Praxent

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a registered investment advisor firm. We manage investments in the public equity market, predominantly stocks for institutional investors like pension funds and endowments. We manage about $15 billion in assets and have about 60 people on staff. Our company has been in business for over 22 years.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We had a proprietary research database, which we used to collect information on companies that we potentially might invest in and those we’d already invested in. The app was built over 10 years ago and had minimal functionality — it was starting to show its age and limitations.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve engaged with Praxent to revamp and further develop the application. We’ve done it in two phases. First, they’ve rewritten the program using modern technologies and platforms instead of the .NET outdated version that we had. It’s an update of the underlying technology, and we also have done a facelift to make it look and feel like a more modern program. The next step has been enhancing the functionality to use better the data we collect and do things like charting, cross-referencing data, and more functions to help us leverage our work to make better investment decisions.

We meet regularly to outline our vision for what the software should look like and take them through the existing system and some of its flaws and limitations. They’ve worked with us to understand the program and how it works. Then, they’ve spent an additional amount of time understanding what we want to get out of the end goal. We’ve talked about ways to break up the work into discrete sprints, which has allowed us to spread the cost of development over time. We make one sprint, digest it, and test it to let our users work the system. Then, we come back and do another iteration. Over a year, we’ve developed at our own pace.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What is the team composition?

We’ve been assigned a project manager who has shepherded us and been involved throughout the whole process. Then, they’ve brought in 2–3 developers to work with us.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

A developed on our staff found them. I believe it was through a recommendation from a colleague from his previous work. We also interviewed five other similar firms in New York, the US, and abroad. However, we clicked better with Praxent. They seemed to understand our needs better than some of the other companies, and their pricing was competitive. Overall, they just were the best cultural fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent about $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2020, and our relationship is ongoing. We’re getting to the tail end of the project.

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

We’ve rolled out features to users in batches over time, and we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from a practical level. We can now enter data more efficiently and faster, which has helped speed up our entry. Although nobody cares about entering the data into the system, it’s a necessary evil, so the fact that we’ve streamlined it has made fans out of our users.

Secondly, the project has been very impactful because we use this database to demonstrate how we think about companies to our prospects and clients. Therefore, it’s an excellent window into our investment process. When we present it at meetings, it comes across as more professional-looking and impressive than when the software was over 10 years old. Therefore, it has given us a lot of marketing cachet in addition to the pragmatic aspects.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent at communicating. We have regular meetings, and they stick religiously to them unless we ask them to postpone or move them. They’re available for everything and have been very responsive to communication beyond the weekly calls. In general, they’ve stuck to the guidelines. If there has been a significant deviation, it has been caused by us changing the parameters.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to understand is outstanding. Not only do they understand what we need, but they guide us to things that we may not have reached on our own in terms of layout and functionality. Praxent hears what we ask for, but they interpret that and make suggestions beyond what we want. We didn’t know we needed those things until we were introduced to them by Praxent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think about that, but I’m pretty happy with them. I’d be stretching to come up with something.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to find someone you can partner with instead of just hiring someone to do a job. If you don’t come from a development background, you should work with someone who understands your business and needs — it’s important to find a partner that’ll guide you through the process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business system manager for a financial services company. We insure automotive loans for credit losses.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We needed help with software development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent helped us develop a couple of services on our main platform. We’re still working together and we continue to assign projects to them.

What is the team composition?

We’re primarily working with their architect, business analyst, project manager, and two developers.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

My boss was the one that worked to find them. She was the one who decided to work with Praxent.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000–$400,00.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

They work faster than we are, so we’re just trying to keep up with them in installing our services and putting them into the production environment. Overall, they’re really good to work with.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They have great communication skills. We use message boards, and we can always ask them any questions. Above all, if we need to do something different, they’re very proactive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Praxent team has been open and transparent about what they’re doing, making our job easier because we see where they are with the timelines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To be honest, I can’t come up with anything they can improve right now since my focus is on our side of things.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared because they move fast and adhere to the timeline.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a programmer and the IT manager at Church Extension Plan, a nonprofit financial services company. Our company provides financial services to churches and ministries of the Assemblies of God. We primarily fund loans to churches and support them with various investment offerings, retirement account options, and estate planning services. We make sure our clients aren’t borrowing more than they can pay and support them if they run into difficulties.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

