Made2

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an image and digital media coordinator at an agro-production company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Made2?

We were looking to grow our presence in digital channels and position our brand with good content pieces. In addition, we were about to launch a new app, so we needed a website that could match its technology and image.   

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?  

Made2 updated and modernized our WordPress website’s home page and created a landing page for our platform. For this task, we presented them with screens we designed ourselves, and they helped us put these designs into the site — they contributed to the design proposals, so it was a hybrid process.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with three members of their team, including a project manager and a couple of developers.

How did you come to work with Made2?

We did some research and had a couple of provider options, but we chose Made2 because they were the most adequate in terms of time, profile, and reach based on their proposal.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent less than $5,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website they created is functional and current, which is hard nowadays due to the rapid technological changes. Moreover, we didn’t have any issues with bugs, crashes, load in different devices, etc., so the results were positive.

How did Made2 perform from a project management standpoint?

They were professional, met all of our expectations, and we managed to work very well together. In addition, their response time was always on point — we communicated through email, phone calls, and online meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We established a very good working relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on — I was delighted with our collaboration and its results.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Challenge them so you can take advantage of their skills and always strive for continuous improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

It was the founder of a startup project called Funkeyup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Made2?

We needed to develop a solution. The challenge was to design an MVP with a reasonable investment to validate our idea.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Made2 to design the whole product approach, product design, launch strategy, and MVP. They helped us understand our clients, user needs and pains, and how we could translate them into future user journeys. Then, we defined those user journeys as a strategy to develop the solution.

Made2 did everything from scratch, from authentication to payment gateways.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three stakeholders: a project manager, a technical expert, and someone on the design team.

How did you come to work with Made2?

They had great knowledge about the entrepreneurial ecosystem. They brought a lot of value and knew what features we needed in our technical solution to validate the software in the market.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

During the project, we had a dashboard for the development metrics. We could see the user journeys we were developing and what we’d achieved. In the end, we finished the project on time and within budget, so it was a success.

Overall, it was a good experience. They were really responsive, and the team developed what they promised in terms of deliverables, timeframe, and cost.

How did Made2 perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job. The project manager kept in touch with us; we had weekly meetings to follow all the activities for our two-week sprints. We worked closely to keep the process moving, setting up the activities during our sessions. Also, we reviewed all the user stories to identify anything that needed to be planned again.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were one of the most cost-effective solutions we found in the market. They also had excellent knowledge about the entrepreneurial ecosystem, so they helped us define the features we needed for our system.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their approach on the design and UX sides.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a good option for entrepreneurs looking for a vendor to create a technological solution.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Clingot. A mobile app created to take your clinical records anywhere in your hands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Made2, and what were your goals?

Developed web & mobile app

SOLUTION

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

We chose them because they offered full service and had control of everything. Was a very good decision to hire them

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

We discuss the idea of Clingot and they understand and help with all the planning. They suggested ideas to. We worked together every week with a backlog

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

A project manager was assigned. And we had all the resources to talk and discuss. They put all the team on the table and we could explain them directly without intermediate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app was very good. we continued working together a lot of month after we launched. They were very kind in every moment

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

We had a lot of takls. We were in continued touch every time. Was very easy and was very comfortable because they known a lot of things and he helped us.

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

They were very flexible and very transparent. We talked with the boss, with project mananager, with devolpers. They were very open. Was a very good relationship

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

May be we were with some ideas that we wanted to apply and they suggested to did in another way. May be we have to listen a little more to them and the result could have been differernt

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Product Owner of Virtual Modeler, a GIS product used by companies and government organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Made2?

Although the company was created later, the product was developed and marketed for the first time in 2011. It has 3 key components:

• The web portal where all users have access to view the information
• The GIS engine, in charge of solving the spatial queries
• The add-on for AUTOCAD that allows editing by engineers

The Web Portal, which is ultimately the main point of contact, needed to be updated to new web technologies and for that we hired Made2.

What were your goals for this project?

The new portal had to meet certain requirements:

1. It had to be Web Responsive, something that was causing us a lot of problems with current users.
2. Screens had to be redesigned as the UX was not good. The ABMs were confusing, and features were hard to find.
3. We needed to give more thought to the mapping

SOLUTION

How did you select Made2?

We select our suppliers based on past experiences and recommendations. Made2 was recommended to us by a mutual customer (since we are not direct competitors) just like the rest of our suppliers.

We analyzed 4 proposals and chose Made2 because of their development process proposal. It was a novel approach, at least for the market here. We wanted something agile and flexible. Something that could solve our biggest problem: the UX of our old portal.

Describe the project in detail.

We've described the objectives above. 

