Solwey Consulting

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a B2B SaaS platform. We provide governance risk and compliance software to our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solwey Consulting?

We brought them to provide software engineering services. Since we had several prescriptive solutions that we were writing for specific compliance needs, we wanted to partner with a company that could build the end-to-end functionalities of the module we needed to deliver.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We give Solwey Consulting our product requirements, and we tell them what problems they need to solve. They help us in refining our deliverables through their scoping services, and they help us determine delivery timelines, scales, and more. However, their main focus is on delivering modules within the compliance and risk field, and their goal is to produce high-quality code and design during the process. They also assist us with a lot of our continuous deployment (CI) and continuous integration (CD) efforts.

Their engineers are in charge of writing and testing the code. Their tech stack includes React and Ruby on Rails (Rails), which are used for front- and backend development, respectively. After that, the team supports us with deployment and troubleshooting services. 

What is the team composition?

We’re working with three people from Solwey Consulting. Andrew (CEO) is our main point of contact, both from a technical and architectural perspective. We also collaborate with their project manager and engineer. 

How did you come to work with Solwey Consulting?

We had terrible experiences with two development firms we chose before Solwey Consulting. What convinced us to work with the team was their glowing reviews. We specifically found them on Upwork. Andrew had an extreme level of experience working on our precise technology stack and working with companies on our scale. Above all, we had confidence that he would mesh well with our internal engineers.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $200,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing collaboration started in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They produce a large amount of code — that’s not necessarily a good thing, but in this case, the features they’re building are relatively complex so it helps increase the surface area of what we support. Our level of automated testing has also increased by having them around. Overall, they’ve helped us solidify a number of our engineering processes in-house, which isn’t something that a contractor would normally do.

How did Solwey Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Trello in-house, so we’re in charge of the project management between us. They do get things done, but we don’t necessarily see how they get completed. We’ve had a few discussions with them on that point, but they always manage to deliver so we don’t push them too hard.

What did you find most impressive about them?

On top of providing quality code, they also give us feedback that will help us in the long run; they care about the quality of the architecture of what we’re developing and see to it that we could use it 3–5 years from now. Overall, we feel that they’re an extension of our team rather than just a contracting firm.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their transparency because it’s a little hard to predict when things are going to arrive. However, it’s also the nature of software development to be unpredictable because things may go wrong during the process. Despite that, we’ve learned how to work with it and it’s not a deal breaker by any stretch.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You don’t need to be tech-savvy to work with Solwey Consulting. They’re really good at getting prototypes and demos off the ground to get companies going.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Triangle, a property technology company that offers services in the rental market, but we plan to expand into residential and commercial markets. We assist with home leasing, sales, and property management. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solwey Consulting?

We needed help in developing our mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Solwey is providing us with full stack app development services on Android and iOS. Their deliverables are multiple releases of builds for our app and backend server. They’ve also developed our app’s database that maintains users and property listings.

We’ve brought over code from another developer for this project. The code was marginally functional in certain aspects, but Solwey significantly improved its functionalities. They are using Codebase and React Native for development. 

The app is pretty complex and requires a fair amount of testing. It has a map feature that interfaces with Google Maps. We’re also using innovative self-tour and smart lock technologies to increase our clients’ security and convenience through third-party providers. Solwey has gone above and beyond in being responsive when there are bugs. 

Solwey has also performed ad hoc tasks for us, such as locating vendors that we needed for our app. They are also providing us general guidance and consulting. They’ve been a trusted advisor to our team.

The app is in the process of getting approval, but it should be in app stores within a week. 

What is the team composition?

Our primary contacts are Andrew (CEO) and Nima (COO), and we also speak with Wes (DevOps Manager). They bring in resources as needed. At one point, we wanted to polish our app’s design, and Monika (Creative Director) has helped us with that. 

How did you come to work with Solwey Consulting?

