Rocksauce

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company manufactures goods in the consumer space, from toiletries and paper towels. I’m the consumer engagement product lead, working to expand our brands and formats into more digital spaces.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rocksauce?

We were looking for the right partner to help us develop an app. We don’t have those technical capabilities in-house, so Rocksauce was a great resource on that front.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Rocksauce built an iOS app that would allow us to expand our consumer solutions. At the time, we already had the wireframes from a different firm that developed the designs in Figma, Zeplin, and InVision. Rocksauce’s team was responsible for bringing those creative assets to life using AWS as the platform.

What is the team composition? 

I communicated with Lawrence (Technical Project Manager) who was part of a four-person team. But, there were about three other individuals around the globe working on our project. 

Besides them, Olivier (Head of Development) led the full team in Austin, Texas. Working with him was fabulous because he was always there to answer questions. He’d help us think through critical decisions to find the right solutions and was highly engaged with us.

How did you come to work with Rocksauce?

Our corporate team handled the digital scouting, going through an extensive FRP process across multiple service providers. In the end, we believed that Rocksauce would deliver the best value.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $500,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from October 2019–August 2020.

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

We created a 16-week program with the app to test with our consumers, and people are actually seeing results in as little as six weeks. So, we know that what we built is going to be effective.

How did Rocksauce perform from a project management standpoint?

I liked how client-focused they were — it just felt like a true partnership. There was never a time when they delivered something below our expectations. 

Each week, we would have a status meeting where they would take us through their deliverables from the previous roadmap before getting us aligned on a roadmap for next week’s items. That’s when we would go through our Jira tickets, ensure that everyone was on track, and communicate needs. It was a really efficient use of time. 

In some cases, we needed to reprioritize the deliverables, so they helped us understand what trade-offs we would have to make internally. That sort of client management was really collaborative.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stood out the most about them was how incredibly solution-oriented they were when it came to our budget. There were times when we faced cost issues because our budget didn’t align with our aspirations. Rocksauce would tell us how much something would set us back and then helped us understand what a compromise would look like without impacting the end user’s experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think we could have benefited from a more in-depth kick-off meeting to go over the initial designs. That would’ve been helpful for someone like me who hadn’t done an app development project before to better understand how the images translated to a final product.

There were a couple of surprises along the way about the app’s features because each side had its own assumptions. However, once Rocksauce explained to us their intent based on how the design files were set up, it made a lot of sense.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Depending on your team’s maturity level in product development, I would encourage doing a deeper exploration phase upfront so that your team knows what to do. That’s a great time to align on expectations and get clarity.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and President of Reimagine Selling

For what projects/services did your company hire Rocksauce?

To refresh the UX/UI of our app and website

What were your goals for this project?

To launch and disrupt the in the thought processes homebuilding and Real Estate Industries.

How did you select this vendor?

I met wan old friend that had seen their work and intruded me. After multiple conversations, We decided the could take us to the next level in form and function.

Describe the project in detail.

I had been in Beta Testing for about 4 to 5 years. We we making tweaks here and there with the results blowing our mind. It was the right time to

What was the team composition?

I have been assigned a project manager ... UX developer ... UI developer ... Code Expert .. and met at various times with some or all of these people. The Founder/President always sits in on these meetings.

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

We're still 2 to 3 months from launch . but they have come up with a few ideas that will take us from "Class of the Industry" to "World Class".

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

In a word ... Seamless.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

How well the listened and immersed themselves in my business. They took the time to understand what I was trying to achieve ... and actually asked the questions to spark new and exciting "add-ons".

Are there any areas for improvement?

Having explained the process so many time in the past ... I knew how hard it was to grasp the difference between High-Ticket and Low-Ticket Selling. Whereby everyone says "I get it" ... I had to slow Rocksauce down and review things a second time. It only took a minute or two for them to understand.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of CooMo Travel, a platform where users can streamline the entire planning and booking process while allowing other people to give suggestions for their trip. Users are able to plan a trip on the platform and meet up with other travelers.

The primary cause of death for veterans and servicemen is suicide, and one of the leading causes is the constant relocation from one place to another. The platform I’ve created is targeted for this demographic, and it ultimately helps users integrate more comfortably into society by meeting people in their new locations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rocksauce Studios?

We wanted help with web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rocksauce’s role was to help with the UI and UX. They were supposed to design and create the fully-functional website based off what we created during initial phases, but they didn’t deliver. We did 2 different SOWs [statements of work].

