STRV

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder + CEO of Ten Thousand Me LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Ten Thousand™ is a global community for athletes, sports content creators, and fans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire STRV to accomplish?
Build out and develop the Ten Thousand app for both iOS and android.

SOLUTION

How did you find STRV?

Online Search

Why did you select STRV over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• The team and their work stood out from all the other partners we considered

How many teammates from STRV were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Mobile App Development

• Authentication
• Onboarding
• Homepage
• Search
• Add content
• Profile
• Settings
• Payments
• Notifications
• Creator tools
• Competitions
• Analytics
• Admin Portal

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

App developed and delivered to both the App Store and Play Store. Our digital product is in line with our expectations and goals. We continue to work with STRV to build out future releases - primarily due to their team and high quality of work.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We've worked with many teams and agencies in the past and we can confidentily say that STRV has been the best by far. The project management has been fantastic and our points of contact have heard all our needs, responded and delivered everything on time and inline with the quality we expect. 

What was your primary form of communication with STRV?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The team, the quality of their work, the excitment they have for our project, and the level of their communication has really stood out. 

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

No, not from our perspective. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the COO and co-founder of Mustard, a company that offers a motion analysis app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We needed software development services, including UI/UX design, frontend development, and QC to build a golf product. Our goal was to create an MVP we could release to the marketplace.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRV has helped us build a golf product from scratch. The team has gone from an idea to a beta app to a product launched in the market. STRV has used Figma for design and Swift for development. STRV works with our backend developer and computer vision team, who have built the app's backend using Ruby on Rails. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with a product manager, two frontend developers, a designer, and a QA engineer, as well as various teammates from STRV's business team.

How did you come to work with STRV?

STRV reached out to us. We talked to the team for a long time and got comfortable with them. We understood STRV was in it for the long haul and met them in person in Los Angeles. We talked to about nine agencies in our search and narrowed it down to STRV because we saw the great design work they had done with previous apps they had developed. STRV's Clutch reviews were helpful, and we also saw the types of developers they would have on the project, which was helpful.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $150,000 on the MVP, and overall, we've spent around $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with STRV in December 2023, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

STRV has successfully launched the app's first version on the App Store. Our metrics are production metrics related to our internal team's vision. STRV's work quality meets our expectations and has integrated the whole team so that we all work well together. We learned from working with previous agencies to not keep several projects ongoing, so the fact we're still working with STRV tells how happy we are with their work.
How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

STRV has delivered the MVP and launched the app's first version on time and on budget. STRV communicates well with us. We've added the team to our Slack and use Jira for product management. We also use Google Docs for requirements.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Veronika (Product Manager) has been wonderful. She has put together the whole project and integrated the team. Veronika provides accurate estimates.

Are there any areas they could improve?

STRV has excellent designers, but design can be a roadblock, and we could use more design hours. However, the team is in the process of hiring designers, and this may not be an issue for much longer. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients are in good hands working with STRV. Customers will find a partner who is upfront and honest with them, trying to get the work done in the best way possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a senior applications engineer for a semiconductor manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We were looking to modernize our equipment because some of our UI components were becoming obsolete, and we wanted to create something new. Our goal was to base our UI software on an Apple product which is considered unusual, so we knew we needed external expertise. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially provided STRV with a detailed list of our requirements and a basic idea of what we wanted the software to do. Based on this information, they began designing an iOS-based app. 

What is the team composition?

We work with about four individuals from STRV. 

How did you come to work with STRV?

The decision to work with STRV was made before I joined the company. 

How much have you invested with them?

I think it might be around $300,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2022, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any concrete metrics because the product is still not out of the testing phase. However, what we have tested has received positive feedback. Their work is very good; we have run into a few bugs, but they are more on our side than STRV's. 