We found them via Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

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

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Solwey has done every task we’ve assigned and aspect we’ve wanted to implement in a timely fashion. We’ve been delighted with their expediency in accomplishing tasks. They’ve been instrumental in driving our app’s release into app stores. The likelihood of our app’s success has increased because Solwey is our development partner.

How did Solwey Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Solwey is very good at project management — they hear what we need and work their best to help us. We’ve had nothing but good interactions with their teammates, and there’s a rapport between our teams.

I have not seen employee turnover on Solwey’s side, so we’ve had a lot of stability with their work. We also like that they provide their opinion during the development process, even if it’s contrary to what we’re doing. They give intelligent feedback and thoughtful guidance. 

We have weekly tag-up meetings every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through Zoom, and there’s always 1–3 representatives from Solwey present. Additionally, they are very responsive in Slack; we have multiple channels set up, and they have a rapid response time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Solwey’s team is highly competent. They’ve delivered an outstanding product in a timely fashion, and they’re excellent at keeping communication lines open. They’re very approachable, and they deliver a high-quality product. Our experience with Solwey has been outstanding. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any. We haven’t had a pain point throughout the process. They’ve been great, and I have no major complaints. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have realistic expectations and facilitate good communications. The more information you can communicate, the better they can take that and give you deliverables. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a seed-stage software company building simulation software for design engineers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop our alpha ASAP to start demoing with interested customers across many industries. We knew that it would take 2-3 months to hire all of the full-stack developers we needed to onboarded Solwey to lead developing the front-end, back-end, and AWS integration of our alpha product for a period of 4 months.

SOLUTION

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

We were recommended 8-10 various agencies and contractors and found Solwey through pure luck. We reached out via cold email and Andrew and team responded quickly to better understand our needs and focus.

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

Full-stack web application development using React front-end, Express and NodeJS backend, integration with Python physics engine, and utilizing AWS>

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

4 people - Andrew, Nima for project mgmt, and 1-2 developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to get the alpha version of the product out as planned with Andrew and Nima always providing support and responses within 12 hours. They were near 95% on-time with their delivery of merge requests and projects.

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

Combination of Slack, Gitlab, and daily scrum calls via Zoom

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

Andrew and Nima are able to take complex tasks and goals and break them apart into accomplishable chunks, which abstracts the complexity away from us. They're incredibly responsive and care about delivering a world-class MVP. And they went over and beyond to ensure our product was functioning as needed.

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

There were times a few merge requests came in 1-2 days later than anticipated but the team was always super responsive and prioritized the tasks that were critical to us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run an online jobs and networking platform for people who work in the arts. I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed someone that we could hire for about ten hours a week who worked with an agile xp development process. Our goals were to continue maintenance and building on a small scale while we worked on growing our memberships.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solwey Consulting and what were the deciding factors?

Andrew was very clear and followed a development process that matched what we were looking for. He was available to communicate as part of a team rather than as a client/contractor, which is something that was critical to us in any contractor.

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

We are still working with Andrew. Our site is built with a variety of languages and he is well-versed in all of them.

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

We are only working with Andrew. That was something that important to us and he agreed. On the few times that he needed to pass off some work, he made sure to discuss that change with me first.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our site continues to run well and Andrew is highly efficient. He has also provided help with business strategy and monetization (we are a startup), which is a nice bonus.

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

On the days that he works, we have daily standups, and he is generally available if I need him. On the occasions where I can't reach him, he always follows up with me, even if it's not on a designated work day. We use Slack for communication and Pivotal for project tracking.

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

I really appreciate how flexible Andrew has been and how quickly he is able to get back to me if I need anything from him. He's very knowledgeable and, as I said before, quick to deliver.

