Rootstrap

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT and accounting manager for a health and wellness company that focuses on the ancient Indian health wellness modality called AyurPrana — we do education and coaching for that modality.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We didn’t have the skillset or experience to develop our app. As a result, we brought Roostrap onboard to develop a mobile app where we could enable our customers to participate in online emergence and potentially create a subscription revenue stream.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rootstrap is focused on building and designing our app from scratch. They’re working on enabling us to host live events on the app. Additionally, they’re building a content library for education, inspiration, and wellness as well as a community for our users. We're now in the middle of the development stage. 

What is the team composition?

We’re working with their project manager, designer, product manager, and front- and backend developers.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

When we tested Rootstrap’s workshopping skills, they helped us understand what we were trying to achieve. From that point, we liked how Rootstrap worked — they were highly capable and their pricing was reasonable. As a result, we decided to continue moving forward to get a proposal from them on our actual development work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $200,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2021, and we continue to collaborate.

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

The quality of their work is good, and they’re great at owning our product. Sometimes, they also push back on our ideas, making our engagement even refreshing.

In the future, we’ll gauge their performance on how our users are utilizing the app so that we can quickly get users on our subscription program. Overall, we’ll check how fast we can get to a place where we’ll have enough value to charge for the app — hopefully in the middle of next year. Then, we have a revenue goal of $2 million by the end of next year.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

Rootstrap's communication skills are strong, and their project management workflow is excellent. We primarily use Slack and Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate that they’re a process-oriented company. Since they have a flexible model, we always adjust things as we move along. We also like their QA and testing efforts because they ensure that they effectively implement bug fixes. Furthermore, they have a very clean and transparent system for documenting the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set up meetings in order to flush out questions that staff may have along the way. By doing that, you can save a lot of time and money.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a software company that makes tools to allow businesses to hire employees more effectively.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We needed software engineering services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Rootstrap built out the framework of our first product. Since then, we’ve iterated on that many times, and we’ve hired a more comprehensive engineering team to release more products.

What is the team composition?

Erica (Regional Sales Director) is our sales representative. She was the first point of contact.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

We initially came across Erica, who worked hard to find the best people in her company. She bid on the project and gave us a price that we were comfortable with. It was a very back-and-forth process, and we really appreciated that she seemed to be both on our side and on Rootstrap’s side. We went with them because of this.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around November 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Rootstrap helped us get from an idea to an actual product that was paramount in building our company — we couldn’t have done it without them.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

Rootstrap is very communicative, transparent, and organized. They deliver great work, and for the most part, they hit the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Rootstrap’s transparency is their best asset. Their work isn’t a black box; we’re with them every step of the way, and we communicate daily.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their speed isn’t the same as the speed of an in-house engineering team, but they’re very organized.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very organized, know exactly what you need, and provide them with a clear scope.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Teardrop Developments. We do lifestyle, entertainment, and anime-focused mobile apps. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We were in the process of creating our flagship mobile app that was focused on anime recommendations. When we started the mobile app, we had a prototype or our first MVP. However, it was lacking in algorithm. Furthermore, it had a weak UI/UX design.

As a result, it wasn’t as pleasing for our end users. The main challenge for Rootstrap was to improve our prototype and come up with a fresh new app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came to Rootstrap with a pretty clear idea of what we wanted. We wanted a cross-platform mobile app that could be on Android and iOS. In addition, we wanted it to have basic functionalities such as user login and user registration. There should also be a database for anime that would be visible within the app. 

Then, the real focus was the recommendation algorithm; it should be smart, intuitive, and something akin to Spotify and Apple Music where end-users could find new content all the time. Since our app was finished already, we recently talked to their marketing team to see if we could collaborate on another project. 

What is the team composition?

We started with five members including their sales rep who worked as an oversight for the team. Then, they have four dedicated members which consisted of a project manager, head of product owner, developer, and a technical architect. We expanded on that and added a couple of other developers from time to time. Usually, we worked with 5–7 people. 

