Visible Magic Inc

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of a software company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a software company that provides solutions to universities, agents, lawyers, and athletes in the NIL space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Visible Magic Inc to accomplish?

• End-to-end UI/UX design and implementation
• Prompt development
• Back-end development

SOLUTION

How did you find Visible Magic Inc?

Referral

Why did you select Visible Magic Inc over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Strategic alignment (with company goals)

How many teammates from Visible Magic Inc were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

I came to them with some scribbled wireframes on a tablet notes app, a rough user flow, and very rough prototypes (near pseudocode) for some of the backend AI logic. The VM team was tasked with taking that and turning it into a complete web application with optimized and performant prompts, a clean design and user flow, a custom solution for dynamic visual features based on prompt output, and much more. It was ground up application development and product design. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Alignment on UI/UX design, implementation of required features, and rigorous testing. We were kept up to date with messages (including screenshots and videos), access to shared planning resources, and weekly meetings.

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

The VM team is extremely responsive, efficient with feature development, and in that is very clear on timelines. We had an assigned project manager who was our touchpoint for any questions, meeting with specific developers, understanding timelines and requirements, and so much more; she was truly a joy to work with. 

Whenever we had a question we were able to quickly get an answer, and features were delivered in accordance with the agreed upon timeline. More detailed information was given in our weekly planning meetings, as well if anything were to change. The team is able to pivot (within reason) to account for developing features, and provided significant consulting and guidance from a product management perspective.

What was your primary form of communication with Visible Magic Inc?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Fantastic individuals top to bottom. Our initial conversations with the CEO, CTO, and PM were productive and consultative, we got a lot out of them in terms of developing our product vision and felt extremely aligned with the team on MVP development as well as future versions of the product. 

Through our weekly meetings, we were able to meet a variety of designers and front- and back-end engineers who were working on our product day to day, who were also similarly well aligned with our product and company vision. The product that they have produced is extremely impressive, especially given the creative and engineering license they had to take in bringing our vision into a complete product.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Visible Magic Inc could have done differently?

None

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a company that creates blockchain software for consumers and companies. We have a mobile wallet for users and other companies to integrate blockchain with their current software suite.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visible Magic Inc?

We needed staff augmentation support to develop our software front- and backend. Our goal was to augment our team and develop our product faster. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
Visible Magic Inc provides staff augmentation services for our company. We initially went through a small discovery phase to integrate Visible Magic Inc's team with our existing development team. After three months, we decided to replace some of our other development teams with Visible Magic Inc's team. From there, we’ve had fluctuations in staffing throughout our engagement, but we've consistently continued to use Visible Magic Inc as a development partner. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with around 20 teammates from Visible Magic Inc at the project's peak point, including two project managers and Scrum masters, six QA specialists, and front- and backend developers. 

How did you come to work with Visible Magic Inc?
We contacted Visible Magic Inc through a referral from a friend. We required blockchain developers, and Visible Magic Inc had that expertise.

How much have you invested with them?
We've spent around $1 million–$5 million on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Visible Magic Inc since September 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Visible Magic Inc's work has saved us money in recruiting the right resources and training them in a way we don't have the capacity to do. The team far exceeds our expectations. Visible Magic Inc has the flexibility to scale up their team quickly and has done a great job taking over a larger portion of our team. The team has had seamless integration with ours. 

Visible Magic Inc has a well-set-up shop to keep their developers independent or to integrate them with our team when necessary. Initially, the design teams had some friction integrating, but the issue healed within weeks of starting the project.

How did Visible Magic Inc perform from a project management standpoint?
Visible Magic Inc delivers work on time and on budget. The team is very helpful, and I'm happy with their work. We use Jira for project management and communicate via Discord, Zoom, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm impressed by Visible Magic Inc's flexibility in scaling their team as necessary. Visible Magic Inc has been a great and helpful partner throughout the project. Visible Magic Inc has helped us maneuver the business landscape and work around difficulties as they arise. 

Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything for Visible Magic Inc to improve on.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
The only advice I have is to hire Visible Magic Inc early.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a program director of an agency that provides web and digital development services for big international clients. We’re responsible from the discovery phase up to the final development of their projects. We also provide clients with maintenance and upgrading services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visible Magic LLC?

