Keeper Solutions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO, president, co-founder, and board member of a consumer point-of-need financing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Keeper Solutions?

We needed help solidifying our platform’s architecture. We wanted to build a platform that was both private and non-private label. We also wanted to make it so that loan funds could only be spent with a specified merchant.

Additionally, we wanted to build flexible data models, so we could add data attributes as needed. Finally, we wanted to incorporate AI and machine learning to analyze our underwriting and risk policies.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They help us with our architecture, framework decisions, UI/UX development, and automation. The team runs a lot of background scripts to facilitate automation on AWS. They provide a suite of technical QA automation services. Additionally, they help run the team and manage the engineering.

What is the team composition?

We work with 10 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Keeper Solutions?

When we first started, I wanted a small team of elite engineers. I couldn’t find them all through Keeper Solutions, initially. We ended up working with them and another consulting company as a result.

When COVID-19 hit, we had to cut a lot of salaries. Keeper Solutions was still willing to work with us during that time while the other company was not. We noticed that Keeper Solutions’ quality was better than the other consulting company. We appreciated Keeper’s integrity and willingness to work with us. Now, we consider them an extension of our team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $500,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and our work is ongoing.

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

Keeper Solutions was able to bring a fully functioning consumer lending platform to market in six months. They helped us solidify our architecture in a way that got us to market much faster than any of their competitors It was also done at a much higher performance scale than we could have done alone.

When lenders became involved, we went from initial introductions to putting loans on their books in less than 8 weeks, which is unheard of; we attribute our success in part to the technology Keeper Solutions was able to build for us. We were also one of ten companies invited to a highly competitive community banking association’s program because of the value proposition Keeper Solutions helped us create.

How did Keeper Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira and other industry-standard tools. They’re really great about adapting to our workflow.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work and integrity really stands out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything I’ve ever asked them they’ve already anticipated or done immediately.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them like you want to be treated. There should be give and take on both sides. Don’t go into the relationship insisting things need to be done a certain way.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a technical solution for agricultural herbicide spray operations. I am a Co-Founder in charge of Business Development

For what projects/services did your company hire Keeper Solutions?

We hired Keeper Solutions to build an iOS mobile app and desktop UI for our newly established company.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to have a fully functioning iOS mobile app and desktop UI within a very tight timeframe of under 4 months.

How did you select Keeper Solutions?

Our process started roughly a month prior to hiring Keeper Solutions in which we interviewed roughly 5 different companies. Keeper Solutions came highly regarded from a trusted friend with a background in software engineering. With his referral and following our initial interaction with the team, we felt confident in our selection.

Describe the project in detail.

We're a technology solution for agricultural herbicide spray operations. Our app and desktop UI combine weather data, field geolocation data, and Nozzle Size/Pressure in order to generate a "Sprayability Index" for users to rely on during the important spray season.

Our app will tell Farmers when and where to spray herbicide in order to reduce the amount of spray drift damage to neighboring fields. We incorporated 3 databases (Crop Type, Seed Trait, Herbicide) in our platform.

There is also a social component to our platform as users can invite their neighbors to join, helping the algorithm better predict when and where to spray.

What was the team composition?

1 UI/UX designer, 1 Solution Architect, 1 Project Manager, 1 iOS Developer, 2 Python/Django Developers, 1 React Developer, 1 Dev Ops, & 1 QA

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

Every 2-week sprint presents progress and the team has been consistently ahead of schedule. The project isn't done yet, but so far so good. We are hopeful that it will be 100% successful with launch slated for Feb 15, 2021.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It's been a very efficient workflow between teams. We have a daily call that works very well, though we are on separate continents. We have a dedicated slack channel and our correspondence is done there when not communicating via Google Meet calls. Their communication is exceptional.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their organization, experience, and timeliness. They do exceptional work. No task seems too big or too complicated for them to handle. We have the utmost confidence in their ability to bring our vision to light, in best way possible with their exceptional advice, and in the fastest way possible.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have nothing! We are truly impressed!

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a banking technology company. I'm the CEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Keeper Solutions?

We wanted a remote development team that could save us money while offering a similar or higher quality than their competitors.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on both backend and frontend technology. Our frontend engineer works on a native Android app, but she also has training in the full stack, both front- and backend. Our other engineer works specifically in the backend.

What is the team composition?

We work with the two engineers and a staff manager.

How did you come to work with Keeper Solutions?

A friend recommended them, so we reached out. They onboarded our first engineer within a week of our first phone call, and they added our second engineer about a month later.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November or December 2018. We've worked together constantly since then, and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

The impact is huge. We have important new features every month, and they always deliver. They complete all their requirements, and we've hit all our targets. Our volume is ten times greater, and everything works very well.

How did Keeper Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I'm in New York, so I'm not online for about 60% of their day. They're very effective, self-sufficient, and proactive, and they're open to any tasks we give them. We use Confluence for documentation, Clubhouse for tickets and assigning work, GitHub for code review and code management, CircleCI for deployment and testing, and Slack for communication and integrations. It's a comprehensive suite of tools, and they work well in all of them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very flexible. The engineer we started with had to move to a different project, and they replaced him within a week, with zero downtime. They make sure we have the resources we need, and they're very easygoing and friendly. Our business relationship is strong, and I've referred them many times. They charge about a third of the cost of New York companies with the same skillset.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're starting to expand their global footprint, and it would be interesting to see them grow their presence in South America and other areas that are closer to U.S. time zones.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat your contractors like employees. I want to make sure they are a part of our company, and it helps to challenge them with new tasks.