Tyrannosaurus Tech

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Product of Art Pharmacy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

SocialRx uses custom-built technology to personalize social prescribing services for healthcare, university, corporate, and government partners to address the nation’s most intractable health challenges.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Tyrannosaurus Tech to accomplish?

Define, design, and validate a youth-focused digital companion app through a rapid design sprint process. Deliver a clickable MVP prototype, user research insights, and technical implementation roadmap to scale Art Pharmacy's art-based social prescribing model.

SOLUTION

How did you find Tyrannosaurus Tech?

Referral

Why did you select Tyrannosaurus Tech over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Tyrannosaurus Tech were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Tyrannosaurus Tech extended the resources of our small product team by providing industry knowledge and guidance with a new native mobile app we are developing at SocialRx. This included concept and product ready designs, staged UX workflows for an iteriative development cycle, and cost analysis for ideation to implementation. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Reduced product development risk through rapid prototyping and user validation. Created engineering-ready deliverables including PRD, system architecture, and tested prototype, enabling seamless handoff to development team and faster path to app launch for youth users.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We have a few misalignments in the very beginning of the project, but the team at Tyrannosaurus Tech did an amazing job at adjusting and reestablishing a path to success. The fact this was identified and corrected so early in the project allowed for all deliverables and objectives to be completed within the bounds of the project. Great at providing and recieving constructive feedback to make the entire experience better. 

What was your primary form of communication with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The people really invested time and energy into making sure they understand not only the project but our unique business needs. They took ideas and organized them in a way to provoked conversation and thought in areas that weren't front of mind for us. 

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

The early misalignment could have been solved by having the full Tyrannosaurus Tech project team members in the room earlier. Their expertise would have had a positive and healthy impact on the project to potentially negate the issues. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

REPOWR's equipment visibility & asset-sharing platform allows logistics companies to seamlessly share & manage equipment across locations, teams, and 3rd-party networks. I serve as the Chief Innovation Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We hired Tyrannosaurus Tech for a suite of services from development to project management to QA.

SOLUTION

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

We were referred to TTech by another DevOps firm based in Atlanta, GA. The personalities of the founders, the scope of services provided, and speed to implementation were the deciding factors.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

TTech's team continues to play a massive role in the production of repowr.com from concept to deployment.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Our early talks with Richard went very well, as he picked up on our vision and expectations instantly and staffed a team to help us achieve those.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

TTech's work has been tremendous.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between our teams truly is what makes the relationship special and highlights TTech's skillset. They work very hard to seamlessly integrate into your team but also take the effort to ensure quality and accountability. While they're very well embedded in our team, they did not pass the full burden of management or coaching to us. They remain proactive and even encourage our internal team to perform better.

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

Very personal, proactive service on a daily basis.

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

None to date.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a medical record retrieval company servicing law firms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tyrannosaurus Tech, and what were your goals?

We hired Tyrannosaurus Tech to audit an existing piece of custom software we had built for UX/UI improvements.

SOLUTION

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

We were referred to them by trusted designers in the technology space.

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

They performed an audit of our in house users and client users of a custom intake and contact database software built to improve our efficiency.

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

We worked with three individuals, including a project manager and developer. The team was fantastic and exactly what we needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Based on the careful, thoughtful and spot on audit performed, we now have a roadmap for immediate improvements to our software that will let us improve our outputs w/out increasing our labor costs.

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

The project management of our audit was exactly what we had been missing with the previous agencies we worked with. We needed clear directions for our team, clear timeframes for completion and clear expectations of the process. We received all of those and the project was successfully completed w/ little need for my team to manage anyone.

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

We expected the team to have a basic understanding of our overall improvement needs and had a very good understanding overall of what we expected our UX/UI needs would be. The team who interviewed our staff absolutely hit on every need we have and identified new ones that we are excited to implement. They clearly took the time to fully understand not just the tech we had, but our actual needs and reasons behind the tech, ensuring our audit did not include "fluff" or items that would not be useful to us in the future.

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

There was no real area for improvement for this first project. We are excited to continue to work with their team on development next.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of partnerships for product at Mailchimp. My team manages relationships with our partners in the software industry who have integrated with Mailchimp. We’re also involved in selecting development partners for integration projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We onboarded Tyrannosaurus Tech as a part of our integration fund initiative. The goal was to build product integrations that could empower small businesses, so it was important that we hire a development team who’s familiar with our and our software industry partners’ APIs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have an integration fund website where interested potential developers could come in and work with Mailchimp. We present these developers with options of integrations that they could build into the site, and they would come back to us with proposals for some of those projects. Once we’ve got all the proposals, we call back those whose submissions we liked best, and Tyrannosaurus Tech was among them.

