Planes Studio

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Nursery Story, a nursery management application. This is a family-run business that I run with my mother-in-law.

The business was born out of my own frustration with putting my child into a nursery. I expected what information I might receive, considering my child had only been with me at all times up to that point. They were extremely busy trying to get the kids out the door in time, and, as the parents, we might want a bit too much.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Planes Studio?

We thought that an app would be a useful communication tool between teachers and parents, but it would also reduce paperwork. Ultimately, it would help the teachers make the fast observations they needed to do and spend more time being with the children and developing them.

We were working with another agency initially, but the issue with them was that they’d start developing whatever we put down on paper. There was no research or understanding of the sector involved.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I talked with their project lead about what I wanted with the app, and they researched solutions for it. Planes Studio worked with a few teachers to gather information. We had calls with those teachers to receive their feedback and ultimately bring out the best feature set possible.

Planes Studio made the design based on my direction. They proposed several options and discussed them with me. The team started the design and development from scratch.

The parent app was developed for Android and iOS, the teacher app was done for iPad, and there is a web admin panel.

What is the team composition?

I’m working with their project manager, and they have one designer and two developers assigned to the project.

How did you come to work with Planes Studio?

Planes Studio was recommended to me by another company I was working with. I was told that they would not only handle the design and development, but they’d also help with troubleshooting.

I don’t have any experience in the IT field, so I was looking to have a good feeling during the initial meeting, and a good understanding on a personal level. Everything done on my application would go through them, so we had to get along from the get go.

From the start, I got a good vibe from Planes Studio. We went through a few meetings, and they made me feel comfortable. I’ve previously worked in hospitality and food, and if there was a problem, I could deal with that. Now, if there’s a problem, I know Planes Studio will always be on hand to help.

They delved into every issue during the initial meetings, leaving no stone unturned. The team made sure that the planning was as perfect as it could be before going into development, and that was key. I knew I wouldn’t be spending an arm and a leg with the design and development, and that I could make changes.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is £175,000 (approximately $231,000 USD), and we expect it to reach £200,000 (approximately $264,000 USD) by the end of the retainer period.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Planes Studio around November 2019, and we had an MVP ready by May 2020. We have an ongoing retainer until the end of 2020, after which we’ll discuss how we’ll move forward.

The ideal for me is to have an in-house team, but this plan has been put off because of the pandemic.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went into lockdown after they started the work, and the main stats and feedback would all come from the teachers, so this part has been a bit more difficult. We’ve started putting the app into the teacher’s hands since last week, and we have six nurseries signed up.

Everyone who’s signed up to the platform said that they love the simplicity and aesthetics of the app and website.

The app had to be easy to navigate because the teachers’ main concern was about going from paper to a tech solution. The main thing that’s come from this is that every single person we’ve spoken to has said that this is the simplest app they’ve used. They really love its functionality.

Everyone is loving what we’ve done in terms of the ease and aesthetic of the app.

How did Planes Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m in constant contact with their project manager, and we have an excellent relationship. I can send him a text at any time, even during the middle of the night, and he’ll get back to me straight away.

They see this both as a working relationship and an amicable one. Their project manager is always there to give me guidance, in terms of both technical and business issues.

I’m still trying to learn the ins and outs of development, and there’ve been multiple times when he had to go over things with me multiple times. He’s shown a lot of patience on that front. The main reason this is going so well is that I don’t have to go through multiple people.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t worked with many providers, but something I liked about Planes Studio from the onset is that they always offered a solution to the problem I had, or they went out of their way to find one.

The previous agency we worked with simply did what we wanted them to do, and that was fine, but we weren’t masters of that field, so we were setting ourselves up for failure. I might have an idea that’s way off-peak, and it’s great to have Planes Studio to reel me in a bit.

They tell me what they think is right and wrong and what might be best to move forward with. They always have reasoning behind why they think an idea is good or not, and that’s key for someone like me, who’s just learning about software development. It’s put me at ease a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a bit cheaper. We haven’t made sales yet, and we’re dealing with the pandemic, so money is a subjective topic.

