Savas Labs

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Director of Research of a nonprofit company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Environmental Integrity Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting public health and our natural resources by holding polluters and government agencies accountable under the law, advocating for tough but fair environmental standards, and empowering communities fighting for clean air and clean water.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Savas Labs to accomplish?

• Review and advise on site re-design
• Design site
• Connect Xata database to site

SOLUTION

How did you find Savas Labs?

Online Search

Why did you select Savas Labs over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Savas Labs were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Savas helped us upgrade and enhance one of our websites. The first deliverable was a discovery report, followed by designs, database migration, and development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website works well and launched with great feedback from users. In the future, we will continue to track user stats with google analytics.

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

Project management was adaptive and accommodated EIP's requests and preferences for communication. The project manager changed about 3 months into the project, just as the database and wiring side of the work was starting. Also, the main developer also changed partway through the project. 
While this may have led to a slightly longer project because new staff took time to get up to speed and were not present for earlier conversations, they delivered a great product.

What was your primary form of communication with Savas Labs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I appreciated the amount of thought that went into this project at the beginning-- what Savas calls the development phase. While the development work under-estimated the amount of time and effort Savas would need to implement recommendations for the project, the process identified the right options and solutions. Their design work was also outstanding, and the entire team was a joy to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Savas Labs could have done differently?

The timeline for this project was aggressive from the beginning and probably assumed the database work would take less time than what was realistic. Learning from this project will be helpful for future projects we plan to partner on with Savas. It also would have been nice to have a steady team throughout the project, but life happens, and they handled it as well as could be expected.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director at IvyWise. We’re an educational consultancy based in New York City, but we operate with students worldwide. We offer educational services primarily around college admissions and graduate school admissions consulting. Our team also works with younger students and does tutoring.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We had a proprietary software app that we refer to internally as our student portal. We wanted to update and improve it. Specifically, we wanted to implement a new frontend framework so that the site could have a more modern look and feel. It should gain better functionality and easily allow us to continue updating and iterating it going forward. We hired Savas Labs to help us do this. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Savas Labs is rebuilding our portal from scratch. The backend is on Ruby on Rails, and we’ll keep much of it. Meanwhile, the team is building APIs and a whole new frontend for the portal, which is a progressive web app. For key technologies, they use Vue, a JavaScript framework — this is the biggest piece of their technology stack. 

What is the team composition?

We work with 8–10 teammates from Savas Labs, including Shaun (UX Director). 

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

I found them on LinkedIn. We first reached out to Savas Labs last year and worked with them on a different project. At that point, we were planning on rebuilding just a portion of the portal. They did discovery work on that. Through their research, we realized that the portion of the website we wanted to rebuild wasn’t as much of a problem as we thought it was. As a result result, we decided not to move forward with rebuilding it. 

Six months after that, we decided to rebuild the entire frontend of the portal instead of just rebuilding a part of the portal. Since we had such a positive experience in the brief project we did with Savas Labs, we reached back out to them and asked if they’d be interested in a larger project. We wanted to know how they’d approach it and asked them to give us a quote. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $150,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2023, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything has been fantastic. We’ve just finished our first real deployment with Savas Labs, and it’s been seamless. The feedback loop — from reporting to committing new code and addressing issues — has been great. We’re staying on track for our production deployment date even when we’ve found more things to change than expected. Their seamless feedback loop has kept us on time. 

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent. The team is highly organized and efficient. To communicate, we typically use Teamwork and emails. Apart from those, we have regular meetings on Google Meet. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Savas Labs can work along multiple workstreams simultaneously to keep the project moving forward at the pace we want. For instance, we’re not only reskinning the portal but also investigating new technologies to use. All wireframes for features have also been done simultaneously, and everything remains on time according to our milestones. 

This is a fairly complex project in terms of the number of activities we do at the same time. However, everything has worked well so far. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Savas Labs is amazing at translating business issues into technology solutions while incorporating all the best UX design practices. Given that, explain to them what you want to accomplish and understand what you want your end users to experience. They can translate all of these into features that are exactly what you envision. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Manager of a non-profit company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Work to ensure all children get 3 meals a day 365 days a year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Savas Labs to accomplish?

• Improve website navigation
• Design a more user friendly website
• Audience analysis to understand how to better serve our audience with our website

SOLUTION

How did you find Savas Labs?

Online Search

Why did you select Savas Labs over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Savas Labs were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Savas first analyzed how our current website was used by its audience with focus group conversations and data analytics. Then they designed a better user friendly website layout. With imput from our design colleagues they designed a beautiful website and built it. Finally they helped us migrate a huge amount of pdfs, webinars, and other resources into the newly designed website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Progress was measured through presentation of deliverables each step of the way. Savas presented their audience analyze findings, design outlines, completed web pages, etc.

