The Software House

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of The Codest

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an international software development company with a product-driven DNA, specializing in creating digital products and scaling IT teams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Software House to accomplish?

• Scale Platform Engineering team
• Design and implementation of the Ci/CD pipelines
• Design and implementation solutions on the AWS or Azure cloud

SOLUTION

How did you find The Software House?

Online Search

Why did you select The Software House over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from The Software House were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

TSH DevOps Engineer joined the Platform Engineering Team and is helping with ongoing DevOps service. That includes:

• Design and implementation of the Ci/CD pipelines
• Design and implementation solutions on the AWS or Azure cloud
• Infrastructure as Code using Terraform or CFN
• Automation
• Cost optimization

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The collaboration is still ongoing with a positive business impact. We feel that TSH truly understands our requirements and needs. 

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

It’s very smooth. We can count on their support on many levels - from Engineering to Management.

What was your primary form of communication with The Software House?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The Software House's flexibility and eagerness to adjust to our needs are impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Software House could have done differently?

The company is doing well overall. Regularly reviewing processes and staying open to feedback could help maintain its strong performance.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO & Co-Founder of Cleeng

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Cleeng is a SaaS platform offering flexible subscriber management solutions for the media & entertainment industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Software House to accomplish?

• gain on-demand development scalability while saving the core team’s focus
• upgrade the core service with new payment options and maximize the speed of the payment process for the platform’s users
• allow connecting core services with external applications like SamsungTV to make the platform available to users in the way they want and need it

SOLUTION

How did you find The Software House?

Referral

Why did you select The Software House over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from The Software House were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Our partnership goal is to introduce new payment methods required by prospective business clients and their users. 

The Software House completed the project for Cleeng and developed a powerful and safe payment solution based on AWS.

During the cooperation, they’ve already built several connectors, including SamsungTV,  StoreKit, Adyen and Altpay and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

TSH brings in always-on capacity for our team to onboard new clients and respond to their needs. As a result, we’ve significantly grown our business and become the go-to partner for leading SVOD businesses. 

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

The team we’re working with is efficient and proactive. We can count on ongoing support from several additional TSH team members, including their Project Manager, tech leaders, and CTO. 

What was your primary form of communication with The Software House?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They demonstrate a deep understanding of our business needs, making our cooperation so effective. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Software House could have done differently?

nothing comes to my mind

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on December 08, 2021.

Project Manager, Subscription Management ServiceBusiness services

Amsterdam, Netherlands

51-200 Employees

Aug 2021 - Ongoing

$10,000 to $49,999

Verified

Project summary
The Software House developed a subscription service’s session management tool from scratch. The project has gone from scoping, development, testing, and production. They’re currently providing ad hoc support.

Feedback summary
The Software House’s work has improved the client’s operations, and their tool has been praised for its high quality. They are communicative, perceptive, and flexible — they’ve pivoted their approach after initial difficulties. A true partner, they’re interested in the project’s long-term success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager of an Amsterdam-based subscription management service. I handle all our outsourced projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We needed help in custom software development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software House developed our session management tool from scratch. The solution controls the number of concurrent sessions per user and account. They later deployed it in the AWS environment so we could use it for our clients.

They initially helped us with scoping the project. I provided them with relevant information, and they wrote the technical document. After that, we went to the development phase. They worked on the backend, frontend, and infrastructure environment. 

We entered the testing phase two months later — the product and its quality seemed good, and it passed our tests. They then deployed the tool into our production environment.

The project has almost been completed. However, our contract is ongoing, and they are providing us with ad hoc support — we can contact them if something goes wrong. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with two developers, one project manager, one DevOps, and one frontend developer.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

While looking for someone to partner with, The Software House was referred to me by one of our employees. Additionally, I also saw their reviews on Clutch. 

They seemed like they had some experience in AWS custom development. I looked into their projects, and they had also worked on a relatively similar product. We shortlisted 7–8 companies, but The Software House was the best fit for us.  

