SpaceDev

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a business development manager at a health and childcare institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with SpaceDev?

We needed a custom software platform that used blockchain technologies to help us maintain a light structure and keep our business costs low while we implemented a new business area. The project resulted from the merger between two large companies; both had big structures, so we had a development hub for the new technology side.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SpaceDev came in proposing a series of technology tools to improve our processes and help us reduce the volume of resources needed for the business operation. They designed and developed a whole platform from scratch using React, Node.js, NestJS, Terraform, and Amazon ECS to host the backend and Amazon S3 for React and files management.

We initially provided them with a basic outline of how we wanted the website to look. Afterward, they worked with our design agency to use our brand book and design the site based on that. SpaceDev was also in charge of hosting and maintenance. Additionally, they helped us integrate other platforms, such as payment gateways.

What was the team composition? 

They assigned a team of 10 people, but we were in direct contact with the team leader. We had a QA manager, a UI/UX expert, two senior developers, other junior developers, and a mobile developer.

How did you come to work with SpaceDev?

They were well known in Uruguay, so we had references from companies that had worked with them. I also had a meeting with one of their managers at a business conference I was at, and everything went well.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent about $800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SpaceDev in September 2022 and finished in March 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had excellent acceptance among our registered clients. We’ve also had many new users and are already seeing great metrics in terms of billing.

We’re still in the process of fixing any bugs that surged, but SpaceDev did a great job overall.

How did SpaceDev perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. In terms of pricing, SpaceDev was more expensive than their competitors, but we decided to bet on a more consolidated company. When we worked with other development agencies in the past, they weren’t up to our expectations. On the other hand, SpaceDev was up to our standards and delivered up to our expectations.

They assigned a project manager who had great availability and flexibility. The team managed the project using a project management system, and we had access to all the information on the tasks and processes they worked on at any given time, so we could follow up in real time. SpaceDev also met all the established deadlines. In general, they offered a premium service.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The professionalism and commitment were outstanding. SpaceDev was also great at planning and meeting deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could’ve had more in-person meetings, but they did a great job in general. They could also improve their marketing; they’re well known in Uruguay, but they could have more international clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Even if their pricing is higher than other competitors, SpaceDev offers a high-quality service, so you can be sure that you won’t pay more at the end of the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an executive of a company in the blockchain space, I also act as the product owner. We offer web3 investors a platform to automate their monthly operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

As an early startup, it was important for us to develop quickly a proof of concept to test our market, and then to move quickly to a secured well architected platform meeting all our industry best practices.

SOLUTION

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

SpaceDev was highly recommended to us for their professionalism, structured approach and integration of development best practices. They also have worked in the past on very notable projects in the security space and with several blockchain projects.

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

The process was straight forward. Our in-house product designers had produced the UI and UX, we had a few meetings with their blockchain architect to define a simple, but sturdy and secured architecture that met our goals. Then we have weekly meetings, test processes and all state-of-the-art development practices.

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

We have 2 dedicated full-stack developers, a blockchain architect, a project manager and a QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Clients love the product, we have a clear product market fit.

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

We are using all state-of-the-art development best practices in terms of development cycles, security, data privacy and project management. It's like Silicon Valley standard but in Uruguay.

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

It's like Silicon Valley standard but in Uruguay. They are very flexible, allowing us to adjust our needs to the market conditions and business needs.

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

As any new teams working closely together, we were conscious to have a transparent and direct communication. It allows us to have a fast feedback loop and improve quickly on our mistakes (both ways).

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Creative Director of a petcare marketplace platform that provides in-home & mobile van pet grooming services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The SpaceDev team is helping migrate our existing app to React Native and is building many new features added to this new version.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking to improve our app technology and UX - We met the SpaceDev team at a TechCrunch Event. They provide the exact service we needed, so we started planning the project with them.

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

We provided the entire UX/UI design and prototypes, and they started analyzing and providing estimations for the finalization of the project. Since the project started all have been worked smoothly and on time.

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

A project Manager handles all the projects. A QA is testing and 3 react native front-end developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still in the development process, but we receive daily progress reports, and we can also test the app on our devices.

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

The project manager is constantly in fluent communication with us. We have daily communication via slack or Figma comments and a weekly call. Everything was delivered on time.

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

They are easy to communicate with and have a tidy process that makes their work very transparent and clean.

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

Not for now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for ForagerOne, a four-person technology startup working with various contractors to get our work done. In my role, I work hands-on on development tasks alongside the developers who work for us and also manage and delegate tasks related to our projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SpaceDev?

