Accelerating Entrepreneurs
Unicorn Road is on a mission to accelerate entrepreneurs and early-stage startups. Based in Chicago, we specialize in designing and developing custom and low-code websites, MVP web apps, and MVP mobile apps.
We believe in dreams — sometimes even more than the people who are closest to the dreamer. But we don’t love that word because it doesn’t describe the ambitious, hard-working, innovative human beings we work with each and every day. We use the word entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs organize, manage, and assume risk. Entrepreneurs have the audacity to challenge conventions, disrupt industries, and pave the way to the new.
We at Unicorn Road think the best way to change the world is to ensure no genius goes undiscovered, and no idea is left to be dismissed as just a dream. We understand what’s at stake and we act with the determination that great ideas demand and the urgency needed to maintain momentum.
We aren’t offering a map, a list of best practices, or hearsay from the side of the trail. We’re offering our expertise and experience at navigating the road where entrepreneurs build, test, and continuously improve their ideas.
I will go where there is not a path. I will leave a trail. –Emerson
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- English
2 Timezones
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headquarters
other locations
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Stydd Lee Stoneygate LnPreston PR33YNUnited Kingdom
Web App Dev & UI/UX Design for Mental Health Firm
the project
"They developed as fast and as cost-effectively as possible without sacrificing quality."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of STIGMA, a mental health community that uses async messaging to connect people who are struggling with people who share their lived experiences. Our platform is usually focused on mental illness, but we also offer support around other misunderstood conditions.
What challenge were you trying to address with Unicorn Road?
I’m a documentary filmmaker and I worked as a creative director and brand strategist. As such, I didn’t have any technical background. Despite that, I wanted to create an MVP and determine if people were interested in what I was trying to build or not. As a result, I reached out to Unicorn Road.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Unicorn Road put together a scope of work, which included figuring what tools on the API Economy could be used and patched together to create the MVP we wanted. In addition, they ensured that the MVP itself was inclusive, addressing the needs of all people that had varying levels of communication. As such, the team incorporated an async messaging tool that includes video, audio, and text. They also ensured that users had the option to be anonymous so that they’d feel safe using our tool.
The Unicorn Road team strived to build a platform that was thoughtful of people at varying parts of their journeys. The platform was also meant to give all people an equal chance to share what they were going through. On top of that, they built a system where we could manage all of our members and capture and store information.
They determined the algorithms we would use in order to match people based on their lived experiences in order to ensure that we were sharing content that matters to our users. After developing the MVP, they optimized our platform so that it could be used on every mobile device.
What is the team composition?
We worked with their owner, project manager, designer, and developer.
How did you come to work with Unicorn Road?
I talked to 4–5 companies about my project, but what I liked about Unicorn Road was the fact that they presented themselves as a company that helps founders get an MVP to market faster and cheaper. On top of that, they came back to us with many suggestions on what we could do with my MVP. I could tell that they were very passionate about working with founders so I decided to work with them. They were also recommended by someone I knew, and that person shared her positive experience about Unicorn Road.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $19,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our partnership ran from September–December 2021
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They provided exceptional technical expertise so that I could understand the options that they were presenting to me. As to the impact of their work, it would be difficult to say because we only had a soft launch recently. Anecdotally, we created something that we thought would be valuable to people, specifically those who didn’t have better alternatives and were part of the underserved population. Our investors were also impressed with the platform and they told us that the MVP looked better than they thought it would be.
While we were building the MVP, I created a Tiktok and constantly shared what we were working on. I never spent money to promote that account, but I gained 12,000 followers there. We also had someone signed up from the UK and that user created her account at 5:04 p.m. and shared a message of hope by 5:09 p.m. Furthermore, we had a lot of people that were able to find their way to the action we wanted people to take, and that was a testament to the solid design and functionality that Unicorn Road created. In fact, we didn’t receive a lot of emails from people asking about our system works – they just figured it out.
In the future, we’d check how many signups and referrals we have. We’d also look at how many times people activate their video, audio, or text recorder when they’re sending their messages.
How did Unicorn Road perform from a project management standpoint?
