Uptech

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product strategy manager for a human capital management company. We provide payroll and HR services, and I’m responsible for everything payment-oriented within the organization. Additionally, I manage our compliance-oriented products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We wanted to launch a new banking app for our consumers. Initially, our target was our clients' employees, but we eventually wanted to launch our app directly to consumers to compete in the marketplace.

However, we didn’t have the resources necessary to work on this project. Although we had experience building payroll apps ourselves, we also didn’t have the experience building banking apps anyway, so we engaged with Uptech to help us build our app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uptech is helping us develop our banking app, which we will launch for iOS, Android, and web. It will allow users to see their transactions, set up a savings account, and more. As we want to make it an industry-leading app, we’re working on implementing all sorts of features, including the following:

• Cashback rewards.
• Money transfer capabilities to different accounts.
• Bill paying capabilities.
• Spending analysis tools.
• Mobile check deposit capabilities.
• Cash reload information.
• ATM finders.

In addition to the app development, Uptech has also helped us with the designs. Initially, I provided them with medium-level requirements, explaining every feature I was looking for and the general functionality we required. However, I didn’t provide greater details about those features, so Uptech helped us figure out the UI/UX during the design phase. They have experience with European and American banking apps, so they brought ideas from both markets to come up with the more suitable screen designs for what we wanted to achieve.

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with four people from Uptech. John (Account Executive) is our project manager; Natalia (Product Designer) helps with the UX designs; Dima (CEO) is the lead developer; and Kate (Business Development Manager) handles our invoices and agreements, but I don’t work with her frequently.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

Uptech came recommended as a company with experience in building banking apps. We initially did some Google research, but we were surprised by how difficult it was to find development companies with banking app development experience. The few companies we found wanted either to white-label their app, which meant that they wouldn’t build exactly what we wanted, or provide us with the app without us ever owning the code. Neither option worked for us because we wanted to own the app, and we wanted it to be customizable so that our own development team could make future changes or updates if needed.

At the time, we were working with Amex to see if they could help us with our customer engagement, and I talked with them about our challenges with finding the right app developer. Thus, they recommended Uptech. I also got recommendations from other important banking firms and made a list of potential providers. 

Ultimately, we chose Uptech because we liked their experience, and the apps that they had built were more in line with what we were looking for. Although they were a little more expensive than the other companies, we felt like they were more organized and had more experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Uptech has been working very efficiently, completing milestones faster than we could have. It has been impressive seeing them work quickly, especially given the circumstances they’re in being in Ukraine.

Additionally, I really like the designs that Uptech has created so far, and we have a great feedback loop in place to create them. They take feedback well but also push back on certain ideas based on their expertise. They also do a good job coming up with ideas, but ultimately, they let me make the final decisions.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Uptech’s project management has been good, and I’ve really appreciated how organized they are. They’ve put together multiple project schedules for us so that we can go over them and see what they’re working on. Uptech uses Jira and Figma to manage the project, and we communicate via Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptech works faster than most local companies. Although companies in other countries could work faster and for a more economical price, Uptech’s main differentiator is their organization and the quality of their UI designs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if Uptech created more detailed requirements. Sometimes, I think about what would happen in certain error scenarios of the user journey, and I don’t see details about it in the requirements. However, I haven’t been as involved in the project as I would like, and they might be already working on those aspects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you can keep up with them because they work fast. Still, they’re very helpful, friendly, and communicative.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a fintech company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed someone who could quickly help us put together a team to build our mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uptech provides us with technical consulting services, and they help us find resources for our projects as needed. Additionally, they help us connect with other firms when they don’t have available resources. For example, they’ve connected us with a firm that provided us with front- and backend developers.

Currently, Uptech provides us with one of their resources to augment our development team. We work with this person as one of our employees, and they collaborate with us on our project. This resource works as the lead frontend developer of our mobile app, which is being built for iOS. Additionally, they put us in touch with someone who now helps us on the DevOps side.

What is the team composition?