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything has been delivered on time. There have been a few pieces of the project that we didn’t plan for that have caused some problems, but they aren’t major. We are under the impression that their team is very well-managed because everything flows smoothly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have been particularly impressed with the first project manager we worked with and one of our developers. The team completes work quickly and responds promptly. They work in an agile manner and are enjoyable to work with. We appreciate STRV’s flexibility and ability to understand the issues we’re facing quickly. We think we get a lot of value for what we pay; the experience of working with STRV has been very pleasant. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve struggled a bit working with an iOS product, but that’s an industry-wide issue. We wish STRV had a bit more of an understanding how little iOS is being used in silicon industry and designed a small introductory "crash course" for Macintosh and iOS platform. That would have helped tremendously in our company-wide adoption of the STRV products as well as the general customer adaptation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We’ve had a really good experience working with STRV, so we would recommend their services to anyone. Collaborating with software companies can be a little different, and the working hours can be odd, but you should just focus on the project. Focus on project management as well because you need to ensure that everyone is aligned. There can be a gap in understanding concepts between engineers, and you want to make sure that communication flows well. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief educational officer of an edtech startup. We’re working to create an app that helps families manage their technology use with their children.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We needed to develop an application. Our goal was to manage technology reduction and assist families by encouraging alternative activities within the family, especially for the youth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRV has developed a mobile application for iOS and Android. We initially presented a brief and historical data. The team worked with us to create a comprehensive plan.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with people in various roles at different project phases. However, we’ve had about five primary contacts.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in March 2023, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t completed or released the project to the public, but STRV’s timeline has been incredibly reasonable. Although we’ve had some challenges, STRV has ensured that everything is in order to move forward.

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been timely and prompt with setting and meeting goals. When we need to adjust things on our end, they’re flexible, gracious, and patient. 

The team has also worked within the budget. The project has evolved over time to include different layers, but they’re always clear about what the application should be. STRV allows us to understand the changes we want to make before we adjust things. Overall, the project has been smooth and straightforward.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Fran (Product Manager) has been incredibly patient. Sometimes we fail to follow up on important items, but he continually prompts and reminds us what he needs from us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They produce what we envision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I came on late to the project, but I know the founder had a different team working with STRV at some point. Some of his original vision for the project was overlooked, but when he sat down and clarified what he wanted to the current team, they incorporated what we needed. I don’t know if that’s an area of improvement for them or a communication issue on our end.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate clearly upfront and clarify your vision. Make sure that everyone is on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Marketing Director of a media company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Creates media, including podcasts, courses, books, and videos.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire STRV to accomplish?

• Build a mobile app

SOLUTION

How did you find STRV?

Clutch Site

Why did you select STRV over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from STRV were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

First STRV managed the production of an initial design and Figma prototype. They subcontracted the design work, but I was very happy with the work of the subcontractor, so I don't consider this a negative. This lasted about 2 months. I was impressed with how quickly STRV's product manager grasped the concept of our app, and I was also impressed with the intelligent recommendations he gave to improve the idea. 

Next, STRV built a minimum viable product, which took about 3-4 months. We released it to a small group of beta testers and refined the idea from there. This was a product without a paywall that contained the core features of the app. STRV's developers did a good job handling the tricky parts of working with Apple and Google's app store submissions while making sure our company was still the full owner of the app. 

Next we launched the app publicly, after about 11 months of work and beta testing. The app was very well-received by our customers, and reached #33 on the Apple's app store charts overall, and #1 in the Reference category. Hundreds of thousands of people downloaded the app and we experienced no significant issues. The backend and frontend worked beautifully and customers were very impressed with how polished the app was at release. 

After about two more months, we introduced a paywall and started collecting money. STRV is still helping us build features. We're been partnered together for about a year and a half at this point. The app will probably be finished after two full years, and we plan to retain STRV to maintain the app after that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The app has over 30,000 five star ratings right now, and our customers have repeatedly told us how much they love and are impressed by the app. Our subscriptions are consistently growing. We have very few bugs or issues that need urgent attention.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The product management has been excellent. Lucas understood our product very quickly, and was able to communicate our expectations to the rest of the team clearly. Not only did he understand the product we wanted to build, he is able to regularly provide intelligent suggestions to improve the product. I feel like we couldn't have a better product manager even if we hired someone ourselves. 

When Lucas was on vacation, STRV made sure we had another product manager to fill in so no work was lost, and I felt that product manager was excellent as well. I am always aware of when features will release, the app released on the date we agreed on, and important deadlines that I set are respected.

What was your primary form of communication with STRV?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I'm impressed by how quickly they understood the concept and how valuable their suggestions have been. I know a lot of companies claim to do this, but with STRV I really do feel that they're part of our in-house team. I also found it impressive how STRV is able to flexibly replace or add team members as the project requires without delaying or negatively impacting the project.

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

I'm not convinced STRV always needs the amount of people they have included in our SOWs, but instead of pulling those people off the project to save us money, STRV finds work on the project for them. This isn't the end of the world, because the work is always good, but it makes me struggle to believe that STRV is taking opportunities to keep the project affordable for us. 

Specifically, once we had a designer on the team who didn't have work to do at that time in the project. Although technically this should mean we don't pay him, he was assigned work that really didn't need to be done. When I asked if he was really needed, they said "yes of course", but when i really made an issue of it, they took him out of the next SOW and guess what, we didn't need him for months. 

