Stanfy

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We began working with Stanfy as an early-stage SaaS [software-as-a-service] company, offering communication tools for the healthcare market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Stanfy?

From the beginning, we were working to offer a flexible platform to numerous end users. Given that we operate in healthcare, broad access is a requirement for all of our customers. Yet for a young company, the effort of creating products across both the web and native mobile apps was daunting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Stanfy proved to be an incredible resource—both in the short term, when we needed to port our existing iOS application to Android, and as a long term partner that we have relied on as we shape our development strategy overall.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Over the course of two years, we have engaged the team on a number of different projects. Their expertise, flexibility, and dependability have been an incredible asset for our young company. They understand where we are coming from, are laser-focused in their execution, and always make the process enjoyable.

What did you find most impressive about Stanfy?

Without a doubt, Stanfy is a stand-out company. They deliver, and then some.

BACKGROUND

Dailycam is a video mobile app that allows users to share videos and create channels using hashtags. It’s the perfect place to create daily stories with friends, family, and people from all around the world. We are located in Avondale, AZ. Our target market is young kids from 10 years old to young adults of 23 or so.

I am an investor, project manager and recruiter for Dailycam.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

The opportunity we had in our market was being able to come up with a product that would allow for friends, family, and people from all around to hang out in channels of interest through video. Stanfy delivered a great product on all levels.

We faced a big challenge early on in our prototype stage, which was making sure we had the right design that was appealing to people. We set up two sessions with Stanfy about the ideas they came up with for our design, and we were back on track to getting our app built within a short amount of time.

SOLUTION

Diving into the social market can be very risky because it’s constantly changing, and companies are pioneering on new niches every chance they get. Our product does mirror a handful of other apps on the market, but we still have a unique niche that separates us from others. Working with Stanfy was such a great experience because we needed to act fast on our idea, and position our company. From the start I felt very confident working with Stanfy. Getting feedback from potential customers during the process of development was a major key as well. We constantly changed logos, font colors and even our company name. Stanfy was always there to act fast, and be there when we needed them the most. Discovering our niche was only half of the process, finding the right team to work with was the other.

I discovered Stanfy through another firm out of San Francisco. They first referred me to 3 other firms before we came across Stanfy. My first conversation with the Chief Executive Officer of Stanfy was a pleasure, and what stood out about him was that he was more interested in learning about our company and understanding our product than on trying to sell us their services. The Stanfy team made us feel comfortable, safe, aware, and knowledgeable, but most importantly like a business partner and friend.

Our strategy was to plan for prototyping, move to development, test, and then submit. Stanfy managed the entire mobile app project and still continues to help us update the app.

We started working with Stanfy in early December 2015, which consisted of us understanding what we wanted to build and creating a prototype. In January, we started with development, and finished our project around the end of January. It took us about a month to get onto the app store, but we still beat our deadline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Stanfy performed at a very high level in pretty much all areas! They knew what they were doing and they did it for us. The cost of the project was perfect for us and everyone was on board from start to finish. They covered all agreed scopes on the agreed schedule and budget.

Stanfy is a very unique service provider. In this world, you want to be around nice people because as a business owner, in a sense, you think of everyone as your competitor. Dealing with niceness allows for you to feel like there are people on your side, and with Stanfy they are.

I would recommend this company to any company who is looking for a mobile app development team to build their app.

I would not change anything about Stanfy. They will go the extra mile for you and will deliver a product in a timely fashion. What more can you ask for?!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company developed an online food sharing application that allows people to post pictures, locations, and make comments and ratings on food they're eating, whether it's in a restaurant, at home, or anywhere else.

That information is then tracked and publicly shared with friends and family. It's basically a food-centric network. We are very much like Instagram, but based on food. It's built for iOS at the moment. We want to generate as many users for the platform as possible so they can have access to data on what and where they and others are eating, etc.

What is your position?

I am the co-founder and chief executive officer [CEO].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Stanfy?

We do not have a development team for the core product so we had to outsource that.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They are our dedicated team for the development of the platform at the moment. We started with iOS, and we're moving to Android, and other platforms. They are responsible for all software applications currently available.

How did you come to work with Stanfy?

Through research on the net and going through companies that I know already. I'd built other software applications in Eastern Europe, and I was confident that I would need a team based over there, because of their knowledge, expertise, and rates. I did go through some American, British, and some other Western counterparts, but they were not suitable. Based on their work, their professionalism, their cost, and so on, we selected Stanfy.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It’s between $10,000 to $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Stage one is complete, but I'd say it's ongoing. We have updates to do, and new platforms to build.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

There’s nothing that I could share at the moment.

How did Stanfy perform from a project management standpoint?

We are extremely satisfied. We recommend them. They are very diligent, professional and punctual. I would say they went over and above at times where a bit extra needed to be done. They're not the cheapest people in the world. I'm sure you could find cheaper developers in other locations, but they're also not the most expensive. They're somewhere in the middle ground. They provide a very professional service and care about their clients.

What distinguishes Stanfy from other providers?

