What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Everything’s gone well so far. They have a great team of developers, and they know what they’re doing. LookFar has supported us in other ways as well, not just software development. For example, Lindsay is connected to many different projects and groups in New Orleans, and she’s put us in contact with local players that can help us grow and scale our company, from mentors and business coaches to lawyers and investors.
She got us involved with a program offered by Tulane University that’s been very helpful. It’s a new-venture class for MBA students, and they bring in four startup companies that are preselected to attend the class. As a startup company, we’ll have a team of 9–10 MBA students assigned to us to help us out with whatever we want during those six weeks. It’s helped address some concerns we had, in terms of marketing, issues, pitches, and other elements of our business.
How did LookFar Labs perform from a project management standpoint?
They’ve been on time and within budget throughout the project. The past couple of months have been a bit harder because we don’t have any visual deliverables. It’s all been backend work, so all they can show us is code. Before that, they used a software called MIRO, which is an online whiteboard.
They’re using Jira for project tracking, and their team has been super flexible with us. My co-founder and I like to have all meetings in-person because it makes it easier to focus on the right features and confirm details. Our schedules aren’t that flexible, but LookFar Labs has been solid on communication. They’re very transparent and will tell us if any of the backend work is going to be slower than we expect. Even if they don’t require much from our side, they’ll still check in every 1–2 weeks to give us progress updates.
Chris has been phenomenal to work with. He tries to limit the number of times he contacts us, and only reaches out if something’s important. We appreciate that, given that we do work fulltime, and we’re also working fulltime on this startup. We have a lot going on, and he’s helped alleviate a lot of stress of our shoulders, at least on the building side of it.
What did you find most impressive about them?
LookFar Labs is focused on developing software for startups, which speaks volumes in itself. There aren’t many companies that do that, at least in New Orleans. As someone who’s worked for a tech company, I can appreciate the way their team orchestrates everything from beginning to end. We've always felt like they genuinely care about our success.
LookFar is there to help startups and entrepreneurs grow, and that stuck with us from the beginning. We had a monthlong period with them initially where we sat down every week or every other week, and they never charged us a dollar for their time. That resonated with us. They’re a good group of people, they know what they’re doing, and they care about their work.
Are there any areas they could improve?
We’re not done yet, so it’s hard to tell. We’re still on the backend phase, and we haven’t done what we consider to be the high impact work yet, the frontend. As of now, we have no complaints with them, and I highly doubt that will change.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
I think people go to Lookfar wanting help with everything, from development to growing and scaling their company. They can turn a vision into reality, but clients should keep in mind that they will have to take it to the next level of execution. LookFar cares about what they’re doing, but they’re not there to accelerate companies. They build the best products they can and push them out to their clients, for them to go on and do great things with them.
LookFar Labs' project is still under development, but the work they've provided thus far is high-quality. They communicate well and are amenable to in-person meetings. Their technical skills are top-notch and better than many competitors.