Technology Rivers

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Verbina, a social media app company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We’d already created an MVP of our app, and I wanted to find a team that could take it to the next level. Like other tech firms, multiple people on our side did multiple tasks. However, we needed the whole team to work on the app to make it more user-friendly; we also needed to speed it up because it used videos. To do those things, we hired Technology Rivers. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app was built on both iOS and Android. Part of Technology Rivers’ task was to take our work and help us transition it to them. The team also researched some app features that worked on Android but not on iOS, finding workarounds for the issues. The app also had problems with the Twilio integration. People were spamming it, and Technology Rivers had to figure out what was going on with that.

Meanwhile, we also worked with the team to load videos faster on the app. They built galleries of YouTube videos into the app in a way that end users didn’t have to go to the YouTube app or site to watch them. Technology Rivers used React Native to develop these features, and they used Zeplin to design them. 

So far, Technology Rivers has also helped us with strategies and networking. They’ve connected me with other clients and people. This can help us build our strategy for the app and think about how we can make it more beneficial to end users. 

What is the team composition?

I work closely with four people from their team, but other people have also been helping us. Their team members work on the front- and backend sides of the project and on its QA aspects. 

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I used Clutch to find Technology Rivers. One of the main reasons why I chose them was the strategy they offered. As a non-technical person, I wanted to work with a team that could help me think through technology. I knew the process required me to ask for their input and knowledge, so strategic advice was an important requirement for me. 

On top of that, Technology Rivers was a hybrid shop — some of their resources were in Virginia, while others were offshore developers in Pakistan. I’d worked with an overseas team before, and there were delays in communication since they were in a different timezone. By contrast, Technology Rivers had a local team that I could get in touch with any time. 

In other words, their strategic advice and their hybrid team composition were my two deciding factors. Apart from those, we also talked to people who worked with them in the past. Everyone agreed that the team was incredible, trustworthy, generous, and honest, so we finally hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $10,000–$30,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking to Technology Rivers in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still building the app, so we don’t have quantitative metrics yet. However, the app is significantly faster now, and it’s more engaging. There haven’t been any bugs or crashes since Technology Rivers fixes things immediately. Their QA process is much better than our previous providers, and they’re thorough. 

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Technology Rivers is truly organized. We have weekly meetings, and before each meeting, they lay out what we’re going to discuss. After the meeting, they also lay out what we’re going to do moving forward. 

We use Slack to communicate, and it’s been a tremendous help in terms of getting inputs quickly. I can also see what everyone’s working on through it. Our teams also use Zoom video conferencing. Sometimes, I’ll email them, though Slack is the easiest way for us to communicate. We also have a shared Google Drive. 

On top of that, Ghazenfer (Founder & CEO) has been looking at some accelerator programs and wants to connect me with some investors down the road. That has also been truly wonderful. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their services are professional and personal at the same time. Ghazenfer is intimately involved in the project. It feels unique, and I know that he’s not going anywhere. For comparison, the last project manager I’ve dealt with has been great, but she moved away so I had to start again from the ground up. 

By contrast, Technology Rivers’ CEO is connected to the project, and everyone is on the same page. They’re not a one-man shop — there’s a whole team that works together with different expertise — but it feels good to have someone who truly wants the project to succeed. Ghazenfer sticks his neck out to connect with us, and he’s truly helpful in moving our project forward. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When working with technology, we don’t always know how many hours we’ll take to finish the project until we start working. Given that, we’ve asked Technology Rivers to give us an estimate of the hours our tasks will take and how much they will cost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The way you should engage with Technology Rivers depends on where you are in your project. If you’re just starting out, ask them how you can build the deliverable effectively. In our case, we’ve already built something, and they’ve done an overhaul to see where they can improve it. 

In simple words, trust their team. They know how to make apps more engaging, and they’ll help you understand your product with a new perspective.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing coordinator for IIIT. We produce research publications and conferences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We wanted to create a mobile application for our publications and journals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app works on iOS and Android and is for smartphones and tablets. Technology Rivers worked from scratch; all we had was an idea on a piece of paper.

The application is bilingual for English and Arabic speakers. We provide some books for free and some for cost depending on copyright status. We also offer our journals on the app. The goal is to provide access to our books to the general public.

