Innovify

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product for an influencer marketing platform. We connect brands with our community of social media influencers to provide them with premium qualitative content. I oversee three products across our portfolio for both B2B and B2C markets.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

Our founders weren’t coders themselves, but they had a list of contacts and a product in mind. Therefore, they needed an external developer to build an MVP before they could move forward with their idea.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Innovify designed an early version of our mobile application and developed it to function in accordance with our specifications. The app was built for iOS and Android using Xamarin. Using that programming language allowed the product to be slightly native to both platforms while maintaining the same codebase. Once they delivered the MVP, we compared the product to customer feedback regarding how it ran on various mobile devices.

Our team wasn’t managing them directly. I assume an internal resource made sure that the development milestones were being delivered along with the project briefing so our team could easily track their progress. They’d go on to help us redesign the MVP, create new features, and perform regular maintenance. They also developed our web application using PHP. Functioning as a B2B tool, the web app enables brands to sign up for our platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a tech lead and 3–5 other resources depending on the project’s needs. That included frontend developers, backend developers, and a QA tester.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

They first engaged with us before I was a part of the company. I recently stepped in to help us transition away from third-party development and move toward an internal effort.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £20,000–£30,000 (approximately $26,000–$39,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2016–June 2018.

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

The feedback we’ve received from The App Store indicates that customers love the current product. Regarding the redesign, they assigned an excellent developer who took my prototypes and implemented an intuitive design that functions as promised. He’d also proactively respond to criticism and find new ways to complete updates as fast as possible. That included providing solutions to stop crashes.

However, they didn’t always deliver products in an acceptable state. We experienced multiple critical errors that weren’t tested for despite having a dedicated QA resource on the team. Things would go wrong, and no one would know what was going on. The development process was hectic at some points.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

They use Jira to measure the number of hours each developer puts in, so we adopted that software. All significant tasks were listed with applicable sub-tasks underneath them. I’d run the daily standups to check their progress, address outstanding questions, and figure out which tasks need to be completed next. We worked out of different time zones, so that presented logical challenges.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Innovify rose to the occasion and helped us when critical issues occurred. They were genuinely accommodating and willing to stay in the office until our problems were resolved.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication is always tricky when managing a team remotely. As I mentioned, the time zone difference only increased that challenge. This resulted in some deliverables being delayed without the proper notice. I’d be left wondering if they were going to deliver the product within the agreed upon timeline because we had to wait an additional day for an update.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Overall, I’d recommend them to people looking to build an MVP, but caution those who want a full-scale development partner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

I had a business idea, but don’t have an IT background. I reached out to Innovify because I needed a technology partner who understood the field.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Innovify is developing an internet of things (IoT) web application that displays the data our servers collect. It has a dashboard, a real-time monitor, and a reporting functionality. They're using the MEAN (MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js) stack to develop the software.

What is the team composition?

Innovify initially assigned a full-time developer and a server specialist who helped us revamp our server. Their senior programmer served as the CTO. Innovify also provided a few part-time resources who supported us when needed.

My go-to person is the technical manager, but our communication depends on the work. I reach out to the developers about items relating to them. For high-level discussions about architecture and cost, I approach their senior programmer.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

We received seed funding and support from the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, where I heard about Innovify. We were friendly with their director, so I reached out to him.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost is around $30,000 to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Innovify around two months ago and the project is ongoing.

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

I worked with another software agency before Innovify, but their resource quality wasn't good. If I had reached out to Innovify sooner, the results would've definitely been better.

Finding a good IT partner in Ahmedabad is a challenge, especially for a non-technical company like ours. Innovify’s developers are good, and their quality is better than what we saw from our last company.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

Their technical manager coordinates with the developers to complete new tasks. They use tools like Slack and Jira, which are organized and suited to our goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed by the quality and availability of their resources. Finding developers as good as the ones from Innovify would take some time. They’ve given us good resources at affordable rates. Having access to a pool of developers for a short time is the most valuable asset.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would definitely recommend Innovify to people from Ahmadabad. They deliver good solutions and only take on projects with a long-term future. If you have an idea and need a great technology partner, reach out to Innovify.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of Newtown Chocolatier.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

I wanted to add a function to my website that would allow customers to customize their gift box with certain chocolates.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I sent them the details of what I envisioned, and they provided me with a price estimate. They submitted a working sample that I could test, and we edited that several times until I approved of it. They worked with the Magento platform. Innovify created the gateway that allows users to select a box size, specific pieces of chocolate, and a ribbon color.