This was an unfortunate incident that made me wonder about the need for roles that I know less about, like backend or frontend engineers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of digital marketing and technology for Barry’s. We’re a boutique fitness company with 85 locations across the globe. Our development partners help bring this gym experience to life for our clients. We utilize B2B technology to make this happen and integrate all of our systems together. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We hired STRV to be our development partner. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRV does custom development for us, including backend, frontend, web, iOS, and Android development — they do it all. When we have a new piece of work, our teams discuss what we’re trying to accomplish and talk about high-level requirements. I work with their product management team to scope out and estimate the work. Then, they present their proposals back to us. We agree on a solution and SOW and start the project from there. 

We’ve done everything with STRV. They’ve built our entire digital fitness app, our backend admin and CMS, the frontend consumer-facing web app, and our mobile apps. They’ve built these front scratch on top of our booking management system. However, they’ve also inherited platforms and helped us maintain and improve them. They’ve built a few different middleware for us as well. 

Where the project requires it, we work closely with their product design team to make designs come to life. For instance, we’re currently doing a key feature change, and we’re working with their design and product teams to make it happen. We’ll send the project to the engineering team afterward. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition depends on the scope of work. It depends on our timelines, budget, and what is the right team size for a particular project. My primary account contacts are Tyna (Senior Product Manager) and Ligia (Director of Client Services). 

How did you come to work with STRV?

Our company’s relationship with STRV predates my joining the company. I didn’t make the decision to hire them, but we decided to continue using them as our primary development partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in April 2022, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t had any technical issues with STRV. One example of their resilience is when one of our partners accidentally deleted our entire staging instance a week before the launch of a new feature. This could have derailed the entire project, but Tyna came up with a creative solution and found a way to test and release the feature on time. 

In other words, they’re highly collaborative even if the issue doesn’t come from their side. They don’t worry about where it comes from — they simply stay solution-oriented around us and aim to hit our business goals rather than letting issues cause more issues. 

Overall, the quality of their work is excellent. They have clear queries and documentation, and their members are willing to take critiques and feedback. They iterate consistently to ensure the quality of their outputs is beyond the standard. 

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

STRV has been highly transparent in terms of deadlines and budgets. We’ve been paying attention to that, and they’re highly collaborative in that sense. We’ve had some tight deadlines, but they’re honest with us about what’s realistic and what’s not. We collaborate to find the best ways to meet our needs in the most effective manner. 

Tyna and Ligia are truly collaborative partners in the way they deliver solutions that meet our needs. We’re grateful that Tyna is available as a knowledge resource for us since she knows so much about our ecosystem. 

For tools, we mainly communicate through Slack. They do use Jira to manage projects, but we aren’t as involved in Jira on a daily basis. They’re also great at putting together ways to best articulate our goals whenever we need to communicate with business stakeholders. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their collaborative and problem-solving skills are excellent when compared to other providers I’ve worked with, so I highly recommend them. Moreover, they’re highly flexible in terms of scheduling and meeting with our partners. Their resources are willing to work across time zones to meet necessary parties. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat STRV as a partner and work on solutions together. Be clear about your objectives and collaborate with them to figure out the best technical solutions to meet those needs. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of a company that is building an observability tool or developer tool for engineers to monitor and observe the correct behavior of their applications in production. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We were about to launch our beta platform, and we hired STRV for development work to help meet a deadline. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRV was responsible for working on a specific feature set within a product. We had 2–3 calls with STRV to determine our needs. After that, we had a kickoff where we spent time onboarding their engineers. Their team helped us with specific parts of delivering the robot and worked side by side with our team. 

We worked with engineers who were experienced with data, analysis, and visualization and were interested in Web3. The engineers worked on the frontend of the solution. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with two engineers from STRV. 

How did you come to work with STRV?

We’d heard about them previously and had been impressed with their work. They were also referred to us, and at that point, we decided to move forward. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between February–May 2023. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to deliver everything within the deadlines, and wouldn’t have been able to complete the project without their assistance. We now have more than 250 users since launching three weeks ago. 

