Vention

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP RnD of a food and beverage company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We  provide a cloud-based platform for restaurant inventory and vendor payment management, offering real-time tracking, pricing information, and cost control across various foodservice operators.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• We hired Vention to quickly provide skilled engineers to address our staffing shortage and ensure the smooth continuation of operations despite unexpected personnel changes.

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

had previous experience working with Vention

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Provision of services related to designing and implementing new features, refactoring and breaking down repositories into microservices, writing unit tests to ensure code quality, resolving L3 customer support requests and fixing issues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Rolled out various features including Min/Max order quantity limitations, scan portal enhancements including time tracking and monitoring, dashboard and additional scan-related functionality that enhances the experience of scan operators. Improved system performance for high load tasks, such as reports. Created new microservices with unit tests that reduced tech debt and allowed for a more cleaner and organized code base.

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

Vention’s project management stands out for its efficiency and reliability. They quickly supply the needed engineers and consistently meet deadlines. Their team is highly adaptable, responding promptly to urgent requests and resolving issues effectively. 

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What I find most impressive about Vention is their ability to quickly provide skilled engineers and adapt to urgent needs. Their exceptional responsiveness, flexibility, and clear communication make a great positive impact on our projects.

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

Vention could enhance its services by offering more expert consultancy and advisory support in specialized areas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Astronomy/Exhibits of Cranbrook Institute of Science

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an educational community comprising a K-12 private school, science museum, art museum, graduate art academy, and grounds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

Complete an exhibit interactive

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

reddit

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Create an interactive experience that allows visitors to discover the vibrant 
and diverse range of life beneath the surface of each of the Great Lakes—as 
part of an exhibit dedicated to the area's ecology.

Develop an interactive experience that showcases animated 3D fish and 
other aquatic life through a real-time 3D rendered simulation. Visitors will 
use a touch kiosk located in front of a video wall to select specific fish or 
groups of fish for more detailed information.

Using the touch screen of the control kiosk the instructor will be able to 
give a guided learning experience to visitors.

The interactive display will offer bilingual support in English and Spanish.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There were several benchmarks mostly related to UI design and implementation progress as well as asset modification.

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

Yes, they did. The advisory team Vention put together was top-notch. We used a team of 3 as our primary conduits, but also met with the engineers and programmers. 

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

Virtual Meeting

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

The swiftness they completed complicated topics, their receptiveness to changes; and the professionalism and attention to detail they all brought to the project.

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

None. At first, we thought the timezone difference or spoken language could be a barrier. But neither presented even the slightest issue.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Engineering of Appodeal

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We enable creators to start and scale successful mobile app businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Participation in the development and maintenance of web services

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

Referral

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Analytics and Reporting Tools:

• Enhanced real-time reporting capabilities.
• Improved filtering and drill-down options for viewing specific data segments. 

Ad Inventory Management:

• Ad unit management dashboard (create, update, and delete ad units).
• Network mediation tools to turn specific ad networks on/off.
• Integration with ad networks for optimization and reporting.

Mobile SDK Backend API:

• APIs to serve ad requests from millions of mobile devices.
• APIs for collecting user data for more precise ad targeting that is compliant with data privacy regulations.
• Remote SDK configuration for flexibility and A/B testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The reliability of the quality of work and punctuality of deliveries from the Vention team members have been consistently maintained. This includes meeting project milestones on time, adhering to specifications, and ensuring deliverables meet the expected standards.

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

Vention team's attention to detail, commitment to deadlines, and proactive communication ensured smooth collaboration and high-quality output.

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What impresses me is how quickly they can find engineers fitting our needs.

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

I cannot highlight any areas to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Voxy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Voxy will supercharge your team’s productivity with Voxy’s online tailor-made language programs designed for the demands of today’s workforce using AI and Teachers combined.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Mobile Application Development for web parity on IOS and Android

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

Referral

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• high technical quality

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Our mobile application lagged behind or didn't include the features of our web application. This team has created parity and in cases been ahead of our web development since taking over the projects.

TIn a seperate completed projects, hey also provided solutions to upgrade our django application to newer version of python and integrate with AWS effectively. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our mobile application feature set is now on par or ahead of our web application. We continue to work with vention on this project (4+years)

For a completed projects, we handed off the upgrade of our application from a deprecated version of python. Without this upgrade, we would not have been in compliance with security standards

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

No relationship is without challenges. When challenges were brought up, we were able to quickly work together to resolve them after contacting our program manager either directly or in our regularly scheduled meetings. 

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They offer great technical people and a pragmatic approach to working within any customer constraints. 

