WeaveLines

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of a website that connects economic development organizations that are interested in attracting investments from all over the world. dIt's a way to attract both national and foreign direct investments to companies that are mainly focused in the US.

There are a lot of cities and a lot of different economic development agencies within the US. For a company in Europe or wherever in the world that wants to enter the US market, we simplify the entire process and help them to understand why they should pick one city over the other. We enlighten them on the benefits, the considerations, how to connect with the local economic development agencies, and the services they provide.

What challenge were you trying to address with WeaveLine?

We hired WeaveLines to do a market analysis for us to be able to better understand the industry.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I came to WeaveLines with a very complex business concept with a lot of factors involved. As someone without a technical background, I wanted to understand how to make a business out of my idea. I've started all sorts of businesses but they did not require technical expertise. WeaveLines fully understood the concept, breaking it down into pieces that allowed me to understand who my competitors were. There were more competitors than I thought and some I didn't know even existed. They made me understand the landscape in a better way.

The other aspect of the work was to help me break down the services that each of these competitors was providing, which helped me understand where the market gap was. Based on that, I could figure out a different business model. 

We'll soon layout my services a bit more: coming up with what the website is going to look like through the entire user journey via wireframes. 

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Faten (CEO). I'm not sure how many people she works with on their end.

How did you come to work with WeaveLines?

I have an entrepreneur friend that I've known for 20 plus years. After explaining to him what I was trying to do, he told me he was working with WeaveLines and that they could also help me.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have spent a little less than $10,000 on the project. I expect to spend maybe $20,000 to come up with the prototype.

What is the status of the engagement?

Our partnership began in January 2022. We are still in engagement, although we are on a little break at the moment and will resume next month.

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

One metric is the types of questions that they ask. I'm somebody that understands the foreign direct investment industry, and based on the types of questions Faten asks, she is spot on and understands it as well. They broke down my expectations clearly and have met them all. 

How did WeaveLines perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been very prompt and responsive, able to dissect and break down complex requirements into pieces. 

We don't work with any project management tools, but we communicate through phone calls and have a biweekly cadence.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like the service overall. I only deal with one person, and this person understands what I'm trying to do and helps me do it. It makes my life much easier.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'm very satisfied with their work. There's nothing they could do differently.

Any advice for potential customers?

You need to be upfront with them about your expectations for your project. Be sure to provide them with all the details for the execution of the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of Hotlas, a platform for the hospitality market that consists of an inventory and order management platform for restaurants and bars to manage mainly beverages. We have a web app and a mobile app, and I’m in charge of operations, product management, and tech design.

What challenge were you trying to address with WeaveLines?

We have engineers but not UX product management designers in our company, so we hired WeaveLines to work on the UX and design.

What was the scope of their involvement?

WeaveLines is helping us design the UI/UX of our web app and mobile app. The team also helps us with product management, including roadmap, user stories, and making sure we know the building requirements. We’re taking care of the development in-house. I've given them specific requirements for my vision, and the design has been a collaboration.

Initially, the team sat down with our company’s business and technology sides to act as the glue between the two areas. We told them the business problem and how they saw it being implemented. WeaveLines then came back with ideas, and we had conversations to adjust them and make sure they weren’t missing anything. We spent 2–3 months in constant conversation with them. 

Together, we designed the functionality and how the apps would work on the backend. WeaveLines has also advised us on the data we needed, how to collect it, display it in the app, and manage it. WeaveLines delivered mockups and user stories, which they’ve edited as the collaboration has progressed. They use Sketch for the design. 

They’ve also delivered two InVision design flows, one for the web version and one for the app’s mobile version. They validated with the potential final user because one of our co-founders owns a couple of restaurants and confirmed that the end-to-end flow would make sense to the user.

The MVP is still in progress. After WeaveLines delivered the final design, we started a development cycle with in-house engineers, implementing the features we designed with the WeaveLines team. Whenever a new feature is ready, we deploy it to have some users look at it and give us feedback. We’re in conversation with WeaveLines to start a new cycle to update and change the apps incorporating the feedback, including creating more screens and editing the user flow. 

What is the team composition?

I work with two people from WeaveLines, including Faten (CEO) and a UX designer.

How did you come to work with WeaveLines?

I knew about them through word of mouth. They have a good reputation in the Tunis market and very good recommendations about their service. Additionally, some of my friends had used them for other projects; that’s why we ended up going with them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $10,000–$11,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

The final users really like the product’s design and the flow WeaveLines created. Even though I don’t have a metric yet, my measure of success is the validation from the final users, who have said that the app is better than other products they’ve seen in the market. This confirms that the product is on the right track, even though it’s not there yet. We’ve gotten some constructive feedback about some business assumptions we made on our side, which we’re addressing.  

