LookFar Labs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager and executive secretary for an environmental services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with LookFar Labs?

We contracted with LookFar to help improve our hurricane weather forecasting Web App.

What was the scope of their involvement?

LookFar has improved our website using JavaScript and Django. In terms of functionality, the product is a hurricane weather app-some of its features include dropdown menus, registration, credit card payment integration, vortex features, and wind and storm surge depiction.

What is the team composition?

We work with 4-5 people from LookFar. They keep someone available for the project at all times. Among the people we've worked with are Jeff (Partner Software Engineering) and John (Senior Software Developer).

How did you come to work with LookFar Labs?

We searched the web for local Web App Developers in the greater New Orleans area. LookFar Labs LLC., was highly rated and well respected.

How much have you invested with them?

$100,000.00

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with LookFar in February of 2022 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We've only recently launched the product, so we don't have numbers for success metrics yet. So far, everyone is pleased with the web app's functionality.

How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

LookFar successfully met our June 1 deadline, the start of hurricane season.  We will continue to upgrade the product over the coming months. To communicate we mainly use Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills are their strength. The team is upfront and open about everything, we can communicate at any time of the day. Their response time is quick and their members are knowledgeable. Overall, their ideas helped us implement our vision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a great line of communication going with the members of the team.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Myxstem, a music technology company.

What challenge were you trying to address with LookFar Labs?

I’ve worked with LookFar Labs for over ten years. Originally, we started working on a music technology platform that eventually became my current company. Now, we work on interactive educational media for music education.

What was the scope of their involvement?

LookFar Labs helped us create a platform for delivering music in an interactive format. In this platform, our users are able to isolate the stems of a particular song and listen to the individual instruments separately from one another.

Initially, they developed one of our first platform versions for iPad, and we’ve had a great working relationship ever since.

What is the team composition?

On this particular revision, we’ve worked with 3–4 people from LookFar Labs, including Jeff (Partner & Software Engineer), Johnny (Senior Developer), and two other people that were brought in on short-term contracts to work on specific parts of the engineering. Johnny is the original engineer of our software’s first version. Additionally, we’ve had contact with Chris (CEO & Founder).

How did you come to work with LookFar Labs?

Chris was my mentor when I started developing software, and later, we became partners. Working with Chris and his team was a natural fit from the beginning, so our mentor-mentee relationship grew into a professional partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been working with the same group of professionals for over 10 years. We started working together around September 2010, and our relationship is ongoing. However, their current name, LookFar Labs, was established a few years after we initially engaged as part of their rebranding.

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

LookFar Labs’ team is very fast and efficient, and they’ve saved me 2–3 times more time and money than other developers that I’ve worked with.

How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

LookFar Labs has always performed perfectly. They educate me on things that I don’t fully understand, and we work together very fluidly. Additionally, they always get back to me with the answers that I need.

Overall, we have a very smooth working relationship, and we communicate via email, Slack, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

LookFar Labs doesn’t sugarcoat anything in any way, and neither do they try to dodge getting tasks accomplished. A lot of other companies tend not to provide a straight answer. However, that’s not the case with LookFar Labs. I never have to question where I am with them, and I always feel that I’m in good hands.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve known them for so long that I don’t have any constructive feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be mindful about the hours because, every time you have an additional requirement, they have to spend time working on it. LookFar Labs’ team is always working hard, and because they’re good at their work, you might think that they can get the job done quickly. However, some things take time, so be disciplined with the tasks you ask them to do. They’re always honest and fill their hours with integrity.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm COO and Co-Founder. Manager all product, operations, and finance.

For what projects/services did your company hire LookFar Labs?

We were launching a new product line that included a mobile app for processing transactions utilizing a QR code and mobile payments. . LooksFar Labs lead all front-end initiatives for the project including UI/UX and native frontend development.

What were your goals for this project?

Build a clean and easy to use MVP mobile app to enable the company to launch the new product line and begin market testing. The MVP application will serve as foundation for future product initiatives.

How did you select LookFar Labs?

We had been in contact with LookFar Labs and their team for many years and were familiar with the services provided. The project was scoped out by a number of local and international companies and we decided to partner with LookFar Labs due to their proven skill set and our previous history together.

Describe the project in detail.

Project started with a strategize phase to get both our teams on same page and establish best path forward for the product. Next was build phase where LookFar Labs worked directly with our back end developer to build the full software platform. Beyond frontend development, LookFar supported with a number of items including user experience best practices and QR code integration. Final testing was completed, product launched, and Look Far continues to support with ongoing development.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with a product manager and front-end developers. Additional resources, including graphic design, were brought in as needed.