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

Vention has  been a great partner and would not change anything. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a Manager at Careforth

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our mission is to surround family caregivers with connectedness, so they can confidently care for their loved ones at home.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Help us to scale and enhance our Salesforce Org via custom development
• Salesforce Development Staff Augmentation
• Salesforce Quality Assurance Staff Augmentation
• Development of Automated Testing for our Salesforce Org

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

Referral

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The vendor has primarily provided staff augmentation services, including the allocation of 3 Salesforce developers, 2 Functional QA resources, and 1 QA Automation engineer. Their key responsibilities have revolved around the development and enhancement of our Salesforce Org, with a focus on custom Apex code development.

Key Deliverables:

• Salesforce Org Enhancement: Updated our existing Salesforce Org to support Salesforce Platform licenses, leading to significant cost savings for the organization.
• Custom App and API Integrations: Delivered key functionality and seamless API integration between our Salesforce Org and various platforms, including:Careforth App (custom-built)
• Iterable marketing platform
• Large insurance providers

This work has helped streamline business processes and improved operational efficiency across several platforms.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The vendor’s contributions have led to significant improvements and measurable success across several key areas:

• 50% Reduction in Salesforce License Costs: By optimizing the use of Salesforce Platform licenses, the vendor helped reduce overall licensing costs by 50%, resulting in substantial savings.
• Improved Employee Satisfaction: The enhancements and streamlined processes within Salesforce have led to improved employee satisfaction scores, reflecting increased efficiency and usability for end users.
• Increased Funnel Conversion Rate: The integration work and improvements in the Salesforce Org contributed to an increased rate of funnel conversion, demonstrating enhanced customer engagement and business growth.

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

Vendor’s Project Management and Delivery

Although the vendor is not directly responsible for the project management, as that role is handled by our internal SCRUM master, the vendor’s developers have consistently demonstrated a high level of skill and discipline. Their work has been delivered on time, and there have been no issues with meeting delivery timelines.

The team has effectively responded to our needs, ensuring smooth and efficient progress throughout the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What stands out most about this vendor is the high skill level of their developers. Despite not being direct employees, they have developed a deep understanding of our business and processes.

This knowledge allows them to actively contribute during story grooming sessions, offering valuable suggestions to improve outcomes and ensuring the work aligns with our business goals.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Operations Manager of Exness Global Limited

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Multi-asset brokerage offering products and services for trading CFDs on instrument groups, including forex, commodities (metals and energies), indices, stocks and cryptocurrencies

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Hiring of dedicated outstaffing resources

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

Online Search

Why did you select Vention over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

20

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

We needed oustaffing resources for our software development projects with different timelines and scope of work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The most valuable outcome is that people whom we have hired from Vention are stayed working with us for 3 years already.

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

• Vention swiftly grasped our needs and stringent requirements for selecting candidates. 
• Remarkably, they were able to help us hire all the necessary personnel within an impressively short timeframe—just a couple of months—significantly outpacing other vendors we’ve worked with.

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

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

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

What stood out the most about this company was their ability to rapidly understand our complex needs and deliver results with exceptional speed. Vention's efficiency in sourcing and hiring top talent while meeting our high standards was impressive and unique.

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

Difficult to mention. Vention is very flexible and result oriented business, they understand the needs quickly of their clients, communicate all the updates in time and deliver the results as soon as they can.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Operating Officer of Ascend Agency

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Public relations company that focuses on helping other business owners grow their online reputation with articles and backlinks across the web. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Optimize our workflow
• create less friction between teams
• transform our ordering process

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Vention over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Incredible account manager in Ryan McMican

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Fully customized software solution will feature a dual-component architecture comprising of (i) a front-end storefront and (ii) a back-end workflow management system
• Develop a bespoke software solution that seeks to improves transaction efficiency and workflow management for the Company, thereby aiming to enhance overall productivity and client
  satisfaction.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Weekly sprint calls  with our amazing PM Dina to go over all progress to make sure we were happy and in line for our goal date. 
• In person meetings with our account manager Ryan who stayed active throghout the whole process and kept all of our objectives and goals at the forefront of the build. 

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

Always on time, quick/efficient with communication and reliable. When we needed something we got it. 

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

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

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

Ryan and Dina have blown us away with their commitment and understanding of our vision and company. The entire dev team is great. 

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

No 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Engineering of Infogrid

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We build software to make the world healthier and more sustainable

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Assist us building our new flagship product, Smart Cleaning Pro
• Assist us in rationalising our existing Energy products
• Assist us building our next-generation data pipeline infrastructure

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

Other

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Overall, we have worked with Vention over 2+ years, they supplied us with high-calibre engineering talent at a good price. They have been able to source a number of specialisms for us, and have remained creative in order to support our changing business needs.

Engineers worked on several projects across the business. They assisted us in building a new React/Python app called Smart Cleaning Pro - this was an all-new flagship product for the company and represetned a significant investment.

It integrated custom IoT sensors, feeding data through our data pipelines. We created a new UI experience, backed by a mixture of new & existing backend services.

