Vault Innovation

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Neuropeak Pro, a performance training company that helps people improve their ability to respond to stress and to better perform under pressure. We work with extensively with professional athletes, but because we all deal with stress to some degree we work with people outside of sports as well.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We wanted to enhance the training experience of our current clients and expand our market by developing a highly portable, mobile app-based custom wearable device — the Neuropeak Pro NTEL BELT — to use for precision breathing and heart rate variability training. As a training tool and not just another fitness tracker, we wanted to chart new ground on how this was accomplished.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In addition to helping to plan and implement app functionality, Vault worked alongside us and provided meaningful input as we developed the NTEL BELT.  At present, we continue to partner with Vault as we plan for future app enhancements and updates.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five members of the Vault team during the planning process including managers, developers, and designers as well as Vault leadership. During the production process, we collaborated with two key people, while other members were brought in as needed.

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

We searched for vendors through referrals and narrowed down our options to two. Our team chose Vault because we felt they’d be the most adaptable team as we worked together on defining what the end product would look like.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2020 and successfully launched the NTEL BELT on February 1, 2022. We continue to utilize Vault for app and device enhancements and ongoing maintenance.

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

We’re extraordinarily happy with the engagement’s end result. Vault has hit their deadlines and delivered the product — they’ve done excellent work. 

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

Vault’s project management has been great. When we need to have an urgent need or need to allocate resources to a sprint, they have been able to flex to help us achieve our goals. 

On top of that, their communication skills are outstanding, and they’ve used a good platform to keep everything structured and on track. A vast majority of our communications are logged into their management tool. If we’re facing an issue that requires urgent attention, it’s easy to engage them via emails or texts. We can also simply pick up the phone and call them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their adaptability is impressive. We’ve had a specific target, but we’ve also done iterations along the way — Vault has been a nice partner during such iterations. The team is there to help us manage course changes.  

Moreover, Vault has been flexible in outlining the pros and cons of any ideas or changes. In other words, they don’t simply do what we tell them to do — there is healthy collaboration. They tell us what they can do and what we should consider before they start working on requests. Overall, they’re flexible and have outstanding communication and collaboration skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. Everything has gone well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be articulate in terms of the direction you’re taking. Communicate well — that way, Vault can work alongside your team. They’ll help you evolve your ideas into an interesting user experience. Powered with information and your vision, they are a good partner for turning your goals into reality.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and co-founder of a SaaS company with a mission to bring equal access to college athletics for high school student-athletes.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We needed someone to build our MVP’s V 1.0.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vault Innovation provided us with product management and development and built our V 1.0 from scratch using PHP and Laravel.

We initially provided them with the wireframes and documentation, while they integrated user roles, portals, data security management, data collection and processing, and a user dashboard.

What is the team composition?

We talked with Jeffrey (CEO) and Terry (CTO), but we mainly communicated with the product manager and the developer. We also worked with a designer and QA tester at one point in the development. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

We won a pitch competition that they partially sponsored and after interviewing them, we hired them based on their pricing, timeline, and culture fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested somewhere between $400,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2020–January 2022.

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

Thanks to Vault Innovation, we’ve had a 600% revenue growth over the past year. We went from having 20,000 users to 80,000 users thanks to the app they developed — it enabled us to provide our service to a large number of people.

Their developers from Vault Innovation were smart, skilled, and always available to resolve our issues.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We initially had a subpar project manager we had to let go of, but the new one who replaced them was great — so in terms of project management, I’d give them a rating of four out of five.

We used JIRA to manage the project and interact. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We liked that we could always be honest with them because they didn’t take constructive feedback personally. Their whole process was very transparent, and they were really flexible in regards to making changes to the development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A little more big-picture guidance would’ve been helpful, especially since the development was moving so quickly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To make the most out of the relationship, be very clear with what you want and don’t make any assumptions that they understand what you want to convey.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of my company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Vault Innovation, and what were your goals?

I hired vault to build our MVP product from the ground up - a hybrid mobile app.

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

I found Vault because they advertise to an incubator program I was involved with. After speaking with Vault, they seemed like they had experience working with entrepreneurs and building products from the ground up for startups. They told me they had experience building apps similar to mine and felt confident they could get the job done efficiently.

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

We did a series of discovery sprints to determine exactly what we were building and then a series of engineering sprints to actually build the product.

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

1. Project Manager
2. Product Manager
3. UI Designer
4. Software Engineer

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

Vault created a contract that indicated this app would cost $30,000-$70,000 to build. When it was all said and done, they built less than half of the product and charged me over $100,000. I came to the engagement with lots of discovery work done, and they somehow found a way to go over budget during the discovery phase. Their "director of product" did "user research" which consisted of him sending me an excel file with a handful of user stories written out with typos and punctuation errors.