What is the team composition?

I believe it was no more than two people.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

I searched online for firms that specialize in custom Magento projects. We worked together on a small PayPal project, and that went well, so I was comfortable using them for this task as well.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $2,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in December 2017, and we have an ongoing project for a gift registry right now.

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

The customization option has not been available for very long, but it has been somewhat active. I believe it is best suited for customers buying for loved ones because they have a better knowledge of their preferences.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily used emails, and their response time was impressive because of the time zone difference between us. The project took a while to complete, but that was because I was often busy with other tasks. They were responsible and kept me on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I mentioned to them that I will be starting another company, and I will be using OpenCart there. They mentioned they provide services with that as well. It will ease the burden on me to have all my needs met by one company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they understood exactly what I wanted.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of AD Healthcare Solutions. We have a product brand called KwikMedi. It’s an online pharmacy store.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

We're business founders, so we mainly understand business problems. Technology is something we don’t understand at all, which is why we approached Innovify.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went to them with our business idea and explained what our current processes were. They, in turn, explained how we should approach building the product. They produced wireframes for the native iOS and Android apps, explaining user journeys like registration. They handled the entire backend development for the web-based system used by pharmacists to manage the application. The technology used was Ruby on Rails.

There are two to three major functionalities that cover both users and pharmacists. Pharmacists can easily upload medicine databases, and then see orders in the form of prescriptions. They can send those orders to users for approval. Users can search through the medicine database, upload prescriptions, and refer other people to the application in exchange for credit.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with one iOS, one Android, and one backend developer, as well as one tester, and one designer from their team. Their business analyst interacted with me directly.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

They were referred to us by one of my friends, who knows the owner of Innovify. The main reason for choosing them was their portfolio. They had very good knowledge of building products.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested around 35–40 lakh Indian rupees (3.5–4 million INR, $52,000–$60,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2016. The first version of the product was launched in March 2017. They continued to provide support until September of that year.

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

The backend panel has good interactivity. We're able to manage discounts and product categories easily using it. They suggested that we implement a referral system. After implementing it, we were able to grow our user base fivefold over one month. That was amazing. People downloading the app were referring others to it, given that, by doing this, they would receive credits that could be spent on the platform.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

The development process was iterative. We were given demos and we received updates on the progress. We performed user acceptance testing every 15 days. The product was launched after 3–4 months.

They were great at maintaining our budget. The cost was good, relative to what they built for us. The business side was my responsibility.

They managed the project well. We used Jira to track the work. Most of the communication was done through email, but I also had a weekly meeting with their business analyst. We were located in the same city, so it was easy to go to their office and have a meeting. We also had calls and demos at the end of each 15-day sprint.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve reviewed their past work and I really like the products they built. I was also happy with their cost.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Anyone looking to work with Innovify should listen to them. The team can come up with amazing ideas. We had a fixed mindset when we went to them—we're businesspeople, while there are technologists. We had limited knowledge, but they showed us tools that were being used by companies outside India, including Intercom, which was helpful for user engagement, Slack, and Jira.

They also made suggestions of features we should build, but we had a limited budget. They have tremendous knowledge about all of these things, which really helped us. Clients going to outsourcing companies should be open to hearing what the teams have to say.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Skim A.I., a startup my co-founder and I created. As the CTO, he designs many of the solutions and ensures we get the right type of infrastructure. I focus on our business model, from fundraising to sales. I'm also very involved with finding new people and product development. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

We wanted to build a B2C platform as a Google Chrome extension which would serve as a frontend interface. As a product-to-view tool, it’s akin to an Evernote-type plugin. We built the machine learning algorithm in-house. It’s our primary focus and is developed to parse text on news sites. Innovify creates all the other parts of the infrastructure.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our application is a Google Chrome extension with a Java wrapper. We gave them the scope documents we'd made previously from outlining our project. After we paid their fee, they began development. During helpful follow-up calls, we fleshed out their proposed solution. I had few requirements for the type of feedback the product should give users. As they learned them, the intuition became spot on. All the features exemplified my thoughts about the concept. 