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

I started working on our prototype back in 2018. At the same time, I started looking for companies to work with us in finishing the mobile app since I was doing it by myself. We ended up going with another company because of pricing. 

We knew that Rootstrap was probably the better choice because we initially wanted to go with them. When they finally became in our price range, we decided to engage with them because they fit the bill. Along with their great portfolio, they worked with customers like Spotify — which was a company we were trying to mimic. 

How much have you invested with them?

The initial project’s estimate was around $90,000, but we ended up spending $71,000 since we did some cuts.  

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement ran from November 2020–April 2021. 

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

We saw the product that they were able to give us, and it was really good. The app had a good look and feel. Everything was clean and we received positive feedback from external stakeholders. End users said that they were able to receive great recommendations they didn’t know before. That meant that we were able to dramatically enhance our recommendation algorithm. In fact, the app was much better than we had. 

Since our app had been deployed, our focus turned towards increasing our users and user base. The team made it possible for us to gather feedback from our end users. In the past couple of months, we were able to gather data on areas of improvement for the app. Overall, they were a good partner to us and we would like to continue engaging with them.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

Since my job was focused on project management, I had an eye for scrutiny throughout the process and I must say that Rootstrap did a good job. Initially, we just had to connect which usually happens in most projects. In the end, we built a working relationship to understand how each other works. 

At first, their team didn’t record meetings and detailed minutes, but after we requested them to do that, they easily accommodated us. They used Jira to manage sprints, stories, and more. They also used Sigma and other very similar tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on this experience and previous experience with another provider, they were with me in the nitty-gritty of the project. I monitored their progress in areas such as coding, development, and design, and they were very collaborative. They kept us informed and kept communication up every step of the way for any changes. That was a big win for me. 

There were times when I didn’t have to jump into a meeting, so getting those updates and knowing what would happen was a big help for me. The biggest thing for me was that they were highly interested in our project. They shared our successes and failures. Above all, they really wanted us to succeed. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It may be that I had such a bad experience with my first provider that everything was just great here. I’d say they could improve their pricing because they were a bit expensive. However, I’d be willing to pay an extra penny for the level of services Rootstrap had provided for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be engaged. You just don’t pay someone, tell them what to do, and expect your project to just happen. You need to be in there with them to make sure everything is alright. You should make an effort to respond in a timely manner to ensure you don’t slow down the process. Above all, be clear and concise about what you want.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a freelance marketplace that attracts quality global freelancers and corporates to create teams.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We brought on Rootstrap to set the foundations of our platform. They were responsible for building the product roadmap for what our solution would be.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Rootstrap provided business development services, creating a roadmap that would breakdown our product. In our case, it was a large-scale platform that included a mobile/tablet app as well as a web version. The final deliverable was a map and an offline prototype. We’re currently using their roadmap to build our product.

What is the team composition? 

The team was about four people in total. We worked with a business development lead, but there was also an account manager and strategist, too.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

I found them on LinkedIn. At the time, Ben (Founder) was posting about Roostrap and what they offered, so I did some research. We were looking for the best of the best to help us set our foundation. After going to their website and giving them a call, I felt they fit the bill.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid them about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from January–April 2018.

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

Rootstrap set us up for success. Thanks to our collaboration with them, we’ve won Women in Tech awards and have even gotten accepted into accelerator programs. They’ve been a true help in finding the right development team for us, too.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was definitely fantastic. The beauty of what we’re developing is that it’s all about remote work, so we figured that we’d practice what we preached. 

Rootstrap was all the way in Los Angeles, New York, and South America while we were in the Middle East. We did weekly meetings with them along with catch-ups. I’d be involved once or twice a week before everything wrapped up in April. 

We’ve remained in touch throughout the years to see if we could go ahead with them to build our product, but that depended on the investment we received.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There are so many competitors out there, but Rootstrap was unique with the people they hired. Generally speaking, the team was professional, easy to work with, and smart. The head strategist, in particular, was top-notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When it comes to roadmapping, it would’ve helped to set our expectations if we knew that their prototype was going to be an offline prototype. That’s nothing to hold against them, but it did set us back.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t think twice about hiring them. They’re the people to go to if you want to develop your roadmap and product foundation. However, it’s worth it to spend a bit extra to have a live prototype from them. Again, that’s something we slowed us down for a few years because we didn’t have that done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering for an online education company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We needed staff augmentation services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rootstrap provides high-quality senior developers and QA people. They work alongside two other firms and our in-house team to develop the platform. They’re our core developers.

