Vestive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at IN-Plex, a startup that does SMS targeted marketing for live events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vestive?

We hired Vestive to help us with web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had a consultation period with Vestive to figure out our goals and what they could take over. We had three acting CTOs, but they were all part-time. We pulled Vestive in, and Peter acted as our interim CTO for a year. We were working on a complex product with many moving parts and branches, so Vestive helped us operate sprints without losing sight of the big picture.

During that time, Vestive also helped with our SaaS regulations and implementation for the backend. We partnered with a DCA, and Vestive helped with the frontend and full stack to ensure the integration went smoothly and up to standards. They were also skilled in AWS Amplify and helped us tie that into our text message functionality on the AWS side, primarily with Lambda functions.

We had a code base built that we redid 2–3 times over the past three years. Many key features and functionalities were in place, and Vestive helped work with our development teams to finish them. In some situations, they rebuilt from scratch.

Additionally, we've built a product for Warner Music Group, which is our personal network. Vestive has helped with the crossover between our core enterprise product and this more niche product for personas and athletes. The last thing we've done together has been a Teams-related integration for the Colorado State Rams at CSU.

Vestive has also done a little bit of design work, but our frontend team has handled most of it. We've used Amplify and React Vue, depending on the product. Currently, we’re not actively working on anything, but I still communicate with Vestive. We’ll be doing a code base restructure in the next 2–3 months, and they’ll handle that for us.

What is the team composition?

We've primarily worked with two backend teammates. Peter has handled a lot across the board, and his partner focuses primarily on the backend.

How did you come to work with Vestive?

I was working with another development shop and had developers from all over, including colleagues from former jobs. I hired a group based in New York and Bangladesh, and I got a recommendation to go to Peter. When I met him, we hit it off and decided to hire Vestive to get us across the finish line with our development goals.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent a little over $200,000 in development costs and resources.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2023, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Vestive is very good at keeping everything across the board, software-wise and feature-wise, very organized. They maintain tunnel vision on the task at hand without affecting anything else in the product ecosystem. Nothing is ever perfect with any sort of development, but Vestive has worked methodically on their development for us.

How did Vestive perform from a project management standpoint?

They've worked really well with our preexisting resources. Our app has a bug reporting feature for internal users. Anything flagged creates a ticket in Jira, and Vestive deals with it quickly. We also use Atlassian and Slack, so we have good communication across the board.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vestive has hit deadlines and had a functioning version of our idea, which was most important. We’ll continue working with them because I’ve worked with over 15–20 developers throughout the lifecycle of this product. I’ve definitely gotten stuck with services that didn’t provide any of those good qualities and ultimately slowed things down for everyone. Vestive is very good at adjusting to how we work from the top down as an organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It wasn’t necessarily their fault, but I should have gone over the channels and methods of communication in rigorous detail prior to integrating with a development team. However, it hasn't had a big effect on our working relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s best for everyone to have as clear a picture as possible. Outline exactly what your expectations and goals are. You can pivot sometimes, but have everything defined as much as possible.