Phoenix Network

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup company and we are working on the development of a marketplace that is going to operate in the niche of miniatures and dolls.

What challenge were you trying to address with Phoenix Network?

They were the first company we contacted for the development of the marketplace.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Phoenix Network offered to create a marketplace for us. Though they didn’t provide any documentation, they did tell us what they were going to do and gave us a short description of the website.

We found out that they weren’t going to program the website from scratch; instead, they were going to use WordPress and install a bunch of plugins. We knew that this would result in a substandard website. We told them that if we wanted just any WordPress website, we wouldn’t have sought their agency for help. They were surprised but didn’t actually tell us that they couldn’t do what we were asking.

We spent 2–3 months reaching out to them but to no avail. In the end, we decided to drop them because we weren’t moving forward. When they realized that we wanted more than they could deliver, they tried asking for more money to deliver that. It still wasn’t clear, however, what they could and couldn’t do for us.

What is the team composition?

We interacted with the CEO, the secretary, and one developer who was doing the programming. Despite the CEO being very talkative and calling three times a day prior to signing the contract, we didn’t really know who to talk to once we formally entered the partnership. The developer would send me an email once in a while, but there was no project manager. It was totally unclear who we were dealing with. 

How did you come to work with Phoenix Network?

Their website had a nice photograph of an office full of people, though it turned out later on that there are only two developers in the company. They are located in Milan, too, so it was easy to contact them. We didn’t have a clear idea of what a reasonable price range could be, but they provided us with an extremely cheap offer after we described the project, so we decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

They proposed to create the marketplace for €2,000 (approximately $2,300 USD), so we paid them €1,000 (approximately $1,200 USD) as the first installment. We did not pay the rest of the amount. At the time, we had no idea how much a project like this typically cost, so we thought it was a good deal.  When we started reaching out to other companies, we realized the cost of the project was unbelievably low. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2021. It wasn’t clear if they were going to be able to develop the website so we decided to drop them in February 2021.

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

Phoenix Network was able to create a small WordPress site for us, but it was ridiculous and totally unsuitable for our needs. The scope was always the same, but the lack of communication in the beginning caused the misunderstanding. They probably didn’t realize we didn’t want just a static WordPress website. We wanted something that met our design ideas. 

We had a very precise project in mind but they didn’t anticipate that nor did they ask us to provide a template for the project. We didn’t really know what to expect from their team either. When they finally realized that they couldn’t deliver what we wanted, it was already too late. 

How did Phoenix Network perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was not so good. We didn’t have a platform like Trello; we just relied on phone calls and Zoom. When we emailed them, they didn’t answer. They were not clear about how the development was proceeding and we spent a couple of months waiting for them to deliver something, only for them to come up empty-handed.

Even in the beginning, they didn’t actually explain to us exactly how they were going to develop the website. In comparison, the company that did end up building our marketplace provided us with a 50-page document that described the project in full even when we were still in the discussion stage.

There was no transparency upfront and they addressed our challenges very poorly. It certainly delayed the project by a couple of months. It was eye-opening for us, of course, because it forced us to widen our search and look for developers abroad. I would say it was an extremely instructive learning experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were nice guys in the end. They just weren’t geared to make the kind of website we were asking for. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would benefit them to be clear and upfront about what type of product they can and cannot do. They could improve by having more developers as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do business with them if you need a very simple WordPress website, but be very clear from the beginning about the kind of technology you need to be deployed. The CEO is a good salesperson, but we they have yet to improve how they interact with their customers when the actual project has commenced.