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    San Francisco, CA
    415.680.1299

Innovation Engineering

4.9
5 reviews

Tivix is an established software development company specializing in the agile development of web and mobile applications. We reduce engineering risk for clients by offering rapid time-to-market while delivering standards-based software code that can be transitioned to an internal team at any time.

 

Founded in 2008. Tivix is headquartered in San Francisco, with regional offices located across the U.S. and Europe. Our rock-solid solutions are trusted by some of the biggest Fortune 500 names in the world, and for good reason. We develop enterprise-grade software that is scalable, secure and truly reliable.

Service Areas

  • Web app development
  • Mobile app development
  • API development
  • DevOps
  • UI/UX design
  • Innovation workshops

Technology Focus

  • Django/Python
  • Node.js
  • Angular
  • Polymer
  • React
  • Objective-C
  • Swift
  • Java
  • Ansible
  • Docker
  • AWS
  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
READ MORE...
 
$100,000+
 
$150 - $199 / hr
 
50 - 249
 Founded
2008
Show all +
San Francisco, CA
headquarters
  • Tivix
    2845 California Street
    San Francisco, CA 94115
    United States
    415.680.1299
other locations
  • Tivix
    2929 SW Multnomah Blvd, Ste 306
    Portland, OR 97219
    United States
    415.680.1299
  • Tivix
    81 Prospect Street
    Brooklyn, NY 11201
    United States
  • Tivix
    Wyścigowa 56F lok. 312
    Wrocław 53-012
    Poland
  • Tivix
    1 Fore Street
    London EC2Y 9DT
    United Kingdom

Portfolio

Key clients: 

SolarCity, Zoetis, VMware, Bayer, Syapse, Apple

Reviews

4.9
5 reviews
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Loan Platform Developed for Financial Tech Startup

"Everything was delivered in the way that I wanted."

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5.0

Quality: 
4.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Aug. - Dec. 2015
Project summary: 

Tivix built a lead generation platform from scratch to support SEO and paid marketing. The working prototype uses a complex rule engine while simultaneously simplifying admin activities. 

The Reviewer
 
1-10 Employees
 
Los Angeles, California
Founder & CEO
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The finished site boasts a streamlined backend/frontend design and exercises the business logic reliably. Tivix’s attention to detail, emphasis on transparency, and generosity with time contributed to a fruitful relationship. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a lead generation website primarily in the personal finance space. We source users through SEO [search engine optimization] and paid marketing. When users come on the site, they tell us a little bit about themselves in a form. From there, we have a backend rule engine that matches them to the best solution provider. We get paid a commission when someone buys a solution in that way. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tivix?

Our designer and I had all the frontend design, user flow, and the business logic but no code. We didn’t have a working prototype.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the platform originally from scratch. The rule engine on the backend was the most complicated. It was straightforward, linear type of logic in which you have to account for thousands of different possibilities and the answers for a set of questions. We mapped it out and grouped those in 10 or 12 different segments. What was most complicated around all of it, and most useful for me as a non-technical person, is the way that Tivix built out the admin. It’s like a standard off-the-shelf admin, but there’s a lot of CMS [content management system] work with Wagtail. They had to change the code so that I could actually edit it; that stuff is really annoying. They built all that out for me, knowing that I wouldn’t have a CTO directly after, so I would need to be able to change the logic, text, and copy. The solution is well thought-out and useful.

A team of 3 from Tivix worked on this. We interacted regularly. We had a daily standup call and an in-person meeting every 2 weeks or so.

How did you come to work with Tivix?

We reached out to Tivix because they had worked with other financial services and fintech companies before. In addition to that, they were mostly onshore. They were an indirect referral. I’m in the investment space, and I looked at a company that they had worked with in the past. That company spoke highly of them. It was very nice to go to their office, speak to them, and get to know their leadership team, including the folks who would be working on the project. It was a pretty straightforward screening process. I talked to between 5 and 10 other development shops around our site, and I felt that Tivix wouldn’t do the bait and switch that’s prevalent in the dev shop world where they say you’re going to get the CEO of the firm and the best people here. But, before you know it, it’s someone’s first project. They were straightforward and honest about what their lead developer/CEO was going to do and which team we’d be allocated. That was unique and ideal, in my opinion.

