Lithios

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Teen Health Research, a woman-owned small business on a mission to modernize adolescent sex education. We work on adolescent sex education digital products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

We hired Lithios for web development services for an app we were creating.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios is developing an app to help parents and early adolescents have conversations about puberty, bodies, and relationships. The app is for two users. Initially, we worked with Lithios on the frontend design and development work. We've also collaborated to determine our needs and are now working with their programmer on the front- and backend development of the app.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Kyle, who's our project manager, Brendan, who's our developer, and a UI/UX designer.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

We found them through my university, North Carolina State University; they had worked with Lithios before.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2024, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've measured success based on whether Lithios delivers on time and whether the app itself is working as it should with few bugs. We’ve gone through a few iterations of things, and Brendan is really fast at making updates. The team has hit all their deadlines and delivered what they promised — they’ve even delivered more than promised. Brendan always lets me know what he can do, promises to try for a bit more, and always delivers on more. 

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

Brendan is very responsive. We stay in touch via email and, during the height of development, have weekly meetings. He’s efficient and answers all my questions. If I have an email question, he usually responds within a few hours or within a day at most.

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

Brendan has been amazing. He’s easy to work with and does great work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brendan has gone above and beyond and delivered more than promised. We’ve heard horror stories about companies that delay things and increase the budget, but Lithios has stayed on our timeline and budget. Brendan is also personable. As a programmer, he’s good at explaining things and helping me understand what’s going on in the backend.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's no room for improvement on the development side; we've had a really good experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get a lot in writing and be very clear on the scope of services and the timeline. Lay that out, make sure your questions are answered, and know exactly what they’re going to deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder and CEO of Theralinq

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

We had a prototype of a product. Based on early customer feedback about that prototype, we were looking to refine what we had already developed. Therefore, our goal was to get a refined version of our original prototype in the form of a clickable and investor-ready MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios provided us with product development services. They specifically helped us build a clickable MVP for a mobile app. Initially, we had two virtual calls of about 2–3 hours to go through the discovery process. We provided them with information on what we were looking to expand from our current prototype and gave them basics about our business model. From there, we moved into a weekly cadence of meetings, as Lithios worked on building the MVP.

As for the technology stack, Lithios built everything using Figma. This app will be launched for both iOS and Android devices. It'll be an accountability and data-capture tool for parents with children with motor development delays and their therapists.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two teammates from Lithios: the VP of operations and a UI/UX designer.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

 We came across their company through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–July 2024. Although this part of the project has been completed, we're in the process of reviewing another proposal to potentially continue our collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with Lithios saved us around 70 hours' worth of work and thousands of dollars in cost. Moreover, their work met our expectations.

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

Lithios' communication was great, and they delivered exactly on time and on budget. We communicated via Zoom calls and emails.

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

I would like to give a shout-out to Sarafina (UI/UX Designer). She did an amazing job of quickly understanding our business model, diving into the important needs of our prototype, and building an amazing end product.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Lithios' biggest strength was their ability to understand our business and the type of product we needed for our business model.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have much to critique them on; they were great.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Fill out the onboarding form to the best of your ability; make sure to take the time during the initial call to cover all the important features of your product; and be collaborative and communicative with Lithios because they are that with their clients. Overall, they're great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a full professor of communication at NCSU.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

The Office of Research Commercialization at NCU supports the creation of startups, and I wanted to do a game that would help people understand how viral diseases spread.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios is helping us develop the initial screens of a location-based game I envisioned to get more funding for its entire build. The final product will be an iOS and Android-based mobile app.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with a project manager and Kassidy (Operations Lead).

How did you come to work with Lithios?

They were recommended to me by another vendor.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in May 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with their work, and I like that they’re professional and highly invested in the project. The designer is also great because she’s attentive to our feedback and collaborative.

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well from a project management standpoint, because they consistently keep track of the project and meetings.

We typically communicate and collaborate through email and meet on Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like how they always accommodate our needs and regularly ask me for my feedback to ensure they’re developing within the scope we want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback because we have a smooth experience with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise you to communicate frequently and actively participate in the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sherpa Collaborative (sherpacollab.com) is a private equity and professional services firm. We focus on early-stage businesses in a broad range of industries.

We provide fractional C-suite consulting, digital marketing and media buying, and accounting and finance services. I am a founding member and managing partner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lithios?

We hired Lithios to manage the design of the mobile version of one of our portfolio company's (Prompted.io) application Prompted™. Prompted™ is a guided journaling application.