They were always available; there was never a time where we needed to get a hold of them and couldn’t. We also had weekly calls, and they always showed up on that. We appreciated that they considered our insights and we were impressed that they always told us why certain things couldn’t be implemented. Above all, they were open to feedback.
We managed the project over Teamwork, and they set expectations at the beginning of the project. They really did a wonderful job keeping things connected and putting relevant notes about the project. We also liked that they recorded every Zoom meeting with permission to ensure that they had notes for everyone who couldn’t attend the call.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They really listened to what I wanted, and they were patient with me. Their price was also amazing, and they never complained when we had to change things based on the feedback of our investors or potential users.
Instead, they were always ready to build something new and something that could really benefit our target audience. Moreover, they developed as fast and as cost-effectively as possible without sacrificing quality. Overall, the value we received from that would be hard to quantify.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I was really happy with my experience with Unicorn Road.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They’d help you figure out the best option for your project. You only need to be completely open and honest about what you know and what you don’t know. In my case, I did my work and talked to a lot of people before finally settling with Unicorn Road.
Focus
Portfolio
Hazel Technologies Website
With Hazel's suite of technologies, produce stays fresher by 40% while remaining more resilient against unpredictable storage and transit conditions. No additional machinery or residues-causing sprays required.
Hazel's USDA-funded technologies regulate the environment around your produce to slow its respiration rate and increase its resistance to the natural gases and fungi that accelerate the spoiling process.
Unicorn Road did the content strategy and content development, information architecture, design, custom 3d modeling, 3d rendering, and 3d animations, frontend development and Webflow development
STIGMA App
Chicago art director, brand manager, and documentary film maker, Ariana Alejandra Gibson is on a journey to remove the stigma of talking about mental health. Starting with some sketches and video-based proof of concept created by Ariana and volunteers from a Facebook page, in 3 months Unicorn Road helped UX, Design, architect and develop the MVP for The STIGMA App. STIGMA is a messaging platform that leverages video, audio and text that enables those suffering from mental health issues to ask for hope from users who have have similar lived experiences. Having secured their seed round of funding and onboarding users they have started 2022 with an MVP built to scale and empowered for learning and pivoting as the STIGMA app normalizes conversations about mental health, one story at a time.
Lux Capital Website Redesign & Webflow Development
Webflow development for the new Lux Capital website.
The Digilogue - Webflow
The Digilogue is a diverse music and tech community of creators and industry professionals. Theye curate conversations and programming around industry education, career resources, and artist discovery content.
Giggso Dashboard Tool
Giggso needed to help it's teams and users navigate their product sweet easily. We worked together on a design language for the Giggso communications dashboard and associated products.
Class V - Branding & Website
Class V started by Lance Russell Guiding nonprofit organizations through challenging waters to achieve transformative change. Unicorn Road created the branding, website design, and developed the website on Webflow.
Drumline Apps
Work included Branding, UX, Design, Animation, Custom Audio, 3d Modeling, and Native iOS / Swift development. Break Creator allows percussionists to compose, notate, playback, and share compositions. Drumline is a simulation set of instruments including rudiments from the best in class drum corps.
Automation Alley
The team at Automation Alley is creating a hub for learning, understanding, and sharing. They are highly entrepreneurial as innovators, motivators and connectors helping creating the World Economic Forum Advanced Manufacturing Hub (AMHUB) for North America and a nonprofit Industry 4.0 knowledge center with a global outlook and a regional focus. They facilitate public-private partnerships by connecting industry, education and government to fuel Michigan's economy.
Unicorn Road developed the website by migrating the site from Kentico to the Webflow CMS, we integrated a membership model that gates paid content and enables advanced functionality, connected key user events to Zoho CRM and along with a host of automated triggers to help them manage and support their growing group of manufacturers.
Project DIAMOnD
Website development, interaction design, and 3D animation work. The most significant effort of its kind, Automation Alley’s Project DIAMOnD is creating the country’s largest 3D printing marketplace and network. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light an urgent need, and now Industry 4.0 technologies are transforming other business supply chains.