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent less than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2021, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product is beneficial to our company. My team says the quality of their code and structure is much better than any other external vendor we’ve worked with.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Initially, we had some difficulty because they followed a different methodology from what we expected. After some weeks and iterations, they understood what we needed and adapted their approach. Our workflow has been smooth since then. We communicate through Slack and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of The Software House’s work makes them stand out from the competition. They’re on the higher end in terms of price, but the cost is worth it. 

Additionally, their team is super motivated. They are engaged and interested to know how the product will contribute to the business. They understand our mission and want to help us succeed. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve asked about the project management methodology we were most comfortable with instead of thinking we would also want what they had previously used. It took a few weeks for them to get things right. 

It will be good for them to ask what we think is the right way for communication, project reporting, and status updates. They can build the framework around that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep them close. They are good and have independent managers, but they can overengineer things if you don’t manage them properly. Ask their thoughts about the logic and project scope. Ensure they understand your expectations, and they will work accordingly.

STAR RATINGS:
Overall rating: 5
Quality: 4
Cost: 4
Schedule: 4
Willing to refer: 5  I would definitely recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Mr & Mrs Smith

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Mr & Mrs Smith curate and book the worlds best luxury boutique hotels, on web, app and via API

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire The Software House to accomplish?

• Development Augmentation

SOLUTION

How did you find The Software House?

Clutch Site

Why did you select The Software House over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from The Software House were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

TSH have provided a scrum team to work alongside our internal development teams to enhance and exptend the functionaliy.  They have also provided DevOps resource to support our move to IaC

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

TSH were a major contributor to our work to integrate with the World of Hyatt, post the purchase of Mr & Mrs Smith by Hyatt.  The project was successfully completed on time and went live with minimal issues.

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

They work very closely in an agile fashion as a partner alongside our internal teams.  They consistently achieved the outcomes for each sprint.

What was your primary form of communication with The Software House?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We wanted a partner who would work with and become part of our organisation rathet than a supplier.  They have very successfuly achieved that.

Are there any areas for improvement or something The Software House could have done differently?

Not really.  The engagement has been very successful and continues to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Obligate, an on-chain bonds company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with The Software House?

We needed help with custom software development for different purposes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software House’s team has been providing custom development services for us, focusing on TypeScript and Node.js. To jumpstart this process, we’ve had initial calls to describe the project and our requirements so they can look for resources that fit our wants.

What was the team composition? 

Currently, there are three full-time resources, including Robert (Frontend Engineer), David (Backend Engineer), and a QA specialist. Nonetheless, we’ve worked with members of The Software House’s team, including a designer, a software architect, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

I found The Software House online and chose them because they had good blog posts, a well-designed website, and a clear presentation of the services they provided. In addition, they seemed like a very competent team that understood what we wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested $15,000–$45,000 with them. Their costs depend on how much we scale up and down.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Software House has great expertise in development, and the products they’ve built for us are very easy to scale or down. In addition, the resources that The Software House has assigned to us have worked well immediately, and if it turns out in the rare case that they don’t, they replace those resources quickly. Overall, their work has been absolutely instrumental in our software development capacities.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

The Software House has assigned us a free project manager in case we have questions or need to arrange anything; we talk to her, and she coordinates stuff within their team. Thanks to their expertise, the Software House’s team has also been very helpful in addressing our requests. In addition, we cannot think of anything they haven’t delivered as promised, and we take responsibility for the timelines together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Software House’s engineering team integrated well with our internal staff and is competent, hardworking, attentive, independent, and great at making architectural decisions. They don’t work just as contractors but care about the project.

In addition, the QA specialist that The Software House has assigned to us is very attentive, and few things go past her. Overall, we’re very happy with The Software House’s team.

Moreover, The Software House’s team works hard and seriously, which is very important for us as a startup project to work with somebody willing to go the extra mile. The team delivers high-quality work despite the scenario we’re in. The team is also flexible and helpful whenever we go through financial difficulties.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on. I have nothing but great respect for them and their flawless work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What makes this partnership as good as it is and unique is that we make an effort to treat every one of The Software House’s staff as a team member rather than just as a contractor. This lifts the experience to the next level because it makes them care about our project and make independent decisions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a fintech company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We wanted to develop a new platform to enter new markets and hired The Software House to build it. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software House is building our platform using Node.js, TypeScript, SATCOM framework, and Terraform. The platform is hosted in AWS. 