We work with omni-industry thought-leaders to create "Prompt Pathways™", which are a series of questions curated to guide a user towards self-improvement and development in specific areas of their lives, ie: business, health, parenting, habits, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After reviewing a dozen or so potential providers, including ones which we have worked with on other projects, we landed on Lithios. The leadership team is incredibly accommodating and seemingly more concerned with their clients' needs than their own.

This character was manifested in scheduling, pricing, cadence, communication, and more. We also found them to be a good cultural fit. They have a very empathetic approach and tailor their proposals accurately agains the RFP. Put simply, they listen and adjust. Pretty damn refreshing.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We began with discovery and research. We had a series of team meetings to build rapport and properly scope the project, set milestones, and build expectations. None of the time was wasted, and the agendas were always clear. Following the initial phase, the Lithios team set to work.

We were always pleasantly surprised at the progress that was made between meetings and the diligence of their team to take feedback and incorporate it into the deliverables. As a 15 year veteran in software and design, I know how difficult it is to interpret the vision of a client, but Lithios navigated our, often less than clear, requests with ease an accuracy.

Upon completion, the deliverables were handed over cleanly and the transition was as smooth as could be hoped for.

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

We worked with one of the most talented designers I've had the pleasure of doing business with. Sarafina, is incredibly accomplished and has a way of bringing to life even the vaguest of concepts. We also worked with a project manager who was most impressive in organizing the work and guaranteeing that everything was completed on or ahead of schedule.

Kyle is a world-class person and is considered to be a good friend to the Sherpa and Prompted team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The design work exceeded all expectations. We came in with a loose understanding of what we wanted, and left with something more. UI/UX ended up being much more robust, with new feature sets that we developed over the process with the Lithios team.

We have field tested the designs with our users on the active web-version and have been met with very enthusiastic responses. The release of this software is highly anticipated!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Extremely... The project management was best in class, and not once were we caught off guard by missed deadlines or departure from expectations. Everyone worked and communicated well together.

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

There was a level of service that the Lithios team brought to the project that I simply haven't experienced before. I've been a part of dozens of software builds and rarely rate a team's ability to deliver above a "C". I sincerely and without hesitation give the Lithios team an "A".

They separate themselves from the pack in a number of areas, including: Responsiveness Disciplinary Skill Communication Industry Knowledge and Best Practices Personality (They're super fun to work with!) The list could go on...

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

I'm glad they didn't, but as a business owner, I'd probably advise them to charge more :-)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as a technical program manager for a university. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

As a research organization, we didn’t have a lot of experience with UI design. We were interested in getting Lithios’ help to create the UI for one of our research projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

In the first half of the project, Lithios took us through a design exercise to help us develop what the UI would look like. Out of that experience, we got a branding package for our project. The other primary deliverable was the software code that Lithios developed for us. 

The team has recently finished our product about a month ago, but we still have some issues to work through to get it set up on our network.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with about 7–10 people.

How did you come to work with Lithios?

My friend ran a nonprofit that helped small startups, so I reached out to him to see if he had any recommendations for local companies that could help with our UI design. He mentioned a few, and we talked to all of them. In the end, Lithios was the one that we went with.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s been about $68,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them since June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve just gotten to the point where we can put our product in front of analysts for feedback, so we don’t have any metrics yet. 

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is great. We connect with them periodically through virtual check-ins, and there’s also a collaborative Slack channel where we can reach out to them dynamically.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, we’ve been very satisfied with Lithios’ services, and they’ve met the objectives that they’ve set out to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The development work did take a little bit longer than we’d intended. However, that’s partly because one of the people on our team left to go to another company, and then one of the people on their team also left to go to another company. Those two disruptions made for an understandable delay.

Other than that, there’s not much I’d really recommend that they change. They’re a really great team to work with, and we were really pleased with the service we’ve received.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep in contact with them. Lithios has been good about getting back to us whenever we’ve had questions or issues. As long as you reach out with your concerns, they’ll be more than happy to get back to you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Operations for RIoT. RIoT is a non-profit organization that focuses on economic development by capturing emerging markets and accelerating startups — creating IoT opportunities locally, nationally, and globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The RIoT website was created several years ago and had become outdated.

SOLUTION

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

The RIoT Team knows the Lithios Team well, as we both work out of the Raleigh Founded co-working space in downtown Raleigh.

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

The Lithios Team helped upload the content that our team had created via the WordPress site. They helped update the content to reflect our company's services.

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

Our main points of contact for the project were DeShawn Brown and Kyle Linton. DeShawn and Kyle are extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and professional. We truly enjoy working with the entire Lithios Team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our Team and our partners love the new website design and are impressed with how easy it is to navigate all the services RIoT provides.

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

The Lithios Team always clearly communicated with our team. If there were any delays, they would let us know ahead of time so that we could prepare. The Lithios Team is outstanding to work with!

