Valere

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO / Lead Developer of a SaaS business in Hoboken, NJ.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop a mobile app that would complement our Web Platform and provide a new chat interface for our customers.

SOLUTION

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

We picked Valere based on the recommendation of Guy Pistone, who we have worked with in the past.

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

We met with Guy leading up to the project start in order to define the scope of the project and to develop wireframes for the interface. We decided to use React Native to develop both an Android and an iOS app. We met regularly to determine version requirements and to give feedback on development.

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

Guy Pistone was effectively the project manager throughout most of the project and Vijay was our main developer, working closely with our in-house developer, Mohan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to start this project from scratch and get to a functional version 1.2, which is now being submitted to the app store for review. We hope to launch this version in the next week or 2, and we are actively developing v1.3 as well.

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

Everyone at Valere was very communicative and regularly posted updates. We never had issues with meeting attendance or communication.

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

Their experience in building apps for android and iOS simultaneously was very impressive. We were able to build for both operating systems simultaneously and were able to build working versions of both very quickly.

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

Overall we are very happy with the work that has been done. Only thing that would be better would be working in the same time zones more, as only having a couple of overlapping hours led to some downtime from blockers. I acknowledge that this is not a simple issue though.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and owner of QI3P. A startup with the mission to bringing innovative and impact driven solutions to market. Currently working on launching my first app, a peer2peer Ecommerce Marketplace, Meegli.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

Complete mobile App design & development (front & backend) to help develop & deploy my iOS based peer2peer ecommerce marketplace app

SOLUTION

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

related work experience, expertise, cost & people (team)

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

We had a series of discovery meetings to begin with, where we defined the requirements and goals. This resulted in a proposal to design and develop the app with clarity time, cost and milestones.

Since the project is still underway, nearing completion, we meet with the dev team on a weekly basis to review progress. we are using a combination Figma(design), IOS(mobile app), AWS and Google Cloud based technologies for development purposes.

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

Developer, Project Manager, Designer & QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far, the design has been great and the development team has been making progress at a good pace with quality deliverables aligned with each milestone. Design speaks to the mission of the app and an application architecture which is open, flexible and scalable in-line with the direction/objective of Meegli

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

Weekly Project updates and the PM is constantly in touch, very collaborative and very eager to work with me and my team to accommodate requests. Primarily use Slack & Trello for project and communication management

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

They are very collaborative, very easy to work with, fair price and quality individuals across design, dev, qa & PM

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

None I could think of. One comment I have is you just cant leave the entire task to any agency and then forget about it. You have to be really engaged, it is a collaborative effort and both need to be engaged to achieve/produce quality work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a partner and the CTO of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

We were in need of additional software development on our mobile app outside of our current employees for primarily our mobile app development.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for a company that would fit our needs and found Valere Labs. After talking with the team and references, we determined that they were a good fit for us, our needs and our budget.

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

We initially onboarded the team by going over the architecture, design and demoing the products. We then started going over the features and changes we were wanting them to help with. We are now on a a good cadence of design, code, test, and deploy.

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

A project manager, designer, and a few software engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Valere has been very good to work with. The team has been responsive, the code has been a good quality, and they deliver in appropriate timeframes.

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

We have been using an online tool to track the project in an agile style. We have regular cadence of meetings.

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

I feel like they are in the sweet spot of cost/quality/timing with good communication.

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

Overall I have no complaints but improving the detail and updating of the project board would be nice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a two-sided marketplace for plant lovers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Valere Labs?

I needed someone to develop my website. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Valere Labs helped me create an online marketplace where multiple vendors can put up products and sellers can purchase directly from the vendors. There are turnkey platforms available on the market. However, because we’re looking to scale the platform, Valere Labs built our site from scratch. 

Valere dissected Etsy’s UX and design since we wanted to have something similar. We gave them minimal documentation for the project. 

What is the team composition?

We started by communicating with the owner. Once we got going, we had been on weekly Zoom calls with 2–3 design resources.  

How did you come to work with Valere Labs?

We found them on Upwork. I had preliminary interviews with several vendors, but Valere Labs stood out because they had a better understanding of what I was trying to accomplish. A lot of the vendors who replied didn’t understand what a two-sided marketplace was. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $23,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from February–September 2021.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Valere Labs completed exactly what I needed them to do, and they finished the website. The platform is ready to launch, and our team will be taking it from there. Everything worked well, and the site was optimized to our expectations. 

How did Valere Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Valere Labs provided top-notch project management. They were proactive in their communication and pointed out challenges that we needed to discuss. In addition, they kept us on track, which allowed us to keep up with their team and meet our deadlines. 

