Softclaire

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CFO of a platform called Pocketask that connects parents to teenagers/students for jobs such as babysitting, tutoring, dog walking, and more.

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

We wanted to build a mobile app for users to access our service. Our goals were to develop an MVP and have it published on the App Store as quickly as possible

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

We searched online for vendors using multiple different websites. The deciding factors were his experience, skill set, abilities, cost and strong communication skills.

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

There were a series of 5 milestones we had to complete in order for the application to be ready and published on to the App Store. The first 2 milestones were tailored towards the back end stack, and making sure we were building technology on strong foundations.

The next 2 milestones were focused more on the front end and making sure the UI/UX flow made sense to users who would use the platform. The last milestone was to build an admin panel which would allow us to track metrics and data which helps us understand our users better.

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

A project leader and his co-worker was assigned to our company. He is the CEO of the company and his co worker is an employee.

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

Within 6 months of our app launch we have gained 750 users. We have had a huge boost in traffic on the platform since launch and have multiple 5 star ratings on the App Store. We have also had comments from other software developers commenting on how brilliant the app is structured.

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

The project manager was easy to communicate with and provided frequent updates. We would do zoom/phone meetings for bigger updates and we would slack or use Trello for other smaller updates.

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

Their efficiency and speed in fixing bugs were amazing. Whenever there was a problem, they would always be available to help. They would also give notice if a problem was taking longer than expected to solve as it helped manage expectations and pressure.

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

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an entrepreneur and the director of a few projects and companies. Four are based in the UK, one in Miami, and one in Romania. I’m currently located in the UK.

What challenge were you trying to address with Softclaire?

We needed help with app and website development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Softclaire developed an app and a website for one of my projects called Puapi, a job platform with an automatic booking system so that people can organize their bookings. They built everything from scratch and helped upload the iOs and Android applications to their respective stores. They used Laravel and React Native.

The project was originally estimated to last three months, but when we got the completed product, I wanted some updates, so I kept asking them for updates and changes. They always tried to complete their tasks as soon as possible. 

What is the team composition?

About five people were involved in the project, but I was in contact only with the owner.

How did you come to work with Softclaire?

I posted my search on some entrepreneur groups on Facebook and advertised it on LinkedIn. I came up with about four companies and gave them all a test. All of them were pretty good, but I looked for the most communicative one. Softclaire asked me questions during the process and offered alternate solutions, so I considered them the ones with the best communication.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was about €8,000 (approximately $8,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and they completed the project in June 2022. Going forward, I have a deal with them to continue to do updates on the platform.

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

We just started promoting our product one and a half months ago, so we're still building up. Our increase was close to 400% up compared to the previous month. This was quite good, but it’s just the beginning; the rate will go slower in the future. However, we’re currently moving very fast.

Overall, Softclaire has provided all the tools and Google Analytics so we can check how the website is doing on Google Pixel. We can check everything from our company’s phones and share it with them. We have complete control of the platform.

How did Softclaire perform from a project management standpoint?

They stayed on the deadline with the work I assigned initially. After they delivered, it took time because I gave them more tasks to do; I’d change my mind or want something modified. They provided a mind map where I could see the tasks remaining to be done. We also used Git Lab to see all changes they were making.

We had a few Zoom meetings, but our daily communication was over WhatsApp. Additionally, we did monthly emails for feedback and an occasional phone call in case there were things they didn’t understand.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very patient with me, especially since I can be very moody and always want things to go faster. To prevent it, sometimes they would ask me twice about what I asked them to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could incorporate something like a real-time feedback or management tool to see exactly what they’re working on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you actually know what you want to build before you ask them to do it. The first idea you have won’t be the end result. To save time, be sure you know already what you want to do with that platform. If I knew then what I wanted from Puapi, it probably would’ve been completed in three months. However, I asked for many changes, and having several changes will cost you money. About 25% of the money was spent on changing things I didn’t like.