SpaceDev was one of the contractors we worked with on our development projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SpaceDev provided us with staff augmentation services. Their resources predominantly supported web development projects, but those include custom software development to some degree. For example, their scope included some Python web scraping work and setting up repeated jobs on the cloud using the cloud infrastructure. As for the technology stack, we used Node.js, Angular, and Express.js.

Initially, SpaceDev provided us with two resources, and they provided us with a third one shortly after. Each of them worked on very big projects. For example, one of them developed a completely new automated script running with Python. They also helped us set up and test our cloud infrastructure, as well as code the UI of our product.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three developers from SpaceDev, and we also met their CEO.

How did you come to work with SpaceDev?

We found them on Upwork, and they fit our stack very well. They also seemed to have good projects under their belt, so we contacted them. We met their CEO and talked to them about our project and needs. At the time, we were looking for multiple developers, so they first offered a testing phase, providing us with two developers from their team.

Whenever we hire resources, especially freelancers, we like them to talk about their past projects. Both SpaceDev’s resources had a lot of experience regarding web development in general, and the projects they had worked on demonstrated clear knowledge of Angular, Express.js, and Python technologies.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around October 2020, and we ended our partnership in August 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first resources SpaceDev provided us with onboarded our company very well, and they were able to hit the ground running. They took our requirements and delivered a functional code within a very tight deadline and with minimal involvement from us, which helped us use our time doing other things. What they ultimately delivered was very intelligently built, allowing us to build on top of it easier. Overall, they were very independent on the technical side, and their work exceeded our expectations.

How did SpaceDev perform from a project management standpoint?

SpaceDev performed very well, and they almost always hit the deadlines. Whenever they missed them, it was due to a combination of factors, including challenges in understanding requirements, but we improved on that aspect over time.

My co-founder and I were in charge of managing the team, but SpaceDev did a great job asking the right questions and going the extra mile to develop code that fit the structure we already had. Overall, we had a good synergy with their team. We managed the project using ClickUp, and we communicated via Slack, email, and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SpaceDev’s ownership was impressive. The volume of work they could handle was impressive, and they were able to take on very complex tasks, ultimately helping us alleviate our technical work at a much higher level than anticipated. They did various things for us across the board, even when they didn’t need to do them, which was very beneficial for us to complete a lot of things at once.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Appreciate and take advantage of SpaceDev because they can take ownership of projects. They also have a great knowledge base, so trust them with big projects so that your company can focus on other things.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Technical Project Manager for a Design & Development Company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired SpaceDev to support us in the development of a static site for one of our NFT clients.

SOLUTION

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

It was not our first but our second time working with SpaceDev after an very good initial experience.

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

SpaceDev delivered a superb and timely implementation of an extensive react website for the NFT market for one of our most valued end clients. They connected the site to a third party API and provided and implemented performance recommendations based on some key issues from this external API.

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

We worked with two full time developers and a technical project manager on their side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverables where finished on time for every single step of the process allowing us to have a successful project launch. SpaceDev went above and beyond to make sure we got the best possible version of the site live.

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

Communication was swift and they were responsible with timelines. They were always there for us.

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

SpaceDev's technical skills were clearly above average, and their compromise with their clients and projects is what made us come back to them.

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

Not that I can recall.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m a partner of a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SpaceDev?

We needed extra development resources in order to take on a project that was available.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed the cryptocurrency platform's front- and backend from scratch using Blockchain. They also connected Blockchain to the frontend using web3.js. The platform would allow users to put cryptocurrency into a lending pool and the cryptocurrency would then be lent to users all over the world. Overall, the team helped analyze and scope out the project, so they were responsible for the documentation, requirements, and schedule.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three engineers and a designer.

How did you come to work with SpaceDev?

We were part of the same group. We talked to SpaceDev about the project, and they agreed to do the documentation with the understanding that if we landed the project, they would do the development.

How much have you invested with them? 

We spent $100,000–$120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–May 2021.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SpaceDev completed their part of the project. The platform would be available in the market once we finish the whole project. They knew we were under pressure, and they adjusted the team to help meet goals on time. Overall, they did everything they could to support us in achieving our targets.

How did SpaceDev perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was outstanding. We had internal project managers, but their project manager added a lot of value because he had Blockchain experience. On top of that, he had daily meetings to discuss what needed to be changed. We used Jira, a time tracking tool, and Gantt.io, a new tool for meetings that they introduced to us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

From the first day, they instilled confidence in us that they'd be able to deliver what they promised. As a result, they met all our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they had no areas to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide an opportunity for SpaceDev to make suggestions and take their insights into consideration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of ViaVivo, Inc. We’re based in Austin, Texas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SpaceDev?