This was the quality of the work that was simultaneously eating up hours and going over budget. Vault also built the entire app on top of an API that they were "super familiar with" and "had used before" only to find out after over a month of engineering, that the API would not work and they would have to rebuild the app with a separate API, charging me hourly along the way. It became clear that their focus was billable hours, not building quality product.

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

The project manager was an efficient communicator but the project overall was managed very poorly.

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

The work of their designer was the only value they provided and positive feedback I can give.

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

1) Be less concerned on driving up billable hours and selling your services to vulnerable entrepreneurs and more concerned about helping people build successful products and businesses.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and managing member of Fixed Ops Digital, a service marketing and technology company in the automotive industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We were looking for a company to build a business and data intelligence platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gave them a 4–5-page document on what I wanted, and they were able to translate that into a working software system. From there, they handled design, execution, and implementation.

Using HTML and CSS, they developed cloud-based platform that houses information on all of our current and prospective clients. It connects to several data sources, including Facebook, Google Drive, and Google Sheets’ Query function.  Now they are working to add enhancements and upgrade the platform.

What is the team composition?

I work with Stephanie (Director of Business Development), Jeffrey (Founder & CEO), and Nikki (Project Manager), but 5–10 people have worked with us at different points in the project.  

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

Before working with Vault Innovation, we had worked with another company and the project failed. We were looking for a new partner when Stephanie sent me a cold email that got my attention. We started talking at the beginning of 2020, but everything was paused when COVID-19 hit. Then we reconnected in the fall and began working on the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000 initially, but we expect to spend $75,000 in total.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2020 and we finished the initial development in March 2021. However, we’re still working with them.

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

Working with Vault Innovation has been an amazing experience. Now all of our employees use the platform when working with clients. It’s a great tool; it has no flaws.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

From the beginning of the project until now, it has been easy to work with Vault Innovation. They’re extremely communicative, which has helped us develop a great working relationship with them. We have a consistent project manager who walks us through everything and connects us with different teams.

We usually communicate through email because that is my preference, but we also used tools like InVision to approve changes. They’ve never missed an email or forgotten to follow up on something.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been very impressed by their communication, but their execution of the platform is astounding. Everything that Vault Innovation has built works correctly and is seamless. We’ve been using the platform for about 90 days, and at this point, we haven’t experienced any bugs or errors.

On top of that, they’ve been able to stick pretty close to our budget. In the past, other developers have completely underestimated the cost to build software like this.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t pinpoint any negative aspects of our engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have a lot of advice because Vault Innovation did a great job of explaining their process and moving the project along.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CEO of a technology company that helps pre-med students track and navigate their journey to medical and professional schools. Soon, it will provide experiences for all pre-health students.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We needed to create the platform through the help of a tech partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided full-stack development, including front- and backend development, UI/UX design, and the consulting behind the creation of our product. As we were iterating, they came up with our MVP and helped us through various challenges along the way. 

To use the platform, people sign up for an account and indicate where they are in school. Once they’re onboarded, they have the opportunity to provide the courses they’ve taken and the grades they achieved in those courses. They also provide contact information for their professors and start taking practice MCAT tests. The app also provides them a space to track their extracurricular activities and volunteering. It includes a diary log, where they can discuss their experiences in a health care setting. 

The platform has a school list that allows students to begin looking at different medical schools across the country and bookmarking one they want to apply to. Based on what they input into our system, we have the ability to give them algorithmic feedback. We provide areas for improvement based on their grades, activities, and goals. 

A recent addition to the app is a simulation of admissions essays for medical school applications. Along with this feature, students with pre-med advisors can grant their advisors read-only access to information on their accounts.  

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Jeff (Co-Founder) and Terry (Co-Founder) as well as two different project managers, Justin (Former Project Manager) and Nicki (Project Manager). Justin started with us but left Vault Innovation to start his own project. Nikki works as our project manager now.

We’ve also worked with Dan (Product Designer), Austin (Full Stack Engineer), and Josh (Product Specialist). Dan is our main designer, Austin is our go-to developer, and Josh works on QA to ensure our app doesn’t have any bugs. When we need to do bigger pushes, we’ve had a rotating set of additional resources with them.  

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

We were intending to have a third co-founder who would’ve been a tech founder, but that fell through. After being introduced to Vault Innovation by my co-founder’s former boss, we had some discussions with them and decided to move forward. Based on the seal of approval given in our introduction to their team and the due diligence we did in our initial conversations, they seemed like a good fit for the work.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $200,000 with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since April 2020.