Behind the entire product's database and infrastructure are Python tools for web crawling to index our search features. Several clipping tools work with major media outlets and publications like the New York Times, Reuters, Financial Times, and Bloomberg. As users conduct research, it extracts metadata. When they load articles, the program shows algorithmic predictions for facts and opinions that change with the color of the text. This tool retrieves data and gives it an organizational structure. All the backend features are included in the UI and all the different screens. 

What is the team composition? 

We work with a project manager, a product manager, and a senior and junior developer from Innovify. 

How did you come to work with Innovify?

I was deciding between Innovify and another firm in Krakow and had them both do scoping sessions.  I met both development shops’ principals during last fall's New York venture summits. A few calls with Innovify evidenced how clearly they understood our business challenges. They spent so much time coming up with potential solutions that my co-founder felt confident in their technical acumen and ability to get things done.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent under $50,000 on their services, but it's a very fluid number. Their estimates were spot on within a rounding error of the original budget. I don't think this level of accuracy is typical for comparable development shops.

What is the status of this engagement?

We officially started working together in January 2018. Some of our initial scoping sessions were at the end of last year, and we paid the development deposit at the end of December.

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

Having a great looking platform that shows potential users everything in practice is an excellent selling tool, but I'm too early in my cycle to have metrics yet. When I started this project, I didn't have a product at all. As of a week and a half ago, it is 90% complete and is getting great feedback. I'm still trying to do some marketing like explainer videos before I launch it. I have some B2B pilot clients pending 1-2 calls each to close them. 

Most users in search of a B2B solution who see our platform in practice want to customize it to work with their own data and sources. I’ve used the current iteration that's been built in several client interviews, and it looks good enough to solicit B2B leads and buy-ins. It's a very nice showcase for our machine learning technology. 

Innovify’s intuitive grasp of my concept contributed to a positive outsourcing experience at a great value. There was very little unnecessary development. I'm going to avoid hiring new employees until I need to. In fact, I’m so pleased with their services I plan on having two casted employees from their team.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

I've had a great experience with my product manager Marmick. He's been very intuitive and really understands what we're trying to accomplish. We hold daily standup calls with my cofounders to go over all the upcoming work in our current sprints. Innovify starts and ends their working day later than usual to make the outsourcing experience much more fluid for their clients in America. 

All our communication is via Slack. We have our own workspace and have access to the developers and project managers since there are channels for everybody. They log their hours in Jira and also use confluence. They're publishing the final code and working with us on some repositories in BitBucket.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've heard a lot of stories from people who've had nightmare experiences. Innovify was able to execute what we planned, which is extremely hard to do the first time, let alone in a satisfactory manner. That was definitely the most impressive thing about them. I didn't experience the miscommunications or lack of intuition that are hallmarks of outsourced development. They have the ability to solve problems creatively. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'd encourage them to secure more Python and machine learning resources. I know that's a stretch to ask for in certain places, but I've developed a relationship with the founder. He’s told me about his plans to go upmarket and has already started hiring more developers. I'd like for them to do so as well. It would make life easier for my co-founder and free up his time from focusing solely on the highest value-add.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Innovify is willing to change their schedule, so it’s better for U.S. based clients. Due to the time zone difference, I'm sure it would be even easier for clients on the East Coast than the West Coast, but I know they're willing to work with any client's needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of an on-demand logistics company providing solutions to small businesses who require manpower to deliver their products to their customers. We accomplish this through the applications and portals we use.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

I needed a system where my merchants and businesses could place their orders. When we started, we used mobile phones to get leads and assign drivers, but as we grew, that was getting a little hectic for us. We needed an application and a web-based system where everything is connected. On one hand, we have merchants, and on the other hand, we have the drivers available in that particular area.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I first started working with Innovify, I explained my business and what my problems were. They were excited to work on my project because it was unique; they had never done a project with an on-demand logistics company. We had a couple of meetings in the beginning because they wanted to understand how everything works and what my challenges were.

