SeeSaw Labs

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I'm the COO of a telecommunications company. I deal with vendor contracting.

What challenge were you trying to address with SeeSaw Labs?

We're a small company and we sell a lot of our services via our website. The site was developed about 10 years ago. It was showing its age and not doing everything we needed it to do. The original developers are no longer with the company, so we needed a firm to support and improve the existing infrastructure. 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

SeeSaw Labs handles development and infrastructure work, such as improving the way that the existing site infrastructure performs. They did a comprehensive evaluation of what the previous developers had built. The site was built in Yii, which is a PHP framework. It was a functioning website, but they were able to improve the efficiency of the code. SeeSaw Labs makes improvements to the existing infrastructure that increase reliability and reduce downtime.  

What is the team composition? 

Jeff (Partner, SeeSaw Labs) acts as a project manager. We coordinate long-term projects with him. He’ll provide a quote for any significant changes, improvements, or developments that need to be done. We’ll work directly with him to figure out what they’re going to do and what the timeline will be. He has a team of developers that work with him. We often communicate directly with them after we got to know each other and had established a good working relationship. 

How did you come to work with SeeSaw Labs? 

I don't remember exactly how we found them. A primary factor was that they had extensive experience with Yii, which not many companies do. Once we contacted them and had some conversations about our needs, they seemed competent and easy to work with. We felt secure investing our time and resources with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent about $210,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

Our relationship began in March 2014 and it’s ongoing. We have a monthly support contract.

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

Before we brought on SeeSaw Labs, it was a fairly regular thing for site downtime to cause emergencies. Functionality would stop working for our clients and customers. We’d have to scramble to contact the old developers and figure out what had gone wrong. There’s been a significant reduction in those panic situations thanks to the improvements that they've made to various facets of the website. 

How did SeeSaw Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

SeeSaw Labs is good at meeting deadlines for any project. We communicate regularly over Slack and email. We can also call them directly when needed. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

I've worked with other development shops or consultants where I felt as if there wasn’t a genuine relationship. They didn't understand our business. Even though SeeSaw Labs had no experience in our specific niche, Jeff was able to intimately learn the rhythms and needs of our particular business. He understands what we’re trying to accomplish, how our services work, and what our clients use. Working with SeeSaw Labs is like having a partner rather than just a hired gun. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, nothing worth noting.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Communication is key. Let them get to know your business. Spend time on the front end to explain what’s different about your business, your business cycle, and your customers. That helps them so that they're not just going in to fix little pieces without understanding the whole. It makes for a much better channel of communication.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital ad operations at a smart city company. Partnering with LinkNYC, Chicago CTA, and New Jersey Transit, we have displays in many cities. Our primary business involves us working with transit authorities to provide them with superior marketing tools and signage. We focus heavily on out of home advertising. I manage a team that collaborates with our clients and sales personnel to optimize advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with SeeSaw Labs?

We engage with SeeSaw Labs to build out our more technically-driven display projects that require engineering expertise.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the past, we’ve screened some pretty simple images and videos, but there are also more complex executions we are expected to handle. We call them dynamic campaigns. In these cases,  there is a data source connected to the visual that influences what is shown on the screen. For example, we might show a countdown or sports scores that update in realtime. SeeSaw Labs builds these data capabilities using HTML5.

We work on quick timelines for many external clients, so it’s imperative that engineers are actively building and testing the displays before passing them off to my team for launch.

What is the team composition?

It’s scaled up and down based on need, but I primarily work with Jeff (CEO, SeeSaw Labs) and one other contact.

How did you come to work with SeeSaw Labs?

Jeff used to work for a business that was bought by my company. At that point, he broke off and started SeeSaw Labs. When we needed help building out these products, one of the executives here went to Jeff to see if he could help us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $250,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in early 2016. Ever since, they’ve become a long-term partner that’s been able to ramp up our internal processes. They’re bridging the technological gap until we have the resources to do so on our own.

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

They built very dynamic content according to our expectations. Even when I had my own ideas on ad ops or device health that was outside the designated scope of their work, they still spun out some great tools for us. On top of that, they were always willing to get on the phone and discuss our needs as they developed. Overall, they’re a great partner. 