Users are able to sample a book or view and download the full piece. They can also share the book with others. There’s a search feature that filters by price, keyword, language, author name, title, and more. There are three main tabs: home, publications, and journals.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager as well as offshore leads and developers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I found a few different app creators online, and we chose Technology Rivers because of a combination of cost and their ability to succeed in what we wanted, mostly meaning the bilingual features in the application.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re still upgrading the application to allow for e-publication and audiobooks, but this initial build was between $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve received feedback from employees, customers, and conference attendees, and they all highlight the functionality of the application.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate over email, Slack, and phone calls as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness to guide us through the process stands out. We haven’t developed an app before, so this was appreciated. Additionally, they’ve been committed to growing and diversifying the application.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Anything that we’ve had issues with has been brought up and addressed already. They’ve been very flexible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your own scope and what it is you want out of the application. This will help avoid some of the back-and-forth that comes when you’re not clear on your own scope.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product for a SaaS company in the civic tech space. We offer grassroots advocacy and government relations software to organizations, corporations, and nonprofits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were building a native mobile app for one of our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a native app that was compatible with iOS and Android from scratch. It’s a search tool that allows lobbyists and other government affairs professionals to look up legislators. ON our platform, each legislator has a robust profile that includes their biographies, committee memberships, and key assignments.

Then users can take notes and attach documents to each profile, recording their relationship as they build it. Then users within the same organization can access the notes and documents to see who has established relationships with each legislator.  

We provided the pixel-perfect screen designs. As well as two different APIs that need to connect to our product. The first API is for authentication. The app features a login function that uses our authentication factors and permissioning system.  This lets us know who to grant access to according to their licensing status.

The second API connects the app to the legislators’ database system. It allows data entry and search from all mobile devices.

What is the team composition?

Our project manager and the main point of contact was the CEO.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

Technology Rivers was initially recommended by our CTO. Ultimately, they cost less than other vendors we considered. They also understood the scope of work and outlined a fixed price. We had a lot of confidence in them that they would be able to execute the work within the project timeframe.

How much have you invested with them?

The original contract was for $36,000, but their ongoing support work costs about $1,000 per month (approximately $46,000 in total).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020 and lasted about eight weeks. Now they provide ongoing maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They built a working version of the app that met our quality control standards. They delivered exactly to our specifications.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily use a shared Slack channel to communicate with the project manager and team leads. They also have a weekly 30-minute sync meeting that we use to check in with them and go through their work.

They built exactly what we wanted them to. The only time the project was delayed was when my team wasn’t able to provide the APIs. In that case, they were very flexible and absorbed those delays, preventing additional costs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, I’ve been impressed by their communication skills, their adaptability, transparency, and the final product. Even when challenges came up, they were accommodating and did exactly what we asked them to do. They were pretty transparent about everything.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wouldn’t change anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s really important that you define your scope of work upfront. If you do that and everyone understands what to expect and what the deliverables will look like, you’ll be set. They will produce a statement of work that reflects what you’re looking for and they will execute perfectly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of JPAR BOSSS, the parent company of a voice analytics and internet company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were looking for an outsourcing partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers provides full-service development work for us. We outsource a large portion of our development work for them, everything from initial wireframes and business ideas to building out something functional.

They also provide UI and database designs, creating the layout of our platform. Technology Rivers helps integrate third-party APIs that can handle our microservices. They are responsible for both web and iOS and Android mobile app development. Their team works in Node.js, Laravel, and React.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact at Technology Rivers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We received a referral from a business partner so we decided to give them a chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Technology Rivers began in January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of our endeavors with Technology Rivers are still in development. So far, everything has been great and the first platform we collaborated with them should be available soon.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They fully integrated with our team and communicated with us daily via Slack. Our teams meet in the mornings as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Technology Rivers can see a vision of what you’re trying to build and offers quality solutions to improve your idea. They can take a business idea and take it to a product that is viable to the public. They don’t just check the boxes, they want to build a finishing product for you.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some minor issues with the time zone difference, but it didn’t impact the project much.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a SaaS company with AI training and coaching software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We hired Technology Rivers to build our software and execute our vision.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our mobile and web app that transcribes conversations in real-time. Our product works by connecting to a user calendar and notifying the user’s manager and sales coach when the software is being used. When a call is initiated, the recording begins and the sales coach and manager can connect live. The coach can then provide the user with instructions without the customer hearing them in the background. The AI of our platform recognizes tonality of the user’s and coach’s voice, so it can analyze the probability of a successful sale or the customer’s experience.