We have a main point of contact from Uptech.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

Uptech was recommended to us. We conducted interviews with other firms, but Uptech was available at a price that worked for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $15,000–$25,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

We’re very happy with Uptech because they’ve always been helpful.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Uptech’s resources deliver everything on time. We meet via video calls and use Jira and Notion for project management. Additionally, we communicate via Slack daily.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptech always understands what we actually want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you need because they will try to achieve that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a food tech company called EaTable. We’re in the field of ghost kitchens, and we also have a virtual kitchen or host kitchen, where we franchise our brand to other restaurants. We’re building menus and a food supply chain that we’ll monetize.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed to be more tech-focused, so we’re building a second vertical to our business in which we’re programming a SaaS solution for the restaurant industry.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uptech is helping us develop a B2B solution for our partners and the restaurant market. The solution is a cloud-based Plug and Play (PnP) using AWS focused on last-mile food delivery. We’re building a central code database that will enable us to create an unlimited amount of modules for our services. 

To use services like DoorDash or Fedora, restaurants must do multiple logins and interface with different frontends and contact points. Additionally, they have to use different tablets, which can be overwhelming. Uptech is helping us build a solution that aggregates all food delivery platforms into a single frontend where restaurants can upload and edit their menus themselves.

Besides that, we’re also building a kitchen display system where orders are split up between different stations within the kitchen. For this, using existing systems that are very asset-heavy, like Oracle, is too expensive for small businesses. So, Uptech is helping us build a system that is similar to Oracle, except simpler, for small restaurant owners to be able to afford it and use it for their kitchen flows.

We’re collaborating with the Uptech team on the development of a portal where users can analyze sales and change menus. As we move into the kitchen tech development, the team is working with Android. We’re constantly extending the scope, and they’ll build more modules for the solution, including an inventory system and a kitchen OS. 

What is the team composition?

I mostly work with the project manager. I’m also in contact with almost everyone on the project besides the backend developers, including the UX designer.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

I found them through a referral from a friend who works in IT outsourcing in Kyiv. He helps companies in Europe find the right partner within Ukraine, including us. He told us that if we wanted to build a system that could handle many transactions and didn’t mess up when we started to grow, he recommended Uptech. He chose them from about twenty providers in the portfolio.

I spoke with five suppliers, and although Uptech was a little bit more expensive, they wanted to see our pitch stakes and understand the product and the scope. Other companies I talked to just said yes, whereas Uptech asked many questions, which made me think they could lead the project.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around €120,000 (approximately $133,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Uptech helped us build a stable ground for our tech solution, preparing the system for big orders and high workflows. This strong foundation also increases the valuation of our product should we decide to sell it or go for an exit.

The project is in its early stages, so we don’t have overall results. However, we do agile releases of each model, and we can use them straight away. For example, we released a menu management system last week, which allows us to update our menus on Fedora. Previously, we needed to call them for any change and wait two weeks for their partner service. Now, we can make changes directly from our system, which has saved us a lot of time. 

Similarly, if we wanted to partner with a new provider in the past, we needed to call them to build the menu from scratch, which left us prone to human error. Now, we can create the menu ourselves, and it reflects instantly. This also applies to our partners, who we can kickstart two weeks earlier than anticipated, which means revenue will also come early.

So far, we haven’t seen many bugs in Uptech’s work. When there are bugs, the team is very open and tells us directly. They try to fix bugs instantly or suggest a workaround to work faster, providing temporary fixes while we solve the issues.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management-wise, they’re superb. Even with the Russian Invasion of Ukraine and the team suddenly needing to relocate, we only had a three-day delay, which is crazy.

They use Jira for project management, which I like because it’s our internal tool. We use Notion for documentation and Figma for design. We typically communicate via Slack, where we also include our partners and our food delivery providers. This way, I can monitor communication between the delivery providers and Uptech. Besides that, we use Google Meet quite frequently and call each other through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptech’s unique selling point is that they’re product-focused. If a client has an IT idea and isn’t a developer, the team tries to understand their business model. Even though I wondered why they asked so many questions about how the kitchen and the chefs’ work at first, it made sense once the project started; Uptech knows our business, what the product will look like, and the market.