How did SeeSaw Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team would scale up or down depending on our needs. When we needed more communication, they took the initiative to set up a Slack channel and brought in additional resources. Their team stayed ahead of the game to accommodate the level of communication we needed. They were super helpful and attentive, understanding the project timelines. They were open to feedback and weren’t afraid to ask questions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re not a team of engineers, but SeeSaw Labs made it easy to communicate. It was never difficult conversing with them about requirements or how our dynamic products should be implemented. They understood requirements and were very accommodating on all fronts. Without them, we would’ve struggled to reach our goals and hitting timelines at the rate we were shooting for. There were no miscommunications regarding requirements at any point.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything on my front. We never had any significant issues. They were always accommodating.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Abstract Construction. We’re a midsized commercial general construction contractor. We exclusively work in Texas, and often Dallas.

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise Mobility Xperts?

There were no CRM solutions on the market that addressed all the construction and real estate details we wanted to track in our acquisition process. Our is a relationship business and its driven by people we know. We don’t do public or hard-bids; it’s all select bidder or individually negotiated work. We needed a CRM that provided a picture of our entire network—projects and opportunities for the same tenant or building; who, internally, knows or has worked with someone else; budgets we made for projects that didn’t come to anything initially; leases that are going to be up soon.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Enterprise Mobility Xperts helped us build a CRM solution from scratch that was custom-tailored to us. It tracks every interaction we have with all the stakeholders involved in current or past projects. Reporting was our main requirement, so it produces 7–8 reports that are critical to our business.

Overall, the solution acts as a parking lot for leads. Field employees send information to the system and salespeople in the office follow up with the leads.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with 3–4 people.

How did you come to work with Enterprise Mobility Xperts?

I went to college with one of the principals, so I reached out to him to see if he could help us with this project. He said his company could do it, so we went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

In the end, we will have spent $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in January 2018 and it’s still ongoing. The CRM is live and collecting data, but we’re still developing features to catch other information. Introducing automation and integrating it with other construction software are going to be the focuses of the next burst of work.

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

The system is working exactly as we wanted for whom we wanted it to. With additional features, we’ll roll it out to everyone in the company. This is one of the best parts of Enterprise: They’ve taught us what’s possible and given us unique technology that can help many more parts of our business than we originally planned to address.

How did Enterprise Mobility Xperts perform from a project management standpoint?

They listened and grew to understand our business because they hadn’t work in our industry before. Rather than have a CRM that tracked sales and generated invoices, we needed to track all our interactions and link them to people in our company. They asked all the right questions about what we needed to track and why we wanted to track those things. And beyond that, they offered their own suggestions and insights.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like working with their people. Everyone understands what we’re doing and has a 10,000-foot view of the work. Even better, they have the patience to deal with the granular details like a drop-down menu not working exactly how we want it to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s been such a unique project that I can’t think of anything to make it better. Everything was communicated well, and we’re really satisfied with how we’ve gotten to where we’re at.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a firm idea of what you want, not a nebulous idea of a CRM solution. We were very specific and now have a tailored solution for our business. They didn’t have to dream up what we wanted because we came in with a fully baked idea.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief operating and strategy officer at Credit Builders Alliance. We’re a national nonprofit network of over 500 organizations and public agencies. We help our members integrate credit-building programs into their work so they can help their clients improve their credit and achieve greater financial prosperity.

What challenge were you trying to address with SeeSaw Labs?

As a nonprofit, we didn’t have a lot of funding to devote to tech infrastructure, which included our website. The existing one was ten years old and didn’t fully reflect the growth of the organization, so we wanted to upgrade to a more interactive site that better-supported our members. We also needed a site that could withstand the test of time while providing an easy way to update content on the backend.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted the site to look more modern, be user-friendly, and provide member access to resources, training material, and customer support. Another provider handled the design elements and SeeSaw Labs provided all of the backend development. They built the site in WordPress so we’d also be able to manage the site ourselves and edit content in the future. They also provide us with ongoing support for the technical aspects of the site.