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

The engineers and product and project managers joined our weekly sprints and daily meetings; STRV worked as a part of our team. The team worked remotely for the most part, but we met in person a few times. STRV stayed on budget and within deadlines. We used Linear for project management and Slack, email, and Around for communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ease of integration was incredibly smooth, and they got up to speed quickly. STRV had strong communication skills, and they collaborated effectively. The team was professional and kept our needs in mind throughout the engagement. We were impressed with their ability to put together a team that was passionate about our project and the level of experience they brought to the engagement. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing we can come up with. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly scope the project and communicate your expectations because that will make the whole process easier. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a manager at an identity management company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We needed to update our Android and iOS mobile applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had previously worked with STRV on another project and contacted them again to update our mobile apps. The apps are native applications already developed, and STRV has updated them with our requirements. STRV has created the appropriate framework and has a backend server we communicate with. 

What is the team composition?

I work with two developers and one part-time project manager from STRV. 

How did you come to work with STRV?

STRV was referred to us by a mutual acquaintance. I chose them based on the personal connection we had. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership with STRV started in September 2022. We have a contract for a nine-month engagement. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

STRV has consistently met our projected release dates, and our team is happy with the results. I’m pleased with STRV’s work. 

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

STRV meets deadlines and stays on budget. We use Jira for project management and communicate through daily and weekly meetings in Microsoft Teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with STRV’s excellent communication. Moreover, STRV’s developers are well-trained and can ramp up quickly — they make significant contributions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for STRV to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend to show respect and appreciation for STRV’s highly skilled developers. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at Kindred. We’re a home-swapping company that’s focused on getting people to live a travel-rich lifestyle for just a fraction of the cost.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We hired them for their custom software development services. We needed to build out our product capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STRV provided development services. We worked collaboratively with their software engineers to develop our internal tooling systems, as well as a mobile application that’s compatible with iOS.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6 people from their company, including software and quality engineers.

How did you come to work with STRV?

We found them through a recommendation from one of our company’s co-founders.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $600,000–$1.2 million on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with STRV from November 2021–2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

STRV exceeded our expectations — they did a great job of helping us build our first mobile application. Needless to say, we couldn’t have done this without them.

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

They always met our deadlines and stayed within budget. They were also very responsive. For communication, we used Slack and held daily meetings via Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

STRV’s biggest strength was their team, which consisted of very smart and skilled people who were easy to work with. They also followed best practices for development and made sure each output aligned with our company’s vision.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

I can’t think of anything that STRV could’ve improved on. They were a pleasure to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend hiring STRV early so that you have time to work together on building initial prototypes of your product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief people officer for a consumer sports stock market. We’re a licensed gambling product in New Jersey, but people can download the app throughout the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STRV?

We needed someone to build our marketing tools from the ground up for our website and application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we tried STRV for a month to see if they were able to build a piece of marketing tech stack. Then, we expanded the engagement and kept their team to build the rest of the marketing tools, such as referral programs and marketing promotions. Our team has provided specific design parameters, but STRV builds the code and tech stack from scratch. We’ve allowed them to determine the best way to build the tools we want, and they’ve used Go, Swift, and Kotlin.

STRV continues to build additional marketing tools. Every time we come up with a new idea, promotion, or referral program, they develop it. They’re currently in the process of building our referral program.

What is the team composition?

They operate as a squad; we’ve worked with about six people. The squad includes a product manager, a backend engineer, an iOS frontend engineer, and a QA engineer. We recently added an Android engineer.

How did you come to work with STRV?

A fellow entrepreneur used them to build out his consumer app. When we said we needed to find good engineers at an affordable rate, he recommended STRV. He introduced us to the founder, and we enjoyed our conversation with him, so we signed up. The founder mentioned that they also worked in squads, so it was clear that they’d be a good fit. We liked that they took the same approach as us, so there wouldn’t be disruptions in the workflow.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $250,000. We expect to spend another $100,000 between now and the end of January.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2022, and our relationship is ongoing. We expect the project to run through the end of January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company started from scratch, so the outcome is the marketing website that we’re currently using. When we launch the referral program, we hope to see an uptick in the number of new users and deposits on our site.

How did STRV perform from a project management standpoint?

They always complete the work on time, and we communicate well via Slack and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overseas companies are often more affordable, but the quality of the engineering work is significantly less. However, STRV has struck a nice balance; they’re not the cheapest option, but their work is high-quality and significantly better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only painpoint has been their work hours; we’d like more flexibility with their work schedule. Since we have engineers on the East Coast and the West Coast in the US, there’s only a two-three hour window where everybody works simultaneously which isn't the most efficient way to work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We’ve had to be a bit more directive than anticipated, but it’s probably because they work with clients who aren’t as empowering as we are. We’d be okay with what they do as long as they stay with our guardrails.  We want them to tell us how best to build the product vs. wait for us to give instructions on every single step.