Our executive team and board recognized that having a mobile app would afford us trust and prestige. Although we had a website, we also wanted to give our existing customers an app option to have on their phones. However, we didn’t have the time or resources in-house to create an app ourselves, and the board wanted it developed relatively quickly.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent designed our mobile app. A developer from their team helped us think through the design and how it would influence the build down the road. Additionally, they delivered a design for our responsive desktop web portal. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people during the sales process. When we moved to the design stage, we had a project manager, someone overseeing the project, two designers, and a third one shadowing the process. One of the original designers gave birth near the end of the process, so the third designer took over for her. We also worked with the developer who advised on design. In total, we worked with 5–6 people from Praxent. 

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We did Google searches, reached out to app development companies, and Praxent was one of them. We had ongoing conversations with 3–4 developers. While others were content to take our existing portal and cram it into a phone shape, Praxent asked questions about the value of professional design. Others did very little to recognize our lack of expertise. Meanwhile, Praxent paid attention to our needs during the sales process. They wanted to ensure we got what we needed and not just what we asked for. 

They requested our design documents, which we didn’t have. So, they suggested pausing the development process and designing the app first. In our initial conversations, they were very transparent about their prices, and they were out of our range for development. However, their design prices were a bit lower, and they had compelling arguments for starting with a professional design, so we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2021–March 2022

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

The response to Praxent’s work has been almost universally positive. Everyone in our company, including our board members, thinks the design is fantastic. This is a hard consensus to achieve, and it’s helped us feel comfortable that we chose to go with them. 

I’m very happy that they steered us toward designing first. Initially, we were putting the cart before the horse, and we would have ended up with our customer portal scrunched up into a phone shape. Praxent made sure we thought about the project from both a customer experience and UI point of view and that we had the design nailed down before going further. 

Their expertise has been valuable to us. They were happy not just to design the app but also to coach our team on why they made certain decisions, how things were used, and why they were important. They provided a lot of experience and insight that we didn’t previously have, both from a design and a technological perspective; Praxent’s work involved bringing us up to speed on UI design. 

The team had some really valuable conversations with our technology team that helped us think about the technical challenges of an app in a new way. Even though we’re going with another company for development, we’re in a stronger position to tackle the challenge thanks to Praxent’s help. We closed the engagement very amicably, and they offered suggestions and help to pick another vendor and even offered us their employees at an hourly rate. 

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was very effective. They delivered either on time or within a week. Even though we had holidays and someone giving birth through our engagement, Praxent found ways to connect and make sure the process was seamless regardless of any issues. For example, the transition to the third designer went very smoothly, and we didn’t experience any interruptions in the workflow.  

The sales team threw in the portal design near the end of the sales process, and the team was very realistic about how much time that would add to the plan. They were very good about delivering on a reasonable timeline and within the budget set at the beginning. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with Praxent’s transparency. We had very few surprises, and there wasn’t any dishonesty involved. As a result, we felt pretty comfortable being open with them about our budget, timeline, hang-ups, and slow-downs. The team was very transparent about everything from costs to what they wanted or didn’t want to do. 

Additionally, everyone on Praxent’s team was really kind. Although they were professionals, they were also friendly, and we enjoyed talking to them. Their skills were also impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had an issue with miscommunication during the sales process. After a casual conversation, I thought we’d agreed to one thing, and they thought we’d decided on something else. However, we were able to rewind and locate where the communication had failed, so we got through it. Although nailing down specific topics could have been better, the team fully recognized that and worked on it going forward, so no hard feelings were left. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Praxent can take a holistic view of your project even if you don’t have the experience to do so. My advice is to lean on their expertise, even to help figure out what stage of the process you’re actually in. You can trust they have the skill and experience to find the best way to solve the problem and then actually solve it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a partner and a founder at a fintech company. We’re doing our best to create a website that will bring financial planning and advice to a broad audience.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We were trying to bootstrap the website development. We were working with a development team and wanted to find someone else to help us get a few things done in parallel with that team. I brought in Praxent in a staff augmentation capacity for development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent was our full-time staff augmentation partner for four months. If we had a void within our existing development team, Cristian (Senior Frontend Developer) would come in to help us.