We contracted Tyrannosaurus Tech to build out the middleware management project. In this case, everything was a sinking integration, so their team spent the majority of the time asking questions about our scoping docs and building out the product that has just now moved into the launch phase. 

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with a lead developer and a project manager. On occasion, we would also speak with two secondary developers.

How did you come to work with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

The situation is a little bit unique; Tyrannosaurus Tech was the one who found us. Following COVID-19, we made an announcement for our integration fund. Since we’ve got a pool of money and were looking to have certain integrations built, we called for development agencies to submit their proposals. Upon evaluating each agency, we saw that Tyrannosaurus Tech was a good fit. 

How much have you invested with them?

Thus far, we’ve spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began around Q3 of 2020, and Tyrannosaurus Tech is still working with us in an integration support capacity. We have a scope that we plan to renew every year as long as the integration is still being used and adopted.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We typically evaluate an agency’s performance based on our revenue and adoption numbers, but I don’t want to disclose that information. I will say, however, that we’ve been seeing very positive adoption. The project has come together quicker than expected and within budget. 

Tyrannosaurus Tech has been fantastic and super quick to address any edge cases that testing didn’t catch. The team is really responsive, and everyone who’s worked with them has been really happy with their level of communication. They’re also incredibly thorough when it comes to asking questions and clarifying the details around how our API worked, which is the most important thing. 

How did Tyrannosaurus Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is really good; they’re incredibly attentive. In order to produce on time, they give accurate deadlines for us to supply them a certain piece. They often ask if there’s anything we need from them, but it is sometimes the case that they’re the ones waiting on us. We’re lucky that they’re based in our time zone, as it has made things a lot easier. 

Tyrannosaurus Tech has also been really good at working as a kind of traffic control for technical questions, situating themselves between our partners and our solutions engineers.

We communicate primarily through Slack and occasionally through email. We collaborate on Google Docs and have weekly check-ins with our points of contact. The lead developer has gotten into a really good habit of recording and numbering all their questions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

No doubt, what sets them apart from other agencies is their attentiveness and thoroughness. There are a lot of moving parts in our products and it's easy for these to get buried under other concerns during a call. The integration might not always turn out as good as it could be if someone forgets to take action on a follow-up item, but it is never the case with Tyrannosaurus Tech; they’re always able to do all the little tasks. 

The team is also very proactive. Now that we’ve launched the integration, they are monitoring bugs and fixing them even before users can start reporting them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, nothing comes to mind. They’ve delivered on everything we’ve asked, and more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It helped us a lot to take our time crafting the product specifications before sending it over to Tyrannosaurus Tech. It has really helped the team succeed because we didn’t give them anything that was overly ambiguous.

Definitely be thorough with what you want upfront. Make sure to have a team that could support Tyrannosaurus Tech in their development effort as well, otherwise you might have to rely on them to do a lot more research. This could drive up costs and stretch your timelines.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Vivo, a virtual fitness program focused on strength training and older adults. We provide live, online, small group training to adults 55 and over to build strength and improve independence and quality of life.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We are looking to build a tech platform to engage our customer base. We looked to T Tech to help us design, scope and cost out what this platform should look like.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to create initial mockups, scope documents, timeline and cost estimates.

SOLUTION

How did you select Tyrannosaurus Tech?

I heard about them through mutual connections and a CEO organization that I am affiliated with.

Describe the project in detail.

We are looking to build a tech platform to engage our customer base. We looked to T Tech to help us design, scope and cost out what this platform should look like. We conducted requirements gathering sessions where talked through scope and priorities. T Tech came to the table with initial screen mockups for a mobile and web interface. We then iterated through the designs.

What was the team composition?

We met with the CEO and CTO through most of the meetings. There was also a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The deliverables were well created and on time, They provided everything that we asked, and even spent additional time and effort to go back and forth on some additional scope that was added.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their communication was great and there were never any issues with our workflow. We set up meetings and conducted them, as necessary and without issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their designs and mockups were outstanding. In addition, they quickly developed a good understanding of the needs of our customer base and our solution. They had the technical expertise to understand the complications of custom video conference and fitness wearables integration.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Greenlink Analytics, a 501(c)(3) that does energy and equity research.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We hired them to build a platform that would display any number of equity and demographic data at a neighborhood level across the US. We wanted to help cities have better planning processes that incorporated any sort of environmental and equity concerns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tyrannosaurus Tech designed and developed a web-based platform for us. The team is now maintaining the platform. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three programmers and developers, a UI/UX designer, a project manager, and occasionally the two co-founders.

