Please describe your company.

ForFit is the first fitness app to introduce social and charitable forfeits to motivate users into getting fit. We are encouraging fitness beginners to get fit through gamification, charitable forfeits, and the most powerful motivation known to man: embarrassing Facebook posts.

What is your role in the company?

I'm a co-founder.

What was your goal in working with Tintash Labs?

We had the idea and the wireframes for an iOS application. We approached Tintash because people in the company I used to work for recommended them.

Please describe the scope of their work.

It was to develop the iOS MVP for our GPS based app. We're actually taking part in an accelerator program here in Portugal at the moment, so they're still doing some updates on the iOS. We have another person here working on the Web side of things.

What was your process in selecting Tintash Labs?

I got a few quotes from various companies, and I went for Tintash on recommendations from a few people. I was told they were really good, efficient, and cost effective as well, so I decided to go with them.

Can you give a sense of the cost of the initiative?

We've spend approximately €12,000 [approximately $13,500] working with Tintash.

What were the results of the project?

We started working together in March 2014, and we're still working together. They're doing updates at the moment. We're almost finished with the iOS, but we will continue to use them when we have further updates in a few months.

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

We don't have anything in the way of metrics or analytics yet. But, going forward from now, we will. The app seems to perform well on mobile phones, and it's very easy on the battery. We've got a lot of good feedback for the usability of the app. It's very smooth.

One of the reasons that we went with Tintash is because we heard that they are very efficient, and the project was very well organized. I had calls with them, and most days all of the tracking was very efficient. The turnarounds on new builds went very smoothly. I was working full time at another job at that same time, and there was a bit of a time difference, so considering that, it actually went very smoothly. I definitely recommend them. We're still working with them on the hardware, and that's going well.

Is there anything unique or special about Tintash Labs that really makes them stand out?

They excel at best practices. We went in not knowing too much about iOS development, so we trusted them to use the best practices to optimize the app. People here in this accelerator program are just looking at the techniques they used, and all the data that we have is up on Google Store.

So, whatever they did, they did it in the best-optimized way, and no one's having any problems using any of their codes or accessing any information. The app could've been created in a lot of ways, but I think they took the best route. The project was well planned, and for the updates, we can easily implement new features because they've setup the framework.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

There were a few misunderstandings, but I think that was probably just more from my point of view. We made recommendations that we just didn't have the money to integrate. Had we known more about what we were doing, we might have integrated more analytics. We just didn't understand the full development process.

I'm not able to compare Tintash to a lot of other developers, as they are the only one I have worked with directly. 

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

I would say narrow down the scope completely. There was one feature that we wanted to incorporate into the app, but through miscommunication somewhere down the line, we went ahead with a different approach. Then, later, we were looking at other apps and realized the feature was doable so we added it to the scope. I think if a client narrows the scope at the outset, this kind of problem could be avoided.

There was also an additional cost that we weren't expecting. We assumed that certain things were standard and would be included in the initial quote, but they ended up being extras because it was out of scope. So, the important thing is narrowing down the full scope in the early stages and getting a more detailed quote. Just find out how much everything will be and make sure you have everything covered.

Please give a brief description of your company.

LifePrint is startup company that is developing a socially connected mobile photo print experience. It is developing a small mobile connected printer that can be carried with you or left at home. Of course, you can print to your own printer locally or remotely, but it also offers a socially networked experience that allow you to send images to your friends printers, and they to yours using a classic follower/followed model. This works on the small scale, such as sending a cute picture of your kids to your extended family, or on a large scale – think of a celebrity sending a snapshot of a moment in their day to their fan base.

What is your role at the company?

I am the CTO and, as such, I drive architecture and technology decisions, intellectual property strategy, and product development.

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Tintash Labs?

Having developed an architectural approach, we were looking to implement the first version of the cloud services and IOS app that would bring our socially networked printing experience to life.

What were your company's business goals for the project?

We wanted to develop the first instantiation of the supporting system; develop an app with defined set of functionality, workflows, and initial look and feel of the initial user experience; demonstrate the system to potential investors and strategic partners; identify issues with the operational flow and user experience as early in the process as possible; and hold to a initial development budget.

Can you talk about the scope of the project?

The scope covered the development of the entire system, included an iPhone app, a cloud service layer, and an initial Bluetooth printer interface. It also included a developing initial workflow and integrating GUI [graphical user interface] design assets developed by a design house we were also working with.

What was your process for selecting Tintash Labs with which to work?

Tintash was selected prior to my starting in my current position. Tintash was highly recommended to the CEO of LifePrint from someone who had worked with them in the past. When I came on board, the decision was already made. In my early interaction with Tintash, I was favorably impressed with their knowledge of the problem domain and their attention to detail, so I was comfortable with the decision.

Can you give us a sense of the size of the project in dollar terms or personnel work hours?

The project was budgeted at 2,500 man-hours, and the project came in under budget.

When did you start working with Tintash Labs and is the relationship ongoing?

My first interaction with Tintash started in early of 2013. We kicked off formal development in August 2013. The relationship is ongoing. We are currently in the process of quoting the next wave of development work.

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share?

We were extremely satisfied with the results achieved. As I indicated, the project came in under the estimate and the budget we established. We had created a detailed list of functionality with more than 150 features that we wanted for our initial release, and we achieved 95 percent of those goals; those not achieved were issues that were more complicated than first thought and we mutually decided to forego those items. The resulting system worked well and allowed us to demonstrate the system to investors and partners. Thus, it met both tactical and strategic goals. We were very pleased with the results that Tintash delivered.

How did Tintash Labs perform?

[They did] very well. [They have] great communications, great attention to detail, [and are] firmly committed to their delivery goals. When problems were identified, they were very creative at suggesting fixes and alternatives. [They were] very responsive and aggressive in closing out defect reports. [We had] a very positive work experience and a very positive relationship.

When working with them, was there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies with which you may have worked?

[Some examples include] extremely reasonable charge rates given the expertise they demonstrated and the quality they delivered; our point of contact was Murad [Akhter], one of the founders of the company – a very smart and reasonable person with excellent communication skills and a delight to work with; He made interactions effective, efficient, and pleasant; they are not as rigid as some companies I have worked with – they were flexible and adaptable to the problem and issues encountered, and very resourceful when dealing with issues; Extremely committed to delivering a solid product - this was backed by an very impressive work ethic.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that they could improve or you would do differently?

Not really, given the number of things we were attempting to do in a first development cycle, and the fact that a lot of this was pioneering new workflows and experiences, the effort went surprisingly smoothly. Based upon early learning, we did change some of the requirements in flight, and Tintash was very reasonable in dealing with this.

What advice would you give to a future client of theirs?

Proactive communications is the key – both written and verbal. The more Tintash understands what you want to accomplish, the better they can help you.

Be prepared to leverage their experience and expertise. When we were unsure of how to deal with an issue, Murad and Tintash always came up with good viable options and worked with us to manage the process going forward.