Liven

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m the owner of a trade energy company that works in Brazilian free market. I´m COO and CMO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Liven to create a Web portal containing a set of functionalities. The goal was to have a system to improve our back office activities and ultimately give access to our clients.

SOLUTION

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

We received an e-mail from Liven, then we made a couple of meetings. They shared with us some cases and contacts so we could get reference, which was really good. The main reasons were quality and competitive cost.

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

Our company trades energy in the Brazilian free market and we needed to automate viability studies. The scope was to build a system that could automate some tasks from our back office by creating a system integrated with many others. We begin with the Discovery Phase which took 4 weeks. In the end we had the prototypes and rules the system would follow. In sequence, we also started the Delivery Phase, in which the functionalities were put into the sprints and delivered by the end of it. To build a Viability Study effortlessly was the main goal.

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

The Squad dedicated to us was 1 product owner and 3 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Time to create a Viability Study dropped from 2 hours to 15 minutes.

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

We always had a 3 months roadmap in front of us. To ensure backlog quality we had weekly meetings to refine the features we were going to develop. We also had end of the sprint meetings to keep up with the progress and have a demo of the features that were going to be released. We usually communicated through whatsapp.

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

We were impressed with their understanding of our industry and ability to translate them into an intuitive software.

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

fix faster bugs

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of the company. We provide a 100% digital negotiation service to the customer who is buying a new car, offering the best deal guaranteed or their money back.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Liven to improve our system's overall quality and also to implement a big and complex feature. The goal was to reduce the load time and also to launch the new feature to our clients.

SOLUTION

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

Liven was referred to us by a friend who worked with them before.

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

The scope was to improve the code quality and update to newer technologies (Next.JS) and to implement the “best price assured” functionality with integrated payment. First their technical team analyzed the code and made a list of points of improvement, translating in a roadmap. They also put in the roadmap the “best price assured” functionality. Then the other developers came in to develop and improve the system. The main deliverable was the improved system and the functionality in production. Together with the source code.

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

1 Product Owner and 1 Tech Lead together with 2 other developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Decrease of 90% in loading time of our front-end to the clients (from 9s to 1s). “best price assured” functionality implemented and deployed. Integrated payment significantly decreased our back office work.

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

End of sprint meetings to show the progress and what has been done. Daily meetings with all the team to share what has been accomplished, what’s next and if there is any block. Slack for asynchronous communication. They handle the project really well. We didn’t have any surprises on the schedule and I was pretty much involved in the discussion as well as the progress.

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

Their ability to put together Technical and Business discussions in order to come up with the best solution for the company. I was impressed with the structured process of putting the roadmap pieces together and handling the project timelines.

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

Not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization and position.

I am the CEO of duLocal, but was COO at the time we worked with Liven. We are a startup focused on social gastronomy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Liven to accomplish?

We are a company that connects small agricultural businesses with local companies who produce meals and deliver them. We needed an app and website for customers to purchase these meals.

SOLUTION

Describe the scope of work in detail.

Liven helped us to develop a website and a mobile app for our company that was both iOS and Android compatible. We were just starting our company when we began working with them, so they helped us to develop these products, and continued to work with us on maintenance after they were created.

How did you find & come to work with Liven?

Liven was recommended to our company through a colleague who knew of their work.

How much money have you spent/invested in this partnership?

We have invested around $50,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between January 2019–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have continued to use their product for the last four years, and have been very happy with it.

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

The team was very helpful, especially for a small entrepreneurial startup like ours. They stayed on schedule and within budget. We worked in the same area, so our primary form of communication was face-to-face interaction.

What distinguishes Liven from other providers?

The team at Liven is incredibly nice, and they really act as a partner for people who are just starting a business or wanting to build one. It is a huge step to start using technology in our business, and they are very helpful in those beginning stages.

In what ways could they have improved or done something differently?

They provided us with everything that we needed.

What advice would you give to someone else considering working with Liven on how to get the most out of the engagement?

We have recommended them to a lot of our other clients. Liven has a very special team and have been really good partners for us. Using technology in a business is a very big step and something that you should think over, and they are very helpful with that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Aterapia is a place where aspiring and top mental health professionals want to work and grow. Our therapists don’t just represent a wide range of backgrounds, ages and specialisms. They are part of a highly- qualified team led by our own staff of clinical professionals, who hand picks people who are dedicated to continuous professional development. I'm the founder of the company and as a psychologist I manage the cases and all the health staff.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We did test our business model in an analogical way and wanted a robust system to support our growth. We hired Liven to develop our platform. Basically, we needed 3 interfaces: 1 for patients, 1 for Psychologists and 1 for us. The main goal was to launch our platform in the market and scale up our operations.