What is the team composition?

I work with Ghazenfer (Founder & CEO, Technology Rivers), but I communicate with the team directly as well.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

Ghazenfer and I are both a part of the same entrepreneur organization, and we met at a function in Denver last year. They present themselves well, and we felt good about working with them.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in February 2019 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They built every function we required and met each of our expectations. They delivered a high-quality product, and I’m extremely pleased with their work. If we ever had an issue, they fixed it within 24 hours. I’ve recommended them to many other people. They’ve outperformed every other agency I’ve worked with.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very thorough, easily the best agency I’ve worked with. We have weekly phone calls and they set up a software system where we can track our project’s progress. The process is very smooth, and I’m always in the loop. Their team works 24 hours a day and I can always reach them via Slack. They are an integral partner and I feel like they’re an extension of our team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really easy to work with and they have integrity. They deliver on their promises. I would totally hire them again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to say about them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of an educational tech startup called Bindr.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

I had come up with an idea to solve a need in the education space, but I personally don’t code so I needed a partner to help create the app for me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app helps consolidate the various means of communication that schools use to communicate with parents, which can usually number up to 6–7 different channels. Bindr is introducing a solution that allows schools to remove some of that redundancy.

The program really holds the parents’ hands as far as reminding of them of different events, directing them to a calendar feature that allows the school to manage everything happening at the school, and linking to any information that a parent would need about a particular event.

After we went through an extensive scoping process, I provided them with rough, hand-drawn sketched of what I wanted. They got their designer to design the full app, including user flows and specific features. Once I approved those, they developed the app on iOS, Android, and the web from the ground up.

What is the team composition?

I always had one main point of contact on their team. Early on I was working with Ghazenfer (Founder & CEO, Technology Rivers) on a regular basis, but as we got comfortable and the project became more a matter of executing what we had all agreed to, I interacted more with a technical lead who was managing the developers on a day-to-day.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I initially heard about them through a friend of a friend, so I looked at them among a few other companies. When we had our intro call, I really liked his questions and his attention to detail. He was just more willing to dive deep into the fundamental goals of what I was trying to do, and he had a lot of experience in running similar projects, so I decided to go with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in March 2019 and launched the pilot program in August, but we are continuing to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the biggest feedback points I’ve gotten so far is that the interface is very clean and easy to use. It’s self-explanatory and not buggy, which people really like. From a business standpoint, parents love the easy access of being able to go to one place and find everything they need for their child’s school.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They were always very responsive. I would generally get a response to any message I sent them within an hour, if not quicker. We used phone and Slack to communicate primarily, but we also scheduled regular video calls. I think that helped the relationship a lot in terms of establishing trust in our communications.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on what I’ve heard from other people’s experiences with projects like these, I really believe Technology Rivers is just ahead of the game. Their requirement gathering is phenomenal and just sets you up for success with clear expectations from the start. Their speed, quality, and ability to deal with emergency scenarios have all been incredible assets to the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I really can’t think of anything that they should improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Even if you have zero experience or have never done a project before, they’re willing to help you through that, so it’s not something you have to worry about. I would just suggest that you trust them because they really know what they’re doing and have your best interests in mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a nonprofit organization started by a high school student. I was a project manager and lead for the project. The non-profit connects high school students with children in the foster care system. Students can volunteer for extracurricular activities within the foster care community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

There is a lot of legality and restrictions with the foster care system. We needed an application that allowed students to share and teach children without needing to meet in person.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform is a bridge between the parties that use it. Technology Rivers built the entire application. They worked with the students to understand the requirements, then they came up with a design, wireframed, and developed a solution. They handled the full life-cycle of the project and developed the whole project from scratch. The finished product is an iOS application.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with the team, which included three developers and a project manager. Most of my interaction was with their CEO, and they were very efficient.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I knew them before this project. They created an application at a previous company I worked with. I enjoyed working with them before, so they seemed like a good solution when we started on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started discussions with them in January 2018 and the project started in April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of work was excellent. They completed all the requirements and went above and beyond to provide everything we needed. They helped the students think beyond the original scope, and it's built to accommodate expansion in the future. The students were really excited by the project.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