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

Yes, they were always on time and responsive! Lu was amazing as a project manager. She made sure everything from her team was on time and kept us aware of what steps are coming up, how much we have spent, and any deliverables we owed the Savas team.

What was your primary form of communication with Savas Labs?

Virtual Meeting

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

Everything ran so smoothly and easily! Our organization has been through many website redesigns and this one was the easiest for us to manage and the process created a beautiful website!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Savas Labs could have done differently?

I think building in more training time at the end of the project to aid in the passing over of the new website would be helpful. The guide provided was super helpful, but we had only a quick overview of that guide before the end of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Yonderlust, an outdoor gear company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We needed help with web and mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Savas Labs provided development services for us from scratch. I started by giving them our requirements, and then we had design sessions to develop the final design solution for the platforms. In terms of features and functionalities, the app allows users to use a full self-guided adventure itinerary tailored to them, including a moving map to track locations and a detailed itinerary with the information users need to enjoy their trip safely. It also has a checklist to help users understand the things they need.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with a project manager who coordinated everything and was my main point of contact for the entire project. Moreover, we engaged with their development team to discuss requirements and designs and test the functionality and building of the code.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

I found them through Google; my goal was to find a local provider that could have a context of what we were doing locally.

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $200,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2021–December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have already launched the platform to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, and we’ve already had over 100 downloads of the app.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job with project management; Savas Labs’ team always kept me updated on the process and its status. In terms of tools, we used Teamwork.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service was one of the strengths of the engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project leader at a clinical research institute.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We needed to develop a research platform that would serve as a roadmap to guide staff members through each phase of the research work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Savas Labs provides web development support. Initially, we gave them some general branding mock-ups, along with our other requirements for the institution. They then used that information to build and design our website from scratch. They also implemented various features based on our requirements and walked us through the launch phase. They used Drupal to build the site.

Currently, their team is providing us with maintenance and security support. They also help us apply enhancements to the site.

What is the team composition?

We work with five people from their team, including a project manager, developers, and UI/UX designers. Their project manager is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

They had worked on another project for our institution before. We decided to work with them based on the established familiarity and their reputation.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $68,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on this project in April 2022, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although we encountered some minor hiccups that impacted our delivery timeline, Savas Labs still managed to launch the website within the expected timeframe.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly virtual meetings with their team, during which we discuss updates, ask or answer questions, and keep track of the budget. They’re also adaptive to our needs and very responsive. For communication, we use Zoom, Google Meet, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with their ability to take our vision and turn it into reality. They’re also very knowledgeable and experienced — they fully understand our requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

I don’t have any negative feedback for Savas Labs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to clearly define the end goal for your project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Project Manager of the Decentralized Future Council. The Decentralized Future Council is a new foundational initiative committed to educating policymakers about the future of decentralized and interoperable protocols that will transform the Internet as we know it. We are under the internet education foundation and we are funded by the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Savas Labs, and what were your goals?

We needed a website that could appeal to both policy makers based in DC and the more trendy web3 community. We had a Squarespace site that was not meeting our needs and we wanted more flexibility in design.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They had a good reputation and were interested in our mision/goal.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had an initial consultation where they submitted a proposal. Then, we had a kick off meeting with the entire team that would be working on our project. It was a quick project about 4 weeks long. They submitted design ideas and wireframes. We used Webflow as the basis for the site. We also asked for some simple API integrations like having our twitter thread visible.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had 4 people from their team work with us. 1 project manager, 1 designer, 1 head of design, 1 head of development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project was a success and we are happy with our site. We got more volume to our site.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They used Teamwork for project management organization and we primarily communicated via Teamwork, email, and a weekly check-in meeting.

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

We admired their commitment to collaborating and dedication to their work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I feel as though the development team could have done a little more troubleshooting with the site. Or requested more time to complete the project as we had to go back to them after project completion to fix a technical issue.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

During the time of this project, I was the development director at the Hayti Heritage Center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to raise money for our nonprofit, so we hired Savas Labs to build a website for the organization's 130th anniversary.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I worked with the Savas Labs design team to develop a website for Hayti Heritage Center’s 130th anniversary. This specialty website would contain the many milestones that the organization has achieved in its lifetime and would only be in operation for an entire year. Their team built the website separate from the organization’s traditional site so that we could distinguish which donations have come through either our main website or the anniversary website.

What is the team composition?

