Swenson He

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the inventor of an app.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

They’re developing an iOS application for me.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I built a prototype with a different development company and decided to find a new vendor to build the product. They were able to create a fully functional MVP for us.

It came in under budget, and the process went very smoothly. We had weekly check-ins, and the communication was up to the highest degree. Every question was answered within an hour, and Marine (Product Manager) and Garrett (VP of Technology and Product) were both really great at helping me learn the ropes of a technical project. They spoke to me with compassion and understanding without taking control away. Ultimately, I ran the design and felt very respected.

The app is an interactive vision board that lets you navigate your calendar and understand what your patterns for self-care are. The mobile app has features that allow users to create short-form video content through imagery uploaded into our API, along with affirmations and the ability to have your own calendar where you can input certain aspects around your life to pursue a long-term goal

What is the team composition?

I’ve been in contact with David and Marine, as well as Garret. It’s been very simple to have direct contact with these people.

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

I went through an arduous process of interviewing over ten developers to find someone that connected with my own personal values, and Swenson He very much aligned with them during the onboarding process.

David (VP) provided the utmost care and communication to me, really helping me understand what was involved in the process, as I’m a non-technical person. I also had multiple meetings with Nick (Founding Partner) to talk about the designs for products we were already building.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $60,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2021–April 2022. We’re in a holding pattern right now, as I’m busy raising funds, but we’re going to soon move into the evolution phase.

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

The whole team felt very cohesive and synergistic. They’ve built a great product, and we’re now seeing results. We’ve received over 350 users in three weeks without doing any marketing whatsoever.

I want to work with them again, but I don’t have the money right now. They actually added more funnels free of charge so that we can measure what’s happening. The app has a 47% retention rate. I’m very happy with the designs and how everything has gone. They’ve certainly exceeded our expectations.

Bugs are certainly expected, but we move through those as soon as we identify them. There haven’t been any crashes.

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

Responsiveness and communication are my core values, and that’s why I ultimately chose them. If I ever had a tiny question — even on the weekend — someone would get back to me. Their customer service was second to none.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication was the biggest highlight.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. I’m really happy with their service, and I’m very happy that I trusted my gut and decided to work with them over other companies.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I can’t say a bad word about them, so definitely check them out and see if they’re the right fit for you. Obviously, they were the right fit for my project, but I’m not sure what other kinds of projects they tackle. They’re very professional. You’d be hard-pressed to find better than them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The Lumistella Company is a global intellectual property company dedicated to bringing Santa’s North Pole to life for children around the world through consumer products, entertainment-based content and unique branded experiences. Digital Media Manager - I manage all things digital - from digital marketing campaigns, to gaming, to mobile apps.

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

Rebuild the Scout Elf Ideas App for Android and iOS. Goal was to redesign and modernize the existing Scout Elf Ideas App for 2021 as well as build a solid foundation to continue updating the app with exciting features.

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

I worked with Swenson He in the past. Knowing how incredibly professional and talented this team is, a first to mind recommendation to my supervisors as trust worthy developer.

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

To rebuild and launch our Scout Elf Ideas App with React Native for Android, iOS devices for the 2021 holiday season. Steps:

• Ideated UX/UI
• Identified MVP
• Final Designs
• Coordinate with our internal Dev on existing APIs
• Development begins
• Testing
• Launch App

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

That I know of, five.

• Nick, Managing Partner - Introductions, and initial ideation
• David, President of Sales - Ongoing account management
• Marine - Product Manager - Ongoing product management
• Garrett - Senior Developer - Oversees app development
• Alan -Developer - Lead developer on our project

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

From start to finish, Swenson He's communication and execution was flawless. As expected, working with Swenson He was efficient, clear, and professional. The app has maintained a 4.6 app store review and looking forward to continue working with them in 2022.

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

Our product manager (Marine) is exceptionally efficient in communication and execution. Next steps were always clear. We used a client channel in Slack for most of our communication as well as a 30 minute weekly call on Zoom. Swenson He is very responsive.

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

The flawless execution in every phase of development.

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

No areas of improvement.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Grants and Marketing for the nonprofit Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach. We provide after-school and summer programming for the most at-risk and underserved youth in our community.

