Match.dev

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an owner of Tortoise Labs, a small product studio in Watersville, Maine. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Match.dev?

We are a small team of two, and we needed a company to help us quickly scale up and down our development teams.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Match.dev provides us with software developers, and more recently, designers to help us quickly turn around client work. If we don’t have the availability to do the work in-house, we reach out to the Match.dev team.

We’re currently working on three projects with developers they’ve matched us with and will probably begin another one soon. We provide them with the requirements and specifications for an app and the specific technical expertise and qualifications we need from a designer or developer. The Match.dev team then connects us with the appropriate teammate and we dive into the work quickly. 

They’ve begun to work with more software designers in addition to software developers, which has allowed us to broaden our scope and do more projects with them. Usually, we do software design in-house, but that’s not necessarily something we excel at, so it’s nice to have that option. 

Their staffing model has changed, they used to have more in-house developers, but now they also serve as a marketplace that connects us to their vetted developers.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with Kirill (Lead), but interact with a few other teammates, including 5–6 developers.  

How did you come to work with Match.dev?

I met the CEO of their development team at a fitness class that I taught in New York City. We got to know each other through and I followed along on the work that they were doing.

When I needed assistance with extra development work in iOS, my partner and I decided to start a relationship with the Match.dev team. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 with their team so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2019 and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

Since the original project, our business has expanded our services. That first project led to grant funding of $200,0000 — now grant funding has been the primary driver of our business for the last two years. Our work with Match.dev solidified our reputation in Maine and let us work with better partners — we now work with nonprofits and colleges across the state. 

If we weren’t working with Match.dev, the entire developer recruitment process would take much longer — we wouldn’t have the same confidence that we found the right individual to work with to develop high-quality work. 

The designers we’ve been working with are excellent, and we have no complaints about the products they’ve delivered. They are our go-to resource whenever we want to ship something out from our team. 

How did Match.dev perform from a project management standpoint?

Match.dev has excellent project management. They always hit deadlines, communicate everything very clearly, and define the project's scope well. They haven’t gone over budget, even on larger projects.

Their great project management stems from their ability to match us with the right designer and developer who have the skills we need from the very beginning. 

When we start a project, we message Kirill and discuss the project, including the languages it will be built in, the requirements and specs, and the work already started. He then gets back to me with follow-up questions and suggests teammates he thinks will best fit the project within our budget constraints. We then set up a call to get to know the teammate working on the project and confirm they are an ideal match. 

Once we determine which developer will be working on the project, we work with them using their project management system to keep track of where deliverables are, how things are going, and our budget at any given point. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

No matter the project, they always have the right person to match us with, whether it's been in-house or more recently through their marketplace. We never have to worry that a developer will walk away from a project — they vet their developers well. That gives us confidence when we work with them that our project will be completed on time and budget — since we’re a small team with limited resources, that’s a huge deal. 

When we’re not interested in taking on a particular client, and we know Match.dev's development team is a good fit for that specific project, we always put them in touch so that potential clients can receive the same benefits. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

If anything, I think they should continue to build out their business to include design work, not just development work. I also wish their rates were a little lower. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Match.dev’s developers and designers will build whatever a client brings them. Their team is very professional and excellent at their jobs, but it’s critical to come in with a defined budget and reasonable expectations for the scope of work. 

To be successful working with Match.dev, it’s essential to define the budget and scope ahead of time. It’s critical to make sure the scope is realistic and not too big — the Match.dev team assumes that clients will have already done the research into prototyping, customers, and demand and then will build to spec. If the budget doesn’t meet the scope of work, there may be push back from the Match.dev team. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project coordinator working under the nonprofit education program called Your Care + at Mcmaster University.

What challenge were you trying to address with Match.dev?

We needed their expertise in web development and UI/UX design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Match.dev’s main task is to create an accessible website based on the content generated by our team. They partner with other designers and developers to execute UI/UX and development solutions using React and Mango software.

What is the team composition?

We work with one designer and 2–3 developers from their team.

How did you come to work with Match.dev?

Our supervisor was in charge of the onboarding process — I joined the team when Match.dev was already working for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Match.dev commenced in January 2018.

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

We now have around 3,000 organic site visits each month, a rate that’s significantly higher than what we were getting before. We’ve also met some of our external stakeholders who’ve enthusiastically shared positive feedback about Match.dev’s work. Overall, the fact that we’re getting both quantitative and qualitative results from their efforts truly impresses our team. 