Most outsourcing companies need leadership; they go in the direction the client points to until they’re instructed to twist around. Meanwhile, Uptech can be critical in a good way — it’s like hiring a tech department with business-minded people. They don’t just execute their code; they ask questions, provide suggestions, and learn about our business in order to make a proper product. 

All of the teammates have very good English skills, which can often be an issue with offshore providers. Plus, Uptech provides excellent documentation for the product. If we were to go for an exit or sell the solution, we would have proper documentation about the coding and the tech solution. We could sell the product to another company, and they could see everything clearly to keep developing. This will be really useful when we take the product over for maintenance in-house.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they need to change at the moment. Perhaps when we release the product, we’ll see some negatives. However, I’ve worked with other providers that weren’t as good, and collaborating with Uptech is like finally coming to heaven after previous experiences.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The best thing you can do is think about the whole market and the business idea to communicate that information to Uptech. Have a clear vision of the scope and how your system will expand. If you do the right things at the beginning, you won’t need to backtrack or rebuild the systems. Give Uptech as much information as possible about your business setup — they won’t spread this information due to the contract.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology at an online marketplace. I oversee our engineering and IT.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed more support on mobile engineering resources for both Android and iOS mobile engineering.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At its core, Uptech augmented our mobile engineering resources and integrated them into our development team for native mobile application development on iOS and Android, utilizing Swift and Kotlin respectively.

Among other involvements, they’ve helped us develop a basic shopping application for a marketplace and a different application for listing things on another marketplace.

What is the team composition?

Throughout our engagement, we’ve worked with 8–10 developers and senior software engineers.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

Uptech was a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve made an investment in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working around October 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Uptech has exceeded my expectations with their ability to deliver on the work requested and the quality of their engineering resources. Their engineers are collaborative and technically capable.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Uptech is great at communicating well. We use Jira for project management and Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptech’s communication ability and technical acumen are impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They've been pretty consistent throughout the time, and we’ve been able to work together better as they’ve gotten more familiar with the project. There was an onboarding period, but we built up our relationship, which is great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a clear project plan and a reasonable scope of work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Director of Product for a technology startup in San Francisco, our goal is to automate timekeeping for lawyers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed an iOS companion application to capture the time lawyers spend away from their computers, so we hired Uptech.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a product design team in-house, and Uptech supplied the engineers. We provided designs and detailed specs for a fully-working iOS app, which Uptech then created. Our goal was to increase our capture footprint and provide a better experience for our users.

What is the team composition?

We started off with one lead engineer but brought in another halfway through the project. Toward the end, we went back to working with one person from Uptech.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

We looked at a few places and Uptech came highly recommended. One of our designers knew someone who’d worked with the team in the past. 

Their professionalism was fantastic during the initial discussions. They stood out among the other people we’d spoken to in terms of how they saw the project and the questions that they asked. They bought into what we were trying to do, and we felt like they were an extension of our team. The other developers we spoke to had a detached approach, whereas Uptech wanted to create a partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Uptech in January 2021, and they delivered the project toward the end of March 2021.

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

One of our main goals was to create a delightful experience, and Uptech helped us achieve that. Enterprise software can be stale and we were really trying to change that. The delivery of our mobile app from Uptech  was a key part of that journey. 

The animations are great and everything works smoothly and as expected. People always comment on how slick, fast, and easy to use the app is. The way it was developed speaks to Uptech’s understanding of iOS. They built an application that really wowed us.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly status calls with their engineers. We also had spreadsheets with story points for the initial specs that we could track against. The project plan helped us to understand when things were going to be developed so we could have everything ready. It was very much a collaborative partnership.

Uptech used a time reporting system and provided a status report each week so that we could make sure we were on time and budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptech felt like a part of our business and not an external agency. Internally, we’re passionate about what we do and having them reciprocate that when it came to building the product was fantastic. 

