TowerHouse Studio

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Enki Rebels. We’re a strategy and technology solutions consulting company, and we provide our services to startups and small businesses to help them scale and digitally transform. 

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouse Studio?

We needed someone to help us provide web development and design services for our clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with Towerhouse Studio as our technology provider to provide our clients with web development solutions. We started all our projects with a document that describes our business context, goals, and key objectives. We go through it in detail and once we’re done discussing the needs, we move on to the development and basically break down the objective into smaller objectives — this made key goals achievable throughout the development.

One particular project we did was for an online education company, and what we did for them was transform their code-based page into a WordPress platform. This enabled them to update their own content without having to input any code. Apart from that, we provided some security measures, as well as maintenance work to fix a lot of the site’s issues.

What is the team composition?

Throughout the partnership, we worked with Diego (CEO), Simon (CTO), and a lead developer on a daily basis.

How did you come to work with Towerhouse Studio?

I've known their team since 2016 when I was looking for a development partner. I had just started my own company and I directed Towerhouse Studio to my clients who had smaller businesses or startups.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested somewhere between $95,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2019–May 2021.

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

Towerhouse Studio helped me generate over $200,000 in revenue. They’re not the cheapest development partners, but our clients were very happy and they actually understood how things worked, so there was very little hand-holding throughout the development.

How did TowerHouse Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great from a project management standpoint, and one thing I really valued about them was how they utilized sprints in the development process. For other development teams I’ve worked with in the past, sprint is just a buzzword — but for Towerhouse Studio, they took it seriously, so we actually accomplished our tasks within a timetable.

We typically communicated through Slack and had meetings on Zoom to plan our projects. We then use JIRA to document everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I liked most about them was that they challenged the objectives. They didn't look to me for a solution, they wanted me to understand the problem so that they can help me find and develop a solution. Towerhouse Studio took their time to understand the problems we were facing, and they provided some really good suggestions to challenge my thoughts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One thing they could improve on is knowing how to keep the process on a high level, especially when talking with the clients. I would also suggest encouraging their junior developers to be more open and not be intimidated by the clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise trusting the developers of Towerhouse Studio and involve the team early in the process of understanding your problems — bring them in so that they can help you come up with great solutions.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of Lightbox Search, a SaaS platform that helps users take control of search results for companies, brands, or clients they represent through analysis, measurement, monitoring and automated reporting.

For what projects/services did your company hire TowerHouse Studio, and what were your goals?

When we first approached Towerhouse Studio all we had was an idea, some basic designs, and very little technological expertise. Our goal was to develop a platform capable of automatically analyzing localized search results via sentiment, content type and SEO strength, in addition to aggregating other critical datapoints for our uses. With no in-house development capabilities, and unsure of what expertise or services our project required, we hired Towerhouse Studio to serve as a single-source development team that could bring our vision to life. Years later, we continue to rely on them for every aspect of development and software maintainence. 

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

We were introduced to this vendor by a colleague we trusted as an expert in design, UI and UX who had worked with them in the past. Selecting Towerhouse was simple. Their team is awesome - professional, responsive and talented. Their portfolio of work is impressive and their rates are more than fair for the quality of work delivered. 

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

React, Laravel, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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

I have worked directly with six team members, their CEO, CTO, Project Manager, Team Leader, Developer and QA Analyst. Other team members may have been or are involved without my direct knowledge.

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

Not long ago our software was just an idea - today it is a live platform with a growing base of active users. 

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

Towerhouse has incredible commounication skills and are very responsive to my needs and requests. We communicate typically via slack, but also use Google Meets and Zoom to video chat and screenshare. I recieve weekly email reports on hours used and Jira is our task management platform. Towerhouse deliverables are reliably on-time. 

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

Whats most impressive to me about Towerhouse Studio is how they've developed a deep understanding of not just my software needs, but also my business objectives. Without their guidance, our platform would have been a far inferior product. 