How did Match.dev perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Zoom and email. Match.dev is an effective partner — they consistently reach out to us to ensure that everything runs smoothly and our needs are met. Additionally, they’re very good at bridging any gaps that can potentially hinder our progress or workflow.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with their team’s transparent approach and attentiveness to our needs. They’re very upfront in stating what they can and can’t do for us in terms of coding and design — their high level of transparency helps us maximize our resources and optimize the process without delays.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re on top of everything — I can’t point out anything negative about their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it — it’s the only advice you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of sofi, where we’re developing a platform that will launch next year. Our disruptive consumer health platform activates plants for consumers who are looking to find more calm or more energy. Its ecosystem — which is connected to a device and houses an internal feedback mechanism and machine learning algorithm — allows the delivery of different plants that can be ingested orally. These plants then deliver different target states such as energy, calm, sleep, and so on.

What challenge were you trying to address with Match.dev?

We needed help with backend development as well as with mobile app development, so we hired Match.dev.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We are building our platform to be device agnostic, so Match.dev is developing the app to support both iOS and Android devices. Along with it, the team is building an internal feedback mechanism that could allow users to journal how they feel over time. There is also a feature that asks users whether their current sentiments are consistent with their last journal entry. 

Match.dev is also connecting the app to an IoT device. This device feeds collected data around user sentiment into a global dashboard, which is also being developed by Match.dev. This global server allows us to see where our users are, understand their usage history, and review their experience through their journal entries. It also aggregates and creates community data so that we can see trends across all users.

The app is set to launch in the coming months, with Match.dev doing continuous QA in the background. Aside from building the app and the global dashboard, we’re also doing some feasibility tests for specific features. The team is currently searching for technically competent resources who could help us make decisions by testing whether or not specific feature sets are possible to build within a particular technology.

What is the team composition?

There are under 10 people working with us. Their project manager is joined by several experts and a project coordinator who is in charge of making sure we had the best developers on our project. 

How did you come to work with Match.dev?

I’m acquainted with one of their current developers because I had hired them in my previous startup. 

How much have you invested with them?

What we’ve spent so far is in the range of $25,000–$50,000 USD. We’re probably going to spend significantly more on the platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around May 2021. We have an ongoing partnership.

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

The app has not been launched yet but everyone who has seen it loves it because it is beautifully designed and functions well. Working with Match.dev has given us access to the right people without having to go through the whole process of hiring and firing. It has helped us spend less money and time and achieve great cost-capital efficiency — something we would not have gotten from hiring full-time resources.

With Match.dev, we’ve also been freed of having to totally commit to talents that could end up being sub-par. They have provided us with really confident developers who help us reach our goals faster and give us total control over what’s being built.

How did Match.dev perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re very happy in this regard. We have an inability to stick to the scope since this is the first time we’re building the platform out, but Match.dev performs really well and keeps up regardless. We communicate mainly over email and WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their development team is impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re facing some communication efficiency issues, but Match.dev is currently building an interface to mitigate that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to stick as well as you can to your product specifications because failing to do so could really mess up the timelines. In terms of engaging with Match.dev, articulate your user stories and desired the outcome well.

Worry less about the specific tech stack because they may surprise you with the way they approach problems. Often, they may have a more efficient way of doing things, so it should suffice to know what you want rather than how you’re going to get there.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Founder and CEO of a healthcare infrastructure platform -- Violet.

For what projects/services did your company hire Match.dev?

We needed engineering talent to help us scale our startup from 0 to 1, and continue scaling with as we built our internal teams. Match.dev has been invaluable in helping us launch MVP and v1 of our platforms.

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

The Match.dev team is extremely humble and kind, and the talent they're attracting to the platform is unrivaled.

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

Match is providing both full-stack and front-end engineering talent. We started our relationship by building an MVP with this talent. As the MVP saw traction and we closed financing rounds, we kept the talent onboard as we launched v1 of our platform. Now, the Match.dev talent is augmented talent, continuing to lead projects and help us scale to v2 of our platform.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We interviewed all team members and chose based on skills. Match.dev had already curated the talent, allowing us to have more trust from the onset.

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

We raised a financing round due to the MVP traction, which would not have existed w/o Match.dev talent.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Extremely effective and seamless. The team is also high-touch with helping.

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

The equity they're bringing in a globalized workforce. Talented engineers deserve recognition, regardless of what country they are based. A match is making this a possibility.

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

No.