Other engineers worked on consolidating legacy systems that resulted from an acquisition of another company and integration of their stack. This meant we had to consolidate our legacy systems that power our energy products.

Finally, another major project was to reimplement our data pipelines & warehousing onto standardised, best-of-class solutions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We used an augmentation model so Vention did supply Deliverables. What they did do was supply us with high-calibre engineering staff quickly. They quickly changed any staff who were a poor fit, but this has been rare. With their help:

• We build the software aspect of the new flagship product in approx. 8 months
• We reduced the time spent manually responding to incidents by 50%
• We reduced the costs associated with data ingest and processing by 25%

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

We used a staff augmentation model, so we didn't require project management as such. We build a close relationship with our account manager and Vention have been very responsive to our needs when it comes to staffing levels and timings. They have always been open and creative when it comes to giving us options to manage the headcount fluctuations and timescales.

Vention has been very cost-effective, providing high-calibre engineering staff at a competitive cost. I was impressed with their creativity and desire to remain competitive when our business looked towards an offshoring strategy for permanent staff

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• Their ability to quickly supplly high-calibre engineering staff - even specialisms such as Data Engineer - at short notice.
• Their ability to be creative and support the business with options, as our business needs and context has changed with time

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP Product Engineering of Gulf Relay

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a SaaS provider of logistics services to enterprise shippers

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Vention to accomplish?

• Create an automation tool to be used by our in-house services division
• Transform that automation tool into a 0-1 SaaS product
• Grow that SaaS product into a mature, enterprise platform

SOLUTION

How did you find Vention?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Vention over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vention were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We brought the team in to form what at the time was a back-of-the-napkin idea into a real application. We warned them at the time that the whole thing was an experiment, and they needed to be willing to learn alongside us about what about the software worked/didnt work, and be willing to throw away their hard work and pivot with us if we changed our minds. 

From day 1, we knew we had picked the right partner. Tiffanie was relentless on finding us the perfect team, and was very communicative and receptive to feedback. Most importantly, she was persistent on making us successful. We changed our minds a lot. The teams' commitment to the project never wavered. They always showed up, worked hard, and delivered. 

We just launched our SaaS product to a lot of warm reception because we were able to keep trying again and again to get it right. Recently we threw out some very ambitious quarterly goals, encouraged the team to take risks to get there, and to "build the plane as it flew". 

They delivered on every single ambitious goal we threw at them. Anybody in software development knows, that just does not happen. You never hit ALL your goals - you usually just aspire to hit as many as possible within the confines of the constraints you have. Not Vention. They roll up their sleeves, and they figure out how to get it done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We brought a new SaaS application to the market from 0-1, that now serves many happy customers!

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

The Vention team consistently went above and beyond the call of duty to deliver on time or even ahead of time. Just this week, we mentioned a nice-to-have tool that would make our customer's lives better. One of our engineers produced the tool and deployed it to production in a single day. They are absolute rockstars.

What was your primary form of communication with Vention?

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

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

What makes this company unique is the people. Every person we have interacted with from vention from intake to the lowest-level worker, is all-in on our success. You hear it and feel it in their actions. This is not a job to them. They are committed partners and we wouldn't be where we are today without them.

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

This is a ironic criticism but it looks like they are still figuring out the right format for middle management of their teams. They are trying and I'm sure they'll find the format that works well for lots of different kinds of companies, but in the moment, it's light. This means that as a client, you'll want to make sure you stay involved with the execution. 

The irony is, this creates a lot of great behaviors on our, the client's, side. We SHOULD be deeply involved. Middle management can often be an anchor to productivity. Ultimately this creates a better outcome for the client, and I can testify to those results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the CEO of Bundle Birth, a nursing corporation. We provide educational support for both families giving birth and professionals, especially labor and delivery nurses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vention?
We needed help to develop an app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
Vention has been developing an iOS and Android mobile app for us. This app is being built specifically for labor and delivery nurses, and it has three main functions. The main feature is for end customers, as this app tracks their child's birth and outcome. Nurses have the ability to add details about the patient's experience and the complications they took care of. All the information gets into the birth statistics to keep track of.

Another feature of this app is an entire clinical algorithm. This algorithm overviews all births and provides practical recommendations for the child's care to be as safe and physiologically oriented as possible. This app is to be used by nurses on the job as a reference tool for their practice when they feel stuck or when labor slows down and seems to be moving towards a C-section to help avoid it.

The app's third feature is that it collects data in order to analyze trends. With this feature, we'll be able to gather data and provide practice recommendations based on real-time births happening all over the country.

What is the team composition?
Ryan (Business Development Manager) has been our main point of contact at Vention. We also work with Valery (Senior Project Manager), who then takes our input to the rest of the team.