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

The Lithios Team is flexible, courteous, and knowledgeable. They are always upfront about meeting expectations and providing the best service possible at the lowest feasible cost.

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of TraKid. We’re building wearable tracking devices for children, marketing to amusement parks to rent to families. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lithios?

Building the mobile app for parents was the first stage.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lithios helped to design, brainstorm, and develop the app, which is native to Android and iOS. We started with the UI/UX and flow, going through the day-to-day options for parents and parks. They even drove down with us to Virginia to meet with a park client, where we got feedback to make changes before development. 

One of our requirements was that the app needed to communicate well with our backend servers and hardware. A lot of stuff went wrong on the hardware side; the coronavirus delayed delivery from China. Lithios was super flexible and worked really well with us to figure that part out.

What is the team composition?

We work with 6–7 people, including two designers, two developers — one for iOS, one for Android — and the management team. 

How did you come to work with Lithios?

We met a bunch of app companies and got a lot of quotes. I first heard about Lithios from a coworking space. They didn’t offer the cheapest quote, but I liked their personalities and all the questions they were asking. They felt like the right fit, which was very important to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $48,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in December 2019 and is ongoing. The app has been delivered, but we’re awaiting the hardware to test it fully.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app has been delivered, but we’re awaiting the hardware to test it fully. We plan to work on a bunch of other stuff in the future with Lithios.

The quality has been excellent. The design phase has been their strongest phase; we’re especially pleased with the look and feel. We have yet to fully test the development side, but everything’s perfect from what we’ve able to test. Lithios is good at taking feedback from us and clients. 

How did Lithios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re on top of everything. When it comes to scheduling weekly calls, they’re flexible in working around my schedule. Our offices were next door, so it’s become really convenient. Lithios is great at managing all that. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication impresses me. I’d like to point to quality work, but I don’t know the quality of work for other people that well. For us, they’ve done a great job, though.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no negative feedback. I would like if they were cheaper, but they charge industry-standard rates.

Any advice for potential customers?

Go ahead and work with them. I’ve recommended a lot of people to them. I would gladly put myself as a reference for them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Since 1983, the North Carolina Business Committee for Education has operated out of the Office of the Governor as a business-led, education-focused non-profit. NCBCE partners with statewide education departments and organizations to implement experiential projects that create a contextual fabric of understanding of the critical link between the classroom and workforce talent needs. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lithios?

Lithios was hired to develop the second version of the Navigator platform.

What were your goals for this project?

To improve the visual look of the site, to make the site more user-friendly, to add data tracking capabilities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed several software developers and found Lithios to best meet our needs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The platform is designed to connect educators to businesses for work-based learning opportunities. The platform was working but needed a face lift as well as additional features and data tracking capabilities. We also added a data collection component which will be able to capture more data needed for the educators.

What was the team composition?

I am not sure how many people have had their hand in our project. Our lead person is Tim and he has been our main contact person. At different stages of the project we have had weekly or bi-weekly meetings to discuss development needs and make tweaks on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Essentially, we had a bicycle, added a jet pack and we were flying it as a plane. Lithios has helped us make the platform visually more aesthetically pleasing by changing the overall look and more user friendly by reviewing and tweaking the process in how the user engages.

We are almost to relaunch with version 2.0. We'll know more in a few months as to the difference the second version is making. The data collection piece will be critical to the success of the platform.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was effective. We had open lines of communication. Tim was excellent at explaining the development process and software capabilities to our office as we are accidental software developers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Lithios has been flexible, patient, and easy to work with during out process. We have brought in various other organizations who they had to work with on this project in order to make the platform perform as needed and they have been able to work with everyone involved.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Fintech company opening the door for opportunity & experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Lithios?

Lithios assisted us in research, discovery, and prototyping. Lithios was given a broad concept/idea which needed to be explored further to help develop a clear MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

Project goals were to explore the pain points of a user's financial life and to determine if a product could be built to address these pain points.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I selected this vendor after previously working with another vendor who was not able to efficiently complete the project.

Describe the project in detail.

• Create a product strategy
• Identify possible target markets
• Identify Product features
• Identify Product roadmap
• Interview users
• Create a product hypothesis
• Create interview questions
• Schedule interview meetings and record sessions
• Explore interview findings
• Design MVP

What was the team composition?

Worked closely with Tim and Kassidy. Tim assisted with the user experience, design, and product strategy. Kassidy assisted with business development, user research, and product validation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Lithios provided excellent flexibility and communication throughout the entire project. They were able to accommodate my irregular schedule while sticking to deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was blown away by how Tim and Kassidy were able to think past the users wants to discover their needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None