Quartus Technology, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The company is a startup called JayWalking. It's an application for small businesses to advertise on their own Facebook for small businesses. The company is like Yelp – with business to customer reviews. My app will allow businesses to put up their own offers. That way, they’re taking control of the message that’s being put out there. It's similar to Yelp, but it's business to customer, not customer to customer.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the strategy or goal for your work with Quartus Technology?

I had the idea for this app, and a vision and design for it. Quartus Technology was able to walk me through what I needed to do. I needed to eliminate some things from the business plan. They made sure I was making an app that would be used for now and in the future. I’m grateful to them.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work

They helped me with the design and development of the app. I had a concept and made a mockup of what I thought the app would look like. Their design made it much better, and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. They knew what path to take it down, including what the look and feel should be. The app is incredible. I’m playing with it, and clearly businesses are using it. Customers have it, and are walking around town with it. They love the feel of it, and it's an exciting time right now.

What was your process for selecting Quartus Technology?

I interviewed three companies, including Quartus. We had conversations though email and an in-person interview. One of the main things that Quartus had was the passion they brought to the project, especially the head developer. The way he knew exactly what I was looking for, from even the emails was impressive. They impressed me with how excited they were to get the interview scheduled. They showed me what it would look like, what it should be; we should take out SMS and focus only on the app because that is the future of mobile. That was a reason, too. Their passion equaled mine, and I knew that would be a great way to have something great created.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

It was $21,000 for this project, including design and development. We needed to have a CMS system of our own, which was the bulk of the price. There was design and some strategy, which was Gary [Dachman, Quartus Technology president]'s part. He was very helpful with me throughout the process. He made sure the business plan and the strategy we would implement to distribute this app was coming along. I feel like I got a bargain compared to market prices.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

It was completed in early December of 2013. We're still in beta mode, and it's not in the App Store yet. I’m not anticipating that until mid-January of 2014. There is a little work to be done, but the bulk of the work is completed. We're just getting the glitches out and beta testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I’ve spoken with 28 small business owners in the area. When they got the app, they were shocked because they could put their own logo on the app. They could have billboards that they have control of, and they can advertise anytime they want to. I reached out to the subscribed JayWalkers and, with their advice and tweaks, they're excited and have signed up for beta testing. It looks like they’re going to sign up as members too. Everyone who's tried the app – consumers and business owners – is very excited and can’t wait to start using it full time.

How did Quartus Technology perform throughout the work?

With communication, they were great. Time-wise, they would ask for one day, but were maybe two days off. Nothing critical that made me go nuts. I would definitely work with them again. Besides the timing of a few things, everything went well.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They are the only company I worked with. I would say the passion they bring, trusting my vision about what I believe the market needs are, is unique. They took what I gave them and produced what I envisioned. They took the time to hear me out and respected what I was looking for. That’s what made them different to me.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

I would like to be physically closer to them so I could visit more often, and be in the lab with them. That way, if we needed to pivot, we could do it together rather than through Google Talk or Basecamp.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We provide a platform that allows academic institutions to create a native application that can be deployed and published to their constituents. This includes students, parents, alumni, and faculty.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the founder and CEO of the company. We have about three employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Quartus Technology?

We tried to develop something that was completely different from what the current marketplace had. That was our big challenge. Being in the educational space, everyone had the same mobile application, and we wanted to create a profile-based app. We were able to tailor content to each of those constituents of the college. If you’re a current student, you would get information that is relevant to you. If you’re a prospective applicant, you would get information that is relevant to you in terms of filling out a request for admissions or open house information. We also use push notifications that can be personalized to each of those profiles. Implementing those goals was our biggest challenge. Fortunately, they were able to do that for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Their work was top notch. My first client, which was Wiley College, was about to celebrate their 140th anniversary when we approached them. They needed a prototype within three weeks. When I went to Quartus and spoke to Gary [Dachman, the company president], I told him they could be a big client for us. It would take from eight to 12 weeks to deploy something like that. Fortunately, they were able to do so. When they presented it at the anniversary, everyone was very excited. The design of the app is a simple, yet creative, interface. Their work was top notch. Their developers did all the design work for us, I was very pleased.

What was your process for selecting Quartus?

I had interviewed three other companies. I went with Quartus because when we spoke, they saw that this was an idea that could grow into something big. Also, because I was new to starting a business, they didn’t just present me with the product and end our relationship. When I was pitching the app to the colleges, they came with me on the first two interviews. They pitched in when I did online interviews as well. We’ve continued to develop this relationship, where they give me advice on working with other companies.

For example, because we did the app, a big educational company is interested in partnering with us to develop applications to integrate with their services. We just met a few days ago to discuss this, and they sent me a non-disclosure agreement. They’re very involved in seeing us succeed. Our relationship has gone beyond a developer relationship into a partner relationship.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

The work is ongoing. Our cost range was from $5,000 to $15,000 worth of work. That depends on how many platforms an academic institution wants to use. They also make additional features. We have about 15 modules, and some of them want us to integrate with their student information system, their financial aid systems, and so on. They will assist us with developing some middleware that integrates with their systems, which will then feed into the mobile application.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

We completed the last project in October of 2013. We launched our first client's app to the App Store in late October or November of 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

In the first few days, we had about 1,000 combined downloads on Android and iOS for the application. That was about a week after the product launched. It was a strong start. The schools were waiting for it to launch. The school has about 4,000 to 5,000 students, and the vice president of technology for the school sent an email blast to everyone. Within that week, everyone downloaded the application.

Quartus had me on a schedule where we met every Friday after work because I work full time. I went to their office, and they came down to my office. We went back and forth, coming up with designs and ideas. It wasn’t just about the application, but also about moving forward with the business as well. It was a business partnership, too.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They are very knowledgeable about the education industry in the mobile app space. Other companies are knowledgeable about the space, too. What stood out was their business sense. I’m a new entrepreneur working in the tech space, and there are certain things I didn’t know, such as how to charge my clients, ways to scale the business, other avenues that I could look into with this platform that I developed. They’ve been able to give me that information, and that’s what stood out about them.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

Not at all.