How did you come to work with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We did a national search and sent out RFPs to specific companies that we thought had done good work. We ended up choosing Tyrannosaurus Tech because we liked their development process, and they were based in Atlanta where we are.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $140,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in February 2020. The platform launched in October 2020, but they’re still doing maintenance work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're measuring success right now mostly by the response that we're receiving. We've deployed the platform and it’s going through a series of soft launches. We had our beta testers get into it first, and they probably represented about 10 different organizations from across the country. 

We then rolled it out to our first set of 25 cities, and we're rolling it out to a second set of 25 soon. Tyrannosaurus Tech has been responsive in terms of getting fixes forward, and people have been happy with what they’ve received, which has been good.

How did Tyrannosaurus Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall communication has been strong. We have a Slack channel where we can message each other back and forth, and the project manager does a good job of creating a log of each meeting that we have and sending that around to make sure that everybody is clear on what we discussed and the action items. 

We’ve created a couple of shared spreadsheets that we go into and note the issues and urgency, and they’ve been very good at working against that log. We’ve been using Monday to track things on our side, and they use Jira. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and calmness are impressive. When things pop up that we don’t expect, they’ve been good at walking us through those instances.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had initially scoped and bid the project to be somewhere around $90,000, which we’ve significantly passed. Our hope was to have the product launched by June or July 2020, which didn’t happen. 

Not all of that is their fault. In fact, the timeline getting pushed back is due to our partners and the other part of that is the process guide for community engagement, which took until September to get prepared. However, we took advantage of that extra time to clean up the platform. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more explicit you can be upfront, the better off you’re going to be in the longterm. Tyrannosaurus Tech is willing to come to us with their ideas and recommendations for some aspects, especially for UI/UX design.

When it comes to open-ended questions, such as which analytics questions we should use to track engagement, the team is a little more aware but not as ready to recommend. The better the idea you have when you show up, the better your experience will be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the dean of students as well as the director of IT at a nonprofit private school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

Our students are sorted into houses and earn points throughout the year for academic engagement, character, outstanding performance, and other scenarios.  

We hired Tyrannosaurus Tech to revamp the platform we used for the house points, so it could be available for use by other schools.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tyrannosaurus Tech built our platform, a web based application with a mobile component. Administrators and teachers can use it to assign points to individual students as well as houses throughout the year. Parents can access the app to track their child’s success as well.

The team used React Native and Ruby on Rails to develop the mobile aspect. It’s hosted on AWS.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with three individuals, our project manager, Carlos (Owner & Partner), and Richard (Owner & Partner). 

How did you come to work with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

I did some research on Tyrannosaurus Tech on what they offer, their expertise, and their ratings. I also had the opportunity to talk with one of their past clients.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2018. We still rely on them for any updates, patches, maintenance, or other assistance related to the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen the number of our end users using the product continue to grow. Ever since we first launched the site, we’ve been making improvements and enhancements to the technology and UX. Each time we put out a new feature, people love it.

How did Tyrannosaurus Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the things I love about working with Tyrannosaurus Tech is their excellent project management. There were times when we had a bottleneck in our processes which caused us to fall behind, but they were always really flexible. 

We have a solid working relationship, and they have a great way of doing things. The team has always kept a line of communication open. Tyrannosaurus Tech treats this project like their own — they’re an excellent partner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m really impressed with their creativity. They’ve brought amazing ideas to the table, keeping the future of the platform in mind as well as the costs. It’s clear Tyrannosaurus Tech has a personal investment in our project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think the only small area for improvement is keeping us abreast of hours billed before we actually get the invoice.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring your entire dream to Tyrannosaurus Tech. Think about what you want your product to look like five years from now, and ask questions from a space of both their experience and what you want in an end product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of FoodFinder. FoodFinder is a nonprofit organization whose website and mobile app help connect food-insecure families across the country to the nearest food pantry for food assistance programs. Even though we are a 501((c)(3) nonprofit, we are in a unique position because we're an all-digital organization and the technology platform we offer is how we are able to serve families in need across America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

Since 2019, as we established full-time payroll for the first time in our organization’s history. As all facets of our work were ramping up, we needed to further delineate the increasingly heavy workload that was needed to manage both our product roadmap for our revenue-generating API platform and how we license our database to other organizations in the fight against hunger.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tyrannosaurus Tech helped us with software development and enhancements for our core platforms like our website and our iOS/Android app.