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

The product was succesfully launched on-time and within budget with minimal issues. We are continuing to expand our market footprint and LookFar is working with us on additional projects.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was excellent. We had regularly scheduled meetings as well as direct daily communication via Slack.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

LookFar has a broad skill set and experience working on a wide range of projects. They are able to support any development project leveraging their extensive team. The team is diligent with understanding the project and clearly laying out deliverables. They are always available to support us with anything that we needed. And the quality of work is superb.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied with the work performed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Feels. We’re a for-profit consumer goods company. We have technology through QR codes that attach to any product out there. Our consumers can send a present and also attach a QR code to the gift. It’s basically money that goes to our platform that can only be given to charity. The recipient of the present chooses what charity the money goes to.

What challenge were you trying to address with LookFar Labs?

We brought them on to build our mobile app. Overall, the objective is to bring charitable giving to the front of retail.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re developing our platform for iOS and Android. We started out with an MVP model. As we went along, we put more money into it to make it a fairly robust app. The search functionality is one of the app’s key features. Our backend has 1.5 million charities that consumers can choose from. Users also have the ability to share their activity with their friends.

What is the team composition?

We work with Lindsay (VP Sales & Brand Strategy), Chris (CEO & Founder), and M’Elena (Product Strategist).

How did you come to work with LookFar Labs?

I found them online on a platform similar to Clutch. I spoke to Lindsay on the phone and had an in-person meeting at their office.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in January 2020.

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

Their ability to help stretch every dollar and value engineer here and there to help us give the best scope that we can is excellent. But they also take into consideration that we’re a startup with limited funding. We’ve shown the app to some family and friends and they understand it and are excited about its potential. Our first beta test is in a few weeks, and we’re hoping to launch in June 2020.

How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

M’Elena is very diligent. She meets deadlines and is flexible with call times. LookFar Labs’ communication skills are very strong, especially M’Elena’s. We utilize Slack.

Chris is great as well, and Lindsay always checks in. Lindsay has approached us with ideas and people we can partner or work with locally after the app’s launch. They go above and beyond their scope.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand the risk that we’re taking and will do anything to help us succeed. That can range from helping to identify a photographer or designer as well as finding some help with content. LookFar Labs goes the extra mile and doesn’t nickel and dime everything. They sincerely try to be as helpful as possible

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was a little bit of change at their company at the very beginning of the pandemic so a lot of challenges were rooted in not being able to get in a room together. We wanted someone local for this very reason. They’ve had some organizational and structural things that weren’t as refined as they needed to be.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Company culture is huge. Make sure that whoever you choose fits with your cultural beliefs and how they live their life. We got to know LookFar Labs before the project started and were happy that they were a great fit.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-owner/co-founder of Bull-Stirk, LLC. We started our company to begin marketing our unique fantasy golf league to the public. As of now, both my partner and I are the entire company.

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

We hired LookFar Labs to develop our website and web application. But we are also relying on them for future builds and their web development expertise on an ongoing basis.

How did you select LookFar Labs and what were the deciding factors?

We selected LookFar because they seemed like the best mix of professionalism and employees that were down to earth. They made us feel like they were excited about our product and want it to be successful.

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

I'm not sure on the "technologies" used per say but they have done everything. Literally building our idea, our website from scratch. They have a great process in place to be sure everyone is on the same page. We have truly enjoyed the experience with LookFar, and again, there is more to come!

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

I'm not sure about positions but from beginning to end we have dealt with upwards of 6 or so LookFar employees. All playing specific roles in the product development.

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

We can't share any measurable outcomes to this point because we are very early in regard to releasing the product. What I can say is that we are extremely happy with literally EVERYTHING so far.

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

They are very well organized and structured. They provided us timelines and cost estimates and everything happened like they said it would. No surprises which is great. Communication is very important to us and LookFar excelled in their ability to communicate.

We are very new to this whole world and they did a great job understanding what we were looking to accomplish and helping to guide us every step of the way.

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

There are really a number of things we were/are impressed with...I'll list a few below: Communication Skills Patience Product Knowledge Development Skills Value Ongoing Support There are more but that's a good start.

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

Again, in being so new to this whole world, it's difficult to have anything to compare to. I'll just say that they met or exceeded our expectations from beginning to where we are now and we hope to continue working with LookFar for a number of years to come.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of KTM Management.

What challenge were you trying to address with LookFar Labs?

We did volumetric accounting for crude oil barrels in a pipeline system. We used a third-party to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, we found errors in their processing of our invoices to our customers. We decided to contact LookFar to write a program that would properly process invoices.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an initial meeting with Jeff (Partner), and then he understood what we wanted to achieve. LookFar then developed software for us, which is web-based. Their team used a database system to build the software. They still upgrade our two systems. Now, we’re looking into two major upgrades.

What is the team composition?