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

No. Towerhouse has always performed admiradbly even when I've been a challenging client. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of UPWRD Collective. We do mindfulness and positive leadership for corporations.

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouseStudio?

We are building a web platform that incentivizes engagement in online programming using social impact.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to deliver content in an easy, accessible, bare-bones way to employees. It needed to track points as a user interacts with the technology and then convert those points into dollars to charity

TowerHouseStudio provided front- and backend design services for the web app. I gave them super basis wireframes to start from — pictures of drawings using poster board and markers. They then converted into a fully-fledged website that uses AWS. 

We’re now moving to an app-based platform. TowerHouseStudio provides additional support and ideas for future gamification as I move through funding rounds.

What is the team composition?

Diego (CEO) is my main point of contact, but I’ve also interacted with Simón (CTO). 

How did you come to work with TowerHouseStudio?

They were the only developer I could find that understood working with organizations that deal with social impact. I requested on a social impact alumni group, and a project manager who had worked with TowerHouseStudio on a few projects referred us to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $16,000–$18,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in June 2019 and is ongoing. The first phase is completely done; we’re now in the app development phase, but that hasn’t officially started yet.

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

TowerHouseStudio built the web platform of my dreams. It’s better than what I ever could’ve imagined. What I really love is having the ability to scale; it’s perfect as my MVP. We haven’t run beta testing fully, but the feedback we’ve gotten from team members and a few external people has been positive. They’ve loved its simplicity and ease of formatting. I’m looking forward to working more with TowerHouseStudio; when I recently saw their design for the potential app, I teared up.

How did TowerHouseStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

I could not speak more highly of their project management style. It’s so efficient, streamlined, and on point. Moreover, the team is so patient with me. They never make me feel like I’m frustrating them. They also can explain things in a way that made perfect sense to me even as a non-technical founder. That’s allowed me to accurately convey how I could scale as I raise funds for the next stages. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I truly believe it’s their communication. They accurately communicate what they’re doing and how, and they make it clear to a non-technical founder. I also appreciate their extreme patience with me and my capabilities while still getting the work done so fast and efficiently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m a person who loves to give constructive feedback, but I truly don’t have any for TowerHouseStudio. Their professionalism and commitment have been the highest I’ve ever experienced. I was surprised by how easy the process has been. Everyone prepped me for difficulty and warned me of their own problems with developers, but I did not experience that at all. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Be completely honest with yourself and with TowerHouseStudio about your capabilities. Convey your time commitments and biggest pain points with absolutely no ego. A lot of times, I feel like people hesitate to talk to developers because they don’t want to be taken advantage of. This is not the case with TowerHouseStudio. They want to help you so badly, and there’s honesty and integrity in their service.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Your Bra Store discreetly purchases bras from boutique retailers and sells the merchandise online through our website. 

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouseStudio?

We wanted to build an e-commerce website to enhance our buying and selling experience.

What was the scope of their involvement?

TowerHouseStudio is developing an e-commerce website to support our online retail business. Powered by WooCommerce, the platform will have three unique user paths; third-party retailers will be able to share their inventory with us, consumers will be able to view and purchase our clothing items, and our team will be able to manage every aspect of the business.

Using the data that we provided to them, they set up alerts for sales, notifications, and shipments. They have already completed the MVP version of the website, which is currently undergoing beta testing with some of our retail partners.

What is the team composition?

They assigned four developers to our account.

How did you come to work with TowerHouseStudio?

Partnering with a company that had a similar cultural background was very important to me, so I searched for Uruguayan developers online. TowerHouseStudio was one of the companies that we met with during our visit to Uruguay. They were very relatable and easy to work with, so we decided to hire them for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $12,000 CAD (approximately $9,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in January 2019.

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

We set our expectations high, and so far, TowerHouseStudio has managed to meet them. They have done a wonderful job interpreting our requirements.