Spacial Homes Website
Light, airy and open, Spacial is an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) built for what you need most from your space and in your life. It’s a guesthouse, for friends and family from out of town. It’s an opportunity to grow your future—a rental property that helps set your dreams in motion. It’s an escape, where you can work from home with fewer distractions. We assured in the new design and developed it on Webflow. Included integrations with Google Tag Manager, Salesforce, and Mailchimp
National Plant Network
Website Design, Ecommerce and Website Development for National Plant Network. National Plant Network has created a unique supply chain that connects innovative retailers with high quality horticulture growers for eCommerce sales of live plants.
IA40 Website for Madrona
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are taking the technology world by storm. As they have matured and become more widely adopted in the developer community, the potential they have when deployed in business applications, has started to become more apparent. As investors, we see everyday the incredible effect that emerging applications using AI and ML can have to shape our lives. It is these applications that will define the future of software and the next generation of computing.
The IA 40 is a research-driven ranking of these intelligent applications, across four different categories. We at Madrona Venture Group deeply thank co-sponsor, Goldman Sachs, and the 40 top venture capital firms that thoughtfully nominated finalists and then voted on companies they believe are poised to succeed.
Minikin Branding, Native Mobile App & Webflow
Minikins are realistic, 3D printed, miniature versions of YOU! With unlimited options for personalization, your Minikin will allow you to celebrate what makes you special, whether it’s on a game board, as a custom toy, or in the game of life.
Unicorn Road in partnership with the Custom Color 3D Team created the mobile apps that allow users to take a selfie and have it converted into a 3d avatar. Users then customize the look and clothing of the avatar and can order it to be color 3d printed and sent to their home.
Reviews
the project
Webflow Support & Consulting for FinTech Company
“Unicorn Road always has time for us; they’re willing to answer my questions and take time off their day to help me.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a project manager at a fintech company. I handle all our website upgrades, which use Webflow.
What challenge were you trying to address with Unicorn Road?
The website is up and running, and sometimes I come across barriers or need advice.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Unicorn Road helps me with questions when I can’t figure out something on my own; they’re my go-to resource for Webflow support. They usually walk me through the issues I can’t figure out. I don’t have to provide them with anything because they’re already familiar with the website. All in all, they help me brainstorm ideas, give me advice on how to do certain things, and confirm if what I’m doing is right.
The site has basic website information about our company and partners. We also have links so our clients can schedule demos and contact us through our blog posts. Additionally, they’ve helped with the scrolling logo on the site.
What is the team composition?
We only deal with one person.
How did you come to work with Unicorn Road?
Before I took over the website, the company we used to build our website outsourced the development to Unicorn Road. I had some additional questions, so they gave me their direct number. I went to them because they built our website.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent between $10,000–$25,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in August 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They’ve been amazing. Our website wouldn’t be as good without their help. Unicorn Road is quick and effective; they take so much time off of me. Sometimes after 1–2 hours of research, I can’t waste more time. Then, I call them, and they help me in 30 minutes. I can’t explain how wonderful it is to work with them.
How did Unicorn Road perform from a project management standpoint?
We don’t have any hard deadlines. I mostly send emails to set up meetings on Zoom or call them directly.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re very responsive and helpful. Unicorn Road always has time for us; they’re willing to answer my questions and take time off their day to help me. As a small business, having someone willing to work with us and give us advice without charging is wonderful.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I think they do an excellent job.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I’d recommend them to anybody who needs assistance with their website. They know what they’re doing.
the project
Web App Dev & UI/UX Design for Mental Health Firm
"They developed as fast and as cost-effectively as possible without sacrificing quality."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of STIGMA, a mental health community that uses async messaging to connect people who are struggling with people who share their lived experiences. Our platform is usually focused on mental illness, but we also offer support around other misunderstood conditions.
What challenge were you trying to address with Unicorn Road?
I’m a documentary filmmaker and I worked as a creative director and brand strategist. As such, I didn’t have any technical background. Despite that, I wanted to create an MVP and determine if people were interested in what I was trying to build or not. As a result, I reached out to Unicorn Road.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Unicorn Road put together a scope of work, which included figuring what tools on the API Economy could be used and patched together to create the MVP we wanted. In addition, they ensured that the MVP itself was inclusive, addressing the needs of all people that had varying levels of communication. As such, the team incorporated an async messaging tool that includes video, audio, and text. They also ensured that users had the option to be anonymous so that they’d feel safe using our tool.