What is the team composition?

We only worked with Cristian, and I had a little interaction with Kevin (Managing Partner).

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We considered three different companies. Initially, we were looking to do some UI/UX work with Praxent, and though that didn’t come to fruition, we got to know them through that process. When we needed staff augmentation, we decided to lean on Praxent because we were more familiar with them than the other firms we’d talked to.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from around August 2021–January 2022.

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

I can only speak about Cristian’s work, and although he wasn’t reporting to me, the person responsible thought he did a very good job. Cristian was very insightful and honest with his timeframe and abilities. My interactions with him were very cordial, and I learned something from his time working with us. Additionally, Kevin seemed like a very nice person, and he was a straight shooter.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Cristian hit every mark when it came to project management. He was personable and easy to work with. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Praxent did a very good job at finding offshore talent. Cristian was a very straight shooter, which was important; what he said he could do, he delivered on. The best thing about him was that he was very good at managing expectations; most people in the technology industry are terrible at that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there wasn’t anything they needed to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend them; Praxent delivered, and Cristian did a great job. If I needed help with development work in the future, I would reach out to Praxent and request Cristian.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of an insurance organization called Resolvedrisk.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We needed help with web development for our business.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent created a demonstration website for us. To jumpstart the project, I provided them with sketches showing the workflow, and we then met with their designers to build the platform collaboratively. They basically created the whole UI/UX for me, which is what we asked for.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with four members of their team, including three designers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We found them through a web search, and we chose them because I was impressed with their portfolio and design approach, which seemed straightforward and organized.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $60,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

They’ve consistently delivered what we’ve asked for with the parameters we need.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is excellent; they’ve done everything within the established timelines and budgets. In terms of communication, we use weekly Zoom meetings, email, and Figma to exchange comments and feedback on their designs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project management and accountability stand out the most from their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — Praxent has done what they said they’d do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Plan everything upfront; that’ll enable you to scope the projects without deviating from that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We were formerly ACAP but we went through a rebrand in the fall of 2021, so our company is now called Newity. We provide equitable access to a traditionally underserved segment of the economy, which is small to medium-sized businesses. We connect entrepreneurs with affordable business loans and other trusted business services — such as online managed accounting, business insurance, and marketing and legal services — by leveraging our technology and partnerships. I’m the COO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

In order to efficiently and effectively service PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans, we set up a portal where our borrowers could apply for loan forgiveness. We developed this portal back in the summer of 2020, but as time went on, we realized that we wanted to improve upon it and shift our focus away from PPP and more towards providing other business services for our members.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started the project by putting together a high-level overview or schematic of what we were offering, for which Praxent submitted a proposal to evolve our 1.0 portal to a 2.0 version. We gave them access to our existing database and portal and conducted a handful of calls to introduce them to our goals in terms of features and functionality. 

Over the course of a few months, Praxent redesigned the UI/UX of our portal to be more robust. For instance, they enhanced it to allow new member registration and accommodate new business services. They presented a technical product design that aligned with what we wanted, so we decided to use them for the implementation of it as well. 

In the end, we were able to migrate our member base and connect our partner businesses to the fully integrated platform. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a few delivery leads and product designers. There was also a technical director, three developers, and a QA tester.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

A marketing firm that we were working with helped us identify candidates for the job. We spoke to a number of different firms, but Praxent was, from day one, the provider that truly understood our business and what we were trying to accomplish. They had relevant experience and seemed really interested to drive our project to success. It was a clear choice for us. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We officially engaged Praxent in July 2021. We’ve been working with them ever since. 

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

We always knew that this was going to be a tough and complex project to take on, but it has gone very smoothly. We have just launched the platform, and though bugs are inevitable, Praxent has been quickly responded to and fixed any issue that came up. 