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

The only concern I've had is that I've had trouble coordinating Andrew with various designers that we've hired. There just doesn't seem to be quite enough time to work as a full team. The other thing is just a difference of opinion about priority. Our prior devs were extremely thorough with writing tests in tandem to new features, and as a result I almost never came across bugs in our system. We still have pretty good results in that area, but I definitely find more bugs now. I know that Solwey just writes the minimum amount of tests that still will cover the features as a way to prioritize getting to our MVP, so that's the reason behind that change.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm VP of product for a fintech startup, based in Austin, Texas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed an existing mobile app, that was only available for iOS, launched for both iOS and android devices. The goal was to create a ReactNative mobile app using the existing UI elements. In parallel, we also wanted to create a new backend payment platform to support the mobile app.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solwey Consulting and what were the deciding factors?

We found them via Upwork. Their background was firmly entrenched in launching mobile apps, especially mobile apps geared toward sending and receiving money.

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

They started by building our a project plan, using our existing app designs. Then, running 1 week sprints, geared toward delivering at least one completed feature, per week. The frontend of the mobile application progressed so quickly that Solwey had to also step into backend development.

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

There was main point of contact that worked on this project. He acted as both customer contact and primary software developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch our mobile application and our new payment platform within Q1 of 2021.

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

The project management style was "aggressively agile." The primary goal each day was to delivery as many working features, as possible.

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

We found most the most impressive thing to be the communication and delivering of working code.

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

We wished the project could have gone on longer. We were really sad to have the project come to an end. We hope to work with them again soon.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of eDiscovery Assistant. It’s a fast-paced software for lawyers and legal support professionals in the electronic discovery field. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solwey Consulting?

We’ve had multiple employees and entities doing development on our software over the years, so we needed to build out a new UI to bring some consistency. The goal was to ensure the clean delivery of a very stable product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Solwey Consulting has been working directly with us on our UI for about 15 months. They help us optimize our existing features while considering the development of new ones based on our ROI.

This updated UI is a complete redesign of our product. We’ve built a new dashboard that will enhance our software’s features and have also increased the search functionality. Our software is a content database, so being able to search for and find information effectively is really key.

What is the team composition? 

I primarily work with Andrew (CEO) and Wes (VP of Product).

One of the great things about working with Andrew is that he’s run startups before. That affords him the right level of experience to be able to advise us on how to prioritize our future development based on user feedback. He can also tell us when a development piece is going to be pretty expensive as opposed to the ROI that we might receive.

How did you come to work with Solwey Consulting?

We originally contacted them through an online provider, narrowing down our search from 10 candidates around the world. 

Ultimately, we selected them based on their ability to help us lead from a CIO perspective as well as handling our development. It’s easy to get developers who can grind out code. But, when you’re a startup like us, it’s more important to have someone who can guide the development and collaborate effectively with outside design teams. Having a partner like Solwey Consulting that has that experience has been invaluable.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s between $85,000–$100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with Solwey Consulting has given us a lot of confidence in our development because we know that they’ll take care of whatever happens. We’ve been incredibly happy with the work they’ve done, not only to implement the new UI and feature changes but also to clean up the old code. They help us understand what needs to be done and where we shouldn’t waste our time. That expertise is the biggest comfort I have as a CEO.

How did Solwey Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

We work through Zoom and Trello boards. There are different columns set up for our weekly sprints, and we work directly with Solwey Consulting to talk through the elements of those sprints — questions like what’s going to be a challenge, where are we going to have issues, and where do they need additional guidance.

They then implement that sprint, which updates the Trello board and pushes their work to our QC portal. There, we review and test what they’ve developed before pushing it into production. If something comes up (which hasn’t happened much since Solwey Consulting has taken over), they’re always available whenever we need them. It’s a pretty smooth workflow.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Development is hard because you can design all you want down to the pixel level, but it doesn’t mean that you’ve considered all of the issues. You need a team that understands the implication of design and development issues. If you go down a certain design pathway, do they know how that will impact how your site displays on mobile or will you have to do different development there?