They are friendly in an honest way. Their working relationship is good. They're able to make us smile here and there, which doesn't often happen when you're working with an offshore company. Because of the language barrier, sometimes you miss out on having a good work ethic or environment. They managed to have that. They’re friendly, chirpy, smiley, and we can have a joke at the right times, but they’re always extremely professional. I'd certainly use them again and recommend them.

Is there anything Stanfy could have improved or done differently?

You have to fight a bit on their price. As with anybody, they're going to charge you their optimum cost. In the States it's a bit different: if someone charges you their cost, you take it. In other places there's a bit more room for negotiation. I would say to anyone using them, to not always take the first price given. They're a great team, and they keep their price up because they're good.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization. What is your role and responsibilities?

My company works to develop apps. I'm the co-founder with a colleague from London. We worked with Stanfy on one app called ColorBoost, which is an app that offers color therapy for people with certain issues like depression as well as everything that can be treated with colors. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Please describe the scope of their work.

We gave Stanfy our idea and we worked with them step by step through the development process. We had weekly conference calls. They offered elaborate drafts at every step. When the app was finished they helped us to get the app on the Apple App Store. 

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Stanfy with which to work?

Stanfy was suggested to me by a colleague of mine in San Francisco who worked with them previously. My colleague mentioned he worked with developers in India and the U.S. and still considered Stanfy as the best deal. 

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

ColorBoost development cost between $30,000 to $40,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Stanfy did a good job. They did really professional work. It wasn't easy like everything you do for the first time. They really helped us with every step.

Is there anything unique or special about Stanfy that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

We haven't worked with other app development companies but, from the nightmarish stories I have heard about outsourced development, we have no reason to complain. We've been satisfied. They are really nice, very professional. You can trust them. The price is fine. 

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

The most important thing to know is that you have a stable and trustable partner in Stanfy.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

There's nothing bad to say about them. They're a really good partner. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization. What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the CEO of a mobile development company for wireless mobile carriers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Stanfy and can you describe the scope of the work provided to you?

We were looking for added mobile development resources to expand our staffing. Stanfy provided resources to help with iOS mobile development.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Stanfy with which to work?

Stanfy came to us through a recommendation of a previous client of theirs.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work hour figure?

Our engagement with Stanfy falls in the price range of $10,000 to $50,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Is there anything unique or special about Stanfy that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

I found Stanfy’s development team to be incredibly responsive and thorough in what they did.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No. I have nothing in particular. Our team had a very good experience partnering with Stanfy.

BACKGROUND

I hired Stanfy to help build the MVP of a social-travel, content sharing app late last year. I am the sole founder and owner. The industry I hope to disrupt is TripAdvisor as well as other social networks where travel content is being shared in a non-dedicated way.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

The app is a mobile-only social network focused mainly on travel reviews, trip planning, and travel content sharing. The target market is anyone who shares vacation pictures on Instagram, photo albums of a trip on Facebook, or suffers through reading reviews on TripAdvisor.

SOLUTION

The coding solution used was xcode /objective C.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Stanfy was incredibly professional throughout the process, and their design and UI/UX [user interface/user experience] was better than I expected. Ultimately, I felt I wasn't going to be able to move my idea past the MVP stage so the idea is on hold, but this was not due to a lack in quality or performance by Stanfy.   

Ultimately, I think Stanfy is an amazing option for larger corporations who have more financial resources for a project. They deliver Pivotal Labs-type quality and professionalism for significantly less cost. In my personal situation, I would have been better served going with a freelance developer who was local and potentially able to fill the CTO void, which I ultimately couldn't find. This is not Stanfy's fault. They delivered everything as promised.

BACKGROUND

Head of digital group for multinational healthcare marketing organization

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Enhance an existing business service by developing an iPad app that interfaced with existing meeting management system, collected information from sales force and attendees, and uploaded collected information back into system. 

SOLUTION

Objective C development, user experience enhancements.

Met developer representative at SxSX 2013, and was impressed by existing product portfolio.

Project duration was six months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Code was excellent, recommendations on interface, user experience and business process enhancements were top notch, entire team came away from project impressed. Delivered on time, on budget, and were very tolerant of mid-project adjustments to scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a cloud-based mobile enterprise software service designed for the contracting industry.

What is your role and responsibilities, please?

I’m the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Stanfy?

Due to their expertise with resident mobile applications, particularly iPhone and Android design, we wanted to work with them. This is a mobile app that’s part of an overall cloud-based enterprise software application. It's quite a bit more complicated than just a mobile app.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work?

Our application is like a hub-and-spoke application that has essentially three components. It has a backend database. It has a front-end Web interface that is the office interface. Think of it as mission control for the customer. It has a front-end mobile interface for staff in the field. It’s a satellite interface for the customer. We had them design that last part, and it needed to integrate and communicate with the core database. It’s a complete, multifunctional enterprise software application, where they designed the entire mobile interface for it. It’s a workflow-based interface, and it had certain technical challenges, which they were good at surmounting.