SOLUTION

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

Liven was referred by a friend who had worked with them. He told us that they could fulfill our needs regarding Project Management and Schedule, Technology, Quality, and Cost. The main factor was to hire a company that we knew that would deliver a good product on time.

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

The first part of the job was the “planning and design” phase. It took 4 weeks where we had 4 meetings:

1. Kick-off to deep dive in our business model and information’s needed
2. Wireframe validation
3. UI Design validation
4. Final deliverable.

The deliverable for this phase were: High fidelity system prototype, Roadmap (containing epics, features and stories (and its business rules)). Second phase was the development of the code. This phase was conduct with 2 weeks sprint with a meeting at the end to show the progress. The deliverables of this phase were: partial reports of the development; System working in production; all the codebase developed.

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

We had contact mainly with the Product Owner and also the Tech Lead during all the project. We also had interactions with the designer in the first phase. At the sprint results meeting the other Developers were present too.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I believe main deliverable was the system as we wanted putted into production on time. Also, all the support during the stabilization part, ensuring the system was working properly and without bugs.

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

They use Clickup for the project management, so we could keep up with the things that were being done and the roadmap progress. They invited us for the dailies, but we usually didn’t go since it was more technical discussion. Always that a doubt or a problem came up they proactively scheduled a meeting with us to discuss and decide the path to take. We also used Slack to communicate and GitLab for the codebase.

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

Besides the great software development process and deliverable, we were impressed by the ownership they had with the aterapia as a whole. They come up with elegant solutions for our user experience. They brought good ideas for the business and had referral some professionals for us to hire, helping us to build our team.

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

No. Their team is pretty fantastic.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Hindsight Rated, a New York customer accountability platform and software solution. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liven? 

We hired Liven to produce a mobile app for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted Liven to produce our flagship customer accountability platform with a rating section.  They developed the app from scratch. I presented my ideas, and they presented them back to me a week later. This assured me that they fully understood what we wanted. 

Once we confirmed their understanding of our requirements, they started blending into our team. Their resources strictly did development tasks and background work, including testing the product and its UX design. 

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Eduardo (Product Owner), but we also collaborated with around 10 people throughout the process. 

How did you come to work with Liven?

Liven was recommended to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested over $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from May 2021–February 2022. The project is on pause at the moment. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app worked exceptionally well, and our customers loved it. All bugs were fixed before the product was handed over to us, and Liven did a remarkable job. 

How did Liven perform from a project management standpoint?

The Liven team met all deadlines; they always delivered on time. We did meetings through Zoom and Google Meet. Our teams communicated a lot through WhatsApp Business and Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listened to us and acted upon what they heard. They knew what they were doing, and that shone through their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could make it easier for us to pay them from outside Brazil. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do it — if you can afford what you want to do, then you can afford to work with Liven. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and co-founder of Eu Vo. We’re a mobility services platform catering to the elderly and people with reduced mobility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liven?

We hired Liven to develop our mobility platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Liven developed three different products from scratch: an administration platform, a driver application, and a passenger application. The admin platform is used by people from my company; they can book trips for the passengers and do all the admin-related tasks. For the driver and passenger applications, drivers can schedule the rides, while passengers can put in all their health issues while requesting a ride.

Their team handled the UI/UX discoveries. The platforms were built using React Native and Node.js; AWS was used for the database. Also, they built the iOS, Android, and desktop versions of our platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked with seven people from their team.

How did you come to work with Liven?

We met them at an event in San Paulo. We started talking to them, and they made a proposition that we liked.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from March–November 2018. After completing the platform, they implemented upgrades and provided maintenance support for a certain amount of time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got a lot of clients through the platform and had more than 15,000 passengers and over 6,000 drivers who registered.

How did Liven perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed the project pretty well and stayed within budget. were great. We used Trello and another tool for presentations. Communication was typically done via phone calls, email, and face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills were impressive. Their team was great, excellent, and diverse as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be close to them and listen to their advice.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Ceo of startup that helps elderly people's family and also caregivers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Development of web app and health care platform

SOLUTION

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

We designed the scope of the project to receive the proposals in a first stage of proof of concept. Then we conduct interviews and look for references in the market.

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

Understanding meetings, creation of the squad and agile process methodology. Deliveries, validations, corrections and publication of deliverables

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

• Tech lead
• senior developer
• PO
• 2 developers
• trainee

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

100 paying customers in 4 months

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

Weekly meetings, PMO, performance monitoring and deliveries and use of slack

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

Their empathy, alignment with the cause, and easy communication style are impressive.

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

Having a more diverse team in data, design, for example. But nothing that was a problem.