Having senior leadership like Solwey Consulting has been phenomenal because they understand those principles. They allow us to take our mind off of the development side and just focus on our product, sales, and marketing, and that peace of mind is worth so much.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re a pleasure to work with. Andrew is a terrific guy, and I’d love to hire him outright to build my projects 100% of the time. However, that’s not their business model, and it’s not viable for our company at this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

From a development perspective, it’s important to know what your goals are and to understand the scope of what you want. Something that I value about Andrew’s leadership is that he brings us back to our goals when we start to stray with our development. Likewise, it’s crucial to know your timing so that they can budget and plan accordingly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a direct-to-consumer company that makes refillable containers.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solwey Consulting?

I needed strong custom website development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’d worked with a UI/UX designer to determine how the Shopify site would look. We had the ability to produce a very customizable product, and they were tasked with bringing it to life through development. 

We needed animation on the site and interactive elements. For example, if someone selected a new product color on a listing page, we wanted the color of the image to change to the selected color. If a consumer typed a custom monogram onto the product, we wanted that to be visible on the listing page as well. They handled all of the custom development needed to make these functionalities work.  

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Andrew (CEO). 

How did you come to work with Solwey Consulting?

I attempted this project with four other development groups. All of them said that it would take too long or the custom developments were impossible altogether. Andrew and his team were the only confident group. Approaching the launch of my company, it was very important for me to find an enthusiastic team. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve paid them $80,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this web development project from October 2019–February 2020. However, we still work with them on other projects as well as everything involving this website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their speed and accuracy in their development were very impressive. I’d provide a design, and they’d be able to implement it quickly. Other providers required us to change our designs, but they made what we wanted to happen. Additionally, it would’ve taken another developer a year to do what they did in 2–3 months. 

We’ve had amazing feedback on the site’s look and functionality. They’ve been great at vetting the site for quality before launch, so we haven’t run into problems with bugs either.   

How did Solwey Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

I can be demanding in terms of the timeline, but they’re always flexible and able to make time for us. We’ve been on video chats together at midnight, which is a testament to his attentiveness. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

His dedication to making good work that functions as we want it to. No matter what we ask of him, he always finds a way to deliver. He makes the impossible possible. I know that he puts a huge amount of effort, working through nights, to make everything work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Faster replies may be helpful. He doesn’t mind when I double-ping him, so even that isn’t a big deal to me. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to follow up with him and be as communicative as possible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a company that uses molecular hair analysis to customize products from your hair data, scalp condition, and lifestyle factors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Create private lab information management system (LIMS) software and develop custom Shopify Themes for our unique customer journey.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solwey Consulting and what were the deciding factors?

This job requires a person with:

• Highly experienced background with back-end programming languages. Ex: PHP, Phyton, Ruby, Java, .NET, JavaScript etc.
• Proficient experience using: advanced JavaScript libraries and frameworks such as Angular JS, ReactJS, VueJs etc.
• Development experience for both mobile and desktop.
• Understanding of server-side languages including: C#, PHP, Python, Jade, Node, etc.
• Experience with cloud message APIs and usage of push notifications.
• Experience with database technologies like MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and Mongo DB.
• Experience with frameworks related to your server side language of choice like Express.js, Ruby on Rails, CakePHP etc.
• Knowledge of code versioning tools such as Git, Mercurial or SVN.
• Experience working with graphic designers and converting designs to visual elements.
• Understanding and implementation of security and data protection.

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

3 people: One Lead Developer One Junior Developer One UI Designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All deliverables were provided on time. Bug fixes were resolved promptly. Communication was clear and concise.

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

All pushes are in well defined sprints. Jira is used for ticket and sprint management Slack for direct communication

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

After working with Andrew on this lengthy project, I have recommended him to numerous colleagues for projects both large and small. He started with us from the inception of our idea and carried it through to flawless execution.

He's incredibly structured, has immediate response time, perfect communication, and through his years of experience can give feedback on any aspect of your software and business strategy. At the end of the project, he's become more than just a consultant and instead a valued advisor for our company.

I hope to continue working with Andrew on new projects throughout the year!

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

No, all aspects of this project were performed to our high standard.