They’ve helped me in every shape and form I needed, but I know that they’re also working with other clients. They’re fully committed when they’re working the hours. Since they work with a variety of clients, it must be very hard to automatically go from one thing to another and know exactly what we’re thinking and talking about. This is through no fault of their own.

They’re an agency and that’s what they do, but I know that an in-house team would be fully committed to the brand. I might call or send them an email about something urgent, and their project manager will have another five calls that day with other brands.

Having a second person available just in case would be one improvement, especially for urgent things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of a workplace mental health firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Planes Studio?

We were looking to get a mental health support application developed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When they came in, we had the idea and some UI that was created by a freelancer. Planes Studio helped us get it down to an MVP in iOS and Android. A key feature of the app was making it as anonymous as possible. They integrated Firebase to make that happen. They helped implement other features we wanted as well.

What is the team composition?

We worked with CJ (Director), Henry (Director), and Ryan (Product Manager) as well as another in-house developer.

How did you come to work with Planes Studio?

We were recommended by someone on LinkedIn to meet with CJ. What was a good fit for me was they're a small agency; we had the benefit of different people and their network, but we don't deal with the bigger agency prices.

How much have you invested with them?    

We've invested 40,000 pounds (approximately $50,000 USD).        

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2019, and we wrapped up in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've only just launched, but over the last month, we've had about 20 companies sign up. We're seeing users register and workers trying to improve their mental health in their workplace as well. There are things we still want to fix but It's definitely a start. We're happy at this stage.

How did Planes Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We were happy overall. There was miscommunication sometimes, but that happens. They were there to answer any questions that we might have. It was a learning curve for us too, learning with people who do speak in tech language. They've kept in contact and even offered help after the project was finished.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If you have a concept, they're very good at helping you turn that into reality. Whereas, with a freelancer, they'll just build what you tell them to build. That really helped to get different people's opinions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Working in sprints is an industry-standard practice, but if we could do it again, it might be nicer to not compile everything into that two-week period.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be open to their opinions. Invest in an MVP and a concept rather than spending on bells and whistles. Definitely over-communicate and have clear conversations upfront about what kinds of communications can be expected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the sole founder and CEO of Travltalk. I love travelling and throughout my life have backpacked to 80 countries and met amazing people along the way. I entered a career in digital media and advertising, and then went on to learn code.

I also dreamed of combining my love for travel and my work, and one day I came up with the idea of Travltalk - an app that helped travellers meet others nearby, split costs and sell travel items.

This was in 2015, and since then I personally raised £650,000 to build the Travltalk platform, £120,000 of which went to Planes agency to develop my app. In addition to overseeing Planes, I was responsible for building out every aspect of our business, as well as securing all finance.

Planes did not assist in any of this, and Product Management was purely limited to the testing and delivery of development. Planes did not offer any assistance for the £10k with Firebase or daily app analytics related to our database and app performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Planes Studio?

I had built an Ionic prototype version of Travltalk with my UX / UI agency, Spruce design and this had been released on both Google Play and the App Store. I decided to commission and entire rebuild and of the Travltalk app in React Native and had £30k to build it, as per the wireframe specs and prototype provided and created by myself and another agency.

I met with several agencies and selected Henry and CJ, from Planes Agency. CJ had never worked in an agency before, but had created Planes 3 months earlier. Henry was the only developer I was aware of in the business when we started the project.

Over the next 1.5 years Planes developed the Travltalk app, as per my wireframes, company vision and fortnightly sprint requirements and managed all deployment and delivery until which time I moved all technical operations for Travltalk in house in August 2019.

From February - July 2018 they were paid £10,000 per month and charged for Product Management and well as development time - which was allocated at 4-6 days per month for the £10k amount.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to build a global travel app, that would stand next to the giants like Tinder and Bumble. I had worked previously with Intel, Nokia, HTC Vive, at the highest levels and new what standard consumers of a global app of this nature would expect. I was particularly concerned with data privacy and best practice to protect user data.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was introduced to CJ by someone I used to work near in WeWork Old St. I had met with other React Native developers but none could fit inside my budget. Planes was a brand new agency with only a few clients, and so there was a risk my side in giving the only budget I had to one developer in an agency with no formal experience.