One of the many challenges is assigning the deliveries. There’s a financial system within the system which takes care of all of the cash for the drivers. Innovify built a basic system and showed it to me, and then I gave my feedback and approval. We continued building the system as they showed me their builds and I approved them. They built an Android mobile app and a website. They also gave me some suggestions for marketing and strategy. We had some discussions in general about the business, scaling up, and how to increase my revenue.  

What is the team dynamic?

Initially, I was only speaking to the manager. After they built the system, we had a meeting with the whole team including the Android team, data team, database manager, and web developer. They are very friendly.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

I was looking online for companies in my area, and I also got some leads from other organizations that Innovify had previously worked with. They have good expertise. I’m also a startup so I needed someone to understand that. My office is in the same area as theirs, so I walked into their door and told them my problem.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested $8,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. There were a couple of bugs, and as my work grew, they were helping with more challenges from scaling up.

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

When I first approached them, I was doing 30 - 40 orders per day. The system they built has helped me to scale up. We have increased merchant sign ups and the orders have increased to 250 per day. It was a really good experience working with Innovify.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. Even after the work was completed, they would respond to any problems I had. We used JIRA to keep track of everything. They were good with the budget and timeline. They let you know when they’ll deliver the product, and a couple of days before, they’ll call you for a demo.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very process oriented which I really like. They have a specific process they follow which keeps every team member on their toes and well-informed, including the client. I have worked with a couple of these companies before but they haven’t been as process oriented as Innovify.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have good processes in place and everything was good for me.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of TetraNoodle, which provides startups with consulting work, CTO services, and ongoing technical education for their products. Since 2001, we’ve successfully equipped small businesses with the tools they need to optimize their technology and move forward quickly. Our affordable tried-and-tested solutions have already resulted in hundreds of lucrative projects becoming a reality. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

We were trying to scale our business by hiring dedicated iOS and Android mobile developers, which are very costly here in Canada. We already had our technical architecture in place and wanted a smart team to extend it. The goal of our partnership was to reduce our ongoing product development cost for clients.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were in a tough position of having a 12-week window to go from nothing to an iOS baseline. Some of the other app development teams we talked to couldn't deliver in that time. Innovify was able to answer every question to my satisfaction. They are also cost-effective. I initially gave them a test project, which went seamlessly, so I expanded their involvement to more projects. We’ve worked with them for a couple of years now, and we’ve found them to be a responsive agency. Their knowledge in the digital space is strong, especially in the projects we’ve worked on together.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

In terms of digital deliverables like mobile applications or custom software and web application development, we started by hiring a U.S. partner. This firm was fine initially, but they didn’t seem as responsive, economical, and dedicated to the work as time progressed. So, I looked for a new digital vendor and found Innovify online. I must have looked at 15 or 20 companies and spoke to a few of them. I searched for agencies in the U.K., India, and Eastern Europe.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have spent around $150,000 for this project and beyond. They are not expensive at all. I still feel they underprice their resources.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in January 2016. The work is ongoing. 

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

I’m using them for all of my digital work right now. I even transferred some of my existing work with my old partner to them as well, which made sense.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

I couldn’t estimate the number of man-hours used for my applications. Innovify has given me estimates after requesting an application, which I approved. The communication is great. They have tools for project management, testing, and coding standard measurement. We’ve communicated through those, as well as through email, Slack, video conference, and in-person meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate Innovify’s ability to listen and guide us when we’re struggling and to accommodate resources as needed. Those aspects set them apart from other firms. Their development team and AWS-certified DevOps cloud team is active and quick at implementations. They set up, developed, configured, and got the system online in hours. We are really happy with the quality of work and their interactive approach. I am quite impressed with the way they handled complicated parts of our project.