For example, we needed the application on the mobile device to work, even when they did not have connectivity. You had to have a protocol for dumping all the information down onto the device, so when the worker got to the job site, if he had no connection, he could still work and still interact with all the data from the job. There were some complications that Stanfy was particularly good at addressing and involved that.

Other things that were important to me were interface design, and they just get it done. Hands down, they were the best people we worked with on this project. We worked with other teams in the Ukraine on the Web interface on the back end; we worked with teams from Argentina on the back end with the web interface. But, Stanfy was the firm with which I was most pleased. You can count on them to get stuff down. In the software world, that’s really hard to find.

What was your process for selecting Stanfy to work with?

We found them through another Ukrainian firm that we had started with, and they introduced us to them once they figured they were not going to be able to handle our mobile application needs. They introduced us to Stanfy to handle the part of the job that they felt they were not going to be able to handle, given the demands that we had. Stanfy was a much better partner for this project.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

It’s been about two years now. It was probably during early 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from their work?

I can’t say I did. I would say that they were more efficient, dependable, and resourceful than the other companies that we worked with. But, I don’t have a quantifiable means of answering that.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

The thing that stood out for me was that they took ownership, and they got stuff done. Too often, with other programming firms, we hear excuse after excuse about why something couldn’t be done. You don’t get that with them. With them, they just got it done. There’s a reason that I so strongly endorse them. As a customer, it’s a very good experience, interacting with them. Some things might be a little bit over budget, but there’s a good explanation for it as opposed to being significantly over budget, and feeling like you’re held over a barrel without any kind of advance warning and not necessarily a good reason for it.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

From time to time, they had some sort of staffing issue, where we couldn’t get exactly who we wanted, exactly when we wanted them. But, that’s not uncommon. It was less severe with them than it was with others. There’s nothing that I can really point to.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I work for Kyivstar, which is the largest telecom services provider in Ukraine. We have about 25 million subscribers.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am a manager for game and app business development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the project with Stanfy?

We wanted to launch our first-ever branded app. The app needed to become one of our largest digital services. We needed a solid partner to build the app for Android and iOs. The app was called Djuice Music, an entertainment application.

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of the work that Stanfy performed?

The scope of their work involved development of user interfaces, prototypes, and general design according to our requirements. They had to maintain the Kyivstar brand while developing an interface plus a back-end platform. They helped us launch the app and things have gone well.

What was your process for selecting Stanfy to work with?

They came highly recommended.

Can you provide a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms?

The cost is confidential.

When was the project completed?

It was completed January 22, 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Stanfy perform?

They are great. The app was very successful.

What is unique or special about Stanfy compared to other IT vendors?

Stanfy has strong professionals. They are a very flexible and inspiring team.

Looking back on the project, is there anything that you think Stanfy can improve or something you would do differently?

I have no complaints.

BACKGROUND

What is your position and what are your responsibilities?

I am the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge or opportunity that you were trying to address?

We were interested in helping to increase the level of happiness for busy and career-oriented individuals by using a mobile application. There are a number of products trying to address this market today. There has been tons of research done, but nobody seems to be able to figure out how to make it work in practice. We needed an easy-to-use app, one that did not require user registration, with a simple concept to understand and support push notifications. We were limited by a low budget, plus we did not have a  very well defined application flow and design. Plus, we were facing unknown technology limitations and practicality.

Are there any metrics or numbers that can quantify the challenge or opportunity?

No numbers, but we were at risk to have a half-baked application and to run out of money without the ability to demonstrate any user traction, and then raise additional money for development.

What were your company’s business goals for the project?

Ideally, we wanted 100 beta users before app’s availability in the App Store. Then, we wanted as many as 10,000 users when it reached the App Store, all without a marketing budget.

SOLUTION

Please provide a description of the project and its scope.

The phases included the design for a minimal viable product, then a clickable prototype. All of this within eight to 10 agile development cycles. We had an agile management approach and an expected duration of three months. Our budget was around $50,000 and we allotted for two product owners, two coders, a UI/usability designer, a scrum master, and a project manager.

What was your process for selecting Stanfy?

We talked with multiple offshore development companies and evaluated their cost, approach, and people. We choose Stanfy mainly because of their people and their process, which we liked.

What parts of the project was Stanfy involved with?

Product design, prototype, and development.

When was the project completed?

Between October and November of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share?

We got our first version of the app on time and under budget. There are about 50 active beta users as of now. We are well under way for our App Store launch.

Do you still feel you selected the right software or technology?

Yes.

How did Stanfy perform?

Excellent. Very responsive and flexible. We still continue working with them.

Is there anything unique or special about Stanfy?

Their technical skills, experience with mobile application space, energy, and communication.

Is there any area that Stanfy could improve or that you would do differently?

There were small issues related to differences in understanding of the agreed design, but nothing that wouldn't happen in any similar project with remote development team. I'm not sure how this could be avoided.

How would you summarize your experience with Stanfy and would you recommend them to others?

Very positive. I would recommend them to others.