address and finding a website developer and UX [user experience] designer.

How did Hattrick IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They always meet the deadlines we set. We use Trello for project management. We also use an application that allows Hattrick to push out a test development build to me. I can then play around with that to see what works and what doesn’t work. They’ve been able to fix any issues relatively quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When I first started the project, I knew very little about Android development and technology stacks. They’ve held my hand through a lot of it. They listen to all of my all my ideas, but they follow the requirements that I set for them.

At this point, I see Juan as my CTO because he’s been able to help whenever I come up with a unique job specification or product that I want to build. He doesn’t say no; he tries to figure out a way to do things. If it takes longer because of issues with the technology stack or something, they sometimes won’t charge me for those hours. They’re very fair in their chargeback method, and they stay within budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been times when I’ve had to chase them down, but that’s normal when working with multiple clients.