For most of 2019, our focus had been on API development. Tyrannosaurus Tech was specifically dedicated to things like routine maintenance, platform enhancements, new functionality on our primary platform. 

In the first few months of our partnership, they focused on small frontend changes on our website, cosmetic things, and the overall speed and performance of our mobile app. For instance, one of our biggest items was reducing the initial app screen's load time as someone pulls it up on their phone.

Going forward, we want to be able to create a color-coded map that distinguishes the different types of different food providers in our network. 

What is the team composition?

Richard (Co-Founder) has been terrific with overall communication, making sure that their team understands our work and expectations.  

Then we work with a technical lead who does the majority of the development work. 

Finally, we work with Shannon (Lead Technical Project Manager). She coordinates items in the workflow and in the queue from their standpoint and makes sure that we are making good progress month over month on knocking out items on our roadmap.

How did you come to work with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We first connected with them a few years ago at a mobile marketing event.

We ended up choosing them because of their really clear and consistent communication. At the onset of the pandemic, we needed to be very dynamic as we adjusted to new challenges, and their communication was excellent.

They have a ton of experience working with enterprises, benefit corporations, nonprofits in the healthcare space, and that really reassured us.

Not only did they have the expertise and the credentials needed, they appreciated what we were doing. They believed in our mission and knew that their work would have a direct and positive impact on families in need. 

How much have you invested in them?

Right now, they are doing 40 hours of development work. It is about a $6,000 per month investment to help with the items on our product roadmap. As of right now, we have invested $12,000 on this engagement, but of course, because there is no finite end date, by the end of 2020, we will expect to spend between $25,000–$30,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe our first month of engagement with them was July 2020, and we are still working with them today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've done a good job with the UI/UX. They made sure that the platform was more appealing and indicative of our work.

They're able to identify what causes issues, like extended downtime and slow loading speed, and are able to fix it. 

They're conscientious of our position as a nonprofit — they try to stretch our money as far as possible, but still building a high-quality and scalable product.

They know that quality is super important to us because we are helping people in crisis situations and we want to provide the most effective platform that we can. Tyrannosaurus Tech has given us good ideas to improve the platform but hasn't oversold or up charged us. 

How did Tyrannosaurus Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been good. They're always receptive to our timeline, even as our needs change and new challenges arise. They are flexible and are continuing to prioritize the matters that really are the most important to us. They’ve been really fair, agile, and flexible in catering to our needs. They've done a terrific job of communicating with us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've been able to convey the pros and cons of different options on how to implement the changes that we want to make. I appreciate that they take the time to explain the true causes of a bug or an issue that we are hoping to resolve. Then they describe my options to resolve it so I can choose between a temporary fix or a more intensive solution. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We recently requested weekly check-in calls just to make sure that we continue to make progress. Originally, we were concerned about the timeline, but our schedulel has improved with the current check-in calls. As of right now, there is nothing major to report.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure there's a mutual understanding of your expectations. You should outline everything, from how you plan to communicate, to the quality of work you expect from them, and how long you plan to have their product in place. 

We try to do everything that we can to be fair. In return, we hope they can give us the best possible work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the principals at SBX Technologies. We’re an environmental remediation firm that operates primarily in Georgia, but also throughout the Southeastern US. Our projects often involve addressing environmental concerns for utility companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We had a website that had been around since we started the business in 2003, and the whole platform was no longer working for us. The site was outdated, and our previous web developers were not very responsive.

We decided that we wanted to create a new set of webpages with a fresh look. We were looking for a team that could provide ongoing maintenance as well, but the primary objective was building a new site. Our website is mostly a set of informational pages that talk about the services we provide, as well as our experience and qualifications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They redesigned the site, taking many of the building blocks from the old version.  As far as the mechanics of the website go, I’m sure they told me what they used, but I don’t remember at the moment. I was primarily focused on the design.

I provided all of the information that they needed—images, text, that sort of thing. They retained the same basic content from the old site, but the presentation was all new.

Before they started making changes, they gave me a draft of the website and let me critique it. We talked about the different elements of the site, including specific placement of various objects, like menus and case studies.

What is the team composition?

I had exchanges with at least three people. I’m not sure about their internal processes, but I had one project manager who had a small support team. I also met with one of the owners at one point.

How did you come to work with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

I started by looking around for somebody who could redo our webpage and provide hosting. I called one location who turned us down—it seemed like they were looking for larger projects—and they referred me to Tyrannosaurus Tech. I gave them a call, and the rest is history.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the development piece was about $6,000. We’re also paying $600 per year for hosting and maintenance.