To date, I’ve had no issues with their work in terms of programming, account management, and cost. I gauge my suppliers by two main criteria: their responsiveness (whether they’re able to resolve an urgent matter within a day or two) and cost (how they are pricing their projects up front). As the project develops, obviously, there will be changes to the structure and content, and sometimes agencies tend to take advantage of that process and increase the budget. To their credit, Innovify has stuck to their original quote when possible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now. But, we definitely would love to have them in the same time zone. I am sure that would make us more efficient. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company develops an online life skills platform that helps schools and their teachers deliver life skills to students age 16–19. I’m a technologist by background, but not a developer, and my wife’s background is in marketing — she is the CEO of the business. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

My wife and I have never developed any software products before. We needed to create a minimum viable product (MVP), and we wanted to work with a company that really understood who we were and what we were doing. They needed to pay an active interest in the proposition, making sure it was the right solution for the project, and not just deliver software on a cloud based system.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Maulik, the Product Evangelist at Innovify, is our main contact. He walked us through the whole process from capturing the idea against the wire framing processes, to running it through their Agile process. Innovify held our hand all the way through that process, acting as a CTO would.

They developed a platform which is all web-based, running on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Then we have mobile apps that are running on both iOS and Android. These mobile apps are connected to our AWS systems. The whole enrollment process is integrated from the cloud to the mobile app. Students are also notified when new lesson content is available, with a notification process Innovify developed. There are answers and multiple choice questions in the app based on what the students have learned, and that connects back into our platform for reporting analytics.

The apps have been launched on both Apple and Google Play, plus the Amazon platform is live so the MVP is ready. When we find things that need to be enhanced based upon feedback that we have from our pilot schools, they get on and do it. Sometimes in an MVP, there are glitches and their team will go in and fix the issue quickly. In that way, even though the MVP is running, our engagement is still very much active.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

We were looking at all sorts of issues and even options such as startup funding. In the UK, a startup funding organization referred us to Innovify because of their experience with them. We reached out to Maulik directly and then found we connected well with the whole team. They stood up to how they were sold to us and delivered what we wanted. Innovify took a lot of interest in what the project was about and helped us get the MVP created and ready for a pilot school.

How much have you invested with them?

Around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2016 and the work is ongoing.

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

The MVP began in September, so there aren’t any real measurable results yet. We’ve shown the product and demoed it in a number of schools, all of which have then wanted to be pilot schools. We’ve had 100% success in terms of presenting our ideas and what the product does. 

When we first started, we had a number of issues and, initially, we made a decision to go with another cloud provider. When their team started to put together what we wanted, they started to realize that AWS was a much better fit for what we wanted, and were able to switch really quickly from one provider to another with minimal disruption for us. 

We also had a couple of situations where there were performance issues, but as soon as we reported it, Innovify started work and promptly fixed it. The mobile development for Android and iOS was good as well — they first developed it on Android and then moved to iOS. They took care of getting our apps certified, and it was a seamless process. We didn’t need to worry about any of those things.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

They really stepped up for us and acted as an advisor, taking an active interest in the idea to make it real for us. That role worked for both my wife and I and it got the product ready for us. We didn't have a typical relationship where we told them what to do and they did it. We told them what we wanted, and then they started to question why. It allowed them to put together everything we needed to get the product right.

They deploy an Agile approach to developing and we have a local project manager who takes care of our inbound questions, usually in a very timely manner. We use Slack a lot and communications have been really straightforward. They have a team that’s London based and a team based in India. Everything works well virtually for us, wherever they’re based.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re not just the development house, but an organization that wants to make sure what they’re developing is also right. They want to put their thoughts into the process as well. That’s really good, because sometimes when you’re focused on something, you overlook other important elements. Innovify explained how it things could be different, and that’s what I love about what they’re doing.

They also supported us with our commercial models. We told them that we’re looking to go for funding in the beginning of next year, and they’re very well connected with the Angel investor and the Series A investor community as well. That’s something that really stood out because it’s so valuable when you start to move away from an MVP and into a Phase 1 product. Access to these sorts of people is critical for us, and we’re very pleased they’ve helped us with it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only experiences I’ve had have been really positive and I can’t think of anything they need to improve. They do exactly what they say they’re going to do. They’ve done a good job.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the co-founder of PathPlanr, a company that helped organizations up-skill their staff. We used machine learning to identify gaps in employee’s skill sets and had a recommendation engine to let them know the best ways for them to develop skills to close those gaps.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

We wanted to help employees understand what skills they need to develop, cutting through the noise and giving them a clear learning path that was relevant to the jobs they did or wanted to do. We already had our machine learning engine built by a separate data science team that powered the recommendations engine, which needed to be put on the website.

