Solves

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive for a technology company that develops 3D digital twins of facilities.

What challenge were you trying to address with Solves?

We had a desktop application, and we did the first version ourselves. The next iteration required the interface to be intelligent, which meant having the components be addressable and searchable. We didn’t have the in-house capabilities to do this, so we hired Solves.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had the base app as a desktop application, but we weren’t sure it could be used on a mobile device because we didn’t know if it could run in a browser. Once we engaged with Solves and they understood the problem and the models, they suggested that we could do this, and after working with them for a while and gaining confidence in their abilities, we decided to go down that path. 

Solves created new functionalities like placing an overlay on top of the model so that when a person right-clicks on it, they can see the overlay and get the metadata. They also built a search capability that finds different objects and displays them in the model; it essentially acts as a 3D relational database that feeds the metadata to each one of the objects and allows a user to search for them.

This capability also enables users to fade everything else in the model away so they only see the object they’re searching for. The objects all have mounted data, so the user can also see the condition of the object. Solves added the capability to do a global search for specific properties, like if an object requires maintenance. A user just needs to search for that property, and it will come up for them to see. 

Another feature they added was a temperature sensor so users could see the real-time data in the model. Solves also migrated all of the software onto our server from their own and helped us get it running. The software stack included TypeScript, Vue.js, GraphQL, HTML, NestJS, TypeORM, AWS, Docker, Terraform, React, and GitLab. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Mike (CEO & Founder), Eric (CTO), and two other individuals. 

How did you come to work with Solves?

They were a referral; we had talked to another company, and they weren’t the right fit for our project, but they recommended Solves to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $25,000 with Solves. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between September–October 2022. 

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

We don’t have traffic data yet, but they made the interface work in a browser, which we didn’t think was possible. They were also able to add new functionalities and gave us the traceability and searchability of objects, which we didn’t have. We were beyond happy with everything they did for us. 

How did Solves perform from a project management standpoint?

They were incredibly open to feedback and solved everything very quickly. We had weekly meetings on Microsoft Teams and communicated via email and Zoom; we went back and forth daily to give feedback on the model. We used Google Docs and Notion for project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their turnaround time was incredibly fast, which we were very impressed with. Solves went above and beyond to get things done for us, and they went outside the scope of the original project and finished things so that we could provide our customers with more data. The team was willing to work outside of regular hours to get tasks done. 

We were very particular about small details, and Solves was always willing to accommodate any changes we needed. They never complained, even when we went outside the original project's scope. We think we got excellent value for what we paid. We gelled very well and worked like a unified team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We don’t think there was anything more they could have done for us. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We would recommend their services because they’re flexible and they can scale up and down. We’ll use them again in the future.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of the company. We are a startup. Creating new informational service for stock investors

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

We needed to create MVP(web application Frontend PWA + Backend) of our service to test our idea and after some feedback from users continue work on it

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

We searched online for web developers and also around Friends&Family circle. We shortlisted top-5 options and Solves.pro was the most convenient for us(stack, specialists, prices, quality)

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

We had a couple of kick-off meetings there we described the goals of the work and our vision about technical stack and implementation. Also we discussed the two options: microservices on Backend and monolith. On frontend we wanted to create PWA. Guys give us a good plan for every option and then we selected the most convenient for us. Design was provided by our team.

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

There were 3 people. 2 backend developers and 1 frontend. I was in the role of project manager

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

We created a service from scratch and right now we have around 1000 MAU. Clients really love the speed and quality of the product

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

We had daily meetings with me and their developers, also 1 planning every week(we moved by sprints, agile style). They worked well with our whole team. Communication was in Telegram

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

They have given us a product with a really high-quality code, so we save a lot of time and money on refactoring. Also, the communication was perfect!

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

After the launch, we had several minor bugs, that we fixed together. Also in the start of the project we asked to change one developer to another

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO. We offer software development services for companies in oil & gas industry.

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

We hired Solves team to make a web app for our neural network that analyzes cough recordings in order to determine if a person is COVID positive

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

We met at the Russian startup community Mesto.co We spoke to many people there and checked a lot of profiles, and Mike from Solves stood out to me as a highly professional team lead. We jumped on a call and quickly understood that we have a match

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

Steps:

1. We discussed tech stack & architecture
2. We sent the model files with descriptions of how it works
3. Solves made a design using Figma, we tweaked and approved it
4. They developed an app that we easily embedded in our Tilda website Based on research papers published by scientists from MIT, Cambridge, and Harvard, we tried to develop a test for COVID-19 that would be free and available to everyone.

Our journey:

1. Gathered & labeled a dataset with the help of enthusiasts from the healthcare community
2. Created a machine learning model that had very good characteristics
3. Created a Tilda website
4. With the help from Solves developed a web app
5. Contacted a COVID hospital to verify our test before advertising it

Tech:

AWS S3

• AWS CloudFront
• AWS API Gateway
• AWS Lambda
• Node.js
• Python - React.js
• Tilda
• GitLab Architecture: Serverless

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

1. Mike as a team lead/manager
2. 2Erik, Backend developer
3. Ilya, Backend developer
4. Daniil, Product designer
5. Rodion, Front-end developer

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

It turned out that the solution we developed based on the scientific researches wasn't working in the real life No team around the world working on the same problem has been able to create a reliable solution. But the job Solves did was great - they created a clean and intuitive design and the backend was cheap and efficient.

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

We had a very tight schedule since it was a middle of the corona crisis and a lot of different teams around the world were working on similar solutions - including teams from top universities in the world like Harvard

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

I was impressed with how quickly they got to work. The guys understood that we had no time to waste and everyone worked harmoniously and accurately - both the designer, and the developers, and Mike.

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

In this particular project, quality was superb