Uptech was easy to work with and was very professional and transparent. All of those things together gave us that initial confidence that they were the perfect partner for what we were trying to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing’s jumping out at me.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Future clients should provide Uptech upfront with as much detailed information, walkthroughs, and scope as possible. That’s where we found the real value of working with them. They were able to distill what we gave them into a set of stories and scope, which really informed the estimate. We were able to finish everything on time and on budget. It was a very transparent process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an e-commerce company that manufactures and sells scrubs directly to our consumers. As a product manager, I help manage our website, mobile app, and overall B2B ordering experience.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We often have different initiatives going on that require our workforce to flex. To meet the increase in demand for special projects, we partner with agencies like Uptech. They’re supporting us on web development for our B2B ordering experience.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Uptech works on the frontend of one of our React-based web apps. They handle elements such as the account creation, group ordering, and dashboard view. 

What is the team composition? 

I mainly work with two of their frontend developers. There’s also an account manager who meets with me once a month.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

I wasn’t actually involved in the search process but I believe they’d either worked with us in the past or were recommended by one of our customers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started around November 2019, and we’re still working with them today.

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

One of the things we pay close attention to is the code quality. We have a very high standard for our code requirements and ensure that they stick to them. The other things we look at are speed and reliability, which are harder to measure.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Uptech has been a great partner because they’re relatively autonomous. We’re able to assign them tasks, and they take ownership of them to get the job done. 

In the beginning, we did face some hiccups in communication, especially with the time zone differences. Some things might get lost in translation or maybe it’s a situation where they should’ve reached out to our internal developers for help earlier than they did. We’ve since learned from that experience, and they’ve improved upon that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with their reliability. Again, it’s always helpful to know that we can give them a task and have them execute on it autonomously. We needed to figure out what task size and level of difficulty they could handle, but, once we figured that out, it’s been good. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be great if they’d ask more questions upfront. Sometimes when we assign a task, their developer will try to figure things out on their own. But, having more upfront questions, even silly or simple ones, can lead to a more effective dialog rather than having to answer questions 1–2 days later.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As with any agency, you should do your due diligence to establish a workflow early because it can really help the project as a whole. Figure out what works best for your time zone, see what size tasks the team can handle, and identify what makes sense for them to do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a tech startup. We’re a residential real estate platform based in Dubai.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

Neither my co-founder nor I were technical, so we needed to get an engineering team spun up as fast as possible.

What was the scope of their involvement?

 They’re responsible for the initial concepts, user research that defined what we would be building in our first year. They’ve been our primary resource for all of our engineering up until this point. Everything that’s currently on our website and on our backend was developed by them. They used TypeScript, Node.js, and React.

What is the team composition?

It varied over time. We’ve flexed up and down. The team size varied between 3–7. We have a project manager who was the keeper of day-to-day staff, a full-time designer, a QA resource, a frontend resource, and 1–3 backend resources.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

A friend of mine referred them to me. I trust his opinion and know that they worked together to get his company up and running. They also have a lot of recognizable brands on their team. They made it pretty clear that they knew what they were doing.

I’ve worked with 7–8 offshore teams, so I know what to expect, and there was never a communication issue with Uptech. Their frontend prowess was something that I valued. We could tell from their previous work that they had a design-centric approach. I really enjoyed our initial conversations as well.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019 and the project is ongoing.

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

Uptech has been an extension of our team since day one. First we wanted to launch an MVP, then a V1, and then we wanted to make things faster. We’ve set a variety of milestones every quarter, and they’ve been able to hit that. We were able to launch the company in the midst of a global pandemic.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

Generally strong. We met weekly, and sometimes daily. We talk daily on Slack. We share a Jira and Sigma instance, and we used Miro for a time as well.

The team is young, so we had some misunderstandings early on about taking on too much, too fast. There was reluctance to say no to things that I asked for. That may have led to some sloppy code or certain things not being fleshed out. We were able to fix that pretty quickly, but that was a challenge early on.

As a founder, it’s incredibly helpful to have a team managing the day to day of the project. It’s a lot of work to manage Jira, write copy, and keep things moving, but having them manage that was a huge help. As a result, I was able to focus on other aspects of my business, such as fundraising.