The whole project went really smoothly, and I have nothing but positive things to say about our experience. Everything came to us as scheduled, and their project management was very good. They were completely in control, they had clear documentation, and they provided demos and took input. Any feedback was implemented immediately. We used Jira and other ways to reach them, and they were always responsive to email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most noteworthy thing was how smoothly the project went. Their responsiveness, interest in the project, and willingness to make suggestions was uncommonly helpful. They were sensitive to the fact that this was a project designed for high school students, and they helped them think outside the box.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything they could have done differently. Any delays came from the students, and all the feedback we received was entirely positive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder of a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were in the process of building a software tool that would help us with our business functions. We were working with another company, but we were not happy with their services. We wanted to find a new vendor to support us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our app is built in Python Django and we used Angular and Celery for a lot of the functions as well. We already had the codebase, so we had to figure out how to launch it on the server, piece everything together, and create a working product. Technology Rivers handled all of that. They helped us get the product up and running and fixed all the bugs.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with their lead architect.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

They were our customer, so we knew them and trusted them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them in February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They saved us a tremendous amount of time and money. They were able to jump in and get the project up and running within a day or two. They're very experienced, so they know what they're doing. We were happy with the quality of their work.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive. We did most of our communication through Slack and we also had some phone calls. The developer that we were working with was based overseas, but we didn't have any issues with the time difference.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an agile approach and can adapt to different circumstances. They quickly figured out what was going on and proposed a good solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issue we had was that we didn't know the number of total hours they had worked until the end of the project. That wasn't a big problem, but we'd have liked them to be a bit more transparent about the hours during the process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Discuss your timeline and how you'd be communicating upfront. They're based in the Middle East, so you need to have a good understanding of their communication hours, especially if something needs to be pushed or reviewed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former product manager at a healthcare company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We hired Technology Rivers to design and develop the MVP version of an iOS application that would integrate with our fertility tracking device via Bluetooth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our MVP and were responsible for enhancing the UI/UX design as well as the front-end and backend development. It’s a fertility tracking application.

What is the team composition?

They had a local product manager, a project coordinator and user experience specialist, an offshore designer, an iOS programmer, a backend developer, and a QA/Tester. I worked with a local team and offshore development lead.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We looked at their past work and saw that they had experience in healthcare and IoT devices.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together March–June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us build a stable and functional MVP to get initial user responses. It’s allowed us to get that real feedback.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was pretty good. They gave good suggestions and communicated in a very responsive and professional manner. We worked in an agile approach.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good level of professional knowledge in their field. This is our first app project, so sometimes we were a little confused, but they always had answers or suggestions when I reached out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a good job overall. We had them start the development right away, but later design reviews revealed that we needed to make flow changes in order to have a good user experience. We had to reword a few details because of that, but it goes both ways. Had they pushed these changes to later a phase, would've cost a lot more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend starting backlog grooming early before entering the next sprint. It helps keep the team moving forward.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a co-founder and chief science officer of a healthcare startup. We take a data-driven approach to connect patients with post-acute facilities after they are discharged from hospitals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We hired Technology Rivers to develop our SaaS platform and mobile application that connect case managers at hospitals with clinical staff at post-acute facilities. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For our website platform, we tasked Technology Rivers with developing a set of features that allowed case managers to indicate clinical needs for a patient, who would then be matched to an appropriate facility based on those needs and other factors (i.e., geography). They also developed the mobile app for Android and iOS so that staff at assisted living communities could send clinical data, receive patient information, and communicate with case managers via a chat function.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with Ghazenfer (Founder, Technology Rivers) and 2–3 developers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

My co-founder selected Technology Rivers because they could accomplish the work within our budget, and they have extensive experience developing HIPAA-compliant software for websites and mobile applications.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve had ongoing work with Technology Rivers since 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are currently in the process of launching and testing our applications; Technology Rivers has been instrumental in developing these applications as well as beta versions that we can put in front of our clients. It’s been impactful for us to show clients something tangible instead of just talking about an idea.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

The majority of our interaction is through Slack with conference calls every other week. They're responsive to feedback, and they complete their tasks pretty quickly to make sure our deadlines are met. They’ve managed the project well, which has allowed us to test beta versions internally and externally according to our timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been particularly happy with the mobile app development. Technology Rivers was able to take what we envisioned and develop something that matches our expectations. They’ve also been very responsive when we need them to be. We take our internal testing very seriously, and Technology Rivers regularly updates us to how and when each bug is resolved.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they have met our budget and have been focused on delivering our products. We have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s worthwhile to conduct research before development to make sure that your product will fill a real customer need in the marketplace.