Labrys

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of PxQuest, an NFT gaming company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Labrys, and what were your goals?

We hired Labrys to assist us build out our blockchain and front end infrastructure in support of our gaming ecosystem. Our goals was to work with a development partner that understood the obsessive attention to detail required of smart contract development and blockchain interfaces, given the significant financial consequences of error or compromise.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Labrys are the largest web3 services firm in terms of onshore staff. This fact, in addition to early conversations with their technical team, helped give us confidence that we had found an outfit with development quality control processes and blockchain experience necessary for our project.

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

The scope of work included extending upon our existing Ethereum and Immutable X blockchain based ecosystem, including NFTs, gaming currencies, staking, renting and 'token breeding' mechanisms. The team delivered smart contracts for the aforementioned functionality in addition to serverless web-based interfaces for our holders, including token-gated content. The team also developed a bridge application between Unreal Engine and the Immutable X protocol, allowing in-game blockchain read and write prompts to token owners.

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

A core team of 3-4 worked with us over the course of the project, backed by additional reviewers within Labrys to ensure quality control. This team included 'full stack web3 developers', that were able to write smart contracts through to front end applications in React Native.

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

We achieved the development outcomes desired without critical bugs or compromise. This technology is now used to handle financial/token transactions in production-critical functions in our gaming ecosystem.

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

The team are very thorough project managers, making good use of notion and slack for communication and planning. Their development and hand-over notes were outstanding - and this sort of 'long tail' service quality is something overlooked by other vendors but critical to a healthy / sustainable product life.

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

The team brought a best-practice approach to blockchain development and testing. They have the most thorough approach to testing and peer-review I've seen of any web3 company, which is of great significance given the high cost of errors in blockchain development. Their team also introduced us to novel smart contract approaches that made otherwise prohibitively expensive blockchain functionality achievable for our users.

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

There was a small amount of deadline slippage, but this was largely a reflection of the team's mature and honest approach to development. If a piece of code had not yet gone through the proper review channels the team correctly held those releases back (quality over speed approach).

Please describe your company and your position there.

Bitcoin services, brokerage.

For what projects/services did your company hire Labrys, and what were your goals?

Bitcoin application design, development, project management

How did you select Labrys and what were the deciding factors?

They understood our complex project, including our regulatory needs, business goals, and security requirements.

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

We hired the team at Labrys to build an MVP for a bitcoin exchange application. They nailed it and we came back to have them manage and develop the production version.

Their team is talented, trustworthy, and absolutely badass! James and Aidan were especially awesome to work with. The project was well organized and executed. They were able to be flexible with the many problems/solutions along the way but also matched every deadline.

After 4 months of meeting with James twice per week, and keeping up-to-date with Aidan's fast, super-hero level progress on the app, it is amazing to see it go live now! Highly recommend Lachlan and the team at Labrys for help with any application design and development.

We will surely continue working with them on more blockchain projects in the future.

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

Project manager, UI/UX designer, and lead developer

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

They met deadlines

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

We used clubhouse for our project overview and cards, linked to a unique repo branch.

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

Their ability to understand our problem, then go and efficiently solve it is impressive.

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

They are on the expensive end of the spectrum

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of BlockTexx. We’re a clean technology company that specializes in the separation of polyester and cotton materials. From there, we recycle them into PET and Cellulose for reuse. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Labrys?

Our technology allows us to recover waste and turn that back into a valuable resource. We needed to validate that process. We also wanted to provide traceability to ourselves and our customers both with supply and demand to allow us to bring materials back into recycling for many lifetimes.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Labrys’s consulted on the initial concept of integrating blockchain into a supply chain. Their team discussed the idea for tracers in materials as well as the logistics for its implementation. They ultimately helped us to decide which way to go.

They helped to plan a stage one rollout that would build into stages two, three, and four over a period of time. Their team also validated existing block technologies and integrations. they created a marketplace and payment gateway, enabling us to explore B2B and B2C opportunities.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Labrys in minimum and maximum capacities as they’ve grown as a company. We’ve collaborated with individuals as well as their full team.

How did you come to work with Labrys?

I initially sought a blockchain developer and a colleague introduced me to Labrys. I met with them to understand whether or not they could provide the services we required. From that first meeting, I knew that there was an opportunity for us to develop my ideas.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve currently spent between $10,000–$50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Labrys in May 2018, and the project’s ongoing.

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

They deliver a service beyond their company’s time and age. Their team’s on the cutting edge of their profession. They help us to ask new questions and try to apply solutions to an industry that’s not at the forefront of technology.

They’re unique in their ability to fly between existing corporate structures and emerging businesses. That’s where there’s an opportunity for their technology to be applied. Their team flexes their capabilities both internally and externally to meet our demands.

How did Labrys perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via phone calls. Their team’s professional. They listen and ask the right questions to understand our goals. Their team then finds an initial point of reference to start the development.

They have the unique ability to work with legacy companies as well as early-stage businesses looking for scalable solutions. It’s never a problem when we need extra work done. Their team’s able to work not only domestically but also internationally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Labrys isn’t constrained by their business perspective. They look to deliver a solution to their customer regardless of budget, time, or location.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of areas for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be constrained to what you think they can do. Pitch what you’re aiming to do, and they’ll be able to build the technologies. Come with big questions and let them give you feedback to form a great product.