Linebreak

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup technology company providing automated branding solutions for the real estate industry. We have an ambitious plan of automatically and perpetually branding real estate professionals to their network, making consumers more inclined to reach out to them again in the future. We aim to solve the 10-year-gap that real estate professionals currently have.

I am the chief executive officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Linebreak?

When I approached Linebreak, I had a vision for our mobile app. We had already hired one developer who had failed miserably in terms of the code, documentation, and ability to get the program working. When I started over, I had a more crystal-clear idea of what I wanted to work towards.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I brought the existing work to Linebreak, but we decided it would be more feasible to have a fresh start. While pockets of the code were usable, the majority was not. We believed that integrating the current code would me a more difficult task than simply starting fresh.

While we are a business-to-business company, the app itself is intended for consumers. That meant we needed to engage users with specific content, as well as with the use of APIs. Each consumer will receive their own web app with content targeted directly to where they live. It's a unique offering in this sense. Linebreak's job was to integrate our web content into the mobile app.

The first version will be available on iOS only, which is Linebreak's specialization. Once the development is finalized, we will gauge consumer response and roll the product over to Android.

As a company, we performed a couple of UI/UX studies, none of which I was very satisfied with. I wanted to have a clean slate, so I gave Linebreak ideas of what I liked and didn't like. I also wanted to have some creativity and flexibility within the mobile app itself, so I ultimately gave Linebreak minimal instructions on where to go. Our project didn't formally include UI/UX design, but Linebreak has integrated their own user experience elements in the user interface.

How did you come to work with Linebreak?

My CTO knew of Linebreak. We approached them and 2 other companies, and I detailed a clear proposition of what I needed. We ended up choosing Linebreak, partly because of my CTO's endorsements, but also because of our plan to focus on iOS. Getting a company that exclusively specialized in that platform could prove to be a benefit.

How much have you invested with Linebreak?

This information is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Linebreak in August 2016. We've just wrapped up version 1.5, and are moving forward with version 2.0.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I'm pleased with the results. Based on the consumer tests we've performed, the app received high regards for ease of use and navigation.

We perform a series of consumer testing each time a new version comes out. In these, we have found bugs, some of which were unforeseen, and some being more par-for-the-course. I have submitted a list of bugs and fixes, and Linebreak has taken care of them.

As a company, Linebreak's strengths are in development speed, responsiveness, and decision-making. Linebreak seemed to be spot-on with their decisions on UI/UX elements. They've also surprised me by doing things that I didn't ask for, like creating a brief tutorial of the app which is displayed when it first opens. Linebreak also created an intro to our company, both for consumers and for realtors. It was pretty well done, and we appreciated it. It proved essential to attracting testing agents. 

How did Linebreak perform from a project management standpoint?

As a general rule, Linebreak has been aggressive and fast when it came to development. When they give me a date, Linebreak will keep it. They're faster than other development companies I've worked with

What did you find most impressive about Linebreak?

Linebreak stands out in terms of speed-to-market and speed-to-develop. Their decision making during development has been very good, and we appreciated the extra add-ons which we didn't realize we needed at the time.

Are there any areas Linebreak could improve?

Lower rates are always welcomed, no matter the company, although Linebreak is reasonable in this regard. They could improve communication and have additional testing before releases. I don't perceive this as a problem, but everyone has the ability to improve.