In addition to this project, they also overhauled our static, informational site using WordPress. For this one, they also handled some of the design elements and made sure that both the front- and backends were easy to navigate. We’re in the final stages of launching this site.

What is the team composition?

This engagement has lasted several years, so we’ve had at least five or six of their team members work with us.

How did you come to work with SeeSaw Labs?

Our original site architect recommended them to us. After meeting with them, we felt like they’d be able to deliver the personal touch we needed with a high level of technical expertise and support.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $50,000–$100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2017 and the project is ongoing.

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

With the new site for members, we’re able to capture levels of engagement in a way we never could before. We have over 500 registered nonprofit practitioners on the site, and the registration information has helped us see how well we’re reaching our intended audience.

How did SeeSaw Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

In the areas where they’ve had control over the full site-building process, they’ve been very strong on project management. There have been more challenges on projects where they play a more limited role and there are more stakeholders engaged, although it’s possible that some of that is due to our inexperience with these kinds of projects. That said, they’ve been incredibly responsive when we addressed those issues directly.

Aside from that, they’re good at clarifying what kind of information we need to provide and they give clear recommendations. They also address feedback and implement changes well. I also appreciate how available they are if I want a brainstorming partner or if we need to designate something as an urgent priority.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of support they provide us is reassuring since our staff isn’t very technical. We can trust them to turn out quality deliverables. They also respond quickly and cleanly to concerns.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could have benefitted from some clearer explanation of technical services or terms since our staff isn’t familiar with the web development process. We didn’t know how to look for potential issues with the site plans, so a bit more preemptive feedback from them would have helped.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have their CEO’s ear when you plan your project. He’s got a great eye for the big picture and can convey expectations well to his team so they’ve got the right technical skills to meet your needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I have my own consulting company, Delphi Analytics.

What challenge were you trying to address with SeeSaw Labs?

As a small organization, we do different types of data and financial consulting projects. I needed to hire an external resource to help us with website projects.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

SeeSaw Labs did both web development and design. In terms of technology, they used PHP, SQL, and many others that I'm not aware of. They were involved from early inception before a product was fully defined. They helped us by laying out the options of what was possible and most economical. Then they used tools to help prioritize and focus attention on what needed to be done. Finally, they defined the product, built prototypes, and rolled out an MVP. It was everything from soup to nuts. 

What is the team composition? 

Jeff (CEO, SeeSaw Labs) acted as the technical lead and I was the subject matter expert. In total, I worked with three people from their team. 

How did you come to work with SeeSaw Labs? 

I read a book that Jeff published on the PHP framework. I was able to get in touch with him and develop a relationship with him through Delphi Analytics. 

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

The work took place between May–November 2015.

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

SeeSaw Labs took us from a prototype to actual proof of concept, allowing us to win multiple contracts. Because of that success, I continued to work with them for a number of years when I was working at another company.

How did SeeSaw Labs perform from a project management standpoint? 

Jeff’s project management was excellent. SeeSaw Labs was always in communication and did their best to juggle our multiple priorities. We used the full range of Slack, Trello, and phone calls to stay in touch. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

SeeSaw Labs was willing to compromise on their end to help us get to where we needed to be. They were always going above and beyond what was expected. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, there’s nothing I can think of. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Restore, a wellness and cryotherapy company.

What challenge were you trying to address with SeeSaw Labs?

We were trying to increase our online sales.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created front- and backend modifications for our online, customer-facing POS system, which feeds into our website. They implemented changes to make it easier for customers to book appointments and purchase our product. They’ve also helped us with various other one-off projects. 

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–6 employees from SeeSaw Labs, including Jeff (CEO, SeeSaw Labs) and a project manager.

How did you come to work with SeeSaw Labs?

I’d worked with Jeff in the past, so I trusted them and knew how smart they are.  I knew they would be a good option.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2018. The project is ongoing.

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

After they implemented the system, we had a record number of online sales. The work has also been well-received internally.

How did SeeSaw Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They are exceptional; great to work with in every way. Their team helps us work through problems 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re intelligent and offer good value. SeeSaw Labs has smart people and make technology development easy to understand. They do a good job of keeping things digestible for businesspeople not well-versed in technology.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They help you work through the specs, which is key to getting the result you want.