Kingsmen Digital Ventures

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of VantagePoint Compliance Solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

We needed help with custom software development, UI/UX design, and web development. Our specific goal was to create a platform that provided a modern supplier diversity and contract management experience. We were experts in the space and saw a gap in what was provided in our industry. We wanted to bring something new and modern to our industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kingsmen Digital Ventures helped us create a fast platform to provide a modern supplier diversity and contract management experience. The team used WordPress, Java, Confluence, AWS, and CircleCI to build this solution.

One of the main features was real-time metrics; everything was updated in real time. We were big on goal tracking, so we designed dashboards that updated in real time and provided those goal-tracking metrics. Another big feature was the payment reporting aspect of the software, along with the notifications in that system. That feature was created to ensure that the process flowed nicely for our users.

What is the team composition?

Depending on our needs, we worked closely with 2–5 teammates from Kingsmen Digital Ventures at a time. We worked closely with Russell, who was the key developer. We also worked with various coders, designers, and administrative assistants.

How did you come to work with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

They were a referral. We chose them for their expertise and professionalism. As subject matter experts in this space, we already knew what we wanted to create. However, we had never built a software product before. Due to Kingsmen Digital Ventures' level of knowledge and expertise, we felt comfortable and confident moving forward with them because they would be able to make our dream a reality.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2017–October 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the software and system, we could provide an additional asset to our current customers. A lot of our customers were public and government agencies, so they could use it with their vendors. This helped them improve cost savings and efficiency within their workplace. It also helped them ensure that the reporting requirements were in place and that they could meet those or identify issues.

We were also able to increase our level of clients in general. Sometimes, we could sway people from one of the systems they were currently on to use ours. One of the biggest moments was when we could sell the software; we were acquired. Kingsmen Digital Ventures guided us through that due diligence and a successful exit. Overall, it was amazing.

How did Kingsmen Digital Ventures perform from a project management standpoint?

There was always a stream of communication back and forth. Kingsmen Digital Ventures implemented several channels that we could use to get in contact with them. Everything was on time, and if we had an urgent request, they could get it to us right away. We communicated through Jira, Confluence, Slack, emails, text messages, and phone calls.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Russell was with us from the beginning. He listened to what we wanted, even when our industry and space weren't always easy to grasp; a lot of things played into it. Still, his ability to process all that information and create something exactly in line with what we wanted was great.

There was a time when we tried to get those services elsewhere. We built it to a point where we thought we could go overseas because it was more affordable. We quickly learned that we didn’t get the same level of care, expertise, and knowledge. We ended up going back to Russell and were appreciative of everything he did.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We felt that their fees were higher than some of their competitors. However, the level of service, knowledge, and expertise we got was unmatched anywhere else. We wasted money overseas when we could have just used Kingsmen Digital Ventures from the beginning.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything Kingsmen Digital Ventures could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You’re in great hands. Kingsmen Digital Ventures will get you where you need to go and help make your dreams a reality.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the General Manager of Hoop Legends LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are premier basketball and pickleball pilot facility for a national franchise project for youth sports.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kingsmen Digital Ventures to accomplish?

• Build a unique and customer-friendly experience for renters and participants
• Build us an app for both customers and internal admin staff
• Keep franchise goals in mind to scale the software to multiple locations

SOLUTION

How did you find Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

Referral

Why did you select Kingsmen Digital Ventures over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Kingsmen Digital Ventures were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We were looking for a scalable ecosystem that would run the facility from rentals, to training sessions, and leagues to support club teams and the basketball business in general.  The solutions that exist in the market are not generally useful for scaling new locations and providing accurate reporting across all franchises.  We were looking for a web app and a mobile app for both back office staff/trainers, and the customer themselves. 

Key Deliverables: 

• Mobile app for both iOS/Android for booking, rentals, payment management, team/player management, tournament schedules, and leagues
• Web app for back office managment and customer facing for booking services on our website
• New website with these functions built in
• Complete brand guide and video assets for web use as well as our socials. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We were able to launch in September of 2023 and our customers love the application.  We have been able to work with the Kingsmen team over time to quickly adjust to the basketball business model and to bring new features that have made the lives of our back office staff much easier.

This app is the backbone of our business operations. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Our facility wasn't physically ready in a timely manner, but the software that Kingsmen built us was ready to go on time.  In fact, we were able to add a few things to the mobile app that were previously thought to be nice-to-haves because of the speed we got from the Kingsmen team.  They are ultra-responsive, and having them local and passionate about our business makes working with them easy.  

What was your primary form of communication with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Kingsmen has a lot of proactive thinkers that can come up with edge cases that we didn't necessarily think of and helped make our customer experience appear bulletproof to our customers.  They have a lot of community oriented individuals who all can think like our target customers so it made describing and manifesting what we needed very easy. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Kingsmen Digital Ventures could have done differently?

We had a couple team members get swapped out on us in the middle of the project, which Kingsmen managed well, but was a little bit jarring.  If we could have gotten a little more notice of that it would have been appreciated. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director, Loyalty Strategy & Experience of Merz Aesthetics

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Aesthetic Manufacturing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kingsmen Digital Ventures to accomplish?