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

When COVID-19 hit, we realized we did not have a reliable vehicle to communicate with our Club youth and parents. We applied for a grant with Swenson He and were luckily chosen to get a mobile app created to solve this issue.

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

Swenson He listened to everything we needed and very quickly realized how they could help solve everything. They graciously agreed to donate their services.

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

I had in-depth conversations with their team where we discussed the specifics of each of our problems. Their team collaborated and presented an easy-to-use app that gave us the ability to notify parents of emergencies and upcoming programs. They made it extremely easy to use and dual-language as most of our families do not speak English.

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

David: Vice President, Sales & Client Success: supervised the entire project.
Marine: The amazing person who took care of everything we needed.
Alexa: Second in command in making the app happen.
Daniel: The technical guru to helped make it all happen on the back end and nicely talked me through the technical items.

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

Our measurable outcomes consisted of creating a communication app that was easily accessible for our demographics. Everything was done in a timely, professional, and patient manner.

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

Swenson He is extremely great at communicating each part of the process - especially for those that know nothing about app development. I felt that I was heard and each of my questions were well taken care of. Marine was a delight to speak to and work with.

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

We are incredibly grateful for this donated item, that being said, I never felt like I wasn't a paying customer. They got behind our mission and believed in the cause and the problem they were fixing with their project. They are all exceptional people.

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

They were fantastic and I don't see any area for improvement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of tiderC, a public benefit corporation whose goal is to reduce food insecurity in college students. Basically, we provide a means for all college students to eat, whether they have the funds to pay for food or not.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

We needed help to create an application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had a few meetings with Swenson He to scope my needs and see whether they could help me or not. After that, we had more meetings to go over the design concepts and other assets involved in the project.

They then created our logo and a really great mobile app, as well as a website and an admin panel to control the app. They did everything from scratch.

Swenson He did a great QR code functionality implementation. Students can scan QR codes whenever they go to a restaurant, and we can keep track of their activity. From the admin panel, we can approve our service to the students, and we can control how much they owe to restaurant owners. Additionally, they implemented a map that shows nearby restaurants affiliated with our service.

What is the team composition?

I regularly meet with 3–4 people from Swenson He, including their VP of sales. However, I’m not sure about the roles of their other team members, but they’re all incredibly great. Additionally, 8–9 more people interact with us on a Slack channel that we use to communicate.

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

We had heard good recommendations about Swenson He; a lot of people said they were very good. A friend close to my family had used them for an app, and he had nothing but praise for them. We felt they would be great.

However, what drew me towards them was their level of support; they continue to support companies after completing the projects. I didn’t want just to have an app built; I wanted their help afterward to keep my app alive and expand my company.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Swenson He promised to deliver my app by a certain date and did it. We had some delays because I wanted to add a few other things to the app, so that wasn’t their fault. Despite that, they were able to deliver on their promises and meet the deadline.

The app is now live and available in the App Store. However, we’re still in the process of getting more restaurants to partner with us, and we will start advertising the app soon.

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

Swenson He performs very, very well, and everything has gone very smoothly. We communicate through Slack, where we have a shared channel. We also arrange meetings whenever necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Swenson He’s willingness to help their customers expand their company is impressive. They’ve worked very closely with us to ensure that our marketing is good and our logo design is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that they could improve on — everything went very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Swenson He is willing to meet with you as much as you need. If you ever want to have another concept made or go over certain assets, arrange a meeting with them, and they will be very happy to oblige.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of a company that offers e-commerce services to the public called Gacha World.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

Swenson helped us with the entire development of our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Swenson developed the front- and backend of our mobile app for Android and iOS. The backend development included features to support inventory management and accounting. Although we did most of the design work, their team created the entire UI/UX and shopping experience until the checkout process.

We sell exclusive products from Japan, so it's an e-commerce app. Swenson actually developed the Gacha machines, which were games for the platform. They essentially helped us gamify the shopping experience.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with 5–6 high-level people from Swenson. I worked with the president and CEO, the head of product development, and the head of design. Swenson also dedicated a project manager to our project.

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

We met about 20 development agencies in the Los Angeles area, and I met each one of them. We chose Swenson because we liked their smaller size, and their entire team was willing to work with us. Their budget was also reasonable.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $1 million on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2020, and we’re still working with them.

