Teqnovos

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Bld.it, a fence construction software estimating SaaS tool.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Teqnovos?

I had a previous developer that I worked with that gave me a lot of headaches. As a result, we decided to look for a development agency that could help us build an MVP within three months.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with a rough idea of what we were trying to accomplish. Some of the information we shared includes the feature list, basic design composition, and more. Once we decided to hire them, they came back with the feature list that we agreed on and that was the initial scope of their work. 

After that, Teqnovos sent the information to their designers, and they started doing the wireframes using Adobe XD. Then, we kept going back and forth between building the wireframes and the development process on their server. We utilized Laravel and PHP in completing the MVP. 

One of the technical requirements we requested was to connect the platform with Google Maps API so that we could draw on Google Maps. That way, we could measure our third-party customers' backyard to identify the fence line they needed. That took a lot of work because we needed to navigate using Google Maps API capabilities and at the same time, enable our end users to utilize our MVP intuitively. 

We’ve launched our MVP and have tested it with our end users. The team is now focused on completing the first version of our platform and implementing updates.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with 4–5 people from Teqnovos, but we primarily work with Ankur (CTO) who serves as our project manager. We’ve also interacted with their lead developer and lead designer.

How did you come to work with Teqnovos?

We interviewed many companies and ultimately found Teqnovos on Upwork. Since we had a bad experience with a previous developer, we wanted to go with an agency both for the brand accountability and the team aspect of it. In the end, Teqnovos was by far the most responsive. 

Ankur specifically gave good business advice on what we needed to do, and we defined the MVP even before the project started. We also appreciated that they weren’t an agency that just wanted to take our money — they wanted our product to be successful.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $30,000 for the MVP, and we’re planning to spend $75,000–$100,000 on our platform’s first version.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their work, we’ve been able to quickly launch our MVP. We’ve also been able to send the MVP to a number of external customers, and they’ve been able to utilize and test it.

What I love the most about working with them are their consistent updates. They always encourage us to check what they’re working on and test what they’ve completed. Overall it’s been helpful to know how well things are taking and to identify if we need to tweak things.

How did Teqnovos perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Upwork to track their hours and the job that they’re doing. That way, we’re able to define what they’re going to accomplish. Upwork also has a message board along with their video conferencing tool. We also use Trello and Zoom as project management tools. Above all, they never overwhelm us with technical questions and details.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their consulting capabilities have been impressive. Any person can just code and customers can hope for the best, but the burden is how to navigate the development process itself.

Teqnovos have been an incredible coach — they’ve helped us how to save money and have offered us their hosting services. They’ve also shared their insights on our systems and processes. On top of that, they’ve highlighted the importance of adding features to our platform. With their incredible help, we’ve defined what’s valuable for our company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Design work is challenging for any company, but they’ve done a great job in this aspect. They’ve used their critical thinking skills to solve design problems. Overall, I just want them to do more design work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust Ankur and don’t treat him as simply someone who’s capable of coding. Instead, allow him to serve as your business coach because he’s really good at it. Don’t just stick him into a coding corner because that’ll be hugely underutilizing his expertise.