I showed the code to several colleagues so they could analyze the product and determine if I got my money’s worth. Everyone was surprised that I received such a high-quality code considering its cost. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Valere Labs’ communication skills were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is my first time creating a website, so I don’t have anyone to compare them with. That said, throughout the process, I can’t think of anything they could have done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want from the beginning, so you don’t have to dig yourself out because you didn’t think of things before engagement. Get a better understanding of your goals because they’re going to give you precisely what you ask for. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the company. We provide an Education Technology solution designed for public schools in USA to enhance student understanding of STEM subjects relevance with real world experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop a mobile experience to our students (customers) to enhance their engagement and understanding our platform.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for someone who understands the Gen Z expectations of mobile experience and able to position our Web App experience into a mobile environment. Deciding factor was that Guy as CEO of this team truly understood our design needs and communicated the same with us successfully to gain our confidence.

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

Valere Labs team lead by Guy were engaged to design, develop and implement a mobile experience for our platform. Technologies used include Flutter, Python iOS Development Swift Data Science Web Services Development Project Management Capability Enterprise Software Software Architecture & Design Django SQL.

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

From the Vendor's team we had the CEO, Project Coordinator, GUI Designer, Developer Team Lead, Mobile App Developer and QA Lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project has just been completed to our complete satisfaction, professionally and technically. We are extremely satisfied with Guy's team at Valere Labs. Their development and implementation schedules have been impeccable, and they've made adjustments as needed.

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

Project management was done in AGILE methodology using SLACK to communication and FIGMA to communicate product development mock-ups which made the entire experience very pleasant and effective. Google Meet was used for all our meetings.

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

This team has an unique capabilities to grasp customer needs and able to connect to a very highly competent team within the organization with very specific role assignments that made the entire project stages blend together seamlessly.

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

Nope. This is an exceptional team and looking forward to working with them for any and all possible opportunities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of the social media platform - Vybe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

The Vybe team wanted to create an iOS social media application to fill a niche in the ever growing social media market. Our team was able to design the UI of the application, but needed a partner to build the front and backend of the app. Valere was that partner.

SOLUTION

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

We interviewed several agencies off of a site called UpWork and chose Valere based on their experience, clear communication and project management, and cost.

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

The Vybe application was initially built out (partially) by another agency, ,unfortunately this agency was not able to pull Vybe across the finish line. The goal with Valere was to clean up the code from the previous agency, implement the remaining features and finalize all of the nuances/details within the app.

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

We initially spoke with the founder of the company and the lead project manager. Once work began, we spoke with the founder roughly once a month. We typically meet with the project manager, lead developer and a member of the QA team on a weekly basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As this is an ongoing project, it is difficult to provide metrics to gauge the success of the project.

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

As mentioned before, the founder acted as more of a liaison to the project team. We spoke with him a few times when the project kicked off, and now we hear from him once a month for invoicing and a check-in. We have weekly meetings to discuss and track progress. The project manager breaks down all app needs into workable "tickets" and creates a 2 week sprint where the developer will address each ticket in the sprint.

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

We're very impressed with the level of communication we receive from the project team (project manager, QA, and dev team). At Valere Labs' fair price, we feel we've received great value.

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

More communication with the founder to setup specific goals for the project would be very welcome, and would also help establish a clearly timeline.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the GM of a trucking fleet that operates in the US and Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

It was time for us to transition from paper to a database. The entire project was built from the ground up.

SOLUTION

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

We posted a job listing and Valere Labs was selected out of a pool of candidates. It came down to ability, cost and keeping everything in house for the entire project.

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

We had a discovery period to understand the end goal. Wireframes were developed for web interfaces as well as all three mobile applications for both iOS and Android. The web application was developed first and then we moved onto the mobile applications. The project was stable and put into production quick.

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

A project manager was assigned to be our main point of contact. Most of our collaboration was with the project manager and a few developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The amount of duplication and hand written paperwork has decreased substantially. We have received comments on our mobile apps regarding their ease of use.

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

The project manager was easy to communicate with and we met weekly. All meetings were remote and we used Slack to keep the project organized.

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

A lot of our ideas needed to be organized and they did great. This was our first development project and they led the way.

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

Status reports on each stage of the project could have been helpful so that we could limit and misunderstandings.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Im the co-owner of Fantasy Wolf. Our company is the first ever marketplace where fantasy sports players can buy, sell and trade fantasy teams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Valere Labs, and what were your goals?

We hired Valere Labs to develop our website from the ground up. We worked hand in hand to make sure our vision came to reality. Since this was our first time developing a website we asked Guy and his team for a lot of feedback and help with ideas we had during our development.