However I believed they were smart guys and we seemed to share the same vision. We kicked the project off. Immediately CJ told me they had hired a new developer. They would run my project while CJ went off to find new clients for Henry.

Thankfully that developer fell through, and Henry ended up coding Travltalk. As it was because of Henry I had decided to go with Planes and would have otherwise walked away at that point, because it seemed clear CJ's goal was increasing the size of his agency, by getting as many paying clients as possible, before even servicing the first one.

Describe the project in detail.

Henry kicked off the development in April 2018, upon receiving £9,000 up front payment. CJ had a holiday planned to NZ, and left for 1 month. During this time his Father got ill and he had to stay an additional month.

His absence and the time difference meant Henry and I worked very closely together on Slack over April - June 2018, to get the app to the specs provided. I was very hands on, always testing it and requesting small optimisations which Henry helped with. He was also really excited about the app and we worked well together.

CJ returned and then on June 26th we released the app in both apps stores. CJ had tested it, but when it went live, a lot of my friends downloaded it and we noticed a lot of errors. There were so many in fact, that Henry, who had taken off on holiday right after our release, had to pretty much work his entire holiday to fix them.

I am grateful for that, but I learned that Planes did not have much appreciation for what it took to make a consumer-facing production-grade app. I decided to move development agencies and in the end took tech in house for a while.

I had taken over full admin control of my app and needed funding to continue. I secured it and suddenly had budget to pay developers to really push out and get people downloading Travltalk.

Time had passed and I approached Planes, thinking we could give it another go. After all Henry had built the app well and although their testing was not great, we had learned a lot of lessons. I offered to pay a retainer of £5,400 per month. CJ agreed we would start the first week back in Jan.

He also hired his best mate, Ryan in to be the Product Manager. They had been friends from the Airforce and Ryan had never been a Product Manager before. But he charged a high day rate for his time.

Over Feb - Aug 2019 Henry, Ryan and CJ ran the development of my app. There were quite a few problems in the beginning with server authentication and email login, that concerned me. I was technical and knew these should be simple things if managed correctly.

What was the team composition?

Planes kept the tech for Travltalk in a black box. They had also asked that I stay out of the development process. They claimed my constant changes (that was small ideas from time to time that were easily integrated in to what we we doing - as a lean startup) affected their ability to plan and schedule other client's work.

They said I was the reason for the errors because they had to keep changing the schedule. So I was forced to back away and from here they largely kept me out of the testing or product decisions, I just named what I wanted done each sprint, explained the goals and the acceptance criteria, Henry developed it, Ryan tested it and CJ was no where to be seen.

This is hard for a founder, I had created Travltalk because I wanted to be a Product Manager and build an app the travel audience loved. But I also had to think about tracking, analytics, marketing and a Series A raise - all of which I had to drive. So I focused on this.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am comfortable saying that Henry is a good developer. However CJ, Henry and Ryan did not have any understanding of the client service industry, which meant as a client they were hard to manage. Further, they also did not notify me about the Google 64 Bit update required for to continue publishing an app on the Play Store.

Henry, as a very skilled developer would have been highly informed on this matter, and further as the contracted development agency, their responsibility is to ensure we keep up to date with tech changes.

Our app was offline for 2 days in August 2019, 2 weeks before I left Planes and moved tech in house, because they released my app, after the cut off date for the 64 Bit update and then had to spend 2 days reconfiguring the Travltalk app to comply.

Any other agency would have to pay compensation costs for something like this, I believe, but I never really got an apology. I believe they had hoped I would have left Planes before the date needed to update the App, which then would have left me looking stupid and reliant on them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I always kept access to our database - this way I was able to see the source of all truth and our daily sign ups regardless of what was going on. One day Planes did something unimaginable, during our first 2019 launch, that I had prepared carefully for.

They released a production version of our app, pointing to the staging database. Had I not realised, existing and new users of our app would see data pulling in correctly - as it correlated with a different database. If a bank did that, they would go under. In this case, we were a new app with 500 users.

I called CJ immediately and told him of the problem. He said he'd have to do tests to confirm it. He refused to accept I was right already about the problem. Henry and CJ were skiiing - they hadn't let me know and had done the app release and then hit the slopes. It took 2 hours to restore but finally everything was fine again.