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

We secured about 200,000 downloads and about 50,000 customers out of that group. Overall, their work has had a positive impact on our business.

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet deadlines, and we’ve had great communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Swenson meets deadlines. If they come across any issues, they let me know as soon as possible and immediately take care of them. When needed, they’ll assign additional staff to the project to get it done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any way for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We were able to work with everyone at their company, including their CEO. Their team has a lot of experience running businesses and launching startups. They gave us development and business advice, which I highly recommend listening to.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of a software development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

We identified a problem within the real estate vertical. We felt that there was an opportunity to implement a technology to replace a labor-intensive action, which was its current state.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had outlines created through Figma to provide them with an indication of our vision, and then Swenson took the project from there. Their team started from scratch. They designed and developed the app for iOS.

Currently, the platform’s in the testing phase. We have Swenson on retainer for evolution purposes and intend to have them build the platform for Android.

What is the team composition?

I’m involved with everybody on their team to some degree. Nick’s (Managing Partner) heavily involved with our project. He’s there to oversee it and ensure that it runs smoothly. I work with a designer, a project manager, and 2–3 developers.

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

We had an initial meeting with Nick and Chao (Founding Partner) who quickly understood our market. Their team then brought their technical expertise and business perspective, which was important. A developer can build any product that you ask them to build. If they’re not providing you with insight into your vertical, you’ve lost an important component to building a successful product. That was a huge advantage and why we decided to work with them. They saw the bigger picture.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $300,000–$400,000 in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in March 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

We’re receiving positive feedback from the tests. When it comes to the core functionality, we’ve scored a 10/10. Their team created a platform that functions properly. For the design, we’ve scored an 8.5/10. We plan to have a design company brush over the platform.

How Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

We talk daily through Slack, and their communication’s second to none. They meet deadlines too. I consider them a part of my team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Swenson understands business concepts and came up with phenomenal ideas that advanced our app. Their team’s committed to our project; They’re in it to win it with us. Their team’s not there to just collect a check.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room for improvement with UI and UX design.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Utilize Slack because it was a game-changer for us. They’re not cheap, but they’re phenomenal. There’s an old saying: faster, better, cheaper, pick your two. You get faster and better with Swenson He.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a startup that created a dating app that allows users to meet through affinity. It’s a native iOS and Android mobile app.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swensen He?

We had an MVP of our native iOS and Android app. However, our fortes weren’t cloud computing or backend engineering. While our backend was functional, we weren’t sure if it would scale.

We were about to turn on a large marketing budget. In this space, you have a short amount of time to make a first impression. It would’ve been extremely risky to throw marketing dollars at a platform that we weren’t sure could scale.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Swenson helped to build a scalable backend. They ran low testing on our infrastructure to understand our scalability. Then, their team implemented optimizations and provided additional reports.

That naturally evolved into the next phases, which was a product approach. Their team helped us identify features that would appeal to our particular demographic. They helped us to prioritize feature development and create a schedule for the remainder of the term. They supported the development of five separate large-scale features that ranged from user engagement campaigns to search engine optimizations.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people from Swenson.

How did you come to work with Swensen He?

Their foot was in the door as their two founders are also MIT alumni. Their team had exactly the necessary expertise, and I didn’t want to hire for that particular position.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought them onboard around September 2019, and the project went for about six months.

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

When heavily hit, a few of our features didn’t work. Swenson dropped the response times and failure rates of our more intensive endpoints more than thousands of percentage points. Other functions dropped in response rates from a matter of seconds to tens of milliseconds. Their team implemented large-scale campaigns and hardened the infrastructure.

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a substantial project management team, so we incorporated their developers into our team. We added their users to our Jira platform. They set up a Slack channel, and communication was good. The line between our team and their team was extremely blurred, which was nice. Their team was flexible.

For the user engagement campaign, we completely handed over the project. It was one standalone feature, and we didn’t have to do anything. They delivered the product, and we were happy with the result.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Swenson was the first outsourced development firm that I’ve hired. However, I have worked with lots and lots of consultants and other types of outsourced organizations. My biggest pet peeve with contractors is when they spend the first two weeks of the engagement conducting research and then create an unactionable PowerPoint of their findings. That wasn’t the case with Swenson. Their team identified the work that needed to be done and then did it.