How did TowerHouseStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

Meeting deadlines is never an issue because their team works fast. They were in-tune to our needs and kept an open line of communication. We had access to their Jira software, but I preferred to communicate via phone and email. During meetings, they wrote down comprehensive notes to ensure that we didn’t lose any ideas.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated their competitive pricing, but their greatest strength lies in their customer service. Developing a website is an exhaustive process, but TowerHouseStudio made the project as stress-free as possible. They made it clear that our success was their number one priority. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did everything that we asked them to do, so I have no complaints.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a consulting firm. We're a marketplace landing business, dealing with student loans, focusing specifically on international students who come to the U.S. and study at top tier schools.

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouseStudio?

We needed web and application development for our firm.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They've been with us since day 1, helping us build our brochureware site, the application platform, and the connectivity between that platform and our CRM solution.

They're a full-stack development shop. They use WordPress and PHP and are good at Salesforce connectivity. They also made sure that even though a mobile app was not on our short-term road map, it was something we considered when building the code. This way, the site remains responsive and viewable on mobile platforms until we build an app.

What is the team composition?

We initially worked with two developers and are now up to eight or nine developers.

How did you come to work with TowerHouseStudio?

We worked on a project together 10 years ago and remained in touch. They've built each of my last 5 startups.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on this project in May 2014, and it is an ongoing collaboration.

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

We are a fintech company, so technology is part of its overall viability. Without TowerHouse, we'd be in a different place. You can see the caliber of our website and platform. They do updates once every two weeks, and for the last four years, our website has been down for maybe five minutes total.

How did TowerHouseStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They're expert users of JIRA. They've suggested internal modifications to our process, which we've benefited from. They excel in project management and accountability, and communication is clear. Everyone in our company treats TowerHouse as a member of the team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing they do particularly well is feel like an integrated component to our team structure. They have presence on our Slack channels, JIRA boards, and Google docs, and I speak to Diego [CEO, TowerHouseStudio] several times a week.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We're often not on the bleeding edge of technology, though quite close. However, it's not a problem unique to TowerHouse, as Uruguay in general needs to catch up, and Diego and his team do a great job of hiring.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask for their opinion, as they're willing to share their knowledge. Ask questions, don’t make assumptions in the technology, and take it from there.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run a small consumer electronics company that creates products for media center environments.

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouseStudio?

We faced a number of problems with projects in the past. Our previous e-commerce platform changed its terms of service and pricing model, and we wanted help evaluating other options.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They brought back a list of platform options for us, based upon our requirements. Those included various extensibility options and addons. The platform had be customizable to our needs. Some of the specific problems and tasks within that project were not intuitive, but they found the best option to suit our storefront and website needs.

We’ve worked together over several years building our storefront and modules. Those include solutions to maintain distributors and customer lists, and plugins for various websites. They work in HTML5 and Javascript, and have extensive full stack knowledge. They built the frontend UI [User Interface] onto the MySQL custom backend. We’ve also played with October CMS. Our next project will use more Javascript and Node.JS to develop a custom electron application.

What is the team dynamic?

They have several people working behind the scenes. I interface with members of their management, and each project has between two and ten team members, depending on the breadth.

How did you come to work with TowerHouseStudio?

I’m friends with a software director at a large company. I asked him his opinion, and he highly recommended them. They’ve lived up to his recommendation.

How much have you invested with them?

The last project cost $20,000–$30,000. We’ve worked together for a few years, and the total investment is near $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This is an ongoing, years-long partnership.

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

Their execution is amazing, and they have been an invaluable partner. Our launch was flawlessly successful, and my day to day operations rely upon some of the software they helped create.