What is the team composition?

We work with 14 people from Rootstrap: 13 developers and 1 QA. 

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

I tried them about two years ago when I was at a previous company. I talked to one of the founders, who proposed using one person. That person was great, so we just kept adding after that.

How much have you invested with them?

At this point, we’re probably nearing $2 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July or August 2018.

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

They’ve been pivotal in architectural decisions and design review done by due diligence; that was really favorable. All of their hard work has paid off in that respect. It’s hard to say how much to attribute to engineering, but I’d say that they’ve been one of the key factors in helping us get investments.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

That isn’t their role; they provide engineers, and project management is handled internally. We typically communicate via Slack, Zoom, and email. They’re great with communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their culture distinguishes them from other providers. They have a great group of people that integrate with our team amazingly well. 

The quality of their developers also stands out. I’ve never gotten a junior engineer from them. Everyone has been incredibly good. They’re always pushing their developers to become better at the frameworks they use. They’re great at hiring talented people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d say they could offer more product management. However, product management is a bit of a different concept to a Silicon Valley-based company than it is to a company in Uruguay and Argentina. They might be able to come around to that point of view of product management.

Any advice for potential customers?

View managing the people at Rootstrap as you would any other employee of yours.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of V3 Cybersecurity Inc. We’re a cybersecurity maturity assessment organization.  

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We needed to address the challenges that many security companies have, which are visibility and current consultative models. Most of the models that gave you visibility into your cybersecurity maturity were consultant-led. I felt that there was a better, technical form.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rootstrap designed and developed the cybersecurity platform. Their team designed the UX/UI and executed on the development. They primarily used Ruby. They also managed our AWS implementation. Now, they’re performing maintenance too.

What is the team composition?

I have a main point of contact. From a development perspective, I’ve worked with the same scrum master. I’ve also worked with the same frontend programmer since day one. During the initial development, I had a main point of contact who was our project manager.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

I looked for South American development companies and found them through Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $125,000–$150,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in June 2019, and our major development effort finished in November 2019. But we’ve continued to engage with them.

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

I’ve been happy with their processes and management. In some instances, we could’ve had issues that made for an ugly situation. It’s a testament to their organization that those instances strengthened our relationship.

In the beginning, I was heavily engaged in the development process. I had strict oversight. By the time we finished the development, I'd given them guidance and trusted them to execute on my vision. That's an important part of our relationship. I trust Rootstrap to take my ideas and concepts and turn them into a product.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

We used JIRA to work through the program and had weekly meetings. We followed an Agile methodology with two-week sprints. 

They communicate well. Their flexibility and transparency are top-notch. Their ability to address concerns throughout the process was excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their transparent approach and flexibility impress us. Their designers also listen to us. They take their experiences and integrate them into my project to create more value. We’ve been able to leverage their experiences, which accelerated the process and created a better product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have a bad thing to say.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to engage with them. Give them an opportunity. They want to compete for business. They’re small enough to be hungry and big enough to be established. Their leadership is open to earning business. Include them in your shortlist.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of an e-commerce platform in the rent-to-own space that serves our clients without physical stores. We built the platform to both provide products and underwrite the customer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We built a web application with an offshore development team but ran into problems with the first iteration. We needed a different partner to rebuild the application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rootstrap replaced our first offshore development team. While a maintenance team supported the initial version of the app, their team developed the second version of our platform from scratch. We also engaged their design team to create mockups and resolve design challenges visually.

Their team created the microservice platform with several technologies. The frontend’s based in ReactJS and the backend was built in Ruby. The app’s containerized on AWS. We use Kubernetes for container management and Postgres as the database.

What is the team composition?

