OBLSK LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder of PLT4M

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We helps school improve student wellness through physical activity and health education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire OBLSK LLC to accomplish?

• Save our company.
• Rebuild our broken tech platform.

SOLUTION

How did you find OBLSK LLC?

Referral

Why did you select OBLSK LLC over others?

High ratings, Great culture fit, Referred to me, Company values aligned

What was the size of OBLSK LLC’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

OBLSK was brought in to save our company. First, we asked them to take over from our existing off-shore team, repair a broken code base, and restore basic site stability for our current customers. Then, they were to build and manage a new team to replace those previous engineers for new feature development. All the while, they were to scope, plan for, then execute a complete rebuild of the product using a newly constructed on-shore team.

1. Restore stability to legacy tech platform.
2. Build out a team to support legacy system and drive new features.
3. Bring development on-shore.
4. Plan for and execute a total rebuild of the application.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• The release of our complete, custom product rebuild.

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

OBLSK dove right in (actually, ahead of the agreed upon schedule) and worked tirelessly to right the ship. Over the months and years since, OBLSK has become a resource we greatly respect, and rely on to help grow the business.

What was your primary form of communication with OBLSK LLC?

In-Person Meeting, Virtual Meeting

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

OBLSK is made up of GOOD people with extensive industry expertise. Finally, we felt our company, our dream, was in competent, trustworthy hands. They were more than just a software development service. In OBLSK, we found a savior, a trusted partner, and a competitive advantage all rolled into one.

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

Nope!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Engineering at Homebot whose mission is to maximize repeat and referral business for Loan Officers and Real Estate Agents by empowering their clients to build wealth through homeownership..

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired OBLSK to help deliver on a tight 100 day timeline and follow through on that delivery. We had multiple teams on the effort coordinating to meet that goal. OBLSK's part in that, with the 4 engineers that were supporting, was to integrate a newly acquired codebase into our own to be a part of our Homebot product. That included API work in Ruby on Rails, ETL work, and front-end work in a React codebase.

SOLUTION

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

We found OBLSK through a referral. We assessed a number of other vendors. Our trust in OBLSK in respect to the quality of delivery, their alignment with our company values, and their willingness to work with us in the timeline we needed were all key factors enabling us to choose them.

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

The 100 day goal targeted getting to market as a priority. They prioritized integrating the new API service with our own services to create an integrated experience for our users. The next step was updating the service to use our updated listings service.

Then, they focused on updating the UI and UX to make it feel more like a standard Homebot experience. That step also included full stack improvements to features. That included API work in Ruby on Rails, ETL work, and front-end work in a React codebase. Beyond this phase, the team helped follow through on integrating the experience into our own front-end code base. They also assisted with some ETL work that utilized Ruby on Jets.

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

4 engineers, each of them very senior. Mike also operated as a technical lead for the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We successfully delivered on the 100 day goal of getting the Home Search experience to our users. They helped follow through to expose the codebase across our team. Quality of the work, pragmatism, and optimizing around business goals were always prioritized.

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

OBLSK aims to integrate into the company’s workflow as much as possible. They worked in 2 week sprints as do our other teams. We coordinated through meetings in Zoom, on Slack, Google Drive, and over Slack. Mike often acted as a lead but was always listening to feedback from his team.

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

The team was always passionate about solving with quality and pragmatism. Business objectives were guiding factors discussed regularly in planning sessions helping shape solution decisions. The individuals on the team were all great humans to work with and integrated well with our team.

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

I would encourage OBLSK to be forward with what they have learned as keys to success helping other organizations they work with grow as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m chief of staff for a division of a financial intelligence firm that focuses on data and research for financial services professionals in banking, investment, and wealth management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 42 Apex?

We had multiple legacy products that needed modernized.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with 42 Apex on three custom software development projects. They rebuilt a website in Ruby on Rails. They developed backend projects to update two factories, one for data processing and one for calculation. They managed work with AWS and moved us off of FoxPro to .NET.

What is the team composition?

My main contact has always been the CEO and owner. The teams depended on the project. The website rebuild had up to 10 people working on it. The other projects had between two and five people on them.

How did you come to work with 42 Apex?

I had a prior relationship with them as I had worked with the two partners previously at another company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $800,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project we worked on started in 2014 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've definitely had significant cost savings in the business. In supporting old software, we were paying a lot for licensing and support fees. We were able to move out of on-premise data centers which saved on real estate and utility costs. We were able to reduce our hardware by scaling up to more modern servers, especially those in the cloud. We were able to downsize our operations team a bit. We saved man hours and people costs by being able to streamline and be more efficient.

How did 42 Apex perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via phone and email. We also use Basecamp and Pivotal. They had daily stand-ups with the teams when needed and weekly meetings otherwise. I've never had a problem getting a hold of them.

In some cases, they were able to work independently. On other projects, they worked side by side with our team. They deliver what they say they're going to deliver and on time. With large projects, there is always a lot of give-and-take to adjust the scope—but I've been impressed with their ability to scope and tackle problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think it's their advice on how to modernize and implement new technologies to solve the problem. They're very good at listening to what the issue is and tuning in to things that perhaps we, as an organization, didn't really think about.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I wouldn't say so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire them—and be realistic about your expectations going into it. Some products can be large and development timelines long. It’s easy for the scope to change. There’s a particular risk when working on legacy products. It can require thinking differently, not just rebuilding what already exists. There's a tendency, especially where a workflow is involved, to want to keep the same or similar workflow. That's not always the right answer. That requires being able to listen and appreciate that doing something different would yield the same results in a different way.