Shuup

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a co-founder and COO of a platform dedicated to kids and teens. We provide them with the capability to earn money and invest early.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Shuup?

We needed help with custom software development.

SOLUTION

What is the scope of their involvement?

We hired Shuup to customize their multi-vendor marketplaces with our branding and products. They were commissioned to do design and development. We used Python-based development tools on top of their custom solutions.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six teammates at the beginning and two by the end. We had contact with many of their executives, as well as their development leads.

How did you come to work with Shuup?

When I started with the startup, they were already chosen for the marketplace application because they specialized in multi-vendor marketplaces.

What is the status of the engagement?

We began working together in November 2020 and parted ways in December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

Our relationship started going downhill in September 2022 when they were late on some of their deliverables. Shuup was unable to produce a shippable solution, and we noticed they were being less responsive. Then, they lost critical resources on the project and didn’t replace them. For example, they lost their frontend developer, who was a big piece of the puzzle. On top of that, they weren’t transparent about the replacement.

How did Shuup address the challenges that arose?

Shuup never replaced those resources; they tried to have singular resources to do everything. They showed incremental progress but were never able to deliver a good frontend design. Also, they never completed the application for beta testing. Ultimately, we decided to pull the plug on the project in October 2022.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

Time and financial output were super significant for us at the time. We lost over a year at a critical juncture of our company, so we had to go back to the drawing board. We wasted more months taking the source code to other service providers to see what we could salvage from the work already paid and commissioned. The more we learned, the more we discovered that it wasn’t a usable code. Other companies weren’t willing to build on top of it.

How was project management handled?

They lost a lot of their critical technical resources, so they couldn't deliver the contracted solution for the number of customers they had.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

In the beginning, they had excellent resources that helped do some project scoping.

In what specific areas can they improve?

They should work on their business ethics, contracted deliverables, honesty, and technical capability, among other things. 

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Avoid working with Shuup on any business-critical project at all costs.