I started the conversation with the owner of Savas Labs, and then I worked with three individuals who I believe were frontend developers. They also had some web designers working in the background. 

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

They were recommended by a community member. I was told that they do amazing work for nonprofit institutions as a way of giving back to the community.

How much have you invested with them?

The work was done pro bono. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work that Savas Labs did has really helped us share the significance of our organization’s milestone with the community. It has also brought in additional donations that were specifically earmarked for our 130th anniversary. 

Even though I’m no longer working with the organization, I still attend many of their events and have seen an increase in their engagement. When talking with other attendees, I find out that a good number of them had actually learned about Hayti Heritage Center through the website that Savas Labs built. Overall, the site has created a broader recognition for the organization and has increased both the operating fund and the public’s participation in the organization’s events.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was very proactive and on top of everything. They were also very diligent when it came to reaching out to us, whether it was through email or videoconference. Our timeline was extended a bit because of me, but they were patient and able to keep the momentum of the project even though I was too busy to respond right away. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciated the involvement of their leadership. The fact that their owner was willing to dedicate the time to have an extended conversation with me really reflected their work ethic and integrity. That’s what stood out to me the most. 

Additionally, even though the work was done pro bono, they never made me feel like they were doing it as a donation to the organization. The way they treated me was amazing, as though I were a paying customer. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room for improvement with every organization, but I have no complaints about this team. They were really fantastic. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your project and your goals, but also be open to everything and attached to nothing. Savas Labs is a team of talented people who will bring your ideas to life with resources that you might not have even thought about. They’re certainly there to make your project even better than you’d envisioned.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CTO at PROTECT3D. Our company uses 3D printing and modeling technology to create custom 3D medical products such as braces, splints, and pads for athletes and everyday people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

Each of our products was created on a one-to-one basis, meaning everything was completely customized for the customer or athlete needing the medical device. As a result, our operations for receiving orders, producing products, and fulfilling orders were a little more complicated than other business models. With that in mind, we reached out to Savas to help us create the beta version of the web app we used to manage those operations; the team helped transform our MVP into a much more fully-fledged product we could use internally with our team. The goal was to streamline the process of receiving, creating, and fulfilling orders. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had calls with Chris (Founder & CEO), along with a couple of engineers on their team to better understand the project’s needs. Over the course of a couple of weeks, we received a proposal from them outlining the project’s full scope and deliverables. We had a fast-paced development timeline as we developed the MVP and turned it into our desired final product. 

To elaborate, we spent only a short time discovering our needs and understanding our customers because we already had a clear picture of what we wanted for the final product. We also knew what we needed from Savas. In any case, the team still helped us understand the most helpful framework and tools we could use to meet our objectives. 

Moreover, the product required a lot of custom coding. Savas used Strapi as a Headless CMS framework for the web app. We didn’t need to develop the UI a lot because we only needed something barebones. At the same time, the app should be able to handle a flexible and ever-changing data model. The team also used React. On top of that, they added heavy amounts of custom code for plug-ins that addressed our specific needs, such as Stripe for our invoices and Twilio for our conversations and messaging. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people from their team, which consisted of a product manager, two backend developers, and two frontend developers. 

How did you come to work with Savas Labs? 

When we had this project, we reached out to a number of companies, including Savas, to see what different engagements would look like for us. Meanwhile, our team happened to share a coworking space with Savas, and we had a relationship with Chris. 

What separated them from the competition was the time they put into understanding what we needed. Meanwhile, other proposals seemed a bit over the top for our needs; they seemed to spend more time in the discovery phase, which wasn’t good because we wanted to finish the project pretty quickly. By contrast, we felt much more comfortable with Savas as they knew what we were trying to accomplish. That was the start of our engagement. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from June–August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of the project’s success, it was helpful that Savas worked closely with me. I was their main point of contact with the company, and the Savas team did a great job in letting me know where the project was going; they were diligent at clarifying features and changes that were needed. 

As the project went on, seeing clear objectives accomplished along the way was helpful for our team. Once we received the final deliverable, we were able to look at our previously used app and the newly developed one side by side. They were meant to accomplish the same purpose, but one of them was much more developed and functional than the other.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Savas was on top of everything in terms of communication. They used a tool called Teamwork to help us get in touch with the project manager and any of their developers. We also had weekly calls and check-ins. 

One interesting thing was that their project manager left Savas halfway through the project, and this was unprecedented. That type of change caused some pause and delay in getting things up and running, but the Savas team handled the transition well. Two developers stepped up and handled the team’s communication with me, filling for the role of project management. In other words, they knocked out key features and stuck closely to our initial timeline even with that big road bump in the middle of the project. This spoke greatly for their communication standards and level of relationship with their clients. 

