Savas Labs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

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

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.

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.

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.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product at a machine learning analytics startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We needed help redesigning our website and updating our internal client portal.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Savas Labs redid two of our websites using Webflow for one and WordPress for another. The sites already existed prior to the project, but we asked for a complete overhaul. The team created an entirely new design while incorporating parts of the existing design. Alongside that, they delivered some graphic designs.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 4–5 people, including a project manager, a developer, and two web designers.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

Our CEO found them on a review platform.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May–July 2021. 

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

We measured the project’s success by looking at its effectiveness in our demonstrations and how well it portrayed our software platform. They grasped what we were looking for and developed it in a unique way rather than building it like a traditional website.

Additionally, although we didn’t hire them for rebranding, we were able to use their website redesign to conduct a rebranding on our own. Savas Labs went above and beyond and built a cohesive design that we could leverage in other parts of the business.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Savas Labs had excellent project management. It was a complex project that required a lot of development, so they did have to extend the timeline. However, we felt confident that they had our best interest and the overall outcome in mind whenever they asked for extensions. 

They were also very communicative and on top of the project. We used Zoom for our check-ins and Teamwork to interface. Additionally, we had occasional phone calls if there was an issue we needed to iron out.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Savas Labs truly absorbed and understood our audience — they had never met our users, but they cared about our customer’s experience. The team dug deep to understand how the platform would be used and factored that into their designs. As such, they gave us excellent recommendations. Another thing that impressed us was how thoughtfully they approached the website redesign.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a fantastic job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time to do your discovery phase so you know what you’re trying to achieve. Once you present that to Savas Labs, they’ll take it to the next level.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the application analyst of a grant-funded program that does HIV/AIDS research and prevention in mother-to-child transmission.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

Our Adobe Dreamweaver website was built in 2013. It was thrown together using an existing site template. We wanted a completely new CMS and a refresh of our site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Savas Labs built our new website in Drupal 9. They handled front-and backend development. We went through extensive design iterations. They connected the site to a SQL server database that we manage ourselves.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two frontend designers, two backend developers, and one project manager.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

We sent out an RFP and received a lot of proposals that we narrowed down based on technical prowess. Savas Labs had already done another project for our department successfully. Their project management skills and technical team also led us to select them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little under $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and we launched in January 2021. We still have an active contract with them for small enhancements and updates.

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

Our internal team and external collaborators all love the website so far. Their design team was very responsive to our suggestions and changes.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Teamwork for project management. We communicated mostly through their project manager, who was fantastic. They were always very responsive and quick to get things moving.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We looked at a lot of proposals for this project. Our SQL server database isn’t a normal part of the Drupal stack. Savas Labs was one of the few vendors that was able to clearly explain how they’d connect to our database.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. Their project management capabilities have improved night and day since the first time engaging with them five years ago.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to prepare to spend time with Savas Labs and be engaged. Give them real feedback to work off of.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of sales and marketing at a SaaS platform for product developers and designers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

As a product company, we spend a lot of time focusing on our own products. It became challenging to find time to work on our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired a contractor to revamp our website but they weren’t able to finish. We hired Savas Labs to finish our site where the other contractor left off.

They migrated our React and Gatsby website to a WordPress platform. We provided the design but they built out the frontend and hooked it up to a CMS for us to use. They also provided project management over the developer that was doing the build.

It’s a standard marketing site with links supporting documentation, products, and legal terms. Visitors are directed to our sales team when they enter our site.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one engineer and one product manager.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

One of their founders worked at an agency with a friend of mine. My friend referred me to Savas Labs. We had a quick chat and it seemed like a good fit.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020, and we wrapped up in March 2020.

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

Savas Labs was able to deliver what we asked on time and on budget. We’ve gotten good feedback from the design and developer communities we’re a part of. Our customers were also happy with what they saw, too.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Teamwork for project management to share documents and tasks. They were good communicators. The team was always clear, timely, and easy to work with. We also had a shared Slack channel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an easy-going team that understood what we were asking for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did everything we asked them to do. They did a good job executing the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have a defined brief so that both parties can be clear on expectations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I direct digital communications for a university’s office of alumni engagement and development.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

The university had a project concerning a new initiative. We needed a microsite that creatively presented information about our science and technology initiative. We needed independent support for my internal web development team, helping to build a starting point for learning about the topic. We wanted to start by building something simple but also supporting scalability. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Savas Labs helped our team build the website from scratch. However, we did use technology and tools throughout the project. At the base, we wanted to work against the WordPress platform. In collaboration with us, they created the concept and design. It was a comprehensive project, involving frontend and backend development.

What is the team composition?

At least 6–8 people from Savas Labs worked on this project.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

I was familiar with their founders and their previous work for the university. When looking for solution providers, I was able to connect with Ben (CEO).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the initiative in late October 2020 and finished on schedule at the end of January 2021.

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

They efficiently and creatively executed the project against a tight timeline. The site is new, having only been live for about a month and a half. At the moment, we’re just establishing a site launch baseline.