We didn’t have to teach them anything, which is a complete failure when it comes to outsourced work. Their team always knew more than us, which was good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should expand their reach. It would be helpful for them to add an advertising arm into their current ecosystem. They could also expand their design capabilities. That would make them a one-stop-shop.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The scope was clearly defined from the start, so there wasn’t miscommunication throughout the project. If you both understand the expectations, there won’t be a problem.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m am one of the founders and the CEO of a payment processor for live festivals for food and beverages. This involves peer-to-peer transactions for confectioners and live event spaces. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

We were looking for a development partner. We had just got done with investments and we were going into a pitch. An entertainment company expressed interest in us, so we were looking for an MVP that could demonstrate our product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Swenson He developed a quick MVP using some wireframes and a little bit of programming in the background to demonstrate the entirety of the product. From there, depending on the vote of the entertainment company and others, we had a plan to have them help us build out the whole app. 

What is the team composition?

I had two main points of contact including David (VP, Sales  & Client Success), who checked in all the time, and Tiago (VP, Product), who served as the head of technology for the product. 

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

Our CTO at the time was looking for a company to work with in 2017 or 2018. They are one of the companies we interviewed but we didn’t end up working with them.

A year later, I interviewed more development companies, and I still had Swenson He in mind. We had a great interview with them so we decided to work together.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $20,000 for the MVP, wireframes, and consulting sessions.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in October or November 2019. The project is on hiatus because of what’s going on, but they completed the MVP in December 2019. We plan to continue working together. 

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

We had a set time, and we wanted to get it done before January. They couldn’t guarantee the speed, but they did it much faster than expected. They did a great job with the MVP — it was exactly what I asked for. The team listened well and produced high-quality work. 

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

Tiago checked in with me weekly because he knew that I wanted to know everything that was going on at the frontend of it. He kept me up to date even if there wasn’t much to say, just to make sure all was well.

Swenson He is very communicative and friendly. They would send me versions about every week, and they took all of my feedback upfront. Before making changes, they always let me know. The team did exactly what I asked for even though I wasn’t over their shoulder the whole time, so they gained my trust very quickly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication was great. I’ve dealt with a lot of people who don’t reach out that much, or when they do, there are a lot of unanswered questions.

With Swenson He, there were multiple touchpoints per week, and I never felt nervous that they wouldn’t do the work correctly. The team kept me updated every step of the way, which was helpful and reassuring.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions. In the small amount of time we’ve worked together, it’s been a positive experience. I have no negative feedback at all.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more information you can provide, the more they can do. I went in with every single thing I could think of. The more the team knows, the better they can tailor the work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of an innovative technology firm that develops apps to connect people. I also run a sanctuary and nature-based wellness center that promotes health through strength-based and intentional programming.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

We needed help bringing a psychological invention to life. The purpose is to translate communication between non-verbal dependents and their caregivers. We wanted a web and mobile platform to support our initial concept.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They captured the essence of what I wanted and expanded it into a workable model. They then worked on concept development and pitched their ideas for improvements. They were very detailed and provided bigger possibilities than I imagined. They walked me through a summary overview of every aspect of the process, including workflow details, phasing, features, and the exact timeline. At every step along the way, they provided supplementary documentation and maintained a high level of interest. They behaved as if they were co-investors in the project, which I found impressive.

We did our initial phasing and they delivered every aspect of the methodologies, hypotheses, and claims we needed to validate our path toward a provisional and nonprovisional patent. They built a backend and are moving into beta testing, algorithms, and market research. They did literary reviews and data analysis and challenged any assumptions or hypotheses before defining other factors beyond the original scope of the project.

They came in well under the timeline and were faster than any other proposal we received. They’ve delivered all the documentation we need so far and will continue working with them on future stages. The next step is software development.

What is the team composition?

I have worked with both of their co-founders. I flew to them and met with them directly, then worked with two engineers. They have about 30 engineers in-house and I was able to engage with their whole team when I met with them initially.

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

A friend and colleague referred them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we’ve paid between $40,000–$60,000 for phase one. We project the entire project will cost around $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working together in April 2018. The work is ongoing.

