Josh Sahib
Co-Founder at Brewery Buddy
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
# of employees
1-10 Employees
Type of project
Application development
The client is Brewery Buddy, a company that offers a SaaS brewery management system. They were in need of a developer to supplement their own programmers to speed up their development process. They partnered with KindGeek for the project.
Feedback summary
The client is very pleased with their partnership with KindGeek, which has accelerated their development process and improved their communication and engagement with potential customers. The client highly recommends KindGeek for their clear communication and willingness to go above and beyond to ensure their clients' success.
Challenge
What business challenge were you trying to address with KindGeek?
We have one technical lead internal to the company, but he needed assistance to get all the necessary programming done. We engaged KindGeek to get support on the programming side. We weren't trying to bring people into the company and give up equity of the company, so we thought that using a development shop would be a great way to get some of that work we needed.
Solution
Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.
We have different tiers of our platform and, within each tier, there are multiple features. We really wanted to limit the scope to only a single tier and single feature and then once that feature was complete expand onto additional features and tiers in the longer term. For us, KindGeek focused specifically on what we call the nano-tier: our most foundational tier and recipes – beer recipes and what that process would function like. We provided requirements and what we needed in terms of functionality, and they started with the programming on that. We are using a JavaScript framework called Meteor. That is cutting edge, so it's been great that they've been able to get up to speed on that framework and utilize that framework even though it is relatively new in the industry. That recipe feature was the key thing in the scope that they were working for us on. They had regular meetings where we could tell them more about what our needs were, what our expectations were, and we actually even do that via Skype or Slack, so communication was strong.
How did you come to work with KindGeek?
We're in a college town and we're a bootstrap company, so we try to be very lean. We had hoped to work with some local computer science students to help us out with this. We weren't finding people with the necessary skills, especially when it came to new technologies and the JavaScript frameworks. We went to a networking event here, and one of the attendees was from Ukraine and was friends with the KindGeek team. We contacted them, and they were exactly what we were looking for.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
The cost of the project is less than $10,000. They have a clear pricing structure that they'll share with you. This was really focused more on the development side so if we needed additional services, such as more project management or user interface/user interaction, they could have allocated more team members towards our project.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our project was limited in scope and limited to a one-month timeline. During the course of that time, that project has been wrapped up with them. The experience was great. We're definitely looking forward to picking back up with them soon.
Results & Feedback
Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
We've gotten some great user feedback based on the work they did. Previously, building everything internally, it was hard to get across the finish line and, sometimes, bringing in that third party can really push things forward in a way that's hard to build up that momentum internally. I feel like we were constantly having meetings with potential customers saying we're still working on our product and its features. After working with KindGeek, we can actually show them our product. They have accelerated our whole development process, but they've also allowed us to move forward engaging potential customers engaged.
What distinguishes KindGeek from other providers?
The main thing with them is communication. They are very willing to communicate and that can be just quick emails or even a Skype call, if necessary. KindGeek has gone above and beyond in terms of being willing to get in touch if we have any comments or concerns. That's been refreshing to have that strong communication even with the distance between us. They have shifted their schedule to align with the Unites States time zones more closely, which has been amazing.
Is there anything KindGeek could have improved or done differently?
I think early on, we were pretty committed to Meteor as a framework, and it was so new that they didn't have a lot of experience with it. They wanted us to explore some other frameworks that were more in their core competency. Ultimately, we were able to say we're sticking with Meteor and here's why. They got on board with that and have been able to pick up to speed on that and may be expanding their use of it within their company after working on our project. I think because it was something new there was hesitation there. They've grown their skills in that area.