That same week I found I couldn't get in to the database, as the password had changed. I told Henry that wasn't ideal and if it changed I always had to know. Only once during the time I paid them £120,000 did I ever ask them to join an event of mine, and when I did it was a night of drinks, with my lead investor and lawyers attending, to bring the team together prior to our Series A announcement. I let CJ know 4 weeks ahead to block the date.

2 days before I was told by Ryan, that Henry, our lead and only developer at Planes, was unable to attend. He had a mates trip in Barcelona to join. I went quiet and expressed my sadness.

Henry did end up changing the trip, but I felt guilty. Which was strange because I was their main and almost only client and paid for their office, costs and pretty much everything needed to run Planes. Yet they did not help me with my raise and further started to make comments about the salary I paid myself.

They claimed I didn't care about user testing, yet didn't give me access to my own Firebase project. In total, they acted as if they owned Travltalk and I got in the way. They happily took my money - I increased the retainer to £10,000 from March - July 2019, to see if this would prove I did want to work together and this just made them more confident that I needed them, and they could treat me as they wished.

Ultimately the people who lost out were our investors and our users. Because only now, after 4 months of moving away from them safely, can we focus on making our app even better.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I selected Planes initially because Henry had previously worked at another startup and helped them build their React Native app from Scratch. CJ had worked with him and been exposed to the latest growth hacking techniques.

In fact CJ convinced Henry to quit that start up and create Planes with him, and that is how they came about. When Henry and I first started working together I took to him a React Native app I had coded to show him I understood the environment.

Therefore I believe Henry would agree I was very technical from the outset, least of all because I came to them already with the Ionic version of our app and all the UX / UI wireframes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The handover process was the worst part. After paying Planes £120,000 in total, not getting any support (I even offered them equity to join and be a bigger part of Travltalk), they did all they could to derail me as we moved in house.

I found another 2 developers, scheduled a handover call which was recorded, where I removed Henry's access to all our back end systems, added our new developers and changed the passwords, so Henry no longer had access. We went through 60 minutes of pieces and at the end I asked if there was anything I had overlooked. Henry said no.

He had also told me Firebase had been removed from our app, the week earlier, and so I did not ask for this to be handed over. In fact, it was revealed 3 months later that Henry kept access to our Google Developer API - which can be used to override the Google Play store, our Firebase project, used to serve push notifications and for domain authentication and continued to use our Sendgrid API via another application they held on their end.

We subsequently changed our API key and worked to lock down any final access - which also included a Flickr account, Mixpanel account and Cloudinary account - all of which linked to our user data, that Henry kept access to after we officially left Planes and only handed back when it was demanded explicitly by me with the threat of legal action.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a New Zealand based startup. We’re a P2P marketplace that connects people who need tasks done with the people who can get those tasks done.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Planes Studio?

We hired Planes Studio to create our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Planes Studio created our customer-facing platform. Their team built an app in React Native, which is on Google Play and the App Store. They also created a lot of databases and a responsive desktop website.

Basically, their team built a marketplace where our customers post tasks that need to be completed. And then, the other side of the marketplace, who we call the “taskers,” provides those users with offers to complete the tasks. There are all sorts of jobs—both professional and nonprofessional—on the platform.

What is the team composition?

Recently, a new project manager came on board who has done a fantastic job.

How did you come to work with Planes Studio?

We scoped the New Zealand market for a while and ended up getting about three or four quotes. Actually, a colleague put us in touch with Planes Studio. They established trust and were able to provide us with a level of support that outweighed everyone else in the market. Their team also had created a similar platform for hospitality workers. We were impressed with their first platform and saw that they were able to bring across a lot of their knowledge from that first venture into our product.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018 and the work’s ongoing. We’re locked into having those guys continue to work with us. They’re still providing us great support and don’t see that ending anytime soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re happy with the results and what they’ve been able to provide. We track the success of Planes Studio not only by the functionality of the platform and the ease of access to our users, but also revenues, completion rates, and daily active users. We’re really happy with their team.

With a platform such as ours, a lot can go wrong. The level of support that Planes Studio has been able to provide, whether it’s midnight or on the weekend, there’s someone there to help us out as quickly as possible. Planes Studio can get things done when we need them done rather than at a convenient time to them.