Overall, it was critical to have them involved communication and planning. They helped alleviate my workload.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very good at staying up to speed with modern frameworks and approaches. They’re able to take an idea from conception to development. They were always teaching me new methods and were willing to try new approaches, workshops, and exercises. I was definitely impressed by the intellectual rigor that goes behind how they structure projects and their thinking

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes it was a little frustrating because we needed to move faster and we shouldn’t be wedded to those mental models. They could be willing to break some of the rigidity around those mental models. However, it’s still nice to have a framework to lean back on.

We struggled early on with some of the tactical decisions we made because we tried to move too quickly. Other than that, we’ve been happy with everything about our engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If I were going to do it again, I would have pushed more on team structure. They like to follow a specific structure and like to have their team set in a certain way. If you’re looking to move really fast and get something to market, you need to know they’re more methodical about stuff and they’re hesitant to break that.

Ultimately, that’s a good thing, but I got frustrated when we were moving too slow. We were caught up in documenting this or completing a specific exercise, or debating something else.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The name of the company is PNKYSWR. I’m the chief product officer and am responsible for ensuring that our product fulfills and exceeds customer expectations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We were trying to produce an MVP.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Starting off with design, they did a number of discovery phases in which the discovery team took the time to understand what our goals were, who our audience was, and what they needed. Their research was very thorough.

They then used React Native as well as AWS to develop it.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was Anastasiya (Business Development Manager).

How did you come to work with Uptech?

They were referred to me for a previous project and I had a fantastic experience working with them. I knew they could deliver a high-quality product for a good price.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted May–November 2019.

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

We held off launching the platform because of eternal reasons, so we don’t have any numbers. They did fulfill the project requirements and we were very pleased with the results. Overall, they were great.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very strong, and our project manager was excellent. Given the fact that they were an offshore company, they did an excellent job adjusting to our needs.

We communicated over Slack and Google Hangouts and used Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The attention that the company leadership gave us was very nice. We don’t often see that in business relationships.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A few times, there was a bit of a language barrier. They could work on their English a little bit. Or I could learn Ukrainian.

I also felt like we worked with a few project managers before we started working with Anastasiya. But they were always responsive to any issues we brought up.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're building a mobile application focused on event-management and discovery.

For what projects/services did your company hire Uptech?

We hired Uptech to design and build our backend architecture as well as to develop the frontend for our native iOS application.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build a clean, scalable backend framework as well as frontend code that focused on a high level of user delight while using our application. We asked Uptech to do focus on developing our application in such a way that it could eventually be handed over to an in-house team as seamlessly as possible. We also asked that they instrument repeated processes as frequently as possible.

How did you select this vendor?

Our Lead Developer had previously worked with members of Uptech for more than a year, during which they inspired great confidence in him to collaborate with them again and to recommend to others that they entrust Uptech with development.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Uptech collaborated with our Technical Lead to configure our backend and inform some of our most critical choices that helped our team decide on the best stack for us to use today, and in anticipation of how the business would evolve over time. We discussed our business needs in depth with Uptech and provided their team with detailed guidelines outlining our needs. The Uptech team took these, researched and confirmed our choices or recommended alternatives where we asked them to do so, and implemented them.

What was the team composition?

The project team had 5 people: 3 backend engineers, and 2 frontend iOs engineers.

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

Our MVP has yet to release, and so we do not have any hard data to share. However, we can speak to that we look forward to continuing to collaborate with Uptech and use them as our primary vendor for backend and iOS development.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our team managed the project primarily using Slack, Gitlab, Clubhouse, and Google Drive's suite of tools. Uptech's team was flexible in terms of the best methods of collaboration for us, thoughtful and forthcoming with feedback on how we might improve our collaborative processes and proved themselves to be proactive collaborators where questions remained about product choices.

