Superlative

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO at PatchAi, a digital healthcare company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Superlative?

We were a startup, and Superlative assisted us in the creation of our MVP, a digital healthcare platform. This app allowed patients to communicate with their doctors. It also collected data points and featured a chatbot. The Superlative team was in charge of delivering this app on both iOS and Android platforms. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Superlative led the full development process for our app. We were a startup, so we didn’t have any experience in designing mobile apps. As a result, they provided us with UI/UX development assistance. However, they didn’t fully design the app. The design was done by somebody else, and Superlative only adjusted parts of it. They also worked on the app’s responsiveness and corrected its design in case something about it didn’t work out. 

On top of that, they helped us in the QA phase, where they tested the app. They had experience in backend and network development, so they also offered their advice for those tasks. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people for full-time development, while another person worked part-time in QA testing. Those three people consisted of Igor (Founder & CEO), Ognjen (Co-Founder & Senior Software Engineer), and Lazar (Senior Software Engineer). Ognjen dealt with iOS development, while Lazar worked on Android development. 

How did you come to work with Superlative?

They were recommended through word of mouth. They were the best for us because they had the experience when it came to building mobile apps. They also had natural insights into UX development and creating the best experience for users. They were very flexible, and they communicated well with each other, so they could respond quickly to our changing requirements. This was the reason we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May 2019–September 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to develop our MVP, and that was important work for us. Since we were a startup, our requirements were constantly changing. With that in mind, our primary success metric was hitting our deadline, and Superlative was able to deliver everything we needed on time even though we were changing everything. In other words, they covered our most important metric. 

We successfully launched our app, which was running and functioning well. People were also happy about it. This app was used for confidential projects in the pharmaceutical industry, so there were high standards of quality and regulation. Even with all of these requirements combined, Superlative delivered an app that didn’t crash, and nothing catastrophic happened. We changed a few minor things, but there were no serious bugs. We also kept onboarding new users. 

On top of that, they were also able to finish another project for us within four months using a new tech stack. It was a similar UI/UX project that had an even shorter timeline, but they still managed to deliver. 

How did Superlative perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was great. We typically communicated through calls, video calls, and Slack. Our company was Italian, but I was based in Belgrade, so I sometimes visited them in their office. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were quite flexible and that was their best differentiator when compared to other companies. Furthermore, they were honest and upfront about work, and we valued that. They’d always tell me if what I wanted to do would take a long time, and then they’d suggest an alternative that was good for our timelines and budget. Since they were open about everything, they would tell me that we could save more money if we did what made more sense to them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

During our engagement, they lacked standardized legal documents. This had nothing to do with their actual work, but we had to wait a long time for them to compile their statement of work (SoW). That being said, they hired a legal assistant to do that by the end of our engagement. As a result, they managed to correct this downside. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Superlative is very transparent, and they don’t tend to hide things. As a result, you should also be very open, and avoid assuming things. Moreover, be relaxed when interacting with Superlative so that they can also be relaxed. That way, they can be flexible while still respecting timelines and budgets.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Kristina and I'm CMO and Cofounder of Woke. Woke is opinion sharing platform (social networking platform) with fully animated avatars, aimed at Generation Z. As a CMO and Cofounder of the company my goal was to have app that is ready for download by the users, that would help us in getting first investments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Superlative?

When started working on our startup, our team was mainly business oriented, so we needed to outsource a company that would help us with app development and help us with improving our UX. We decided to hire Superlative as we were introduced to them by our friends who worked successfully with them.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to release iOS app, that would be ready for download by our users. We needed iOS native app written in swift, backend in node.js with customer animation engine for full bosy skeletal animation

SOLUTION

How did you select Superlative?

We were introduced by friends who had few successful projects with Superlative. We had few local vendors in mind, but after setting up calls with all of them and checking projects they worked on previously, we decided that Superlative had the most experience and best reviews. Whole cofounder team was involved in selecting the vendor

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected Superlative, we had several brainstorm sessions and goal setting. Afterwards we were meeting once/twice a week to discuss the results of each spring and details. Superlative had a lot of ideas that helped us improve the app even better. As most of us are from business side they really put an effort to explain everything to us in language understandable to us. We needed iOS native app written in swift, backend in node.js with customer animation engine for full bosy skeletal animation

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager to support us and he was our main point of contact. Additionally 2 developers were working on the app. However most of our communication was with Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

After 1 year we successfully released Woke app that was tested by our users. We were using the final product to pitch for investment and got a proposal from Imact Hub Serbia. The feedback from both users and investors was very positive. Final app didn't have any bugs or flaws.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager that we were assigned was easy to communicate with and he was regularly updating us with the feedback. He was listening very carefully for our feedback and suggestions, but also was giving us ideas that actually improved our final product.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I have a lot of experience working with different vendors, and what I liked about Superlative is following: 1. Communication with them was very pleasant, they were almost a part of the team 2. They were listening to feedback and doing everything on time 3. They shared with us their ideas and helped us improved the product 4. We had a feeling that they want for as to succeed as we do :)

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really :)