How did TowerHouseStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve given them the creative opportunity to solve problems, and they did so without needing guidance or micromanagement from me. They use the Jira bug-tracking utility to identify problems, and outline the schedule through Scrum. We have weekly or biweekly conference calls and touch base on existing issues, but most of their team management is internal on their side. I’ve never had an issue communicating with project leaders; their English is phenomenal.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creative problem solving is a major asset. Some consultation firms need to have every detail outlined. Towerhouse is the only company I’ve worked with that is able to come up with solutions entirely on their own. Financially, they’re also extremely reasonable for the talent they provide.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and co-founder of a finance platform that serves international students at top universities in the U.S. We've been in business for 4 years. We use big data and machine learning to pull international credit history and enhance credit decisions for students.

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouseStudio?

We needed someone to build and refine our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our web-based and mobile-friendly platform with a Salesforce backend. They work with PHP and Java for our web-based technologies and do a bit of Python scripting. We’ve also modified the Salesforce platform in many different directions..

They're helping us optimize some aspects of the platform currently, and they've also helped with other tools and technologies we implemented in finance and other areas of the company. They function almost like an offshore tech or engineering department for us, rather than as a more transactional, outsourced technology firm.

What is the team dynamic?

We've worked with at least 5 of their developers. This includes a traditional developer, a lead engineer, a designer, and someone with Salesforce-specific experience. “Developer” is a bit too generic of a term—they have a few additional specialties that we're able to tap into.

How did you come to work with TowerHouseStudio?

My co-founder has worked with them in the past, and they do great work. They've done everything from building financial platforms to developing video games for mobile phones. They're very talented and exactly the group we needed to develop our platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March of 2014.

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

We have thousands of visitors every day, with a thousand potential customers hitting our platform and submitting applications every month. Customer feedback has been great from all corners of the world. One-third of users access our platform via mobile devices and are excited by that option.

I have nothing but amazing things to say about the work they've provided for us.

How did TowerHouseStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a lead engineer that's assigned to the team. They clearly defined roles from the start and set up a very good routine. For instance, our CTO has a daily check-in call with them where they go over priorities and address anything that needs troubleshooting on the fly.

In terms of tools, they use JIRA and Slack. There's always an ongoing chat with the team. They’re available at all hours, and they go above and beyond to get the right results. We truly appreciate that.

Even though Diego [CEO, TowerHouseStudio] and the team and are on slightly different time zones, they adapt to U.S. hours. Their English level is pretty good. Some of them are U.S.-educated, and others have spent an extended period of time here. They work exclusively with U.S.-based clients, so it's a fairly seamless experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're like a tech team for our company. They very much integrate with our systems, routines, and check-in process, rather than asking for a task and doing it in a black box. I can't give specific examples, but if we had we opened a Uruguay office with our own software developers, there would've been no difference. That's how seamless the whole process has been.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They've been amazing overall, but we'd love even more resources in Uruguay. If we have very specific needs like a certain language or platform, they have to bring someone on board with that skill set. On the other hand, they’re usually able to bring in a specialist within weeks, whereas doing so would take months in the U.S.

Advice for potential customers?

Treat them as an offshore team rather than an outsource team. You get better results that way. It means you miss out on a more transactional relationship, but given the caliber of talent in Uruguay, I recommend treating them more like a part of the team.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a streaming company that provides video content of ballet, theatre, and other general performances.

What challenge were you trying to address with TowerHouseStudio?

We needed someone to rebuild our site and integrate marketing support.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used WordPress to rebuild our website, and integrated it with Vimeo. We do a lot of integration and customization with Salesforce. We also aggregate plugins, including Stripe, to operate in different languages as well.

They operate as our internal IT, but they’re externalized. The last project they worked on for us was for a festival, and they created a streaming capability for us in 10 days. We launched the video onto the platform that they created, and people were able to comment on it. It was also fully integrated with marketing. This project took about 4–5 months to develop, and we ended up including a couple of additional features that weren’t in the original requirements.

What is the team dynamic?

The size of the team has varied over our relationship depending on how we develop certain things.

How did you come to work with TowerHouseStudio?

They came as a reference to us. Interestingly enough, they don’t handle our Latin American site, but they take care of everything else.