I spent more time on the UI and UX beforehand because it’s a lot cheaper than having to implement changes to a fully-developed product. We finished this phase within 2–3 months, then started development. Rocksauce started in August 2016, and told me they would be finished in 26–32 weeks.

I would constantly send emails on a biweekly basis to check on project status and the timeline. The platform was supposed to launch by mid-January–March, but when that time came, it still wasn’t ready. I asked them every other weekday if we were going to launch on time, and they kept pushing the date further. I got more involved, but I assumed they were a professional company, so I let them handle it.

At the end of July 2017, I sat down with Q [CEO, Rocksauce] and Peter [COO, Rocksauce] and inquired about the delay. I asked why they had doubled the timeline and asked for more money. I’m not a technical person, so I went into this project depending on their expertise. All of the functionality of my platform was pre-existent on different sites, so I had told Rocksauce to use as much open-source code as possible in order to lower the cost and speed up production. They told me they understood.

They chose to use Go as their programming language, and I’m having difficulties finding developers who use it because it’s so new. Rocksauce chose a platform that a lot of senior developers don’t recommend or use because it’s both too new and expensive. Even though I’d asked Rocksauce to use as much open-source code as possible, they used none. The entire platform is built with custom code.

Rocksauce used my money and time to learn and create the platform from scratch, which is not what I asked them to do. They also removed 20% of the functionality from the platform because they said it would cost even more money, and also take more time. I asked Q what he could do to better the situation, and he said, “If you’re looking for free work, you’re not going to get it.”

I sent the code out to 3 different companies and asked how much it would cost to finish the product. They all told me Rocksauce had only completed roughly 50% of the development.

What is the team dynamic?

I was always on call throughout the process. I would communicate with their project managers if there were any problems. I like to discuss things in person rather than through email, because it’s a lot easier to solve problems that way. We’re both in Austin, so it made it much easier for me to interact with their team in the hopes that my end product would equate to my vision.

How did you come to work with Rocksauce Studios?

I was introduced to Rocksauce at a local pitch event in Austin, and they had a sales rep there who talked to me. I had just exited a bad engagement with a previous developer, so I entertained the idea of working with Rocksauce. I interviewed them among many other companies.

How much have you invested with them?

The total amount spent on Rocksauce was approximately $320,000. The first statement of work was approximately $55,000 and the second statement of work was approximately $265,000.

They said they needed $50,000 more to get the product to 80% completion. My business colleague and mentors advised me that Rocksauce hadn’t actually finished what they said they had already, so giving them U.S. $50,000 more would’ve been a gamble.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in May 2016. After the engagement with Rocksauce, the 2 founders, Q and Peter, were not willing to help remedy the situation. They said the best they could do was give me a discount on the hourly wage. I left knowing they weren’t going to help me any further.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

I left the military 2 years ago as a disabled veteran to create a platform that’s useful for everyone, but especially those with military backgrounds. I sold 3 of my personal houses to self-fund this platform, and Rocksauce just took my money to build a product that they never finished.

I created a demand letter with my mentor, laid out all of the facts and damages, and stated that they needed to respond within 3 weeks. They failed to respond within that time, and the legal process of trying to sue them has cost me an exponential amount of money.

I searched for a law firm for 2 weeks to take the case, which was very difficult. Through making all of these calls, however, I found two other individuals who are also suing Rocksauce, and we were able to come together.

I also discovered that Rocksauce is starting a new company in Austin, and they’re looking for funding, which made matters even worse. They’re unrightfully using their clients’ money to create a new business.

How was project management handled?

When we were actually communicating, it was mostly through calls and email. I prefer to communicate in-person because things get done more quickly. I haven’t communicated with them at all since I sent the demand letter, and my attorney is now taking care of that for me.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO/ Founder

For what projects/services did your company hire Rocksauce?

UX/UI Design

What were your goals for this project?

Create the user flow and screen designs

How did you select Rocksauce?

I evaluated several agencies. Ultimately it came down to the team, there interest in my projects success and their exceptional artistic capabilities

Describe the project in detail.

Culineer is a mobile platform for saving saving, sharing and shopping recipes.

What was the team composition?

Project manager, UX designer and artist. It’s my understanding that others contributes as well

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

We got a great product which completed the first phase of the software

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was pretty good. RockSauce established a list of schedule of deliverables, and they met those expectations. They provide options for deign direction at key milestones and presented them in an organized, professional manner

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The way they went over and above to help me not just with UX/UI design but even to help me with strategic decisions. I felt they were very invested in the project not just a hired gun

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were a few times when my prioject stalled because they were overbooked but it wasn’t a huge problem