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

When we launched our public beta in August 2020, we had a goal of gaining 1,000 users by the end of 2020. We were able to surpass that goal by a few hundred. Users are happy with the functionality, and the platform is stable. They hit milestones and continue to effectively iterate on their work.  

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve got a lot of work done in a short period of time with their team. Their ability to communicate via Slack and work as a team through various sticking points has been very helpful. Nikki is very hands-on and detail-oriented. She provides us with detailed follow-ups after meetings and helpful pre-work before meetings. We use Jira to track their progress, and everything has been great from a project management standpoint.    

What did you find most impressive about them?

We came to the table with big ideas about stories and thoughts relating to what the product should be. Some of that was met with a little resistance at the beginning of the project. However, they demonstrated a lot of persistence to figure out how to deliver our vision. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

With most relationships, communication can be a sticking point. When we were first starting our relationship, we had to adjust and understand how our teams communicate. There were likely some opportunities for clarification that never happened on both sides.

That led to some repeat conversations or something shipping out differently than what we wanted. Those issues were easily fixed without any harm. We could’ve done a better job on both sides of understanding differences in our communication styles to get to exactly what’s needed or wanted. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your communication is clear. As founders, we can be pie-in-the-sky people, not knowing exactly what needs to happen to have an idea come to life. Being able to ask questions throughout the process and learn what questions you should be thinking about will be important in smoothing out your communication early.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Barrel Arbor Investments. We invest in various assets such as startups.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We hired Vault Innovation to build a short-term rental platform for one of the startups we invested in.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed the back- and frontend of the website. Before they started on any development work, they did some research to understand the market and how we could meet user needs. They spoke to other property owners and talked to customers on Facebook.

The platform allows transactions, features booking abilities, and has social functions for users. Property owners can price their short-term rentals while users are able to book multiple stays at one time.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager, a designer, a frontend developer, and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

I searched on Google for local firms in Chicago and I spoke with about half a dozen firms with impressive portfolios. At the time, I was looking for a development company that could also consult and help us with business ideas. Vault Innovation was able to provide support on the business side as well, and that is what set them apart for me.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $230,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020 and the project concluded in January 2021.

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

The product launched successfully. There were very few, if any, bugs.  Their strength seems to be in backend development.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We did face a few challenges that delayed our launch date. There were a lot of moving parts on the project, but they remained organized throughout the engagement.

We usually used Slack and Asana to communicate, but I was also able to call, text, or meet with our project manager for lunch.  The project manager was very transparent and he provided a lot of value because he consulted on the business as well.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their project management and backend development skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They work in an agile environment and we pivoted several times, which impacted our timeline and cost. I’d like it if they had a more concrete roadmap in place, but that takes a lot of time to plan ahead of time. I also learned that nuanced details could impact the timeline as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Generally, clients should have their own detailed roadmap of what they want to accomplish. They should really get into the details of the user flows to streamline the process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Lost Travel. It’s an adventure travel brand. We organize trips across North America, and we have a software product, Wayward,  that people can use to track and share their adventures. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We developed Wayward as an internal tool initially. It worked in its state, but we wanted to revamp it so that we could make the tool available to people outside our organization.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We essentially rebuilt the software product which is available as a mobile application and web application. It now allows offline tracking and more capabilities for users to create itineraries for their own travels. They also provided design work for the app. 

What is the team composition?

I work with 2–3 people primarily, including the CTO. However, I’ve worked with as many as six people at a time. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

They actually reached out to me on LinkedIn. Originally, I was planning on hiring a full-time developer to join my in-house team. However, after talking to Vault Innovation, I decided to move forward with them instead. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020. The app launched in October 2020, but our relationship is still ongoing. 

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

I don’t have any quantitative metrics to share. However, I’m happy with the product. It’s easy to use and has a clean interface – especially compared to the competition.  

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We were able to work past any bugs that came up during development. We used Jira to manage the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been really easy to work with. Their level of excitement around the product has been great. They proposed a budget, and they stuck to it, which I really appreciated. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard for me to say. I’ve enjoyed working with them. There are some natural differences between working with a third-party versus an in-house team. However, I’m happy with the results. I wish I had clearly outlined deadlines and milestones, but I can’t fault them for that. It took longer than expected, but they did a great job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear picture of what you want to achieve and communicate that. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of VoiceOder Solutions. The company provides innovative B2B voice technology solutions for the foodservice industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We needed to develop a software solution from an initial concept.  This was a completely unique idea that needed to be architected and developed from the bottom up.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have leveraged Vault Innovation as our in-house software team. They have helped to refine the initial concept, architect the product MVP, and build the mobile/voice application. We provided them with our initial flow charts design and important features.  In addition, we required all open-source language development.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of approximately five people. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

The Illinois Technology Association referred us to them as a great resource. I evaluated them against several other companies and felt very comfortable with their background and approach.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $75,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July 2019 and is still ongoing.

