Rootstrap

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are in the midst of developing a webinar series to support a future app that we are hoping to develop which is intended to support single person and small businesses with the information to properly run their companies.

My wife and I are the two principals. I’m cofounder and co-owner.

What challenge were you trying to address with Neon Roots?

We see a difference between the company and the business. Our own experience was such that there’s very little support out there for the company especially when you’re in a growth mode or you’re operating in multiple states. There’s very little support or information to help growth occur. There are a million things that will help you with your business - with business management, employees, getting customers, but almost nothing that’ll make sure that you have the right insurance, teach you how to talk to an attorney, or to make sure that you have proper processes set up in your company so you are compliant and functional.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Neon Roots helped us with the app. They had a program called Rootstrap which I would describe as a pre-development development. You take several meetings with them. They ask you a ton of questions and try to pull out from you what your real goals are and what you want the app to do. They give you a lot of feedback which helped us make decisions. It was very valuable. They were generous with their feedback and experience, and that helped us refine what we wanted to do with the app. Then from there, they helped us build out a template. They do some storyboards about how it’s going to look. They do custom backlogs as well.

If you take every potential story through a potential customer’s eyes and you say “I am an X and I want to do a Y”, you build out all these situations and that’s called a backlog. They create those for you. They apply a point system to those which they use to give you a quote for full development of the app. They also did some high definition click-through modelings. We have several pages of how the app would actually look. You can click through them and see how it functions, which is terrific especially when going in front of investors. I’m pretty convinced that having that in hand will go a long ways towards getting funding, especially since we are in a startup phase. Neon Roots provided us this in a fixed price in just a few weeks.

They also do their own market research and they determine whether they believe it’s a good application. If they don’t believe it or like it, then they’re not going to do the Rootstrap for you, which I think is cool. There were a number of points of very positive feedback and very encouraging movement in going through that process with them.

In the end, working with Neon Roots gave us a good look at what we could do. It gave us an idea of what the MVP should be for the app, and it gave us an idea of what it’s going to cost to build it out fully. Again, this was much cheaper than if I was wrong and I just paid an app development company to build an app for me.

How did you come to work with Neon Roots?

Neon Roots was my first choice based on what they offered. My wife and I decided that we wanted to work with a group a little closer to where we live, which is Denver. There’s a very well regarded firm in Boulder and so I took the Rootstrap description from the Neon Roots website and I turned that into a statement of work. I took the statement of work to this app development company and they looked at it and quoted it, and said that they could do it. We agreed to that and signed a deal.

I went up and had the first couple of meetings, and after the first couple of meetings, the owner said that they were overwhelmed and that there were too many options. She said that they thought we should do this a different way and gave us a whole different quote and took our agreement and ignored it. In that whole process, she decided that she had earned about 50% of our deposit and wanted us to put another deposit up so we could move forward working under her new plan, which would be on an hourly time and materials basis. Needless to say, we said no and fired them. We went back to Neon Roots and asked if they would take it on and they agreed. They saw all the things that the first group saw, but they had a much better grasp of what to do and how to address it. They got us the product they promised.

How much have you invested with Neon Roots?

We have spent $15,000. I thought that was very reasonable for the amount of effort they put into it and for the product that we got.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Just to see the idea on paper was exciting. These are ideas that we’ve had for our own business. My wife is the expert when it comes to running a company and the financials. She has always wanted to have one place to capture all of these different parts of a running company. For her to see that on paper was exciting. Then, when we did the final look, my wife’s first comment was “my brain is on TV”. We did that meeting with Neon Roots via video chat and they put up the first page and she just stared at it. Through the conversation, they were very accurate in pulling out and creating what her vision was for how this app would function and how it would look. Beyond the fact that it was a great product, they were really able to bring to life the vision that my wife has been carrying around in her head for a number of years, which is fantastic.

What did you find most impressive about Neon Roots?

They’re very casual, which we appreciated. Neon Roots is very little in the way of overt formalities. The team was very encouraging and interactive. They all had feedback. The Chief Executive Officer, Ben Lee, is a visionary. He had a lot of great industry insight and application and user insights that we had not considered. Napoleon was our primary point of contact. He was always on time, always articulate, and always let us complain or applaud, but kept meetings on track. He was terrific. They had a nice vibe and they have a terrific product offering.