What is the status of this engagement?

They gave me a proposal in March, and we signed a contract soon after that. The site was up and running by the first week of May. It took them about three weeks to develop the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is live, and they seemed to have captured our vision pretty accurately. There are a few updates that we need to do, but that’s on me. We’ve started offering new services and need to add that to our site.

Tyrannosaurus Tech did give me and my team the capability to update the site; we just haven’t done that yet. As far as what they made, it’s perfectly in line with what we wanted.

How did Tyrannosaurus Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

The design feedback process was fairly quick. We were able to get it done without making it too elaborate. Coincidentally, our offices are within walking distance of each other, and I did get the chance to meet them in person.

I connected with the project manager and the owner, and the rest of the communication was via phone or email. Overall, it was very effective. They were always proactive about getting the information that they needed from us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other firms, their responsiveness stood out. They asked questions that I would never have thought about. You could tell that they had gone through the process before. They also delivered on everything they promised, which is important for any business endeavor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I know they’re not perfect, but I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide all of the information that Tyrannosaurus Tech needs. They will build off of what you give them, so give them as much as possible. They don’t need to know every detail about your company, as long as they have what they need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of a full-service dog park bar.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

We require our customers to fill out paperwork and a liability waiver with basic information about themselves and their dogs. However, we were busier than we’d anticipated. My team was spending a lot of time inputting data. We also had a POS system and a separate payments system that we wanted to integrate.  

We hired Tyrannosaurus Tech to transfer this time-consuming paper-based process to an app. We hoped to save time and resources while making the check-in process as stress-free as possible for our customers. The biggest impression we need to make is during our first interaction with the customer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tyrannosaurus Tech developed a web app, on which customers can create a profile and fill in their information. Customers input their name, their dog’s name, information about themselves, updated vaccination records, and photos of themselves and their dogs. My team provided some design parameters, such as keeping the logo and colors the same, but we mostly gave Tyrannosaurus Tech the liberty to create their own design.

They developed several features within the app. For instance, if a dog’s vaccination is about to expire, the app notifies us beforehand so that we can let the customer know they need to provide updated records. Tyrannosaurus Tech created an area where our employees can take notes and record “strikes,” such as if a dog is aggressive. They also enabled us to take payment within the app by integrating our POS system and our app with Square.

What is the team composition?

Shannon (Lead Technical Project Manager, Tyrannosaurus Tech) is our main contact, and I work closely with her. I also work with Richard (Owner & Partner, Tyrannosaurus Tech). My team has limited interactions with the backend programmers, but they’re available anytime we have questions.

How did you come to work with Tyrannosaurus Tech?

I searched for local app development startups on Google and came across Tyrannosaurus Tech. After looking at some of their previous work, we reached out to them. We met with around five agencies, but Tyrannosaurus Tech gave us the best feeling from staff and programmer perspectives. Their business seemed pretty cool.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $70,000–$80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together began in April 2019, and it’s ongoing. Tyrannosaurus Tech just showed us the first mockup. We’re doing training next week, during which they’ll show us what the full-functioning app will look like. After that, we hope to launch within two weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I think the app they’re developing will really help from a customer service perspective. Whereas the check-in process previously took 5–8 minutes, we’re confident that the new app will reduce the process to two minutes or less. Now, customers will be able to sign up on the app elsewhere, and we’ll just have to confirm their information and take payment when they get to our location. This will have a big impact on our customer care. Integrating POS with the app and payment system makes it much easier to keep everything in order.

How did Tyrannosaurus Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Shannon reaches out at least a couple of times each week to make sure we know where we are in the process. All communication goes through her. We communicate via Slack and weekly meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’d had a bad experience with another app developer, so I told Tyrannosaurus Tech upfront that we didn’t want to pursue the project if they couldn’t deliver on their promises. They’ve been very open about their capabilities and parameters. They let us know where they’re comfortable or uncomfortable.

The team also does a good job maintaining open communication, whether it’s about an invoice or the progress of their work.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

This applies to any developer, but I’d have them more clearly lay out what the total cost is going to be. As a startup, it’s critical that we get a good idea, within $5,000–$10,000, of the project’s total cost. Tyrannosaurus Tech didn’t go over budget, but the more precise they can be, the better it is when we’re budgeting how much money we need to set aside.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be very open. If you’re upfront about what your business needs, they’ll do extremely good work. One thing we did was present our short- and long-term goals for our app. Sharing that with Tyrannosaurus Tech gave them a good idea of where to start and how to make the relationship successful.