At its peak, 15 people from Rootstrap worked on the project. We’re reducing that number gradually.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

Our president and CEO found Rootstrap through a referral. After searching online and performing background checks, we asked them to assess our first application and show us how their team would improve it. Initially, we engaged only two people from Rootstrap to investigate the platform and help us decide how to proceed. As they did a great job, we felt that they could do a better job by rebuilding the entire app. We had a bid process and brought in other vendors to talk us through how they might create a second version but didn’t give them the same level of access as Rootstrap. We felt comfortable in our relationship with them and chose them to rebuild the entire app.

How much have you invested with them?

Our burn rate's around $100,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought on the initial teammates from Rootstrap in August 2018. In June 2019, we expanded the team to start building the next app and their work’s ongoing.

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

The first version of our platform crashed often. We also didn't have metrics to measure our site's capacity. We wanted to know the amount of traffic that our product could handle especially for a busy shopping season. We tested the platform based on the prior year to make sure the new version could handle that amount of traffic. The product never crashes. By using Kubernetes, we’re able to deploy continuously without taking anything down, which is a huge plus. That saves us a huge amount of time. We don’t feel that we’ve lost any money from customers frustrated by the site.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

We use JIRA to manage the flow and Slack to communicate daily. Their team also uses a tool that shows the project graphically. It wasn’t a fixed bid with contracts where we had to hit a certain timeframe, so we work together on timelines and trusted their estimates.

We carefully decided what features needed to be in the application to manage our schedule. Our project manager works closely with their project manager to make sure that we’re always on track and informed. We had daily check-ins and weekly progress reports. We felt informed and were never surprised. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project manager realized that our schedule’s busy as we work with a whole other development team. The project manager started to create video updates for us to watch at any time and pass around to management. That made us feel comfortable. We understood that if they replaced our other team, they would give us that level of communication. It seems small but it showed our team that they understood and would be able to deliver. We could trust them to deliver. We're in the same time zone, allowing their team to work during our hours.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While we always work through it, there are times when we feel that products should be delivered faster. Their team wanted to follow two-week sprint cycles and a traditional path for deployment. A product could be delivered over a two-week sprint but more critical features need to be done faster. We had hiccups to pulling that off. When we asked to prioritize a feature, we meant that it needed to be done as soon as possible not in a two-week sprint.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about the development model that your team will follow. Let them know if you need a flexible development schedule. Have a timeframe for when you expect products to be delivered.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of engineering at Cleo, a family healthcare company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

I was looking for staff augmentation. We’re a pretty early-stage startup and when I joined the company, I didn’t have a strong engineering team. I inherited a team of three engineers and we needed a lot more people. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide staff augmentation, specifically engineers to work on our projects and work alongside our full-time in-house engineers.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was the head of sales. Then we had an account manager and two engineers. Now we’ve grown the team to five engineers and two designers.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

I believe I got a cold email. I was struggling with the engineering capacity until they emailed me about staff augmentation. It was a well put together deck that they sent me.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent $1 million so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019 and the work is ongoing.

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

Their engineers are dedicated, smart, and humble. There’s no challenge working with them and the quality is exceptional. It’s been a very fruitful and healthy relationship.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

We haven’t had them lead a project end to end, but overall it’s good. Their communication skills are great; they dialed into our video calls every day. Their engineers are dedicated, smart, and humble. There’s no challenge working with them and the quality is exceptional. 

After evaluating an engineer that wasn’t performing effectively for 2–3 months, I communicated that to our account manager and he took care of it immediately and replaced that engineer with another. If there’s any issue, they’ll tell you about it and try to find a solution. One of their designers was going on vacation and before he left, they found a replacement. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills are good across the board and they’re very proactive. I’ve seen it at the engineering level, to the account manager,  up to their CEO and they’re very forthcoming with anything. If there’s any issue, they’ll tell you about it and try to find a solution. One of their designers was going on vacation and before he left, they found a replacement. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Since it’s offshore contracting, you have to make them feel like they’re part of your team. The more frequent the communication, the better. In my case, I communicated with their engineers multiple times a day. It feels like they’re a part of the team. Even the simple things like a video call instead of an audio call, help you develop a little bit more trust.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product for WalletJoy, a personal finance brand. Our parent company specializes in online lead generation.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We needed UI/UX and development help with building our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

WalletJoy is predominantly a content-driven site that provides personal finance guidance. Rootstrap built it on WordPress. 