SOLUTION

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

We selected this vendor because they were fair and honest. Relatability was a key factor for my partner and I, as Guy was the only developer who had some sort of fantasy sports background so that was a huge plus for us.

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

We had a kick off meeting to go over our goals and what made the most sense for what we wanted to do. We then got a breakdown of everything on our website from A to Z and the timelines in which they would be accomplished. We had a design phase where we made sure we hit the look we wanted very accurately down to the little details. We tested the site daily to make sure we found all the bugs before launch day.

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

We had Anmol who was our project manager. In total we had about 4 guys working on our project. Anmol and Sar were our key points of contact throughout the project. Our development team were constantly working on coding to make sure everything was smooth.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very happy with the site we received as our end product. We feel that our vision really came to reality and that we are ready to hit the ground running. Guy and his team are always there for us when we run into a snag so the reliability is fantastic. Overall our experience was great and we would highly recommend them.

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

We had weekly meetings were we would discuss where we were with the project. These meetings were very helpful if we had any changes or bugs we found they were all talked about at the meetings and resolved during the following days. If we needed them for anything Sar was always there to help us and solve the issues we found very quickly.

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

They worked with us on everything. Pricing, design, structure and coding they made sure for what we wanted which options were best suited for our needs for now and the future with growth.

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

Only things I would say is making sure to test all aspects of the site before launch to make sure little changes made from admin panels don't crash a page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Trecco, a travel planning app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Valere Labs?

We needed help with app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Valere Labs is developing an iOS app for us. It allows users to share, discover, and recommend their favorite places. The functionalities include the ability to create lists and share them with the community. Once we finish the iOS app, the team will move on to Android. We’ve launched the beta version, and we’re planning on publicly launching the first version soon.

What is the team composition?

I work with Sean (Project Manager), Guy (Founder), Anmol (Co-Founder), a lead developer, a frontend developer, and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with Valere Labs?

I found Valere Labs on Google.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2021 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve attracted about 1,000 users with the app, which is already fully functional and has no bugs.

How did Valere Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done a fair job, but they have some room for improvement. We’ve had to handle the project management ourselves, but the team’s day-to-day organization is excellent. To communicate, we usually use Slack or Asana. We also have a shared Google Sheet to track the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Valere Labs is a young startup that’s eager to bring our ideas to life. I couldn’t have found a better development partner at this price.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on their project management and QA processes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you can handle project management yourself.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of outdoorpals, a social network that connects users according to their favorite outdoor activities. We’re available on iOS and Android, and we have our own backend system to track events, users, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Valere Labs?

We needed someone who could create develop an MVP for our mobile app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Valere Labs developed the MVP of our iOS and Android apps using React Native on the frontend. They also created the first iteration of our backend platform. First, our internal team collaborated with them on the UI/UX design. The Valere Labs team then wrote the code, developed the front- and backend from scratch, and hosted the apps on AWS. Instead of building two native apps, they made one hybrid platform that allows them to work on both iOS and Android. The apps have integrations with Google Maps, Twilio, and various other plug-ins. The team continues to provide backend development support and other updates.

What is the team composition?

We only interface with 4–5 people, but eight teammates are working on the project: a project manager, a few co-founders, a designer, a QA specialist, and a lead engineer.

How did you come to work with Valere Labs?

We posted a listing on Upwork, and they responded. We interviewed 15 freelancers and agencies, and Valere Labs were the most qualified and experienced in our space. They had built a lot of successful outdoor sports apps.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $26,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in August 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Valere Lab’s work is phenomenal, and it’s exactly what we wanted. The platform just launched, so we don’t have much feedback yet. However, we’re impressed with the team — they’ve given us invaluable input and suggestions, especially on the UI/UX design.

How did Valere Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Despite the time zone difference, the team is very responsive. Working with a foreign company actually turned out to be an advantage — they work when we’re asleep, which allows us to check their work during business hours. We interface through Slack, and they’re able to communicate well despite the language barrier. We’ve also had calls on Google Meet and Zoom. Overall, it’s been pretty straightforward. Their founder is always available and willing to help, too.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The cost of their services is very reasonable. The Valere Labs team is also great at React Native — the hybrid platform they created has allowed us to save up on costs. Their experience with outdoor sports and GPS-integrated apps is also impressive. They’re a good fit for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their testing and QC processes could be better. There are times where it seems like our internal team’s testing the app and finding all the bugs. Some of their deliverables have been incomplete, and they could’ve done a more thorough job of making sure that everything was working. Unfortunately, there may have been a bit of a language barrier and miscommunication.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very involved in the process; the Valere Labs team works better if you provide constant feedback. On the other hand, if you’re looking to be more hands-off, I don’t think they would be a good fit.