Are there any areas Neon Roots could improve?

No. I’m sure that other people would wish that they were a little more willing to take on their projects. We noticed in our initial meeting that Ben Lee’s partner in the business was signing letters declining projects. I think it’s terrific that they won’t take on a project that they don’t agree with or think they’re not going to enjoy. When you’re in business, it’s very hard to turn away work. If you’re able to turn away work because you have a philosophy or you’re too busy and your ethic is such that you’re willing to turn that away instead of reducing your value in other places, I think that’s very ethical. It’s a very impressive thing to do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Bond Shop Club is a platform dedicated to reconnecting the high end consumer with larger retailers by offering exclusive incentives that are available instore only for club members. We’re currently into development to launch at the top of 2017.

I’m the founder and Chief Executive Officer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Neon Roots?

I had the idea for the platform and I vetted the revenue model and business idea in general over a few months in order to get the details flushed out. I didn’t have a CTO [Chief Technology Officer] at the time. So the development aspect was a very large challenge to overcome in terms of limitations and what would be an appropriate way to approach a job like this. It was something I didn’t know.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, it involved iOS with expansion into Android. We’re also considering different web options.

How did you come to work with Neon Roots?

I researched different development and mobile firms dedicated to being a “tech cofounder” for a startup that didn’t have one. That’s how I came across Neon Roots. There were several companies from New York, LA, and Chicago that said they were the mobile development firm for startups. There were more that were focused on enterprise companies.

What I liked about Neon Roots was just looking at their marketing and them saying that they were going to take my startup and bring it to life. I had a call with one of their evangelists. He had a startup and also didn’t have a CTO, and he was saying how much Neon Roots really helped him to flush out his business model, and go through and create that clickable prototype which he could use to raise more funds and also to make sure he had a solid and scalable business model. From there I stayed in close contact and decided that Neon Roots would be the route I would go for building the initial prototype and vetting a business model.

How much have you invested with Neon Roots?

Between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial prototype is finished. That minimum viable product was part of the Neon Roots’ bootstrap program, as well as all the deliverables in order to build out that business model.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The bootstrap program lasted approximately two weeks. Through that time period, I had several different Skype conference calls with three different individuals. The founder of Neon Roots hopped on several of the calls. I also had a project manager as well as another CTO/business development executive that were really doing a lot more research on the market - what’s out there, what’s scalable, and the best way to approach the business.

At the end of the two weeks, they delivered a clickable prototype. They used a lot of the information based on what my target consumer was, what that market looked like in terms of market potential, and ways to market this to target that demographic. Considering this was a platform based business focused on connecting individuals with retailers, it was important to identify exactly how this product will work in terms of working with companies and retailers on the backend process.

What did you find most impressive about Neon Roots?

Neon Roots is very thorough and responsive. They really vetted the market to see what was out there and not reinvent the wheel. If I had any questions or concerns, or if I wanted to make any additions towards the ultimate framework for the app, they were very accommodating to that. They were supportive in giving me several options for development and potential business contacts. I think they do some unparalleled work, and I didn’t feel like the team just wanted to take my money. There was even some work they provided to me after the project was officially finished.

Are there any areas Neon Roots could improve?

Based on the fact that they’re working with several clients that don’t have tech cofounders, I asked for a short synopsis of the mobile capabilities and how, if I were to pitch my platform to a retailer, would I explain the technical capabilities. It would have been great if that sort of training and information was part of package from the start.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Future—State and Sentry DashCam, and worked closely with the Rootstrap team.

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

We came to Rootstrap to with a product design and technical proof of concept and asked them to deliver production grade design and code for our mobile app.

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

Rootstrap designed and developed our mobile app for both iOS and Android. They handled the project from beginning to end and are also performing ongoing maintenance.

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

IoT, Raspberry Pi, Android, and iOS

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

The full team consisted of front- and backend engineers, a designer, a product owner, and a scrum master.