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

Early success metrics include: hitting deadlines, working collaboratively, and the ability to iterate on the product design process.  Their team has consistently lived up to all of the standards I have laid out.

We have received very positive feedback on the concept and software functionality.  We are very pleased with the quality of their work.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

They use JIRA to keep track of the different elements of the project, and we schedule phone calls every two weeks to make sure everyone is up to date. It is always very easy to track their progress and make sure we are moving towards our larger goals at all times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The reason I’ve enjoyed working and continue to work with Vault is their open communication. They are disciplined in documenting what’s going on and the output of everything they do, and they set really accurate expectations upfront in terms of the sprints and the costs associated with each of them. It is always clear the value that we’re getting for their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve done everything I’ve asked to this point, so I don’t really have any room for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to be thoughtful about what engagement you are looking for them to work on. Do your research upfront so that you can share as much information and give them direction in a collaborative and productive way.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a subpoena service. We issue subpoenas for records in these industries: medical, bank, school, police, and others. We also issue subpoenas on behalf of lawyers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We initially hired them to perform some development of our website and interactive client portal. In the end, we partnered with them further to continue building the portal.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed a client portal that allows lawyers to provide us information on what subpoenas they need issued. Then, it would allow the lawyers to track the status of their subpoenas.

Vault Innovation built this portal from scratch. They had to learn how every step of the subpoena process worked, so it could be properly and legally tracked through the portal. The design of the portal had to take into account the different actors, vendors, and the issues that can arise with the various groups involved in the process.

They built the frontend for the clients and the backend for the administrators, and they made both interact properly. They also built us a mock-up of a sales portal, which was actually the first thing they did for us.

What is the team composition?

There were 3–5 working with us.

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

They’re in the same building as us, and I believe we first connected through mutual connections in our building.

How much have you invested with them?

We probably invested somewhere between $10,000–$49,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working in either late 2017 or early 2018 and the project was mostly finished by the fall of 2019, although our relationship is ongoing as they continue to make updates for our site.

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

Amongst the users we’ve demoed the project to, the reaction is nearly universally positive. We’ve had several clients looking to use our service more because of their work.

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint

We communicated via email, video conferences, in-person meetings with their design teams, and web meetings with screen sharing. Other members of my team might have met with them more frequently and in other ways.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The amount of time they spent to understand our business before they even started to design anything impressed us. If you just jump in and start trying to design a client portal without understanding the business and the legal side of things, you’re going to have an inferior product. They spent a lot of time with us getting into the weeds and they fully understood the project by the time they began designing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have nothing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Spend the time upfront so they understand your business. I believe people don’t spend enough time explaining their business model. Explain your business model, and you'll get the product you're looking for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Endoscopy Now. We focus on medical education for professionals in the gastroenterology space. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Vault Innovation?

We had worked with two previous developers but needed a higher-end, professional app than what they had delivered. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed iOS and Android applications using React Native. They assisted us with the design portion. We took about two or three months collaborating to flush out what the app looks like today. Their team also integrated several third-party tools including Opentalk, Mixpanel and Google Analytics.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had two main points of contact: the president and the lead developer. However, there have been an additional three or four people that we’ve interacted with over the course of the projects including a few different project managers. 

How did you come to work with Vault Innovation?

I believe we heard about them through a referral from a friend. We had interviewed three other vendors as well, but we didn’t click with them in the way that we did with the team at Vault Innovation. They understood our company, our budget constraints, and what we were trying to accomplish. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $200,000 with them for this project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in late 2017 and are still working with them for support and additional updates. 

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

At the beginning of this year, we had about 800 users. Now, we’re at around 32,000 subscribers. We also brought in about $300,000 in revenue. While this can’t be exclusively attributed to Vault Innovation’s work, they’ve certainly had an impact. 

How did Vault Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had some ups and downs with project management, but we are in a good place right now. There have been several project managers that we’ve worked with. Our company is typically more fluid with our management while Vault Innovation likes more structure. 

Overall, we’ve had a strong line of communication with them through weekly phone calls and emails. We also use Slack and Jira. It’s been beneficial for us to move towards having weekly sprints on Fridays and applying a more agile approach. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the most impressive things about their team is how collaborative they are. They listen and can turn things around quickly if there’s a problem. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issue we’ve had is a bit of misalignment with communication about priorities and project timelines. It’s an evolving process and we’re constantly working to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s been very helpful for us to come in with clear requirements and walking through it all ahead of starting the project. It’s important to implement structure as much as possible.