My role in the project was that of Key User, actively participating in the project trying to convey all the feedback from our clients. They dedicated a development and functional team. Not only did they develop the solution, but they also proposed functional changes to the old portal.

They led the transformation project which was one of our wishes: to hire a service that takes care of everything and we, as clients, transmit the requirements and jointly evaluate the possible solutions.

What was the team composition?

2 developers, 1 Team Lead, 1 QA plus myself as Key User. The team was the same from the start.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our customers were greatly satisfied with the update.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I participated as one of the teams in the project. Soon the team was working as if it were part of our company.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their experience in application development and focus on user experience were impressive. They brought in many new and valuable ideas rather than just sticking with our initial idea.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing comes to mind at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a startup tech company. We started around four years ago, and we’ve had products in the market for two and a half years. We handle support and maintenance in-house, and we go to outside contractors for new development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Made2?

We had an idea for developing an application and went to them for development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Made2 developed our application from scratch to the point of launching it in the market. I had an idea and went to them to build it. The application is intended for the credit card industry, helping merchants keep track of their sales. They provided everything in terms of documentation and wireframing. I believe the app was built on Django Python.

They worked in sprints, with each one lasting 10–14 days. Every time a sprint would finish, I would have something to try. I liked how they managed the group, with everyone participating from a different point of view. I participated actively in the development of the application. I liked how they planned the job and how they handled the project. They offered a great relationship, price, and product. We continued developing on top of the first version, and we had beta testing in-between.

How did you come to work with Made2?

I made a search in the city where I lived, and people recommended Made2 to me. I had a meeting with them and felt good about the energy and what they were offering. They had a good product to price ratio at that point, and I liked how they planned the project in general. They proposed working in layers toward product completion.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $80,000–$100,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Made2 in June 2017, and the product was ready to go to market by December of that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We set a goal, and the goal was met. The product was launched to market, and that was key. We’ve been in the market for more than two years already, and the product has been working properly. We don’t have any growing pains with the product or maintenance issues. Made2 was able to capture and build what I had in mind. In general, I have very good feedback for them.

How did Made2 perform from a project management standpoint?

I had no trouble with them in this respect. The way they managed the project was one of the things that made me feel good about how they’d deliver the product. This was one of their big strengths.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the way they managed the project and how their team operated. They managed to understand the product to the highest degree, start working, and quickly deliver. It was an idea that they had to put to paper, and it was very well understood.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our company has a big-volume business model. I don’t know if it was them or how the market reacted, but we should’ve probably had an even greater horizon for the product than what it was. I don’t know if I can put it in their hands, or if there were some market aspects we didn’t know about. Besides that, there’s nothing else I’m not completely satisfied with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an airport network company that develops solutions for airports. We develop a marketplace for merchants inside the airports as well as an application for the airports.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Made2?

We needed someone to develop a mobile app for registering passengers at airports.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Made2 developed the iOS and Android app. The app is integrated with OAG, a third-party service that provides flight departure and arrival times. Made2 also developed a payment solution inside the app where users can pay with a QR code as well as a wallet. The solution also lets users manage all their loyalty products in one place.

How did you come to work with Made2?

We needed a team that was experienced in payments and registration solutions for passengers. Their development team has good experience, especially in payment solutions. They’ve shown me other developments they made in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app isn’t live yet on the airports. Made2 is well-organized and sticks to their plan.

How did Made2 perform from a project management standpoint?

The way they develop features in sprints is really helpful. Made2 focuses on the objectives that are detailed in the sprints. They worked in five different sprints and they accomplished everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Made2 has a good understanding of different types of mobile applications. Even though they weren’t experienced in developing something similar to what we had, they had a good understanding of the two things we wanted to accomplish: registration and payment solutions. They pick up things quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have a better communication method where they present each of the sprints they just accomplished. They did spend time, but it would have been nice to learn exactly what they did.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at GameMiles. We exchange frequent flyer program points into dollars for users on flyer PC games.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Made2?

We needed MVP development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Made2 consulted with us before making decisions about technology — something they continued to do throughout the project. Focusing on web and backend software development, they created a platform, from scratch, for third-parties to acquire our product. 

The team built it to be an integrational hub where all PC games were conferenced in one database, and they used Agile, SQL Server, .NET, Linux, PHP, SharePoint, and AngularJS. They would expose the API for our clients to get their games into the websites. 

How did you come to work with Made2?

I had worked with them before and I liked their process. Instead of just accepting my requests, they gave advice on exactly what was needed to achieve the best results.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on the project from March 2018–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We used a QA document that defined the standards of the project according to those of the market, and we were able to test the level of bugs from low to critical against that standard. With software development, there are often failures, and this kept us from struggling to go live knowing we had critical bugs.