However, our numbers jumped from zero to substantial four-digit numbers within a few weeks. I expect that those to continue climbing upward.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Basecamp-type tools while their team used tools like Teamwork. There was a whole suite of communication apps in play. The collaborative tools allowed us to efficiently work remotely during COVID-19. We ran this project like a normal engagement though.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Agility distinguishes Savas Labs from other providers. Their team was flexible and creative. They cohesively and capability put all of a project’s pieces together. Their team took a 30,000-foot view with us and saw the project’s nuances and put those pieces together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. Although we rely on internal resources and haven’t worked with too many vendors, Savas Labs was one of the top groups I’ve worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you work with any creative agency, it’s helpful to give them the latitude to run with their ideas. It’s also important to give them the most information about content, style, and goals upfront. That gives them the ability to run ahead and come up with ideas relatively unfettered.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a program director for a higher education institution in North Carolina.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We were tasked with creating an interactive research roadmap. We wanted to bring content from 30–35 offices, each having their own website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed a Drupal website from scratch. The goal was to create one central website that would bring together information from all these different offices and be very interactive and engaging for users.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Chris (CEO), one program manager, one designer, and two different developers.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

We reached out to our procurement office, and they had previously done some work with other offices. They were highly recommended with the ADA compliance with the websites they’d done before. We reached out to them, as well as two other local companies, and got bids from all of them. We decided to go with Savas because we felt a lot more comfortable with the pitch that they gave us, we liked their aesthetic design style and a variety of other factors.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020, and we wrapped up development in September 2020. They’re still involved in maintenance and upkeep.

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

We’ve done a couple of demos of this site for our higher-level leadership, and we’ve gotten very positive feedback. People are very excited about how it meets our goals, it’s very user friendly, interactive, and easy to use.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great with project management. Maddy (Full-Stack Developer) was our project manager and we met weekly. We got updates from her every week on the timeline and the budget. and they were flexible throughout our project, too.  They totally stayed within our budget and finished slightly ahead of time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team seemed very genuine and they were all good people. They were really fun, professional, and enjoyable to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not necessarily. We did have to do some tweaks afterward, but that could be because we didn’t explain it correctly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

 I’m the VP of client services at a strategy, design, and development agency. I oversee our project management and account management teams, along with project delivery.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We have a long-standing relationship with the University of Virginia, and their Darden School of Business. For many years, they used Drupal as their platform, which isn’t a platform we develop in.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We brought Savas on as our partner to execute a re-design project. We did the content work and information architecture, and they took on the backend development work in Drupal. They were the CMS implementors on the project. Their work ranged from technical consulting, to integrating our frontend development files as templates in Drupal, and project management.

What is the team composition?

The core team was 3–4 people.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

Our offices are actually right across the street from each other. The COO at Savas was formerly a project manager at our company, too. We knew that they specialized in Drupal and that they’d done similar higher education work with Duke, so that’s how we vetted their work and brought them on as a partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off in October 2018, and we launched in August 2019. They provided support until October 2019.

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

The feedback that we got from the client is that the CMS hit all of the goals we were looking for. It was flexible, easy to use, intuitive, and they’ve also been able to take over ownership in-house.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Since this was a multi-vendor dynamic, we ran into the most challenges with project management. The team was incredibly collaborative, and we both ended up being flexible on our timelines and budgets to come to an ultimate solution. This was probably the area of the project where we had the most amount of overhead, too. We used BaseCamp, Slack, and Redmine for project management and communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a trusted partnership with them and we know they can jump in and collaborate easily with our teams. They also give us recommendations and push back for the best technical approach, especially since they know the ins and outs of Drupal. They came through on that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The main thing that we both discussed was investing more time in technical discovery and feature definition. That way, we could’ve set the client’s expectations around how things would work in the CMS and what was possible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re incredibly collaborative, open, and honest in their communication. Embracing them as part of your team and going all-in on that collaboration will yield the best result. The team is very solutions-focused and will get to an end result that’ll work for everyone.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Vintoux is a startup for myself and a few other entrepreneurs.

What challenge were you trying to address with Savas Labs?

We had the concept and some of the basic user flows, but we needed a company to build the app for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed backend database development and API integration. They worked with React Native.

What is the team composition?

Their team had a team of two developers. We had a project manager as our point person and a lead developer.

How did you come to work with Savas Labs?

We researched companies to work with. That involved a search in the Raleigh-Durhan area. I had a conversation with them and it was clear that we shared values in common. The local partnership and its transparency made it easy to connect.

How much have you invested with them?

It was between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work went from November 2019 to April 2020.

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

The quality of the development work that we got was very good. They embraced the idea of collaboration and partnership. The collaboration was ultimately successful in launching the app. Any issues that we encountered, which were typically on our side, they jumped on the phone to help us.

How did Savas Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management involved a strong tool that they shared with us. The project manager kept everything well-organized. They were able to follow through and execute on deadlines. It wasn’t a problem at all.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their strategic abilities. Their thoughtfulness about user flows and presentation was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I was very happy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We asked them to share their expertise and recommendations. We listened to it—I’d say we followed most of their recommendations. You should approach the situation with flexibility. We had some healthy debates on what made the right sense for our business. Let their expertise guide the path forward.