• Digital Development
• Modernize Loyalty Program
• Enhanced User Experience Strategy

SOLUTION

How did you find Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

Referral

Why did you select Kingsmen Digital Ventures over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Kingsmen Digital Ventures were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Completely overhaul the development, implementation and backend of an existing loyalty program. 
• Design the administrative infrastructure on the backend, while build out a total new user interface for both B2B and B2C customers. 
• Rollout support from a business management point of view and additional stakeholder/vendor management.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Delivered Go-Live under extreme deadline pressure. Kingsmen was able to deliver expected results, while working under pressure, the team continually guided client on alternative prioritization considerations to ensure deliverables adhered to expected timelines. When faced with skillset gaps or deficiencies, Kingsmen Digital Ventures went above and beyond to foster the project to the finish line to ensure successful launch.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

While managing intensive projects that require extensive business requirements, sprints and go-lives, the team often understands exactly where the project is, but can benefit from improved transparency on the client side. While delivery is always on time and often exceeds expectations, it can sometimes feel a bit to internalized. However, the team is always open to feedback on helping the client feel comfortable with the process along the way.

What was your primary form of communication with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to fast-think and fast-act to stay ahead of the status quo, particularly helpful in a digital delivery environment.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Kingsmen Digital Ventures could have done differently?

Continued improvement on project transparency and 1:1 with clients. While already fostering wonderful relationships, they can continue to improve overall flow of project transparency.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at a healthcare company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Medical device technology and manufacturing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kingsmen Digital Ventures to accomplish?

• Create a digital platform that supported consumers and customers alike.

SOLUTION

How did you find Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• Referral

Why did you select Kingsmen Digital Ventures over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Kingsmen Digital Ventures were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Kingsman designed and developed a site that enabled patients to seek information from our corporate headquarters and improve the conversion rate to our customers. The project included integration with complicated CRM so that automation was seamless for our sales and marketing teams. They had to leverage two different CRM systems and build a geo-locator that was reliable and effective at conversion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Project was completed on time and under budget with beautiful results. The outcome was a flawless site that functioned as a lead generation and customer intelligence tool and served as the digital front door of our company.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They are always highly responsive, transparent and finish projects on time or ahead of time given direction remains consistent.

What was your primary form of communication with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their transparency and business consulting made working with them easy.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Kingsmen Digital Ventures could have done differently?

While on the pricier side, they more than make up for their cost with their efficiency. For small companies, they are flexible, yet strategic so timing may not always be as quick depending on their other projects. However, we always found they made time for us and worked with us to achieve our goals.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Operations Manager of a consulting company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a leadership development and coaching firm with programs designed to develop confident, strategic leaders and high-performing executive teams that build inspiring cultures and deliver profitable results.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kingsmen Digital Ventures to accomplish?

• Design and develop a contemporary custom website for our business.

SOLUTION

How did you find Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

Referral

Why did you select Kingsmen Digital Ventures over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me
• Great samples

How many teammates from Kingsmen Digital Ventures were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Kingsmen designed a custom website from scratch, taking into consideration all of our wants and needs for the project. From there, they put the site into development to ensure that it was running exactly how we requested it and published it for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The website was designed and delivered exactly to our specifications.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Kingsmen team delivered items on-time and were great about keeping us on-track to ensure we hit our deadlines. Our project manager was wonderful about answering all of our questions and guiding us along the way. They were fantastic about responding to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability to execute our vision for the website.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Kingsmen Digital Ventures could have done differently?

None that I can think of!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of innovation for a pharmaceutical company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

I needed Kingsmen Digital Ventures to provide custom software development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kingsmen Digital Ventures helped us create a trial software that is used to intakes patients, take doctor notes, and assign relevant information and patient symptoms to each patient. They helped us create an entire end-to-end platform from scratch to accommodate. They helped us build our web app including all of the assets. They became our creative partner and developed in record speed. They also built pricing calculators, marketing hubs, and sales enablement tools.

What is the team composition? 

I worked with Brandon (Managing Partner). 

How did you come to work with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

They were referred to me. They had deeper domain knowledge and experience than the other companies we looked at. I liked the caliber of their work the most. 

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost $2 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between  November 2021–August 2023. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our sales and revenue have increased. The software they created is leaps and bounds better than anything I’ve ever seen. It’s very user friendly. The UX is built neatly and the UI is modern. They deliver really great quality and caliber of products. 

How did Kingsmen Digital Ventures perform from a project management standpoint?

They met every deadline. They used Asana and Trello. We communicated via phone calls, Slack, and Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by their speed and quality of work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were perfect. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any advice. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a specialized ERP solution for the PCB industry

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kingsmen Digital Ventures to accomplish?

• Transition of core functionality to our subscription based platform
• Help with customer implementation

SOLUTION

How did you find Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Kingsmen Digital Ventures over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Kingsmen Digital Ventures were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Scope of work entailed taking some of our core features that we have been trying to find engineering capacity for and converting them from our windows application to our subscription based web application.  These features required a reworked UX and a strict compliance with our application style guides.  

In addition, we have used several external agencies before that are overseas and had delivered subpar work that we could not ship to our customers.  Kingsmen was tasked with rebuilding these services and APIs as well as a large chunk of our newer functionality so that it was scalable, reliable, and significantly faster than they were running. 

Our current scope of work is ongoing and will continue to be using Kingsmen in a staff augmentation fashion to help our internal engineering team be fast and productive with limited downtime.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have successfully shipped every feature on time with Kingsmen in the last 12 months and our customers are thrilled with the pace of progress.  We had serious issues with some of our other contractors that led to bugs and mission critical errors to our clients that led us to rollback much of those releases.  We are very happy with the quality of the work with Kingsmen Digital Ventures.  

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Since this is more of a staff augmentation arrangement, their engineers are part of our process and project planning.  Anytime we needed any of Kingsmen's resources, they were very quick to respond.  

What was your primary form of communication with Kingsmen Digital Ventures?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We loved how quickly they were able to get up to speed and be productive.  ERP in this space is very complex and their staff and partners were remarkeably quick and picking up the lingo. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Kingsmen Digital Ventures could have done differently?

We haven't had any issues with them so far.