The Unicorn Road team strived to build a platform that was thoughtful of people at varying parts of their journeys. The platform was also meant to give all people an equal chance to share what they were going through. On top of that, they built a system where we could manage all of our members and capture and store information.
They determined the algorithms we would use in order to match people based on their lived experiences in order to ensure that we were sharing content that matters to our users. After developing the MVP, they optimized our platform so that it could be used on every mobile device.
What is the team composition?
We worked with their owner, project manager, designer, and developer.
How did you come to work with Unicorn Road?
I talked to 4–5 companies about my project, but what I liked about Unicorn Road was the fact that they presented themselves as a company that helps founders get an MVP to market faster and cheaper. On top of that, they came back to us with many suggestions on what we could do with my MVP. I could tell that they were very passionate about working with founders so I decided to work with them. They were also recommended by someone I knew, and that person shared her positive experience about Unicorn Road.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $19,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our partnership ran from September–December 2021
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They provided exceptional technical expertise so that I could understand the options that they were presenting to me. As to the impact of their work, it would be difficult to say because we only had a soft launch recently. Anecdotally, we created something that we thought would be valuable to people, specifically those who didn’t have better alternatives and were part of the underserved population. Our investors were also impressed with the platform and they told us that the MVP looked better than they thought it would be.
While we were building the MVP, I created a Tiktok and constantly shared what we were working on. I never spent money to promote that account, but I gained 12,000 followers there. We also had someone signed up from the UK and that user created her account at 5:04 p.m. and shared a message of hope by 5:09 p.m. Furthermore, we had a lot of people that were able to find their way to the action we wanted people to take, and that was a testament to the solid design and functionality that Unicorn Road created. In fact, we didn’t receive a lot of emails from people asking about our system works – they just figured it out.
In the future, we’d check how many signups and referrals we have. We’d also look at how many times people activate their video, audio, or text recorder when they’re sending their messages.
How did Unicorn Road perform from a project management standpoint?
They were always available; there was never a time where we needed to get a hold of them and couldn’t. We also had weekly calls, and they always showed up on that. We appreciated that they considered our insights and we were impressed that they always told us why certain things couldn’t be implemented. Above all, they were open to feedback.
We managed the project over Teamwork, and they set expectations at the beginning of the project. They really did a wonderful job keeping things connected and putting relevant notes about the project. We also liked that they recorded every Zoom meeting with permission to ensure that they had notes for everyone who couldn’t attend the call.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They really listened to what I wanted, and they were patient with me. Their price was also amazing, and they never complained when we had to change things based on the feedback of our investors or potential users.
Instead, they were always ready to build something new and something that could really benefit our target audience. Moreover, they developed as fast and as cost-effectively as possible without sacrificing quality. Overall, the value we received from that would be hard to quantify.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I was really happy with my experience with Unicorn Road.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They’d help you figure out the best option for your project. You only need to be completely open and honest about what you know and what you don’t know. In my case, I did my work and talked to a lot of people before finally settling with Unicorn Road.
the project
Web Dev, Web Design & SEO for Real Estate Firm
"They provided a solution for just about every problem we threw at them."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm an executive at a real estate firm
For what projects/services did your company hire Unicorn Road, and what were your goals?
Bug Fixes, SEO, New Scripts/Functionality/Codework, Page Speed Optimizations, Analytics Consulting & Implementation, Website Design, etc.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
Interviewed a dozen vendors and went with Unicorn Road because they were able to succinctly answer my questions regarding the details of our project.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
Bug Fixes, SEO, New Scripts/Functionality/Codework, Page Speed Optimizations, Analytics Consulting & Implementation, Website Design, etc.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
4
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
Excellent work, excellent results.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Clear, ongoing communication.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
How knowledgeable and capable they are. They provided a solution for just about every problem we threw at them.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Not really.
Unicorn Road successfully completed the client's MVP, and stakeholders were impressed with the design and functionality of the product they created. Their exemplary technical skills and helpful insights were key to their success. The team was also accessible, attentive, and flexible.