How much have you invested with Tivix?

It’s around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August of 2015. The project took about 4 months. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The work was very much a success. We went over budget a little bit. I suspect that’s normal and would happen anywhere. Tivix worked with me to make sure it wasn’t company-crushingly over budget. Everything was delivered in the way that I wanted. The result was very user-friendly. They explained everything well to me. The website has a pretty clean frontend design. The deliverables included a road map of what they did. We had some questions afterward, and they’re generous with their time in terms of answering them. It’s definitely a very good experience. I’m one of the few proponents of outsourced development, especially building early products through this channel, because I actually had a good experience, whereas most people in my world have a pretty negative experience with a lot of cutting corners. I thought they did a great job. I can’t compare their productivity or performance to another company since I’ve never used a different provider.

How did Tivix perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Basecamp and Slack. Slack is where we spent the vast majority of our time. I don’t think we did anything over email. We had video calls. I live in Los Angeles, and they’re in San Francisco, so the entire team is onshore and working out of their office. I was there about 10 days cumulatively going through things, which was really helpful.

What did you find most impressive about Tivix?

Their lead developer/CTO spent a lot of time with us. In general, his involvement was crucial as an access point and a go-to advisor. I would suspect that’s unique in a shop that has a number of different projects ongoing at the same time. I thought that was really useful.

Are there any areas Tivix could improve?

My only constructive criticism would be beefing up the transition aspect of moving the work to an in-house team. We were asking for help a lot, so it would be an interesting package to offer to have a live document or a day where they could implement the transition. They were generous with their time on the phone. No 2 developers are the same, so we had a lot of initial confusion because the documentation wasn’t built for people who don’t do things the way they do.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Tivix?

Come in with a defined scope, very limited functionality, and an understanding of what functionality is needed because anything open-ended won’t turn out well. 

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    It was a little pricey because of their cost structure. They ended up working with us a little bit. But, I think if everything was a perfect fit upfront, it would have been cheaper with no trial and error involved.
  • 4.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    We had a much smaller site than what they’re used to, and they used technology that may be normal for bigger projects. We have a lot of infrastructure, some of which we don’t need.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

CMS & Web Development for New Digital Media Outlet

"They’re really good at delivering what we need as we describe our priorities."

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4.5

Quality: 
4.0
Schedule: 
4.5
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Aug. 2014 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Tivix customized an open source CMS platform for the launch of an online news publication. They integrated Google Analytics, DoubleClick for Publishers, and other third-party analytics, as well as a custom news feeds.

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
Philadelphia Metro Area
Director, Online Publication
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

In the two years since the site launched, monthly traffic went from nothing to 2.5-3 million users. Tivix's global resources can respond rapidly at any time of day. Their broad-based expertise and keen listening skills have made up for the client's level of experience with technology.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a media company with digital-only news on sports, entertainment, health, and business. It’s geared towards the Philadelphia market but also has a national footprint. I’m the director of product development and ad operations. I run all the product site and development cycles through our partners and anything to do with our advertising efforts

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tivix?

We were looking for someone to build our site and our CMS platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tivix customized the CMS for our needs but it’s based on an open source platform. We wanted a platform that would be simple for new users to learn and use. We’re built on Django and they also used Wagtail, which is a simplistic CMS platform. We incorporated Google Analytics, DoubleClick for Publishers and other analytics software. They’ve built out custom feeds as we pull in feeds from different publications such as Associated Press. They built an engine to pull the feed in, sort it and quickly publish it live with the click of a button.

In regards to the site, we were looking for a narrow set of templates to manage as we launched an MVP and built out from there. We wanted something quick and something that was easy to manage but that could handle a lot of automation. We had a lot of tags and topics with a lot of dynamically generated pages. Not every page needs to be manually touched for it be filled with content. 

Tivix continues to handle all of our DevOps for us. They help us keep the site and the CMS updated as changes and problems come up.

How did you come to work with Tivix?

We did a search of the market to see who would suit our needs.

How much have you invested with Tivix?