We were looking for someone who could create our website and integrate the recommendations engine. It was also important to us that the website could be scaled up or down according to need. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked Innovify to build the frontend and backend of the PathPlanr website, including the CMS and integration of reporting and analytics. At first, it was quite a simple project but it became more complex when integrating the algorithms and databases that our independent Data Science team put together – Innovify did not build the recommendation engine but did successfully integrate it.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

We created high-level specifications for what we wanted and then met with various development teams to see who could offer the best solution and value for money, especially for startups. We chose Innovify through that process.

How much have you invested with them?

I would estimate that it was around £20,000 [$26,000] in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

It lasted around a year.

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

Innovify delivered a product that was ready to be launched. Although there was an ongoing road map of improvements, we were satisfied with what they turned out. We attracted some initial enterprise customers with help of the work they produced. At the end of the project, we were very satisfied with what was delivered.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint? 

I found Innovify’s management and technical teams to have a very collaborative and helpful approach. The work they delivered was of a good quality and, despite initial teething problems from all sides, they worked well with a number of remote teams who constituted the team behind PathPlanr. They were helpful on the budgeting front and processes, adapting to our working style.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would say that they have a good mix of face-to-face and off-shore work. We could go and meet with someone if needed, but we were also able to get a lot of work done since we had an offshore team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I feel that they could have an independent technical service to review their work and give customers feedback so that customers without deep technical knowledge could understand whether or not they had performed well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Brahmin Solutions, an inventory management software that connects to accounting, sales channel, marketplace, and payment platforms. It’s an all-in-one, mini ERP platform that we’ve been building since last year.

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

I needed a development team that met deadlines, understood the software, and had technical expertise working with startups. Innovify had all of these capabilities.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Innovify took care of all of our development using Agile methodology. I plan out everything and give them requirements for the features, and they then take the scope and put it into a 2-week plan. They dive into everything to plan the impact and obtain an estimate of exactly how long something will take. We do everything in Sprints, so every two weeks, we have a release. They track everything on Jira, including hours worked, who is working on what tasks, and any issues they have.

They also maintain all of my Amazon servers, and if anything goes down, they offer support. They helped us integrate our e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, with Stripe and Authorize.net. They also worked on internal system features, such as reporting capability and generating PDF and sales reports.

Mainly, they have been working on integrations and enhancing the overall speed of our system. We also plan on having them move us over to a more Angular based system to further enhance system speed. We had a launch two months ago, and so far, we’re really happy with everything. They continue to support and build on various features.

We use JIRA and Confluence for all of our planning, bug tracking, Sprint planning, and deployments. We also use AWS for our development.

What is the team dynamic?

I usually work with their project manager and lead developer.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

After one of my partners referred us, we moved to Innovify after starting off with a different team. The most important thing was having somebody who had experience working with startups. Innovify has a large staff who’ve worked on similar projects in e-commerce, so it was great that they were familiar with our type of business. Unlike the previous firm, they had enough experience to answer our questions, technical difficulties were limited, and they always found solutions. We were originally looking at 5-6 different companies, but Innovify really impressed us with their confidence and experience. We realized how much initiative they put into a project, which is why after fifteen minutes of meeting with them, we chose them right off the bat.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000-$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2016, and the work is ongoing.

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

We launched within two months, and within a month and a half, we’ve gained 100 users. Although we had to slow our launch down due to being an early startup, a lot of users have given us great feedback. We just need to make sure all of our processes work efficiently before opening the floodgates for new users. There hasn’t been any big activity in terms of feedback.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

They do an excellent job, and everything is documented, which is key. They make sure all progress is visible, and after meetings, that everything is updated, which has helped them become a good management team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m very pleased with their work, and as a startup, their experience in the field has been invaluable because they’re not just a development team. They genuinely want to know why you’re doing certain things so they aren’t blindly building a service. It’s good to have a development team who actually tries to understand the scope and customer experience that will result from it. In the software business, nothing ever goes right 100% of the time. Innovify actually knows what to do in the event of technical failure, and they fix it quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They pretty much cover all the bases.