Inobright Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Mojo is an e-commerce and marketing platform. We provide marketing, graphic design, and website creation and hosting services. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inobright?

Mojo is ultimately a software company. Without the Mojo platform itself, we would be stuck with having to build our clients’ websites by hand, using HTML, JavaScript, CSS and other website-related technologies. We needed a platform that allows marketers, graphic designers, and general business people to be able to create powerful e-commerce websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mojo has been in continuous development and use for 5 years. Inobright has provided backend C# and .NET developers, front-end HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS developers, SQL Server database services, system administrators, quality assurance, and project management resources. 100% of the technical team for Mojo is supplied by Inobright.

How did you come to work with Inobright?

We have had dozens of development teams before Inobright. We first worked with Inobright in 2006, before Mojo. What started as a single developer in 2006 has grown to as many as 30+ developers.

How much have you invested with Inobright?

Over $1 million in development with a team as large as 15 full-time developers on Mojo.

What is the status of this engagement?

It started in 2011, and continues today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Hundreds of success stories. Mojo has gone from the newest vendor in the direct response industry to one of the top two vendors. We acquired two competitors, put two others out of business, and are currently considered the go-to vendor for direct response websites. Our clients include Philips, Omaha Steaks, Hoover, Dirt Devil, Keurig, Demi Lovato, and hundreds of others.

What did you find most impressive about Inobright?

They understand business, not just technology. This is the big difference. They understand what we’re trying to do and provide realistic solutions to get there. Inobright is a true partner.

Are there any areas Inobright could improve?

Honestly, none. Their rates are reasonable, their people are amazing and the quality is top-notch. I have no criticisms.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The App Festival is an annual event in Boston, New York, and San Francisco where we showcase different applications to the app development community. I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inobright Inc.?

We have about 5,000 members. Out of that amount, 20% show up to the event, and the rest can’t because of conflicting schedules. What we wanted was to have a platform where people can list their services similar to Yellow Pages. Inobright helped us build that platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I worked with three people from the Inobright team. On my side, it was only myself working on this project. I gave them a web template of a WordPress plugin that I had purchased and asked them to tweak it based on the specifications that I needed. They went ahead and made recommendations. When they made the tweaks, we went back and forth, and they got it done within a reasonable time.

The platform has an admin feature where I can go in and edit/add entries for each business in there. Businesses create their own login and fix their profile with a description and pictures. There was a lot more functionality there, but we decided to turn it off for now.

How did you come to work with Inobright Inc.?

I met Inobright at one of my events, and they approached me. They sponsored three of my events, so I decided to use their services as well. They were on the same page with a lot of development philosophies and approaches of mine.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in February of 2017. They completed everything two weeks ago. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

This was a very small project. Since we used a template, it wasn’t anything from scratch, so I don’t have anything quantitative. In general, it was a very good experience. I’ve worked with a lot of developers for many years, and they were on top of it and communicated every detail. I didn’t have to babysit them too much. I gave them the template, and they perfectly understood what I was talking about. The biggest plus also was that we did not have to meet in person every time; I would just send them a quick email, and they would get it done.

How did Inobright Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They did really well. I was a project manager myself for a very long time, and there were no miscommunications. It was very smooth. They got it done quicker than I had anticipated, which was perfect. 

What did you find most impressive about Inobright Inc.?

Their pricing was very good. They’re easy to work with, which is hard to find these days. Other developers would want me to fix my schedule and scope around their needs, but Inobright wasn’t like that at all. They understood my needs and schedule. They were very client-oriented.

Are there any areas Inobright Inc. could improve?

For project management, they need to use a platform so that everything is kept in one place. This was one of their weak points that I brought to their attention. They need something like HipChat where we can keep track of the project. Because it was mostly via email, I had to go in and dig things back. Other than that, everything was fine. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m trying to put together a startup called iDoRecall.com. It’s a startup to help students learn more successfully and remember what they learn, based on a concept called spaced repetition. There are a lot of apps in that space, but we’re doing some things that are very different from existing apps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inobright?

I had a senior developer, who was primarily a backend developer, although he was doing the frontend. The frontend work was all being done in React, and I needed to get him some backup for the React components.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The number of team members involved varied from month to month, but it was generally three or four people; a project manager and two or three frontend engineers who were experienced in React. They were also working with MobX, which is a state management tool, and now they’re using Redux, which is more commonly used.

It’s a mobile application first, but it operates within the browser, whether it’s on a mobile device, desktop, or laptop. It was developed specifically to work in a web browser, so it’s not a native app. There are over a hundred React components involved in producing the user interface. Inobright produced a large number of those components.

How did you come to work with Inobright?

One of my engineers had previously worked at Inobright, so she introduced us. I also used individual freelancers on this project, but Inobright brought in a lot more firepower, as they were able to provide two or three engineers at a time.