We initially met with Jeff and Lindsay (VP of Sales & Brand Strategy). We then mostly communicated with Jeff. A programmer named Chester (Full Stack Software Developer) actually built the software.

How did you come to work with LookFar Labs?

I previously used LookFar to create proprietary software. As I was familiar with their abilities, it was a simple choice to call them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $100,000–$200,000 on their services. The last major project cost $86,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them around November 2016, and our partnership’s ongoing.

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

I had software for about 10–12 years and knew absolutely nothing about the product. I went and met with LookFar. Within 15 minutes, their team understood the software, which was tremendous. It normally takes people time to learn what we want to achieve, but Jeff understood it after one meeting with us. Anything that I ask of them, their team makes it happen. They’re phenomenal.

How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We never have issues with LookFar Labs. Their team lays out project phases and cost estimates for each phase. If they think there will be a cost increase, they contact us and let us know in advance. Overall, it’s a great experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The LookFar team is knowledgeable. They pick up what we’re trying to do. That’s their number one quality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m satisfied with everything they’ve done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them know what you want to accomplish. Give them all of the information possible and then it will be successful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the program manager for the internship program at an educational nonprofit.

What challenge were you trying to address with LookFar Labs?

We were given an application software for our itnerns to apply for our prgram, but no one on our staff knew how to develop the software. We brought LookFar Labs on to do the development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Each program cycle, we have different questions we want to ask and different types of information to get from the cycle. 

LookFar Labs implemented basic demographic data questions, short answer questions, and a video component for the intern to do a video interview within the software. They also made it such that all that information lives in our Salesforce. 

What is the team composition?

I regularly work with two teammates. Recently, I also met a third teammate who does customer experience work. 

How did you come to work with LookFar Labs?

They started working with my organization before I came on. They were local to New Orleans, and I assume that their vision and goals for their application aligned with ours.

How much have you invested with them?

Our program spends over $5,000 a year with them, so we’ve probably spent about $25,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been with the organization for two years, and LookFar Labs came on at least a year before that. I began working with them in February 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

We initially had to rely on Google Forms, which has its own limitations. So, this application has given us another level of data collection and organization, and it has cut down on a lot of the time it would’ve taken to dig through Google Form applications. 

We work with students who could be doing an application for the first time, and to give them something more similar to a job or scholarship application has been great. It’s helped us to take our application process up a notch and to make it more professional. 

How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project planning doesn’t really overlap. We set the agenda and tap them whenever a new program cycle comes up, and they respond quickly.

In terms of collaboration, LookFar Labs sets us up with spreadsheets to work from. We work within Slack, which works well for us, and we also occasionally hop on a Zoom call or email. They’re very quick to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

LookFar Labs’ ability to work with someone like me who has minimal knowledge of how software development works is impressive. The team is relatable, and they’re able to bring some of the technical terms down to a level that our team can understand. 

Additionally, their responsiveness is probably one of the best things about working with them. They’re very communicative. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There may be some room for improvement in the project planning process. We have two program cycles a year, so we could have a more collaborative project plan or a more structured way to stay on top of each others’ timelines.

It would be helpful to know what projects they have going on outside of our partnership so that we’re not handing them a lot of work the same week that they have 2–3 other projects. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear on the purpose and intent of what you want their help developing. LookFar Labs is really good at executing, so come to the partnership very clear on the goals and outcomes, and they can help with the execution and getting it done. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder & CEO of government & business services firm. We deploy a distributed field workforce to gather field data for our clients.

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

We needed a system to thoroughly document and securely store data collected on scene by our service providers. Additionally we needed the ability to integrate with existing legacy systems. We also required a mechanism to track KPIs, and an event notification system for our clients.

How did you select LookFar Labs and what were the deciding factors?

LookFar Labs is well-known in the New Orleans tech scene, and is a highly competent software studio. After a referral by a mutual friend and meeting with their leadership, we felt confident in their ability to help us visualize and deliver the web app that would be so crucial to our company’s operations.

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

LookFar Labs helped us develop a product to improve upon the response times and richness of data. Getting involved from the ground floor, they approached product development with a great deal of flexibility.

We were creating the incident response procedures at the same time as they were developing the product and they were flexible, easily adjusting to our constantly shifting requirements.

They were also able to integrate the application with the client's existing data entry platform. Their ability to handle the legacy software is critical because it helps us stay in compliance with existing laws, guidelines and procedures and prevent our field agents from having to enter information twice.

LookFar Labs built our database in AWS, so that we own all of the data that we collect.

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

We worked with two software engineers, a product manager, and quality assurance engineer. They gave us the full depth of expertise we needed to complete our product.

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

The products developed allow us to collect and securely store and share our data products with the relevant parties. They also built us a scalable product so that we do not need to worry about shortcomings as we expand to new markets.