How did WeaveLines perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really good at project management, communication, and deliverables; if we managed the project ourselves, we wouldn’t get anything close. For communication, we’ve used Zoom, Microsoft Teams, emails, and I met them in person when I was in Tunis. Because they’re in Tunisia and we’re in the US, sometimes our meeting times are late for them, and they always attend.

Although we didn’t use any project management tools in the first cycle of the engagement, we’ll be using Microsoft Teams and Azure Boards when we start the next cycle in the next 1–2 weeks. Since we have a development team now, we needed a way to connect both teams; WeaveLines will help with sprint planning, acceptance criteria, and testing. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

WeaveLines has done projects like these several times before and has learned along the way. When coming up with the idea, we didn’t know what we didn’t know, so it’s been good to have someone who’s gone through this before to ground us. Although they understand we’re excited, they encourage us to take the project step-by-step and to consider what the user journey will look like. Their approach helps us bring an idea from a random fantasy to something tangible, manageable, and that we can plan around. WeaveLine’s know-how and expertise are very cool. 

They’re also very nice to work with; they communicate easily and are open to feedback. If we don’t like something, they don’t take it defensively, which I’ve seen with designers before. WeaveLines takes the feedback in stride and does the work again. Since we’re a startup, we asked them if they could give us a fixed rate to start, and they were very willing and open to negotiating.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything they need to improve right now; they’re doing very well. At some point, they’ll be getting a lot of pressure because they’re growing and getting so many projects coming their way that they might be stretched too thin. They’re very aware of this potential issue, though, and they’re looking to hire more talent to support their workload.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk to WeaveLines and be open; they’re very nice and will try to help out. You could try them out for a short period to see if you like what they’re doing and take it from there.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and founder of Provider One. Provider One is an industry-changing company that is creating a mobile marketplace for physicians and medical scribes alike. We designed the first mobile app of its kind.

For what projects/services did your company hire WeaveLines?

I hired Weavelines to develop our mobile app and two desktop applications. Our MVP app has more features than you would expect from an MVP. There were also multiple changes throughout the process. Faten planned out our MVP, V.1, V.2, and V.3 versions from the get-go.

This was quite a task for any developer, however, Faten and her team made it seem easy as she is very professional, extremely knowledgeable, and was able to grasp the idea of my app with no prior knowledge.

What were your goals for this project?

My goals were to have a mobile app that is HIPAA secured and can be used by physicians and medical scribes anywhere in the country that also had desktop applications for support and to capture metrics.

How did you select WeaveLines?

I vetted many developers but Faten was the only one to be completely honest with not only the amount of work this would take but also the cost.

Where other developers had given me an estimate right up front Faten explained to me that we would need to have a few "fact-finding" meetings first so she could fully understand the scope of the project and I could understand the limits and capabilities of building an app. This was to ensure I wasn't overcharged or undercharged. I immediately respected and trusted her and her team from this refreshing honesty.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we finished with our discovery meetings I sent her all my logo designs and wireframes I had created. She integrated everything I wanted in her proposal and then helped me decided on the correct color of the logo and app.

Next, we had a series of meetings that went over every detail of the app, line by line. She wouldn't move on until we were both satisfied with the direction and outcome.

Faten and her team worked like they are developing the app for themselves. You can tell they put all of their effort in everything they do with consistent and accurate communication.

What was the team composition?

Faten is our point person on all many communication. During our meetings, her team would also be on our Zoom calls. They worked very well with each other.

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

I am very pleased with the outcome of the mobile app and two desktop applications. They are exactly as I had imagined them. In addition, they work well and are very user-friendly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was great between the two teams. Communication was easy and fruitful. Faten and her team also were able to explain the minutia of the app to someone who doesn't have much tech knowledge.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I am very impressed with their knowledge of the user experiences and their ability to predict future problems we might encounter. In addition, communication was so easy with the team. They were always prompt and ready to explain things to me as many times as needed.

In addition, Weavelines knowledge of the startup world and their dedication to us prospering in it was incredible. I can't imagine another company being better for startup developements.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything can always be done faster but I am very satisfied with their work and how quickly they were able to develop such a labor-intensive app.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of RushTera.com

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

We required complete re-engineering, re-design and redevelopment of our software platform and product including cloud and web deployment and ongoing management of the platform.

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

Weavelines provided end to end service from inception through ongoing management.

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

I need help with this section

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

I need help with this section

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

The project has been a complete success

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

I need help with this

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

They are excellent in every way

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

No perfect