I was working with a client who wanted to build a mobile app that helps young people discover their skills, talents, and passions to develop those into a meaningful career.

We wanted to build a mobile app prototype of this product to test.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s a hybrid application. We developed both platforms at the same time on a React Native codebase.

What is the team composition?

We had two dedicated developers. We also had a project manager and quality analyst that worked with us as needed.

How did you come to work with SpaceDev?

I was looking for a new developer. I’ve done a lot of work with different developers, but we were looking for an experienced mobile app developer.

We interviewed a lot of different developers. SpaceDev had a thoughtful response to our request for proposal. They also seemed to have a great perspective on how to problem-solve.

In following up with them and other finalists, we found that SpaceDev had great communication and a creative response to our challenge.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in the last week of May 2020, and we wrapped up our beta in August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re now in a maintenance support phase as we’re beta testing the product for six weeks. We don’t have results in the market yet, but we achieved what we wanted from a development process.

We set out to build this very quickly, in a way we could put out and test. We now have a solid first draft that works with end-users on both platforms. The reliability of the product is helping us get out into the market quickly.

How did SpaceDev perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the things that stood out about SpaceDev is that they truly brought out a holistic approach. Their team is very well-rounded. They understood the need for testing and solid project management. They maintained an agile board.

I would send requests, and they would manage the backlog. We worked in two-week sprints. It was easy to work with their team. They had the right people in place that knew their role. It was a real plus.

Their team displayed the right creative perspective for problem-solving. That made this engagement very successful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication was great. It was the right amount. We had a daily standup call, but we could set up more time if we needed to go deeper.

Their team is also very technically capable. They brought great solutions with different options. It was helpful to have that during the process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at this time. We’re already working with them on a support phase and plan to work with them more after receiving feedback from initial tests. It’s been a five-star experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was a Co-Founder of a startup that meant to provide delivery services for home made food in LATAM

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SpaceDev?

With SpaceDev we developed the Backoffice of the application, iOS and Android applications and the public website built with AngularJs.

What were your goals for this project?

Provide new customers and cookers a way to communicate between them, in order to make requests directly between stakeholders and remove intermediaries.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to me by a mutual friend.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They provided a well-defined, scalable and performant, end-to-end solution. They've a team fully specialized on each area that was required for this project. Web, Mobile and Backend developers all working coordinately.

What was the team composition?

2 Backend, 1 iOS, 1 Android and 1 AngularJS developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Great results and deliverys of excellent quality. When times had to be adjusted, they always respond as expected.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Super effective. Communication was fluid, which granted the success of our project. We used Trello to track work and Slack for in-team communications.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The high-quality and details on their deliveries! It´s not so common to find companies which never move deadlines or deliver mid-quality code which then has to be maintained by other team. Once everything was done, a very nice knowledge transfer was put in place and everything run smoothly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing of notice I can think of right now. I´m pleased with their work!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

dLocal offers a 360 payments technology platform, focused on emerging markets. I'm a Technical Account Manager and I work closely with our customers to ease the integration with our platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SpaceDev?

To develop the integration with our payments API for customers

What were your goals for this project?

To allow our merchants to accept online payments using our platform

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They worked with other merchants before, so we made an initial contact then.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

SpaceDev build the integration for some of our eCommerce merchants, allowing them to start accepting online payments from their customers in a simple and organized manner. They have followed our technical documentation and delivered a solid product everytime we needed their services.

What was the team composition?

SpaceDev provided development resources depending on each merchant's need. All of them have proven to be reliable and easy to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

SpaceDev provided a solid and reliable product for every merchant. Projects were concluded on time. We will continue working with them.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

SpaceDev assigned the needed resources depending on each project's scope. Projects were managed effectively and the communication between our teams was fluid.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their dedication, among all other aspects, was the most impressive aspect of SpaceDev.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing I can identify.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

DevBorn is a software factory located in South America, which goal is to provide top developers to help companies grow in a cost effective way. My position there is CTO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SpaceDev?

Multiple projects, whenever we require extra help and qualified developers, we call SpaceDev

What were your goals for this project?

Add value as a nearshore team

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by one of their former employees, we always try to find new sources of talents and we can say that with SpaceDev we had a match since day 1.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

React, react-native and node.js development

What was the team composition?

3 developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They always were ahead of deadlines, not a single delay

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Two points of contact, available every time we needed them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Despite being young, they provide a stable and performant team of professionals

Are there any areas for improvement?

None