We have spent between $50,000 and $200,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2014, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve reached 2.5 to 3 million users per month. We launched in January 2015 and we were at zero users at that time. The growth we’ve seen took place over two years and three months. There have been down times, but it’s never been long. Tivix helped us identify the issue and once we figured it out, they worked with us to solve that problem.

How did Tivix perform from a project management standpoint?

In the beginning, we used more of their team but we've used fewer resources since six months post-launch. We have a primary project manager who handles the vast majority of things we need. They pull in different people from their team as needs arise. We’ve never been lacking in help that we need. They have people located all over the world, and that’s been nice for us: we’re centered on the east coast so we have coverage during the hours that we need someone. We asked a lot of them and we had a lot of people involved on our side. They’re really good at delivering what we need as we describe our priorities.

What did you find most impressive about Tivix?

They’ve done everything well. There’s been mission creep but they’ve always delivered what they said. They delivered a complex product for a new site that’s up 24/7. They’ve done a great job of listening to our needs and helping us create what we were looking for even when our message was unclear. They helped us sort through the various disparate messages and ideas to create a product that we were happy with.

Are there any areas Tivix could improve?

I only wish we would have done better on our side to know things or say things differently.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Tivix?

Have a well-thought-out plan of what you’re looking for. They helped us greatly to figure out what we needed but it would’ve streamlined the process if we had a sense of what we wanted and what our end goal was. Our business changes monthly but it’s good to have a sense of what you want to roll out in 6 months to a year and what that structure should be.

4.5
Overall Score They’ve been great to work with. They’re available whenever we’d had issues.
  • 4.5 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
    They’re very available even on weekends.
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    They worked with us as our needs changed to find a good price point.
  • 4.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I have already recommended them.

Prototype Dev for Civic Engagement Tech Firm

"Tivix was hands down the best [consultancy] in terms of talent, communication, and meeting deadlines."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Jan. 2014 - Feb. 2015
Project summary: 

Tivix prototyped the first version of an admin panel & analytics suite to be integrated with an existing database. The dev team also helped refine the workflow/finalize the solution's business logic. 

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
Richmond, Virginia
Alex Schettine
President, Muster
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Project management is a key strength rivaled only by their team's technical and strategic aptitude. Tivix became proactively involved from the very beginning and consistently made valuable product suggestions that would eventually be implemented.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Muster is an online application that serves associations and other organizations by helping them create online advocacy campaigns that are data and analytics driven. I’m the president and founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tivix?

We had a very extensive database already in place that was essentially the engine behind the Muster app. However, we didn’t have any product or solutions with features wrapped around the database. That's when we decided to develop and implement that product ecosystem around the existing database.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tivix built version one of Muster with an interface and the analytics suite. They also determined the business logic of how the app would actually serve associations. We did a lot of wireframing and they built the whole workflow of how a campaign is created and then managed thereafter. Tivix came up with the email infrastructure that delivers the call to action to all the members and supporters of this organization. It’s a nicely designed email that says, “Click here to take action.” It’s web-based, and they used Python and Django to create it. The copy is written by all the customers, so we built the template. Our database matches people with the appropriate target based on their address. They also built the analytics suite that records everything so our customers, who are associations and charitable organizations, understand the efficacy of their campaigns.

How much have you invested with Tivix?

We’ve paid $300,000 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2014. The project timeline was about a year and it was completed 18 months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The key performance indicator we look for is engagement rates. When our customers are sending out these emails, they want to see people not only opening them but also actually going on and taking action. If you look at the competitors in our space, which are VoterVoice and CQ Roll Call Engage, they have these benchmark standards. Not only were we meeting all these benchmark standards with the first version that Tivix built, but we were probably exceeding them. It all comes down to engagement with our business—we were getting numbers we were expecting and even better. They had some great solutions. At the time, we were very pleased with what they delivered, not only with the design but the execution of the frontend UI.

How did Tivix perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management part was rather easy. They were very clear in their communication. When they said that they were going to deliver something, they did so on time and it always was within reason of what we talked about. We used Basecamp, Pivotal Tracker, and Google Hangouts in our management.

What did you most impressive about Tivix?