Despite our team being in Los Angeles, and Uptech's in Kiev, we found there to be no additional barriers to communication outside of those inherent to working with a remote team. I believe that any communication barriers we experienced would have been exactly the same had we been working remotely with a team of native English speakers anywhere within the US. We were concerned about this going into the collaboration, and have zero concern about it now, nearly a year into things.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

While visiting Uptech in Ukraine, I was very impressed by Uptech's leadership and the thought they devote to the structure of their business from their employees' perspective as well as the energy they devote to ensuring their employees have phenomenal working experience as well as an active focus on constantly improving their skill-base.The Uptech team is filled with young, passionate, and well-educated engineers. We're proud to be associated with them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I wish I had visited them in Kiev for a week-long sprint before we began working together. The trust, familiarity and improvements to our product that I believe would have resulted from such a choice would have thrown rocket-fuel on our collaboration.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Yaza, a video mapping startup. We put authenticated videos on maps. In a world of fake news, we’re a platform where people can protect video content. It’s a safe and easily accessible place to store photos and videos on a map.

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptech?

We needed to build an MVP for our mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re accelerating and expediting all facets of development to get us an MVP for our iOS app by the end of the month. We spend a fair amount of time iterating on the UX in order to get to what we need for ease of use and engagement. We add interesting things about the app that would get people coming back to it.

Uptech first asked us to take a step back and went through customer validation and problem validation to ensure the product was going to solve a problem that affected enough people. We then went through initial designs and I sent some mockups I’d made. They put their spin on the mockups and added updated UX techniques for the app. We iterated on that design with high-fidelity mockups and worked with them for three months before any code was written. As we started building the product, there were some obvious things that needed to be fixed to make it more usable.

They practice agile development and work in two-week sprints. Their process is very methodical. They begin with a meeting to start the sprint. They prioritize the work that needs to be done. They circulate that with us in a document. We approve it. Then they work on the sprint and two weeks later we have the next bill.

The app is challenging because we incorporate location and video. The videos are massive, which requires performance optimization and battery management. There’s also GPS functionality that drains battery life and is very inaccurate in large cities. We were trying to solve the problem of how we can precisely locate where the video was recorded and ger the user to pin it down. I was out there last month working with them to finalize the use cases and the design.

The app will only be on iOS because of the authentication aspect, which is our guarantee that the video can’t be altered, faked, or spread without your permission.

What is the team composition?

My initial contact was Andriy (Co-Founder, Uptech). There are seven other people.

How did you come to work with Uptech?

We had been trying to figure out what to build for a while. We raised some money and interviewed seven different firms. We liked Uptech the best because their proposal was very thorough. It was clear that they understood the classic Silicon Valley startup methodologies for app development and iteration. We were able to interview some of the engineers before making the final decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $97,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2018 and the work is ongoing.

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

It’s tremendously helpful to have a new set of eyes on the design side helping us clean up the design and challenging us. They worked very quickly and enthusiastically. They have a lot of passion and interest in the project. The builds were very stable and the quality of their coding is good. We don’t have to deal with bugs and problems with the code. They’re a real value-add.

We’re so pleased with them that we signed an ongoing fixed-rate staffing contract. We have the team available to us on an ongoing basis and we'll continue to work on iterating the project post-MVP. We’re a team working together rather than a customer/vendor relationship.

How did Uptech perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager, programmers, and anyone we’re interfacing with directly speak very good English. The time difference hasn’t been a problem because a 9:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. meeting is the end of the day for them. They document very well. We use Slack to contact each other. I also went to their office for five days. 

Communication is pretty fluid. The only challenge is that it’s hard to collaborate on UX design remotely. We both agree that it might make sense for Uptech to require their client to come onsite or for Uptech to send its designers to the site to shorten the iteration cycle on the design side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really like that they don’t just build something that’s unnecessary. They always try to expand what can be built. They think just like Silicon Valley. Their methodologies, approach to their employees, firm management, project management, and even the way they set up their office environment are all akin to San Francisco. It feels very comfortable for anyone that has been doing a lot of work with engineers in Silicon Valley.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re really happy with them. As their team’s knowledge of UX solutions grows, they’ll get even better at the UX/UI design aspects.