How much have you invested with Inobright?

I’ve invested approximately $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with Inobright in October of 2016, and our engagement ended in February of 2017. I may have further work for them in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Inobright was very efficient in producing the components when compared to most of the other independent developers working on the project. They’re a very solid team of engineers. They produce good code. Their cost is much less than a similar team from the U.S.

How did Inobright perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was delivered within the specified timeframe and budget that we agreed upon. When you do business with Inobright, they include a project manager, which is not billed separately from the developers. I appreciated that I didn’t have to do that myself. His English was very good, and it was a good collaboration. We normally used Slack for communication. Their communication was very timely.

What did you find most impressive about Inobright?

It’s hard to find good, affordable React frontend developers. There’s definitely a huge shortage of them right now. It was great to find several very competent developers who were available from Inobright.

Are there any areas Inobright could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an education startup. We offer English lessons online and hired Inobright to build our website which is a very in-depth procedure. I am the director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inobright?

Prior to working with Inobright, I was working with a web developer in India. When I came to these guys, I needed two things. One was to go through the site and fix all the problems that this other company had introduced, and then we needed to continue development after that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project manager did a great job filling me in, keeping me involved, and being a good cushion between the technical side and me just saying that I wanted a non-technical update. We had a quality assurance woman and we had a developer. We’ve gone with two or three developers over the course of the time we’ve worked together. The project manager has done a great job organizing everything. He’s brought in different people as needed. They’ve done a really good job throughout. They picked up where the Indian company left off, but they had to dig through the rubble and clear away the rubble on top to find where the foundation was. They had to take a few steps backward from where the Indian company was and then start moving forward. It was more complicated than just stepping in and marching forward.

How did you come to work with Inobright?

I wanted to find a Russian company because I live in Russia and I speak Russian, so it’s very easy for me to communicate with them. Inobright was in the middle, price-wise, of the companies I spoke with. They were far from the most expensive option but they also weren’t the cheapest option. I asked all the different companies to look over my site and give me the background, basically to tell me what was going on and what I needed. Inobright gave me a roadmap to move forward. They told me what was broken on the site and what needed to happen. Inobright was very personable and they really took very good care of me. They made that attitude very clear from the beginning. That was very important to me when I was choosing a company to work with.

How much have you invested with Inobright?

Under $10,000 so far. We’ll start again perhaps in February. Once we do that and get to the full scope of the project, I think it will be around $15,000 to $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started last year. I stopped in September or October of last year. We’ve kept in touch since then. The site went down a couple of times and I had them fix it. One time, they did it for free. Another time, I needed them to do something else, so I paid them for that work. Last month, they did $1,500 worth of work - updating and getting back on track to get a better picture of the roadmap again before beginning again next year. We’ve been in touch regularly since we stopped.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve haven’t launched the project.

How did Inobright perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. The only negatives that I have experienced with them were not their fault. The developers have done a great job. Their project manager works with the team and is great, she keeps them on track. She’s very good at interaction with me. It made it tricky as we irregularly worked together. Since we stopped, there is a limited ability to have one developer throughout the project, but I think that’s the only negative and that’s not really their fault.

What did you find most impressive about Inobright?

I have worked with five different developers - three of which were individuals, the Indian company, and Inobright. Inobright has been different from all of them. They’re different from the first because they were responsible human beings and did what they say they’ll do. They’re different from the second in that the second was very expensive and also he proposed a lot of options, adding a lot of options that I didn’t really need. I was too new to entrepreneurship at that time to realize it. These guys are very good at saying we could do it but you probably don’t need it now. Or they’ll say, “Here’s this option and I think you need it and this is why.” The third guy wasn’t very good at all and the Indian company was very poor quality. These guys do quality work in my experience.

Are there any areas Inobright could improve?

The only thing is that they’ll go over budget. They’ll say it should take around 10 hours and it’ll take 15 hours. That’s been my experience with every developer I worked with, so I think that goes with the industry.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

IntelliStack is a tech startups services ecosystem. Providing infrastructure and growth solutions to scaling ventures

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Inobright Inc., and what were your goals?

We were looking to create a site to test several new startup projects. The ability to have a professional, functional platform was critical. We needed fast turnaround and Class A web development

SOLUTION

How did you select Inobright Inc. and what were the deciding factors?

They came highly referred within my network and the price was great.

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

Wordpress front end and MVP backend

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

Two. CEO and Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Excellent work. Provided initial deliverables within scope and quality expectations

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

Very thorough and and transparent. Any issues were quickly resolved and the understanding of the high level goals was clear

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

The deep dive into specific needs and strategies. It was more than just web design, it was a strategic vision as to what the goals and end result should be long term

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

N/A