I've worked with a few consultancies and Tivix was hands down the best one in terms of talent, communication, and meeting deadlines. When it comes down to it, they met every deadline and accomplished every goal we’ve set out to accomplish.

Are there any areas Tivix could improve?

I had zero problems working with them. As far as I can tell, they really are top-shelf.

5.0
Overall Score They are the best consultancy I have ever worked with.
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    They’re pretty pricey, but I think it’s actually worth paying up. They’re in San Francisco, so you pay San Francisco prices.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    A lot of times with other consultancies, you’d have to say this is close but we need to fix X, Y, or Z. With Tivix, they deliver it and it works with no issues.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    Absolutely.

Database Development for Boutique Tech Firm

"I believe their company is built on agility, and I like it."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
Confidential
 
June 2016 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Tivix created custom software apps for two LLCs under a parent tech organization. They applied numerous skill sets in developing databases, logic and artificial intelligence, and failure analysis. 

The Reviewer
 
11-50 Employees
 
San Jose, California
Founder & CEO, Tech Firm
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Project deliverables always exceed expectations in terms of defect rates. Discovered bugs usually take only hours to fix, which is rare to find. Tivix also spends considerable time and effort developing an agile culture within their team, which definitely pays off for customers. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a tech company. I'm the co-founder, and I primarily work on the more technical side–engineering, development, product design, and hardware and software. My partner, the other co-founder, handles the business and strategy side of things. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tivix?

Our company is actually the parent firm of multiple smaller ones. Some of the LLCs that they're working on are MetConX and SportConX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I work with 2 points of contact. The team ranged from 4–12 people. I provide a functional stack, and they come back with their suggestions. On the sports side, they created an app for a company that had integrated with sports games. They had a social app back-side similar to Facebook, so it had a social aspect to the app. The other parts like chat and streaming were simple, which I wasn't too concerned about. They were heavy on the database side, which I liked. They're also heavy into going into logic and artificial intelligence, which was pretty much the single differentiator.

How did you come to work with Tivix?

I did research online and found they were the only company that had touched on all aspects that I needed. The product itself had many variables, and they had experience in every single variable. We interviewed them. I asked them what they were strong at, and they pretty much came out with it. There was no faking it. They were very upfront about their skills and limitations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them 12–16 months ago [late 2015 or early 2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

What I liked was their mean time to repair [MTTR]. Every time I find a bug, they're quick at finding the root cause, fixing it, and getting a patch out. The entire failure-analysis side of it—they can whip out stuff in anywhere between 15 minutes and 2 hours. The hinge would be how quickly Apple can get the next build in. That's what I liked about them. They also were prepared compared to their peers on defect density. They either met or exceeded industry norms with low-defect density.

How did Tivix perform from a project management standpoint?

It's been easy to manage them. We first started with twice a week, and it's been so smooth that I moved it to once a week. We use cloud-based systems like Pivotal and another bug-tracking system. I could always hire someone else. It's up to me. But, so far, their team has been solid.

What did you most impressive about Tivix?

They're agile. I believe their company is built on agility, and I like it. For example, if I said, "We're gaining traction on this app, and I need Android and desktop versions built out. Send me a quote, and when can it start?"—which is something I've done a couple of times—every time they've come back and they're like “We can start that in as soon as 2 or 3 weeks.” If you need velocity, they could scale.

Are there any areas Tivix could improve?

I can't think of any.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Process Compliance Solution for Business Services Firm

"It was extremely straightforward and easy to work with [them]."

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5.0

Quality: 
4.5
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.5
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Jan. 2014 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

Tivix designed an integrated web and mobile application solution to streamline process compliance and workflow documentation for businesses.

The Reviewer
 
501-1000 Employees
 
Bakersfield, California
Brooke Antonioni
CEO, FormForce
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The finished app offers management, on-the-ground staff, and external clients instant access to a customizable platform. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

In addition to FormForce, our family owns three service businesses with operations throughout California, proudly employing over 600 people. We set forth to conduct business safely, responsibly and ethically in diverse industries with customers who share these same key values. We currently have customers in the energy, agriculture, government services, healthcare, property management, financial institutions, education, and transportation industries. These industries are very safety-sensitive and require the highest level of accountability, transparency, and compliance.