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their process is really great, and their team is awesome to work with. They’ve helped us navigate this complex project. The way our technology is built requires a significant amount of attention to detail, and they’re able to come through for us in a major way. They’re very organized and on top of everything.

We go by a weekly cadence, and their technical director and delivery leads are always accessible via Teams, email, or phone calls. It’s easy to communicate with them, and they’re very open to any feedback or suggestion that we give. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The organization of the Praxent team really stands out to me. Everybody — from the delivery leads down to the technical team — has understood and delivered what we were trying to accomplish. They’ve gone above and beyond for us and have taken a vested interest in the success of this technology and our business. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any negatives. Everything that came up during the process has been quickly identified, analyzed, and resolved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend Praxent to anybody who’s contemplating the implementation of a new process or design. Their team is great and fun to work with, and any pain point you encounter will be quickly mitigated.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief solutions officer at Neocova, and I’m responsible for support, customer success, and solutions delivery. 

Neocova does three main things. First, we provide a "Smart" unified data management platform for financial institutions, helping them organize and transform their data to make data-driven business decisions.

Then, we introduce an advanced level of AI and machine learning technology to the data to predict how banks can grow and sustain their business. Finally, we’re creating a banking data marketplace that enables fintech companies and banks to easily integrate with one another.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

When I first started at Neocova, the company required a solutions delivery capability in order to implement our products in a fast-growing community of customers. As a result, I created and established a mature delivery process called the Neocova agile execution model. We then partnered with Praxent to help us apply that model to our portfolio of customers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I created the model and trained our Neocova and Praxent team members to use it. We jointly built a team composed of a program manager, implementation lead, a banking subject matter expert, a data engineer, and a scrum master.

At present, Praxent helps us continuously improve and fine-tune the model. They also engage our customers as they help us deploy the Neocova platform. We plan to develop our relationship further as we grow as a business.

What is the team composition?

At the peak of the partnership, we worked with five people from Praxent, including one of their business partners. 

How did you come to work with Praxent?

Our CEO had previous discussions with Praxent. When I came to the company, I did my due diligence and searched for vendors with deep banking experience — Praxent had this. They also had proper operational and program management discipline. In other words, they not only had the subject matter expertise we needed; they could also help us with its execution. These things were key to our decision to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend between $26,000–$34,000 per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2021, and the partnership is ongoing.

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

Praxent has helped us responsibly grow from having only three customers to having 13 clients in a matter of four months. That’s amazing. It takes an enormous amount of discipline, know-how, and expertise to help us grow that fast. I hope to continue our growth at that rate, and I’m confident that the team can help us execute this goal. 

One challenge we’ve encountered is getting used to the agile execution methodology itself — it was a little bumpy — but as we’ve fine-tuned the model and practiced it, our team has managed to operationalize it. Through this process, Praxent has run with the project, and they’ve been fantastic. In addition, the team has been instrumental in fine-tuning the model so that it fits our customers.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything is top-notch in terms of project management. Praxent never misses a deadline, and their communication is constant. They’re always ready, and their resources foresee project management disciplines that need to be put into place. 

It’s almost like they’re reading my mind; they give me updates and suggestions about what we’re going to need, and I tell them that I’ve been thinking about introducing the same suggestions to them — except they’re ahead of me by two weeks. 

On top of that, the Praxent team is truly humble and down to earth so it’s easy to work with them. They don’t overly stress their views and opinions, but they make recommendations when necessary. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Praxent’s banking expertise has impressed me the most. It’s amazing, so our customers’ happiness is through the roof. They’re delighted to know that we have subject matter experts and that we integrate that expertise into our platform. Simply put, Praxent’s expertise doesn’t stay with the production team; it’s integrated into the software and disseminated across our portfolio of customers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get to know Praxent and onboard them slowly. Then, be completely transparent about your needs, direction, vision, and plan. They operate extremely well with this approach since they’re also open and transparent. Moreover, their number one goal is to serve their clients, so you must treat them as a true partner and not just a vendor of project management services. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and CEO of an early-stage fintech startup that’s developing a social investment platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We wanted to get started on our marketing efforts. In line with that, we needed someone to build a demo of our product that we could pitch to our investors. The demo we wanted was just a clickable platform with no actual functionality. Our goal was to show our app’s design and user flows.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent built a demo version of our app. We first had a meeting where we went over their proposal. Once they identified which teammates would be working on our project, we had discussions on the design we were looking for and the features we wanted to showcase. The design team then began working on the project. My co-founder and I met with them every week to go over their progress and provide feedback. 

