Startxlabs Technologies

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a joint venture company and invest our time in trying out new ideas, taking concepts that are popular in the West, and localizing them for the Indian market. I am a project owner of YouMint, a part of the joint venture.

What challenge were you trying to address with Startxlabs Technologies?

We looked at lip-syncing apps like Dubsmash and decided that we wanted to build something similar. We have in-house planning capabilities, but we lack developers since managing such a team would be a big hassle for us as a small company. We have invested more in thinkers, rather than doers — we create a plan, and execute it in the market.

We started the project with another vendor and faced many problems. They had difficulties capturing video and self-images, as well as with syncing the audio with the video. We assigned the work to Startxlabs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to create a lip-syncing app with a local flavor. Startxlabs developed the app for iOS and Android.

What is the team dynamic?

I assume that there were 5–6 people involved based on our scope discussions and negotiations.

How did you come to work with Startxlabs Technologies?

I handled the project on our side, including vendor finalization. Our first vendor was not able to complete the work, so I looked for an alternative in Delhi since I have an office in that region. I found Startxlabs and gave them a small task, which was delivered well and in a timely manner. The rate we negotiated was also better than that of the previous vendor. In the end, it proved to be a good decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We have paid close to $11,000 for Startxlabs’ services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The shift to Startxlabs was made in August 2015. After this, we gave them two more small projects. We have not worked on anything since May 2017 since aren’t focusing on any mobile projects at the moment.

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

We had a complex, techy project, but their company was able to deliver it correctly and in a timely manner. We’ve had many difficulties in finding reliable partners, but this was never an issue with Startxlabs. We have developed a total of three apps with them, one of which is live, another is partially live, and the third was never put into the market.

How did Startxlabs Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We are a products company and, as such, we focused on what requirements we wanted for the app and created use cases. We didn’t get into the details of how the coding was managed.

We’ve visited them twice to ensure that the team understood what we wanted and because we wanted to check their setup.

We used Trello for project management and the initial requirements were shared through Google Docs. In order to make sure their team understood what we wanted, we also created videos and screens.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do good work, follow up constantly, and have good response time. Issues can come up in tech projects, and they’ve quickly responded back to us and got to work quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not sure how big they are now, but I think that they have potential to scale up and take more work. We need good resources, and I wish that Startxlabs offered more web services.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s always important to negotiate, even though Startxlabs is reasonably priced. They’re an easy team to work with and have performed better than our in-house staff at times. I feel quite comfortable with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company works mainly with telecoms to help them optimize communication and operations internally. We provide a type of CRM and PRP solution to our customers. I am a project lead for the business and have been managing all the work that has been assigned to Startxlabs as their main point of contact. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Startxlabs?

We have been working with Startxlabs from the initial days of our business. The quality of work they produced has been very good so we kept the arrangement between our companies going.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Startx was involved in the overall development of our Android application. Our app is a communication tool, and acts as a messaging and broadcast interchange. They took care of the architecture, and integrated Google maps API into our application as well.

What is the team dynamic?

I originally was in touch with the project manager, and we exchanged the overall requirements. They also assigned us a quality engineer to over the main product of the deliverables.

How did you come to work with Startxlabs?

We chose them because they were recommended through a mutual connection, and I already had a trust in them in that sense. The apps that they have built in the past are very similar to the environments that we wanted.

How much have you invested in them?

I don’t remember the exact number, but it is well over 10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2016, and the work is ongoing.

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

It is an enterprise application, and the feedback has been pretty great. Anytime we have gone back to Startx with minor or major issues, they have been very proactive in solving them.

How did Startxlabs perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very proactive with communication. If I was to leave them an email or message, they would typically reply within 12—24 hours. We have been using Slack and Skype, as well as emails for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing is how proactive they are when it comes to communication, and the project manager they assigned to us is very skilled in Android development and very experienced with technology. They were able to assist, help, and guide us almost like a technical advisor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There might be some things they can improve upon, but nothing I can think of off the top of my head.