How did Planes Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re in constant communication daily and have a bigger meeting once a month. Fortnightly, we meet to plan sprints. We’re in constant communication, so project management has been fantastic. They use a whole range of different platforms that we have access to. We’re able to file support or feature tickets that their team scope’s out quickly; that has been great. Project management’s been simple, even with the time difference.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Planes Studio’s extremely cost-efficient. When scouting the project, we were invited to agencies with beautiful reception areas and huge TVs on their walls. We’ve enjoyed that Planes Studio has not spent money on that sort of thing but on our product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For the size of the business, they’re running really well at the moment. They’ve got a few clients under their belts but they’re able to check in on each of their clients and work with them personably. Planes Studio has been really good to us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go in with an open mind. Initially, we tended to pretend that we knew it all. Planes Studio actually had a better approach to working on new features. They’ve been in the industry for years. Rather than you as the consumer telling them what to do, let them read the data and work out what’s best for your users.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Minute Media is a digital-first media company, which uses it's proprietery technology platform to power content and advertising solutions globally across 10+ languages. My role is Senior Project & Account Manager, delivering global campaigns for our advertising clients as well as working across B2B marketing projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Planes Studio?

Over the last couple of years we have partnered with Planes to provide solutions for a number of projects:

• Building out our B2B website
• Innovative & engaging widgets for our advertising partners
• Media units to run across our portfolio of O&O sites

What were your goals for this project?

Impress our users and partners with excellent user experience, while meeting aggressive timelines and rigid budgets.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have worked with many agencies and studios across a number of projects in the past, but we were impressed by Planes' collaborative approach and ability to work in very fast-paced environments with ever-changing client needs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Across all projects Planes provided excellent leadership and guidance around React, and were always responsive regardless of time of day or day of the week which was crucial with a large number of our sites being sports focussed and issues needing to be resolved over weekends etc.

What was the team composition?

3 members of the Planes team were working alongside our team. Our team changed depending on the size of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the B2B site and widgets we have repeatedly seen our engagement rates above our typical platform benchmarks. With our media units, the load times and responsiveness have allowed for increased performance across our portfolio and a far greater experience for users and partners.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Collaborative at all stages, from setting deliverable deadlines that were realistic and achievable within the tight timelines, to coming up with key insights and guidance on improving results.

Communication was always quick and clear, through Slack, face to face or email. The team's approach was agile and most importantly always adapted well to changing criteria, and additional requests, with a great ability to understand our goals and provide the best possible solutions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their leadership & guidance in the React space and collaborative approach that made them feel a part of our team at all stages. We're able to depend on them to deliver what's needed on time and within our budget.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our feedback sessions have always led to growth and improvements (on both sides) as we go, nothing else to add at this stage.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of The Circle Line, a platform that provides self development and mental health services online. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Planes Studio?

We reached out to Planes Studio to develop our web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Planes Studio designed and developed our web application from scratch, incorporating APIs like Stripe and Twilio. There are two different login types for the platform: one for clients and one for therapists or coaches. Users can create a profile, upload documents, and access calendar, payments, and different communication features. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked with three people, including a developer, project manager, and the founder of the company. 

How did you come to work with Planes Studio?

We interviewed three different companies that were recommended to us personally and ultimately felt that Planes Studio was the best fit. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from around February–May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven't launched the app yet, but they've provided high-quality work overall and tracked their progress in an organized manner. 

How did Planes Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive and quick to respond to any issues. They also delivered on time and on budget. We used tools like Slack and Trello to track project progress, and held regular calls with their team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're not just technologically savvy, but also very pragmatic in their approach. As a smaller startup company, they have an impressive understanding of what an MVP needs to be. Thanks to their advice and feedback, we were able to save a lot of money by focusing on the most practical aspects of the first version of our platform.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No criticisms—Planes did everything we asked them to and a bit more. If I had more budget right now, I would love to give them free-reign for the product roadmap going forward. That will come!

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish a personal relationship with them, because a more collaborative approach helps build trust between the client and the vendor. They're very bright, nice people, so I'd definitely recommend getting them involved early on in the process.