How did you come to work with Vention?
My director of strategy found them on Google. We were scouting companies and ended up going with Vention. Ryan was the one who convinced us about their product and this project. I'm a nurse by trade, so I knew nothing about app development. However, I felt that Ryan understood that, so there was no stigma. He also listened really well, so I felt cared for and protected, which is rare from a sales perspective.

Ryan offered a personalized approach where, while he was selling a service, he was also very honest and real, which differentiated Vention from the other companies we were looking at. I felt like Ryan was a true partner who really wanted us to succeed. Moreover, Vention wasn't afraid of how inexperienced we were, as Ryan went out of his way to ensure we had the resources we needed and answered a lot of questions.

How much have you invested with them?
We've spent almost $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?
We started the project with them in September 2023, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our app hasn't been launched yet, so we don't have any metrics or results. Our MVP version was supposed to be launched in mid-February 2024, but we're pushing the release date based on my decision. However, I know that there's a lot of interest in our app. Nurses are asking for this app and are really excited about it.

As for the quality of their work, Vention is very invested in the project, which has had a positive impact on the quality of their work. They actually care and understand what they're doing rather than just checking the boxes. To me, that sets them apart from other companies and has allowed us to develop a high-quality product.

Vention has understood our vision. Our app is very personable and meaningful, and it can potentially save lives. Therefore, it has higher stakes, and Vention really understands that. Said understanding has been reflected in the quality of their work and their investment in our success.

On top of that, working with Vention has been streamlined because I haven't had to hire internal people to have access to professionals who can fill my different needs to get this project done. There's no way I could have done this project on my own, as I didn't even know what I needed initially. As a result of this partnership, I've also saved a lot of money because I would have wasted a lot of time trying to do it on my own.

How did Vention perform from a project management standpoint?
Vention has delivered on budget and stuck to the timelines we've established. Moreover, the structure of their work is excellent, which is reflected in the Confluence tabs, where they've outlined the different features and the purpose of this app. Our communication is also very good. Although there were some miscommunication issues for a while, I actually don't blame Vention for that; I blame the design team we initially brought into the project.

We have a shared Slack channel, which we use all day to communicate. We also communicate via email and use WhatsApp occasionally if there's something urgent. Additionally, we use Zoom for our virtual calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?
Ryan has been amazing. This is my first app development project. Still, I've learned a lot throughout the process. Ryan has stayed involved and been a really helpful liaison throughout the process.

Moreover, I can't say better things about Valery — he has saved our lives. I've never worked with a service provider who cares more than him. He's very invested, listens well, and goes above and beyond his scope of duty. He works as if he were a part of our team, so we feel very looked out for, which has been essential for our app's success.

Valery constantly brings things to my attention, as he's very forthcoming whenever there's a concern. Moreover, he's very professional. Initially, he didn't want to step on my toes, as I was the CEO. However, I told him that I didn't know what I was doing and to please be my eyes and ears on this project to tell me if I was missing something. Since then, he has taken that feedback and been very present. At this point, he almost knows the clinical side better than I do.

Valery has cut the energy high with the team and advocated for us, staying professional amidst a lot of different personalities. This app wouldn't be where it is without him. Moving forward, Valery being on our team is essential for us to continue working with Vention. I just expect Vention to give him the raise and promotions he deserves and keep him on our project.

Overall, Vention's entire team has been very responsive, respectful, and excited about the project. Moreover, they work hard and get things done, so I'm very pleased with them. For example, Vention recently brought on Hanna (UI/UX Designer). Although she has been working on the project for about a week, I've been very impressed with her skills. Additionally, she's great at delivering hard news, which is difficult to do.

Based on my experience, most service providers don't listen once they're doing their job. Still, one of Vention's strengths is that they really listen. Valery, in particular, has taken incredible ownership of the project and really listens well. He also does his own research and reaches out when he needs to.

Are there any areas they could improve?
Looking back on the experience, I feel like Vention was initially trying to be more professional than needed, so they saw me as the boss and didn't want to offend me. Therefore, it took Valery a little while to gain some confidence to tell me things as they were.

Initially, I brought an outside design firm, which they recommended, but we then had some concerns with our designs that would potentially cause us to redesign the whole app. It would have been great if they hadn't held back on the feedback and told me about their concerns even earlier than they did.

Although they provided me with the feedback, I didn't really understand how much impact the designs would have. Therefore, adding more context as to how my decisions would impact the future would have allowed me to make different decisions.

Nonetheless, I can also see the silver lining. Those challenges got us where we are now, which has been part of the process. Everything has gone as well as it could have gone, and I'm realistic in knowing that no project goes perfectly right away.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Trust your gut along the way. Moreover, I've learned that your project manager can make or break the scenario. Thus, you should evaluate who your project manager is and have them reiterate back to you the purpose of what you're trying to do to ensure that they've done their research. If your project manager is invested in and excited about your project, you'll get a better result. Additionally, ask a lot of questions.