In terms of tools, we used Google Spreadsheets for a running status update around each development week. We also tracked the expenses we incurred through that sheet. Finally, we also communicated via Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Each individual in their team was invested in us personally. There was genuine interest from them as they worked to understand us as a business and how the project was going to impact our operations. It didn’t only make me comfortable working with them; it also showed they had a better understanding of what the tool was going to be. They didn’t just crank out a product that they’d hand to us before they let us go on our way — there was a personal touch from all the people who worked on the project. Maintaining that level of communication and comfort among the team members was nice. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had an ambitious timeline, and we met it almost entirely. However, along the way, we experienced some hold-ups where I needed to clarify some things about certain features. Simply put, they should’ve ensured I understood how much detail and clarity I needed to provide so we could avoid running into those situations. Even minor changes could cause delays. To be fair, they created many features accurately. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take advantage of the time Savas will spend to understand your business and needs. That way, you can build a good relationship with them, which also helps them know they’re doing your requests correctly. On top of that, ask questions along the way. You can ask them how much clarity you must provide for any feature they should develop. Asking such questions minimizes the need to make any tweaks and changes in features. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and CEO of a boutique management consulting and coaching company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We had a residential face-to-face role-playing business simulator that we run for customers, and we wanted to create that experience virtually.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Savas Labs with a lot of documentation related to the project because they really needed to wrap their heads around understanding what the residential experience entailed. Then, we went through the entire design process with them — from concept all the way through to various sprints and developing an MVP. As part of that, they determined all the UI/UX details and figured out what functions our system really needed to perform.

The team used Heroku to build the custom features that we wanted. One of the functionalities they developed was taking a manufacturing plant and developing it into an intuitive and real operation that could function within the software where it looked like a real manufacturing company was performing. It took a great deal of effort and analyst to complete that, but that allowed us to see where things were going wrong and what the outputs were.

At one point, they also asked me about doing my website. However, it didn’t really go anywhere because I hadn’t solidified my brand yet. They now continue to enhance the MVP they’ve developed. 

What is the team composition?

We’re working with Chris (Founder & CEO) who serves as our relationship manager and ensures that our agreement is followed through. We also have a project manager who’s managing day-to-day tasks and helps us connect with their engineers.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

Clutch helped me find Savas Labs. They seemed like a good fit because they were a small boutique, but what convinced us the most was what they could do in a very short timeframe. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in April 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve performed exactly what they’ve promised and even exceeded expectations. Most developers only want to take something that’s already been created and build on that. However, Savas Labs is really involved in the creative process  — it’s important to them that everything is working well. Additionally,  they’re very quick to adjust whenever we’re faced with problems.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Savas Labs has a great project management process, which allows us to be on track. They’re very good communicators, and they’re always on top of things. In fact, they’re good at utilizing Teamwork and Airtable — two pieces of software that have really allowed them to complete things in a timely manner. Above all, they’re very agile.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed by their ability to take our ideas and create something unique and develop something truly amazing. They also know exactly what we need. More importantly, they have a huge amount of integrity which a lot of developers take for granted these days. Their trustworthiness is something that’s good for our business considering that COVID-19 really hit us hard.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They changed a couple of individuals that were on our project and switched them out. However, they didn’t really communicate that to me so I was unsure of who was taking over and that disrupted our project a little bit. They did that a few times during the MVP development phase and now a few times as we’re enhancing. However, I do understand that there’s always going to be a turnover rate.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re doing something within a very short timeframe, you have to be committed because they’re going to be waiting. If they’re constantly waiting on you, then that’s going to throw off their rhythm or performance.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Chief Marketing Officer of a healthcare technology company that offers a platform to improve access to appropriate health care for patients with advanced illnesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Savas Labs, and what were your goals?

Our company was founded in 2017 and developed a scaled-back version of a website to ensure we had a web presence. Our company has grown significantly since that time and we are working with Savas to help us manage and develop new pages and functionality until we can budget to do complete a revamp of the entire site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We received a recommendation from a previous vendor that we had worked with in the past.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We have calls to discuss the work needed with the Savas team. We receive a project plan and hours needed to complete the work. If any design work needs to conducted, we receive mock ups to review.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have a project manager and depending on the work needed we get two to three people to handle the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We don't have any measurable results at this time.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We are very happy with the overall communication, project management and work of the Savas team. They look at all options for us and provide us with the best and most cost-effective options for us to consider.

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

They are very professional, organized, and responsive to our needs.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I don't have any areas at this time that I've noticed needs improvement. We've been very happy with their service.