In accordance with our annual Continual Improvement Plan (CIP) and the priority to constantly differentiate ourselves from others, we have invested and implemented technology solutions into our business. Operational control is important so that we can maintain our core competencies of safety, service, support, and supervision. Technology and our other layers of accountability help us ensure that we keep the promises we make to our customers in all of these areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tivix?

Many of our customers audit our company’s performance at varying rates and gathering that data throughout our organization proved to be challenging. We knew every time we were tasked with an audit, it would take six weeks to sift through boxes, file cabinets, and databases, hoping the data was there, legible and complete. Four years ago, we decided to it was time to improve the process. We started with where the challenges existed, where could we improve, where could we increase our operational control, etc. We believed technology could help us solve some of these issues.

Our CTO spent some time researching available software applications, but it became clear it would require multiple platforms to accomplish our goal of comprehensive compliance. We wanted this platform to be easy to use, and having to log in and out of multiple applications was not an issue we wanted our employees faced with. Multiple applications decreased the efficiency, kept the information scattered across the database and led to inaccurate data. In addition, they didn’t provide real-time access to our field employees and they couldn’t generate notifications. It was time for us develop our own software. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With assistance from Tivix, FormForce was created as a web and mobile application based on compliance. Tivix was integral in the development of FormForce from the beginning, offering guidance for application development, suggestions for the proper framework and process mapping. Tivix was extremely helpful in successfully translating the core concepts and functionality we wanted the product to have and translating that into a working product on the web and mobile side. We wanted FormForce to be completely customizable so it would fit our unique businesses, but we discovered through the development process that this could apply to virtually any business struggling with compliance. At that point, we decided to think outside of our organization and take FormForce to market.

Tivix was tasked with designing and developing the web and mobile applications, as well as initiating and maintaining the database behind the applications. They continue to be involved in maintaining the platform, performing enhancements and feature sprints.

How did you come to work with Tivix?

After identifying we would be developing our own solution, we narrowed down development firms based on geographical location. Through online research, we identified several medium and large firms worth interviewing and began that process. Ultimately, we decided to move forward with Tivix because they shared our work philosophy, we connected with their culture and felt like they had the broad experience to assist us in achieving our goal.

​​​​​​How much have you invested with Tivix?

We have invested a significant amount of resources with Tivix and towards FormForce.

​​​​​​What is the status of this engagement?

We first began working with Tivix in January 2014, our application launched in the Apple App Store in January 2015. Our relationship with Tivix remains ongoing; we work with them continually on application maintenance, feature enhancements, and full feature sprints.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Tivix perform from a project management standpoint?

A lot of our original meetings were onsite with the Tivix team. During this period, we would map out the core concepts, processes, and data flow. From an operations standpoint, we had to identify what our goal was, map how we get there and then go through the effort of closing any gaps in the process. Tivix was excellent at walking us through this; we felt like they understood our end goal and that was crucial to keeping us on track.

During development, our team at Tivix consisted of approximately six members. Since the application launched, our team has consolidated down to 2–3. We have had consistent team members throughout the development and maintenance process, which has been great for our organization.

Working with Tivix was extremely straightforward and easy. Their employees are very talented and had a great work ethic. We truly feel that this is what made this venture successful. One of their slogans is, “Get stuff done.” This is essentially what we expressed as the goal for our project during the interview. We appreciated their focus on getting a product and a result that works. Tivix was organized, they provided tools to help us communicate, track ideas and progress when we weren’t meeting together.

What did you find most impressive about Tivix?

We know plenty of people who started similar projects but did not achieve similar results. It was critical for our other businesses that we have a realistic timeline resulting in a fully functioning product. They were great at avoiding scope creep and challenging us continuously on this. If we wanted to shoot for the moon and add new features, they would rein us back while also meeting our goals and expectations.

​​​​​​Are there any areas Tivix could improve?

There have not been any challenges that we couldn’t work through pretty efficiently.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.5 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 4.5 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    There were a couple of things that Tivix developed that didn't quite work right out of the gate like they should have.
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    I’ve had several chances to recommend Tivix and will continue to do so.