Quorum IO Ltd

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Roonyx

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We develop high-demand digital product in web, mobile and AI space for startups and established companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Quorum IO Ltd to accomplish?

• Collaborate with experts to fill the gap in web3 capabilities
• Build a peer-to-peer payment platform that utilizes both traditional fintech and web3 defi capabilities
• Outline the scope of development and control the outcomes of our developers

SOLUTION

How did you find Quorum IO Ltd?

Referral

Why did you select Quorum IO Ltd over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Other

What was the size of Quorum IO Ltd’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

At first we brought Quorum on as web3 consultants. The idea was to use them to outline the scope of development and to control outcomes from our devs. We quickly realized a few things.

1. We lack sufficient dev resources to really go hard and fast on this build
2. Quorum can build this better than we can
3. we can have two of our devs work under Anton’s guidance to speed things up.

So we handed out the full scope of development to the Quorum team. The features they worked on involved web3 connector, escrow service, peer to peer bank transfer, secure API service layer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• The product is live
• Closed a fund raise

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

My main objective going into this project was to launch the first version of the system by a certain date in order to accept bookings for a new center. We started with a two-week Sprint 0 to lay the foundation for future development and had several sessions.

Then, in the next two weeks, they could already design and develop some of the functionality. I had regular calls with the team, and that gave me reassurance that we were going as planned. We’ve also shown the system to some of the staff, which provided useful feedback.

What was your primary form of communication with Quorum IO Ltd?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I was surprised when 3 co-founders - Anton, Arthur and Oscar showed up to the first call. It seemed they knew their stuff, have built businesses, one was a senior architect.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Quorum IO Ltd could have done differently?

Not really

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Appeaser, an app development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AK Full Auto?

We’re trying to develop an app that’s a scientific graphing calculator.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app had preexisting open-source software for PC. AK Full Auto converted it to run on Android and also added modules for graphics. It has a stronger graphing library than the original app. The solution is based on G-app which is an open-source computer algebra system. It incorporates algebra chiefly but also has some geometrical functions and arithmetic functions.

We originally started with the objective of emulating another well-known graphing calculator on Android. That calculator is also based on G-app. It’s been broadened somewhat to include iOS. The iOS version isn’t completed yet but we’ve pretty much completed the Android version. Now, we’re thinking about marketing. AK Full Auto is helping me with it. We expect to launch in a month or two.

What is the team composition?

I chiefly work with Anton (Solutions Architect), a graphic designer, and three other people.

How did you come to work with AK Full Auto?

I’m of Indian descent. My first instinct was to go with a development agency in India because I thought they’d be less expensive from a cost-beneficial standpoint. Their quotes were low but I never received any feedback when I asked for suggestions or offered suggestions. Those agencies just responded saying that they could do it. Even when I asked for things that were mathematically impossible, they said they could do it.

During my search, I also found it frustrating that I could never speak directly to a developer. It was always a marketing person who didn’t know what was going to happen and that was frustrating. I must have spoken to half a dozen agencies and never was I able to speak to a developer.

When I spoke to AK Full Auto, they understood the underlying mathematics, which is quite important. They were willing to work on a good and cost-beneficial — but not quick —basis. If we want to do things rapidly with them, they have a system of fellow developers, but then of course the price goes up accordingly. I wanted to work on the basis of good and inexpensive, quick was not an issue.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $60,000–$65,000 AUD (approximately $46,000–$50,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2019, and our engagement is ongoing. It’s been a slow development process. I expected it to take a year, and it’s taken more than 18 months but that’s life.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have four of the most successful graphing scientific calculators on the Android app store. I compare it with that. There’s one app that is much stronger but the software has been developed for 30 years. To compete with that would be unreasonable. There are several others that have been in development for 5–10 years, and my app is more or less on par. I’m weaker in some areas and stronger in other areas but given the length of time those apps have been developed, I’m happy with it overall.

How did AK Full Auto perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is fine. We have regular weekly calls through Google Meet, WhatsApp, or video calls. AK Full Auto is good with that part of the communication. I’ve been quite lax with project management. I haven’t put the same pressure on meeting timelines as a commercial company would. I told them what I’d like done and asked them to contact me.

Sometimes, things have dragged on longer than other people would perhaps accept. I’ve taken that as the price of getting a low-cost development solution. I’m retired, so I’m quite flexible. AK Full Auto calls in the evenings when it’s roughly about 7 p.m. If I want a reasonable price from an international developer, I can’t expect them to work only in my time zone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I compared AK Full Auto’s prices and their prices were the best. They understood the problem and were willing to make reasonable suggestions rather than just take everything I said and do it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I summarized the project briefly, I said I wanted to make it work on Android. We didn’t really define what each of those goals where. When AK Full Auto completed it, the interface wasn’t as strong with Android. This is something that had to be fleshed out. In the end, it was okay. They charged me very well for a module to modify it so that it interacted properly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They volunteer sound advice and ideas. Make sure you’re very precise about what you require. What was required changed a lot as well. The real advice to any client is to know exactly what you want and to state it. The problem is, in real life, what you want changes a great deal.