The deliverable was a high-fidelity clickable demo on Figma. It had 40 pages that anyone could access through a link so they could experience the user flows. We plan on using it to make GIFs and screenshots that we could put on our website and pitch deck.

What is the team composition?

We were primarily in contact with three people, but there was a total of five teammates in our weekly calls. Two team members did most of the design work, and Garrett (Principal Delivery Lead) managed the whole project.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

One of our advisors referred Praxent to us. We had 2–3 introductory meetings with various teammates where we explained what our company does, where we were at, and what we were looking for. We chose them because they had previous experience working with fintech companies and knowledge of the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $23,000–$24,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from July–August 2021. 

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

Praxent did a great job of capturing our user flows, which was vital to us. Our discussions gave us a better idea of the actual user journey we wanted for our product.

Additionally, one of our product advisors joined one of our weekly calls, and he was very impressed with the team’s work.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with Praxent was a great experience. Going through the process together and talking to an external team about our ideas each week was very helpful. Aside from our weekly discussions with the design team, we also had weekly meetings with Garrett, who gave us short status updates.

Furthermore, the designers responded well to our feedback — they quickly incorporated every comment we made into the next iteration of their work. The Praxent team was also clear about what they needed from us, and we produced those in time. They never went beyond any of our deadlines, so there were no delays from either side. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their deep understanding of our application and our goals was impressive. Not only did they understand what we were looking for design-wise, but they also considered the app as a whole.

When we talked to other vendors, they only seemed to understand the design and not the platform, so it was nice that Praxent knew precisely what we were going for. That understanding allowed them to provide valuable suggestions and feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they can improve on. It was a great partnership, and I have nothing negative to say about Praxent. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’ve thought through your product. Furthermore, have a good idea of what you want in terms of user flow and so on. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Point Health, an Austin-based company that has built a software platform for navigating the health care process and to create a better health care experience for everyone.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We are a small tech company that needed to quickly ramp up on key technical resources. We brought on Praxent to our team to acquire the resources and skills that we needed right away.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent provided us with the necessary resources to bring our product to market on time. Mauricio (Senior Site Reliability Engineer) from Praxent was an integral member of our development team during this project.

The main challenges were to set up alerts and monitoring of our infrastructure. Mauricio works with our development team to set up tools to support our deployment functions whenever we push code into production.

What is the team composition?

We mainly only work with Mauricio. 

How did you come to work with Praxent?

When I joined Point Health, our company had just signed an agreement with Praxent. Mauricio had the experience and technical skills we needed. On top of that, their management team was local here in Austin, Texas so it was easy to meet them as needed.

What is the status of this engagement?

We onboarded them in May 2021, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

Praxent has had a positive impact on our business. They understand the challenges that we’re addressing, and they’ve allocated the right person for the role that we need. Without them and Mauricio, we wouldn’t have been able to set up our deployment pipeline successfully and quickly. In fact, they’ve worked on much of our monitoring and automation process needs. 

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had no issues at all in terms of project management. Mauricio interacts with the whole team, and I have weekly one-on-one meetings with him to ensure we’re aligned on the task at hand. He also attends our daily scrum meetings, so everyone is aware of his work and vice versa. On top of that, we have regular check-in meetings with their account executive to make sure we’re happy with Mauricio and their services. Simply put, we’ve had a truly positive experience. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mauricio is truly flexible. That’s great because we’re a small team and we often have to shift focus to handle any unexpected issues and priorities. When these matters arise, Mauricio is always available and works along side with our team until they are resolved.

Are there any areas they could improve?