We called up Visible Magic for their expertise in certain fields where we cannot deliver.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re working with Visible Magic on the development side of the project. They bring in a high level of knowledge on the technological stack that’s dependent on the scope and requirement of the project. Some of the specific requirements that we’ve worked on are security issues, usability, and accessibility.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Jay (Co-Founder & COO) and Viktor (CTO). We also work with other developers from their team, depending on the range of the project.

How did you come to work with Visible Magic LLC?

I found them when I joined my company through other outsourcing partners. I then tested them to see how they can impact my daily work and from there, I continued to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around £200,000 (approximately $270,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership with Visible Magic started in November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Visible Magic has been helping us meet our goals. They deliver their tasks on time and we’re fully satisfied with their work — otherwise, we wouldn’t be working with them.

How did Visible Magic LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We work directly with the development team and sometimes we face complex problems we need to resolve. However, it’s been good and we don’t have any issues with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their technology stack, because whatever the challenge is, they cover a wide range of solutions for our needs, and they do pretty much everything we ask for. They have really good knowledge of the field.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not sure, but if there is, we’ll discuss it and try to optimize. We have pretty good and open communications with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you plan to work with Visible Magic, make sure to clearly define the requirements and the scope of the work. We witness a lot of MVP and agile approaches to project management, which means sometimes clients don’t know what they want. I think that a proper definition and planning can improve any kind of project.

This is not specific to Visible Magic, but I see a lot of clients experiencing this problem due to lack of communication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for Mindstream Interactive a CX and digital agency based in Columbus, OH. I am currently the Director, Client Growth focusing on new business and marketing for the agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Visible Magic LLC?

We brought in Visible Magic to help build out our development capabilities for a large retail partner.

What were your goals for this project?

The project was an RFP response and corresponding pitch. Our ultimate goal was to show our combined capabilities and what we could collectively bring to bare for the client.

SOLUTION

How did you select Visible Magic LLC?

We have a past relationship with Jay Donovan, one of their founding partners. Upon talking to Jay and the larger team they are a skilled app shop that brought the dev chops we needed for the project.

Describe the project in detail.

This partner is foucsed the digitally savvy Gen-X crowd. They have an immersive app experience currently but struggled with a seamless ecomm UI. Additionally, there is a strong loyalty component that needs a thoughtful content strategy to keep people coming back, interacting and buying from this retailer.

What was the team composition?

Jay helped lead the response team. He pulled other key subject matter experts to help flush out the response and audit of the current infrastructure. The whole team was always accessible and willing to dig in to try to address the detailed requirements of the RFP response.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Being it is an RFP response, we were successful at showing case our abilities via the written response which resulted in us being shortlisted. Once shortlisted, we were asked to formally pitch the work and the Visible Magic team was there each step of the way. Additionally, for the final pitch we wanted to show case our work and thinking and had an idea for a quick responsive site that helped playful articulate some of the key components of our response. The Visible Magic team offered to take it on and knocked it out over a few nights and weekends. It came together quickly and really helped set us a part from the competition.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very smooth. The team was on all the calls (kick-off through content review and budget creation). They were always quick to offer thoughts and insights that enhanced our response.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their speed an nimbleness. It is clear they have a very capable dev team but to respond quickly when this is not the only thing they have going on was great.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They were consummate professionals at every step of the way. Nothing that could be improved upon from my POV.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of DJA

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sweepstakes, Contests, Games, Rebates, Incentives Management - Legal, Digital, Procurement and Fulfillment

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Visible Magic LLC to accomplish?

• Consult on Web3 Concepts

SOLUTION

How did you find Visible Magic LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Visible Magic LLC over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Visible Magic LLC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Our team wants to help drive adaption of Web3 technology for next generation loyalty and incentive programs. We needed to consult experts in the space to help build a foundation to build on moving forward

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The VM team displayed excellent knowledge of Blockchain technology and understood loyalty program fundamentals. Their team is up to current trends and research, providing timely and efficient support. Very down to earth and intelligent. A pleasure to work with.

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

Yes. They were accessible, timeline on delivery of action items and put forth extra time and effort to deliver for important client deadlines.

What was your primary form of communication with Visible Magic LLC?

Virtual Meeting

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

How personable and collaborative they were, when combined with their expertise.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Visible Magic LLC could have done differently?

no. we are happy with what they delivered.