The team has developed the front- and backend and provided architecture consulting and cloud engineering services. The Software House is building the platform inside our existing environment.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with two architects. We’ve scaled up the team and now work with architects, the CEO, and a project manager from The Software House. On a more strategic level, I’m in contact with software leads and the CTO. 

How did you come to work with The Software House?

I had worked with them before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about €100,000 (approximately $109,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Software House has already provided us with an MVP,  which we released in May 2023.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

The Software House works with the Agile methodology with our internal development team, so we have been shaping joint teams. We communicate through a Slack channel so that everybody has access to each other and use Google Meet for meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by The Software House’s learning organization. Although I’ve worked with them in the past, this particular team is more skilled than the ones I've worked with on previous engagements. The Software House has invested in developing their engineers and bringing them to a new level, adjusting to the market’s needs. The team is highly qualified and meets my expectations.

Additionally, I appreciate having a certain level of control during the process. The Software House is great at merging their team with ours and co-delivering. Recently, The Software House has made their teammates more resilient to uncertainty. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team is working on their way of communicating about things that aren’t working on our end. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on what you need and what you’re trying to achieve to ensure The Software House is the right partner for you. In my case, they fit very well with what I am trying to achieve and our environment. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that issues credit cards to startups and scale-up businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We needed help designing the UI/UX of our online platform. We wanted to ensure that users with disabilities could access it easily.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by providing The Software House with preliminary guidelines for our platform. Then, we worked together on the entire design-thinking process, which included describing user personas and mapping them. Then, the team used Figma to create lo-fi and hi-fi mock-ups for the UI/UX design. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a salesperson, three designers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with The Software House? 

I found The Software House through a referral from someone who had a good experience working with them. They had an extensive portfolio with high-quality designs, and I was confident in their ability to deliver our project. Once we negotiated the contract, we started working together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with The Software House from August–October 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we haven’t launched the platform yet, we don’t have any metrics, but their designs exceeded my expectations. During the customer testing phase, we found the designs to be intuitive and convenient. One of our main goals was to make the platform as intuitive as possible, and I’ve been very satisfied with the results. 

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, I was very satisfied with how The Software House handled the project. Even though English isn’t their primary language, they did a great job communicating with us. The team was very professional and worked according to today’s standards. They were very efficient, and working with them was easy. We communicated via Slack and had daily check-ins via Google Meet. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Software House was very professional, and they listened to our needs and implemented our requests. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing The Software House could improve on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend reviewing their portfolio and working with The Software House. Also, keep the communication flowing so they can serve you to the best of their ability.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an executive producer at a New York-based digital design and marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

A client approached us to develop an educational app in the wellness space. We wanted to augment our staff with a dedicated team outside our current technology department.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired The Software House to develop a web-based MVP. It started as a React and Next.js website, which we are converting into a native mobile application for iOS and Android devices. The web-based app is the template and the schematic for the requirements to develop the native mobile applications after the fact. This approach was part of the plan to make it a much easier lift to get from the web version of the site, repurpose the available code base, and convert that into usable native app code.

We also leverage existing service technologies for infrastructure components like Stripe, Auth0, and AWS. We're actually in the act of writing a scope for maintenance. The Software House has been great to work with, and they know all the ins and outs of what they built, so it makes sense to keep them involved.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with a six-person team from The Software House on this project, including a senior product designer, a backend architect, two front-end developers, a QA specialist, and a project manager.

We have also had great support from their account management team.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

The Software House had previously participated in a much smaller engagement. Our CTO loved working with them and wanted to develop that relationship further, so when this project came along, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get them involved in a much larger, longer-term engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

The budget spend is about $185,000 for this project so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product has not had a public launch yet, so we don't have any success metrics. But I can say that the efficiencies in terms of project flow have been significant for us. The whole idea was that this web app, in the long run, would save the client money. The client first wanted to focus on a mobile application, which they could have spent a lot of capital on because it takes longer to do the development without precise requirements, and in the end, they may not have produced something they would have been happy with. 