How much have you invested with them?

We started off at $60 per hour, but it’s since increased to $80 per hour. Sometimes, we go on a fixed priced rate depending on what we need done. We tend to get quotes from other companies, and also take into consideration the level of difficulty for any said project before engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2012, and we’ve continued to have ongoing projects with them every month.

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

The website definitely reduced our time to go to market once we actually started working with them, because we change it every 2 weeks. It gives us the flexibility to be able to push things out, which we weren’t able to do before. I can’t provide any numbers because I don’t have anything to compare them to. We expect them to effectively collaborate with the great designer we have, and also work across differing cultures and countries.

How did TowerHouseStudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They are quite good. If they don’t meet the goal, it’s probably because the project was more complicated than expected or because we added in unexpected requirements. With regards to whether they’re going to meet a goal or not, they are very open in terms of what kind of difficulties they are having. Communication tends to flow very well, which is why we continue to work with them even though they’ve raised their prices.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and flexibility are impressive. Even though they are external developers, they act like a team player for us completely. They’re able to remain flexible to accommodate our needs.

Their ability to communicate is also commendable. We’re always in contact, and we’ve never had any issues with them. The service level agreement we have with them is usually of very high standards, especially compared to other developers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their increase in prices have been an issue, and although it’s not completely deterring, it has caused us to consider alternative resources.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Geo Energy Marketing Services is a full-service digital marketing agency focused on professionalizing and promoting the geothermal industry by enhancing the brands and voice of each of its contributing companies. We specialize in helping small energy service companies redefine their brand.

For what projects/services did your company hire TowerHouseStudio?

Tower House Studio have served as my Web Development team on close to 5 different website or custom landing page projects.

What were your goals for this project?

To provide Tower House Studio with initial creative direction and scope of work and have them develop the framework and CMS for the websites before turning them back over to Geo Energy Marketing.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected the Vendor through an RFQ process on UpWork.com

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Tower House Studios were tasked with developing the framework and setting up the CMS for multiple websites. Tower House Studios have also served as Web Development Customer Service and Technical Support for task beyond my internal team's capabilities.

What was the team composition?

Project Manager: Geo Energy Marketing Project Lead: Tower House Studio Support Team: 3 people at Tower House Studio if / when Project Lead is unavailable

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The team at Tower House Studio have been instrumental in our ability to deliver value-added, cost-effective, state-of-the-art website development services to our small, energy service clients. We've launched 2-3 websites and are working on 2-3 more websites. Tower House Studio's top-notch service, responsiveness and ability to deliver on-time results has helped grow our own business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project Management has been has largely remained a back-and-forth communication process through Upwork.com's messenger tool. Tower House Studio is based in South America while we're based in the USA. Tower House Studio's Project Lead and I remain in daily communication regarding every project detail.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to deliver high-quality results in a timely manner with seamless communication impressed us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at this time. I've very happy with everything we've done together so far.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner of Insurance Brokers of Arizona, a mid-size independent insurance agency.

For what projects/services did your company hire TowerHouseStudio?

I hired TowerHouse Studio to customize our processes and workflows within Salesforce.

What were your goals for this project?

My objective was to streamline our processes to make them more efficient.

How did you select this vendor?

I researched several Salesforce developers globally before ultimately narrowing the candidates down to three firms. After having a video conference with each vendor, I found TowerHouseStudio's vision, ability to understand my needs, and knowledge to be the perfect fit.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They’ve designed, developed, tested, and then delivered/launched each of the development projects that we have done.

What was the team composition?

I have always had direct contact with Diego (Co-Founder & CEO, TowerHouseStudio) along with the resource directly working on my projects.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

These projects have helped save my team a ton of time, freeing them up to do more sales and servicing. This, in turn, brings in more revenue.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

There is a lot of communication throughout the projects.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I’m most impressed by their communication skills and ability to do exactly what they say they will.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, nothing at all. They’ve done a fabulous job.