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

LookFar Labs partner, Jeff Hanby, led project management for our product development. He was an effective manager who continues to meet with me regularly to discuss product improvements.

LookFar Labs put us in a dedicated Slack channel so that we could have a clear line of communication. I had regular meetings with the product team and received deliverables in timely manner.

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

LookFar Labs is a responsive and committed member of our product team. They continue to play an integral part in our company.

They have expert level knowledge in the technologies they use and leverage past experience to deliver an exceptional product. None that we can see.

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

None that we can see.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of BuildLink. The company centers around a home customization platform. I’m also a homebuilder myself.

What challenge were you trying to address with LookFar Labs?

This platform helps contractors, interior designers, realtors, and potential homebuyers to customize their homes.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Currently, we are still in a development phase and haven’t launched the product. They’re building a web-based platform and a mobile app. We embarked on a strategy phase where I gave them a proof of concept and they built on top of it. There’s a “pros” section, which is for homebuilders and subcontractors. That’s still in the development phase. We also have a manufacturer phase, which connects with the companies we deal with and buy our products from.

We wanted to make it accessible for them to upload information to the platform to engage with clients, homeowners, and homebuilders.

The end product is a collaborative tool to work with my subcontractors. Homeowners can also look at products to customize their homes with the products and services the platform offers.

What is the team composition?

Chris (Partner, LookFar Labs) is the team lead and product manager, and he's been helpful since Day One. He’s the one I’ve had the most interaction with, since he acts as the liaison between me and the design and engineering teams at LookFar Labs. Johnny (Developer, LookFar Labs) is the lead software designer. There are software engineers, product managers, and designers involved. The front- and backend developers have had strategy meetings with us.

How did you come to work with LookFar Labs?

I researched local software designers and web designers online. I did two Skype calls with two different companies. After I described my idea for the company to both of them, LookFar loved the idea. I thought it was more comfortable to go with them. I went through 2–3 different web design firms that were never close to what I wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested close to $90,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in July 2018 and the work is ongoing. The long timeline is to be expected.

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

LookFar Labs is still fine-tuning it both phases of the project. We’ve bounced around and made changes, but everything seems to be looking good so far. It’s a detailed project, so there’s a lot that goes into it.

How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They use Miro Whiteboard to go over wireframes. We mostly talk through email. I’ll also go to the office and meet them from time to time every few weeks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are a very knowledgeable company. I’m highly impressed with their technical skills. Previous companies weren’t capable of getting the project off the ground. They’ve helped the vision come alive more than any company I’ve worked with in the past.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really, I enjoy working with them. Nothing much I can criticize.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would say be prepared to spend. It takes a toll monetarily, but the money has led to a high-quality project. The quality is worth the cost.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Louisiana based workers' compensation provider. We provide worker's comp coverage to 4,000 small and medium-sized Louisiana businesses. I am the Administrator.

For what projects/services did your company hire LookFar Labs?

Originally, we hired LookFar Labs’ predecessor company (before they re-branded) to develop an in-house system to handle the process of taking in applications/submissions for coverage, underwriting, billing, invoicing, collecting payments, issuing policies, doing premium audit functions, notes, etc. for us. For over 10 years now, they have continued to build us products to help our business run more efficiently and stay ahead of our competition.

What were your goals for this project?

To have a customized system that we could grow with over time, that could handle all of our current and future core functions.

How did you select this vendor?

I found them on the Internet.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

A developer was basically at our office on a full time basis. This is what we wanted. That way the developer could work day to day with different departments and learn how the processed their work. From there the developer drew up work flow schedules and operations. The key was the project managers that LookFar has had during our relationships. All top notch. They all had the ability to translate what we wanted into tech terms. Without them the projects would have never gotten off the ground.

What was the team composition?

Everyone from our organization was involved. From the development side there were about four key individuals for each stage and for each project. Again, the project managers were the key to these successes. We’ve had a very collaborative relationship with LookFar Labs, so our team is equally involved.

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

The impact was huge because it allowed us to control our tech focus for a significant period of time and for our system to grow with us. And because we designed everything from the ground up, at the time, our systems were as good, if not better, than most of our much larger competitors. For example, our system was web based far before many of our competitors. The fact that everyone could access our system simply from anywhere was huge advantage we had.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very effective. We mostly dealt with a single project manager, who was our main point of contact. We are a small company and while we may be a small client for LookFar the project manager always made our project feel important. This was always appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They seemed very eager to want to do this project and to do it well. I don't think any of us were really aware of how big of a project this would become over time. But the developers managed our expectations well and kept us focussed. Very impressed with project management and communications.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Turnover is always going to be an issue for technology companies. Developers are highly sought after and move easily from company to company. Considering this challenge LookFar has always managed well the natural turnover within its ranks.