None that I can think of at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Praxent is a great partner to work with so I would encourage any organizations to give them an opportunity, or at least speak with their management team. Based on our work with Mauricio and the overall business relationship with Praxent, I believe they can provide a customized offering and bring the right skillsets to meet an organization's needs and requirements.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an executive assistant of Sage’s portfolio manager. Sage Equity Partners is a real estate investment firm and provides people with a different way to invest. We have about 400 limited partnerships (LP).

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We wanted to create a really nice webpage that could allow other people access as well as give accredited investors the ability to sign up and look at the opportunities that we provide. Our boss based its design off of the website of similar firms, which is also how we came up with the name Sage Street. We hired Praxent to develop this website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our other website was done by our portfolio manager herself and it was very plain and simple. We had Praxent develop something better and more dynamic as we’re trying to reach out to a different group of people. A lot of our LPs are retirees or people in their late 40s, but we wanted to be more in sync with a younger crowd.

We started by informing Praxent about our timeline and about how our boss needed to be involved throughout the project. He’s a very busy person but, at the end of the day, this would be his website. We wanted to make sure that it was something he would like. 

We communicated information about the company, our values, and what we were trying to accomplish. Our boss, who was in the meetings, never got to ask himself these questions even though he’s been running the place for 4–5 years, so it was a good opportunity for him to classify the company. 

We then moved into selecting a color scheme. They also came up with different options for the design and arrangement of a page, which our boss modified. He pointed out specific elements, like a picture or a button, that did or didn’t like, and Praxent changed the design accordingly. 

What is the team composition?

A project manager that was dedicated to us, and Doug (Principal Delivery Lead), Kelly (Principal Delivery Lead), and Victor (Senior Product Designer) formed the core team that worked on the project. There was also Kevin (Managing Partner) but he was only involved at the beginning, sort of like a high-level salesperson. 

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We’d been looking around for a developer for quite some time, and one of our former employees happened to have a lot of connections in the web development space. He was familiar with how to go about this project and push for the proposal. 

We also looked at who developed some of the top websites that we really loved, and Praxent was ultimately referred to us by another developer who didn’t have enough room in their schedule to accommodate us. We’re very glad that they pointed us in Praxent’s direction. 

How much have you invested with them?

This phase of the project cost approximately $5,000. The development stage will cost around $110,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged Praxent and had our first kickoff meeting in mid-May 2021. The design phase for the website ended in July 2021 and we are now moving into development, for which Doug will be helping us. 

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

They were very helpful and the partnership was a good learning experience. Praxent guided us on how to deliver the points we were trying to make on the website in a fast and consistent manner. They’re very creative and really built off of our goal which was to present people with different ways of investing. That was clearly reflected in the design that they made. 

We haven’t gone public with the website, but we did show it to our investment committee and some of the directors of our company. They were all blown away by it and are excited to take it to the next stage. These are people with a combined experience of 70 years working in private equity and have never seen anything like this before, so they think that it will help increase our engagement tenfold.

The feedback that we’ve received from high-level team members in our offices has also been very positive. 

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Praxent did a phenomenal job. They did everything they said they were going to do. They were also very great at hitting deadlines. We were fifteen days behind schedule, but that was on us and not on Praxent. We have a CEO who runs about 50 companies and wanted to be on every call, causing some of the meetings to be pushed back.

Our boss is what we like to call a ‘window shopper’ in that he sees something he liked but doesn’t necessarily know how to explain it. Praxent was actually able to extract every idea that he had in is head and put it on the screen, which was great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Obviously, their design and technical skills are phenomenal, but my favorite thing about their services is the constant stream of communication and follow-ups that are not by any means pushy. When we had deliverables on our end, they laid them out point by point so that we knew exactly what we had to do. We didn’t have to overthink or spend a lot of time on one particular thing, which was very nice for a team like ours that’s very busy with other things. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. They were very flexible with our needs. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You’re going to get out of it whatever you put into it, so when Praxent gives you deliverables, really think about and work on them. If you put the bare minimum into it, they can take a small idea and turn it into something glorious. If you’re going to spend time doing something like this or working with a company like Praxent, you definitely need to be ready to do a bit of homework and internalization of your company, its values, and its goals.