Before building the site, Rootstrap also helped create the brand strategy and define the design system. That included high-level brand and style guidelines. Our side was driving that strategy, but Rootstrap played a huge part in making sure we were thinking of the right things. Their expertise led to valuable and critical input into that strategy definition.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three engineers, two product designers, a design director who helped with the strategy, and a resource for visual design and brand design. 

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

One of my peers in grad school works at Rootstrap. I brought their team into the evaluation process and judged them on two major criteria. First, we wanted our site to follow SEO best practices. We look at portfolios that demonstrated that kind of web work, and Rootstrap stood out. Second, they had a lot of flexibility in their operating model, which made it easier for us to accept the risk. (This was our first partnership with a third-party vendor.)

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2019. We’re still working together, but going forward, we’ll just have a one-person team.

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

It’s definitely early in the lifecycle of the product, but we’re already seeing 20%–25% user retention, which is beyond what we expected at this stage. That’s a testament to the work we did with Rootstrap on the brand side. It also shows that the site experience is friendly, intuitive, and well-done.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t share an office or a time zone so collaboration has been a huge part of this process as we build this site from scratch. Rootstrap is made up of highly responsive and great collaborators. We’ve had no issues with communication and project management. That’s a huge part of the success we’ve seen. We use Slack for communication and Trello for ticketing as well as the development and design work. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From both a development and design side, UI/UX is something we’re not strong at as a company. Rootstrap brought that to the site. They helped us define the site and product design. We continue to iterate. They’ve also been really helpful to us being adaptable and agile. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The engineering team has the ability to get the site up quickly, which is fantastic and what we needed. But now, as we’re more mature as a company, the speed takes away from the DevOps process. We’ve sacrificed some efficiency and best practices, leading to QA that could’ve been avoided. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Rootstrap is a very talented team. Try to establish a lot of things ahead of time. That will set up a process and structure that the entire team can follow from the beginning. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m VP of engineering at MasterClass.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We needed assistance with web development. At the time, we had a team of around 18 people and we needed to scale up the team because we had new initiatives.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We reached out to Rootstrap and started with a couple of engineers to get the ball rolling. We’ve slowly ramped up their involvement to around 18 people working with us. They took care of an SEO initiative that we had. They also worked on the website. Their team helps with the backend work for our mobile application.

What is the team composition?

Out of a team of 18, one is a scrum master, one is a QA engineer, and the rest are regular engineers.

How did you come to work with Roostrap?

We were referred to Rootstrap from a friend of a friend.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work began in June 2018 and is still ongoing.

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

Overall, the quality is fantastic. The engineering team is very dedicated. They’ve essentially become part of our coding and development team. For example, their team has optimized our monthly subscription models. They’ve provided significant impacts on our promotional work.

From an SEO perspective, the execution speed is brilliant and the code quality is solid. That helped us build up our SEO initiative from the ground up, making it a major organic channel for us.

How did Roostrap perform from a project management standpoint?

Our main point of contact was Carolina (Engineer, Rootstrap). We don’t have a dedicated project manager, but we have one scrum master. Otherwise team members directly work with our project managers and team leads. We have standup meetings every morning and grander planning meetings every week. They fully participate in these meetings. We usually use Zoom for these meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism is unmatched. The ways they groom their engineers and the quality of engineering are really good. Although the engineers are new, they are very good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One thing we do is not treat them as an outsourced team. We think of them as one big team. They’re part of all our code initiatives. Typically, we give actual product work to the team, which they appreciate. They're involved; they have the same level of care and ownership of the product as our team. Don’t make them take on second-class work. If you treat them as your core team, you can utilize them to the fullest and tackle challenging problems.