The web-based MVP approach allowed us to develop the requirements, clear unforeseen hurdles, and quickly create a model to prove all the requirements, then convert it into a native app.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

The Software House has performed well in terms of project management. We find many clients struggle with sprint-based methodology, so we've been doing a lot of hybrid project planning. We use a traditional waterfall approach to take the client from the requirements development phase through design and user experience. We then move into an agile methodology for development. That's worked out well for us.

We use Zoom, Jira, Confluence, and GIT-HUB for collaborative project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Software House is incredibly collaborative and easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was one instance where we felt that The TSH could have gone a little bit deeper in problem-solving a specific registration flow, but everyone pulled together, and it all worked out in the end.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you are a US-based company, consider the timezone. Try to have as much advanced communication as possible. The TSH team is very responsive and does a fantastic job with that challenge. Still, you will need to understand how well your company can support real-time communication with teh time differences.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are the largest operator of online marketplaces for pets in the world, with over 5 million customers each month. I am one of the co-founders of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Software House, and what were your goals?

We operate across 6 countries, with 6 different brands. We wanted to build a marketplace platform from the ground up that is flexible enough to support our rapid growth, while being agile and modular enough to support our future geographic expansions

SOLUTION

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

We made a long list of all the top development companies in Poland (where we focused our efforts) and physically visited over 10 companies during a roadshow in early 2019. The deciding factors was the overall skill level of the team, coupled with their previous experience of delivering high-quality software for international clients.

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

The Software House (TSH) were are technology partner from the very first start. In tight collaboration between The Software House and our inhouse engineering team we made all the critical design and technology choices, laying out the architecture etc before actually getting started on the development.

The technology choices were made based on how modern and stable they were - we ended up with a highly modern stack (nodejs, react and mobile apps built in react native). TSH had deep and vast experience from these given technologies, which made it easy to put together a high-calibre team

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

Roughly 10 people 1 Project Manager 3 front-end engineers 3 back-end engineers 2 QA 1 DevOps Every single member was interviewed by our own CTO before they were put on the project. Every candidate we interviewed passed with excellent results, which made us highly impressed

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We built the platform from scratch together, and launched across our various markets. The platform launch had a direct impact on our revenues growing over 400% from the time of launch until today. The Software House has been a key partner since day one, and we could not be happier

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

TSH apply a very modern way of working - full transparency all the way where the project team act like any of your full-time employees would.

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

The combination of being able to build modern and robust software in a very timely manner, while still ensuring the cost budgets were met

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

None that i can think of at this point

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an IT coordinator of Ukrainians in the Netherlands foundation. We support the Ukrainian diaspora in the Netherlands and promote Ukrainian culture to the Dutch people. Since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our focus was delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine and helping displaced people in the Netherlands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Software House, and what were your goals?

We are a volunteers-only organization, meaning people come in and go. In such conditions, it is challenging to work on middle-to-big projects, especially in the IT field. The overhead of onboarding, coordinating, offboarding, and knowledge transfer often exceeds the volunteering efforts. We needed a website to represent the foundation, collect donations, provide reports of humanitarian aid deliveries, and serve as a knowledge base for displaced people. We couldn't accomplish the project with only volunteers.

SOLUTION

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

The Software House (TSH) volunteered to help and provided us with a development force free of charge for a certain period.

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

They developed a React-based frontend and Strapi-based backend for our website. We gave TSH the existing plain HTML/CSS website, design mock-ups, and a GitHub repository with boilerplate code. They finished the layout and code in React, configuration, and backend code in Strapi with only minimal input from our side.

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

There was one developer and one manager from TSH side. One frontend developer volunteer from our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The amount of work delivered within the given time exceeds all expectations. The Software House's developer worked independently, with minimal coordination. The web application works as expected, and the code follows the style and standards. It's an excellent job.

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

We had a setup meeting with the management to outline the scope of work and expectations. After that, we communicated directly with the developer. In this project, additional communication with management wasn't a necessity, although the communication channel (Slack) was always open.

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

The Software House takes pride in their work; they take it seriously and are highly motivated. Their involvement is impressive.

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

none