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

Thousands of registered members month 1.

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

Slack, Miro, Figma.

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

Product Strategy, UX, Design

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

n/a

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of engineering at Cleo, a family healthcare company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

I was looking for staff augmentation. We’re a pretty early-stage startup and when I joined the company, I didn’t have a strong engineering team. I inherited a team of three engineers and we needed a lot more people. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide staff augmentation, specifically engineers to work on our projects and work alongside our full-time in-house engineers.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was the head of sales. Then we had an account manager and two engineers. Now we’ve grown the team to five engineers and two designers.

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

I believe I got a cold email. I was struggling with the engineering capacity until they emailed me about staff augmentation. It was a well put together deck that they sent me.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent $1 million so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019 and the work is ongoing.

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

Their engineers are dedicated, smart, and humble. There’s no challenge working with them and the quality is exceptional. It’s been a very fruitful and healthy relationship.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

We haven’t had them lead a project end to end, but overall it’s good. Their communication skills are great; they dialed into our video calls every day. Their engineers are dedicated, smart, and humble. There’s no challenge working with them and the quality is exceptional. 

After evaluating an engineer that wasn’t performing effectively for 2–3 months, I communicated that to our account manager and he took care of it immediately and replaced that engineer with another. If there’s any issue, they’ll tell you about it and try to find a solution. One of their designers was going on vacation and before he left, they found a replacement. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills are good across the board and they’re very proactive. I’ve seen it at the engineering level, to the account manager,  up to their CEO and they’re very forthcoming with anything. If there’s any issue, they’ll tell you about it and try to find a solution. One of their designers was going on vacation and before he left, they found a replacement. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Since it’s offshore contracting, you have to make them feel like they’re part of your team. The more frequent the communication, the better. In my case, I communicated with their engineers multiple times a day. It feels like they’re a part of the team. Even the simple things like a video call instead of an audio call, help you develop a little bit more trust.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product for WalletJoy, a personal finance brand. Our parent company specializes in online lead generation.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rootstrap?

We needed UI/UX and development help with building our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

WalletJoy is predominantly a content-driven site that provides personal finance guidance. Rootstrap built it on WordPress. 

Before building the site, Rootstrap also helped create the brand strategy and define the design system. That included high-level brand and style guidelines. Our side was driving that strategy, but Rootstrap played a huge part in making sure we were thinking of the right things. Their expertise led to valuable and critical input into that strategy definition.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three engineers, two product designers, a design director who helped with the strategy, and a resource for visual design and brand design. 

How did you come to work with Rootstrap?

One of my peers in grad school works at Rootstrap. I brought their team into the evaluation process and judged them on two major criteria. First, we wanted our site to follow SEO best practices. We look at portfolios that demonstrated that kind of web work, and Rootstrap stood out. Second, they had a lot of flexibility in their operating model, which made it easier for us to accept the risk. (This was our first partnership with a third-party vendor.)

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2019. We’re still working together, but going forward, we’ll just have a one-person team.

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

It’s definitely early in the lifecycle of the product, but we’re already seeing 20%–25% user retention, which is beyond what we expected at this stage. That’s a testament to the work we did with Rootstrap on the brand side. It also shows that the site experience is friendly, intuitive, and well-done.

How did Rootstrap perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t share an office or a time zone so collaboration has been a huge part of this process as we build this site from scratch. Rootstrap is made up of highly responsive and great collaborators. We’ve had no issues with communication and project management. That’s a huge part of the success we’ve seen. We use Slack for communication and Trello for ticketing as well as the development and design work. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From both a development and design side, UI/UX is something we’re not strong at as a company. Rootstrap brought that to the site. They helped us define the site and product design. We continue to iterate. They’ve also been really helpful to us being adaptable and agile. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The engineering team has the ability to get the site up quickly, which is fantastic and what we needed. But now, as we’re more mature as a company, the speed takes away from the DevOps process. We’ve sacrificed some efficiency and best practices, leading to QA that could’ve been avoided. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Rootstrap is a very talented team. Try to establish a lot of things ahead of time. That will set up a process and structure that the entire team can follow from the beginning.