How did Made2 perform from a project management standpoint?

They were strict with scheduling, both for themselves and for us. When it came to deadlines of when to deliver products and when to respond, the team was very demanding. If we gave notice of 15 days or so that we weren’t going to meet a deadline, Made2 was always able to adjust accordingly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their process, including the initial meetings, helped us identify early hypotheses that were incorrect and were causing us to spend money incorrectly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would’ve liked more flexibility regarding schedules. It would’ve also been helpful for them to have someone who was proficient in English. English isn’t my native language, so we did experience some difficulty with communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an investor in one fintech company and the CEO of another. The first one is a mobile dynamic management system for users, and the other is a web platform that connects to credit card databases to retrieve information for merchants.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Made2?

I needed a developer for both products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our mobile platform needed to connect with the Argentine revenue service in order to authorize invoicing from cell phones, something that wasn’t very common in this country three years ago. On top of that, we added functionalities related to basic management for small businesses and freelancers, like controlling the invoices being sent out, separating them as paid and pending, and generating reports for accounting and stats about the business, like pie charts with top-10 customers.

Made2 suggested we start with Android development while we learned more about the process. Also, the majority of the local market is using Android devices. Development was based on the Spring for Android with a PostgreSQL database. We did iOS development later on. We first used Objective-C, then migrated to Swift 3, followed by 3.

We worked following the same process on my web platform project, focusing on creating the MVP and reaching the market. The technologies used were Python and React, after which we migrated to Vue.js. We had hybrid mobile development, and the databases were PostgreSQL and Redis.

Made2 thought design was not as important as UX. We moved together with different aspects and considered those when creating the database structure and the UX design, including which fields the user would be filling out. They helped through each sprint cycle. We did a lot of prototyping and UX mapping, and we held a couple of workshops.

What is the team composition?

They assigned product architects, who served a function equivalent to scrum masters, so we didn’t work with project managers. We also worked with designers and backend and frontend web and mobile developers. The same person in charge of UX was working on the design.

How did you come to work with Made2?

A colleague referred them to us. Compared to the other candidates we interviewed, Made2 didn’t require us to invest more than three months in development in order to roll out an MVP. This was a surprise to us because we knew they would want to sell hours, but they actually focused on the real value of the requirements and on what we needed in order to go to market.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project started in August 2015, and we launched the product after exactly two months. The second project started in November 2017 launched the product in January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we started the company, we thought we’d be working with 10 developers for six months, and that we’d be constantly reiterating. Made2 explained to us that whatever we thought was correct was just a hypothesis, and they pushed us to question ourselves. Their workshops felt like a waste of time for us in the beginning, but we came to see their value, and these were amazing lessons to learn. Likewise, their designers focused on user behavior rather than that of the applications, and that was a stressful exercise for us. We got great value in the end, and it helped us identify a lot of scenarios we hadn’t considered before.

How did Made2 perform from a project management standpoint?

I would’ve liked to have fewer meetings with them, but I don’t know if results would’ve been the same.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t care about selling more development hours; they want us to go to market as soon as possible. Stressing the requirements as much as possible in terms of business value obliged us to think about what was really needed to go to the market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should be a bit more flexible at times with the process they’re implementing, at least in the beginning. We got used to it, but we weren’t convinced at first. They were talking about things we didn’t care about, but we realized in the end that we should’ve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of a web tool for rent property management, contracts and monthly follow up with each tenant and owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Made2, and what were your goals?

Made2 was hired to build the MVP version of our platform, not only they achieved the forecasted deadline, but also showed interest on the product, giving active feedback during development phase.

SOLUTION

How did you select Made2 and what were the deciding factors?

I've had a technical meeting for another project's viability and felt like they work with technologies I believe are the latest. Also communication and transparency, both technically and economically, was present since day one.

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

Web platform including a node.js server, 1 React web app as the main UI and a Wordpress landing page for quick customization.

How many people from the Made2 team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A project manager, a tech lead and two full stack developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Deliverables were just like expected, really organized in terms of documentation and architecture.

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

We had 2 weeks sprints, and around 3 meetings by sprint to align on next work, review what's done and feedback.

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

They did what they sold, and according all my specifications. The team's communication is fluent.

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

No that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of Wigiv, a donation processing mobile solution for Churches and NPO's

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Made2?

To develop our mobile app

What were your goals for this project?

To have a working app fully integrated with our payment processor in less than 6 months.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Prior experience with other company

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed and end to end mobile application and web management platform

What was the team composition?

Product manager, developers and quality control person

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app was fully functional within the time frame specified

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Daily and weekly calls with product and project managers to keep a close eye on the development side

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their professionalism and efficiency impressed us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None