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

We filed our patent, which was our goal deliverable. We have the algorithm to prove our concept and all the methodology documentation they created.

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide solid workflow details and weekly breakdowns of deliverables. We have weekly conference calls to review them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The scope of their industry knowledge is vast. They’re able to advise us on technology and medical marketing and are instrumental in our process. We thought they would develop the software, but they’ve provided so much more. With their help, we’ve gone much further than we thought we could. They have a great stream of communication and are super-efficient.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re so good. I would love to partner with them for every development capacity and hope they develop their business to be venture capital investors.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of WaBee Inc. We’re a mobile app that functions as a rewards/customer acquisition platform that gives users cashback on purchases.

What challenge were you trying to address with Swenson He?

We initially developed the app with a freelance approach. A project manager here recruited freelance developers from overseas. Unfortunately, the build they created was terrible. When starting this project we had to consider if it’d be feasible to salvage what we already had or completely start over. Either way, we needed to add new features to facilitate working with nonprofit organizations.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Swenson He was involved in early stage project planning and design. We spent about a month planning the project and another month designing the app with all its features and functionalities. We chose not to use any of the existing code because it was done in .NET. Also, the apps were built on a hybrid platform that's not supported anymore. We decided to completely redo the app’s backend to enable future scaling of the business.

They developed native apps for iOS and Android. They advised that native apps would best utilize the capabilities of each device and provide the experience we wanted. It's a massive project, but the main feature they're adding is an optical character recognition (OCR) software development kit (SDK) into the app that allows the system to start reading customer receipts. This is a vital component because it enables customers to claim their cashback by scanning the receipts and uploading them into the app. Before engaging with Swenson He, someone had to manually read every receipt and input that information to issue cashback. The OCR currently reads the date, time, and amount. However, they're already integrating technologies to get the process completely automated.

Other integrations include Google logins and an extensive amount of third-party apps for data analytics and other functions. Such additional integrations include Stripe, Paypal, Twilio, Plaid, and Pushwoosh. Pushwoosh allows us to send out notifications to users on both platforms and can even target notifications to specific areas. One of the more significant integrations is with Algolia, which is a search API that gets plugged in with storable data and creates high-speed search capability.

Swenson He is also developing our backend dashboards for merchants, organizations, and our sales team, account managers, and corporate administration staff. This allows organizations trying to raise funds through the app to log in and track how much has been raised and who donated. They developed around 125 admin dashboard panels, individually.

What is the team composition?

About 14 people work on the project. We communicate directly with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Swenson He?

As a result of our previous experience, we were very hesitant about letting another vendor take over development. We interviewed 20–25 local development companies and laid out the state of the project. We wanted a firm that had insight into new technologies and could give us feedback to further improve the app.

Swenson He was found via Clutch and they were the second group we interviewed. They exuded a pleasant atmosphere and intended to do everything in-house. It was hard to compare everyone else to them because they were on every point we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

The whole project is costing about $540,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2017 and the project is ongoing.

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

The apps are still under development and set to go live in April of 2018. Swenson He’s team has made great progress and presents all deliverables on time. The difference between what they’ve developed versus the original version is night and day. We're going to have so many tools in the app that weren’t even on our radar before. Also, we gave them creative freedom over the designs we had and they delivered awesome stuff. Now, everyone seeing the new app is very excited and they love the whole look of everything. Swenson He took an app without any real uniqueness or character and created something that stands on its own.

How did Swenson He perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate in several ways like Slack, email, and phone calls. We do weekly check-ins and if I need something, I call or email them and they get back to me right away. But what's really great is their hands-off approach. They give us the chance to know important things and update us if something needs our attention right away. Other than that, it almost feels like no one is working on the project from our side because we usually only hear reports once a week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been to their office several times at vastly different hours and there are always people working. Everybody looks like they enjoy what they do and dresses nice. No one just comes in flip-flops. Seeing that level of professionalism put my mind at ease. Additionally, both owners are MIT graduates and have severely vetted the entire staff. They highlighted their hiring process and introduced some of the developers working on our apps. That experience is what sold them to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve treated us like we were their only and most important customer. I don't have much feedback on things to improve. They've been doing a great job.