Simplex Software

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a video dating platform. We allow our users to record short video profiles that are then shown to other users on the app to make connections.

What challenge were you trying to address with Simplex Software?

We needed technical support.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start, I worked with Simplex Software to hire and recruit engineers, and then they would bring them to me for review. They are tasked with finding people that meet our needs. If someone isn’t working out, they’ll help us replace them.

As for the main scope of work, the team is helping with agile tech development for the dating app. It is currently only for iOS.

What is the team composition?

We now have six engineers, a QA engineer, and a product owner from their team.

How did you come to work with Simplex Software?

A friend referred them to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Simplex Software started in November 2019.

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

Their work has had a high impact on our business. Their developers are high-quality. Each of them has done a great job. They’re supposed to work five days a week, but they'll make themselves available to us if something comes up over the weekend.

We’re in the process of looking for a tech lead to make sure everything is organized. This will help with any problems that we do have.

How did Simplex Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Slack, but we also use Jira and email to organize the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their adaptability is impressive. We’re an early-stage startup that’s changing a lot. They’ve been able to work with us at the pace we need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could give a bit more guidance on what we need consistently, which could help them offer us the right resources.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a tech lead or advisor to help you make the most informed decisions.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the SVP of Engineering for Appetize Technologies, an enterprise-scale cloud-based POS software services technology, providing POS systems for Guests, Waitstaff, Kitchens, businesses, and operational management (inventory, special events, etc.).

For what projects/services did your company hire Simplex Software?

We have had a longer engagement with Simplex than my time with Appetize thus far, but Simplex was brought in to help bolster and speed-up the delivery of many of our projects in order to both extend our core platform as well as develop and deliver client-specific features and capabilities.

Simple has also been used to augment our testing capabilities, working with us to acceleration our transformation to an Automation-First culture.

What were your goals for this project?

Since our engagement was not related to any one particular project but rather augmentation, our goals with Simplex were somewhat different.

Chiefly we wanted a true partner--not just a vendor--who had high integrity and could work with us to understand our needs, demands, pressures, and provide ideas and opportunities related to how Simplex could help.

Additionally, we wanted a partner who could provide high-quality staff with strong experience and personal standards, who would not simply do as they are told but rather understand the goals of any given project and proactively engage in how to best solve it, make recommendations, challenge assumptions, and generally strive for an improved final product.

How did you select Simplex Software?

We selected Simplex through various personal references and recommendations, and study of similar companies focusing on a near-shore staff augmentation model, who offered a good bench depth of high-quality candidates with strong English language skills. Simplex came highly recommended in this regard.

Describe the project in detail.

Again, this was not related to a specific project, but rather building out more of our core platform and client-specific features. This involves many disciplines: PHP, GO, Data, React/JS, SDET/SET as well as manual QA testing skills, and technical/team leadership.

In many cases, some of our Simplex staff our embedding in geographically disparate teams co-mingled with our FTEs, and in other cases they are working in fully-formed Simplex Pods that are self-contained.

These projects entail traditional SDLC concepts and concerns (e.g., sizing, planning, technical design, interrogatory feedback and detail gathering, edge case planning, automation, scalability, monitoring/logging/observability, traceability, and performance monitoring and capacity planning).

What was the team composition?

Teams can vary based on what there are working on, as our focuses range from Andoid, iOS, Web, Go, PHP, and PaaS capabilities. Standard composition includes 2-4 Back End (Go/PHP), 2-4 Front End (React/JS, Android, or iOS), and 1-2 QA, as well as one Technical Lead for the team overall.

Our engagement with Simplex has included, thus far, multiple teams, comprised of both fully formed Simplex-based teams, and teams that span Appetize FTEs with Simplex staff.

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

Simplex has been quite adaptable, especially through the challenging times of COVID considering our business caters very much to live venues (concerts, stadiums, arenas, etc.), notably as we pivoted to contactless initiatives leveraging mobile devices rather than line or server-based ordering.

Simplex, in this case, was able to help us quickly staff up a team focused on web application experience leveraging camera scanning, responsive design, API integration, 3rd party payment integration (e.g., ApplePay, GooglePay) and various other vendor providers.

Simplex continually work with us to help identify areas where teams could become more confident and empowered to provide their own thoughts and ideas to reach an better outcome with their project deliveries, as well as ensuring the overall health of a functioning team.

Simplex also worked to proactively identify any potential performance coaching issues with their employees and work to resolution on them, keeping us well informed and engaged without any surprises.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Simplex has been quite effective with us, not only due to their near-shore and similar office hour operations as our L.A.-based headquarters, but also because of their engagement, quality of personnel, and staff experience.

This has made them so much more than just order takers or hands-on-keys grinders, and has made that much more of a valuable partner to us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What I find most impressive about Simplex is their integrity. They say what they are going to do, and then they do it. When a mistake is made, that take ownership and put things in place to learn and grow from it.

They share feedback, bidirectionally, and are open to hearing our concerns and ideas not just to placate us but to honestly see what they can gleam from it.

They seek to understand our business and our pressures, not just to forecast their contractual obligations through the year as many others, but rather how they can help and optimize.

And they do this not by trying to constantly upsell us on more staff or services, but rather to offer their expertise in fields similar to ours.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As odd as it may seem, I have no real complaints about Simplex. They have been a fantastic partner, and in a world where I have had significantly more bad vendor relationships than good, I am thankful to count Simplex in that "good" column and rely on them.

The only area of improvement I would proffer is Simplex being able to tap bench depth more quickly, and with more of a bench potentially (which carries its own cost and overhead, of course).

However, this was during COVID and the workforce changed pretty heavily, and we were searching for high-demand positions and thus were in heavy competition with many other firms searching for the same skills and experience.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I oversee data science and analytics at a fashion retail brand called Everlane. The team's mission is to enable the usage of data to make decisions: whether through insights, data products, or codified metrics. As an end to end retailer, Everlane has a variety of functions that depend on data for their strategy. These functions range from logistics and demand planning, to marketing and ecommerce.

For what projects/services did your company hire Simplex Software?

We used Simplex to augment our data engineering function, hiring one full time data engineer to work with our in house lead data engineer. This person effectively acts as an extension of the data, and works on both business facing data pipelines, and enhancements to our data infrastructure.

What were your goals for this project?

Our primary goal was to unlock some projects on the digital side of the business that required extensive data pipelining work, while also being able to invest in a couple of more modern technologies for our data platform.

How did you select Simplex Software?

We found out about Simplex through a referral. We also looked 3-4 other companies, some in the US, some outside. Our decision process came down to a few things:

• staffing strategy (Simplex really emphasized staff augmentation vs. project-based consulting)
• price (very reasonable rates)
• hiring process (Simplex handled sourcing and initial screens, but leaned on us to select the final candidates)
• relationship management (the initial batch of candidates were not what we were looking, and Simpex responded to our feedback very quickly and appropriately)

Describe the project in detail.

The data engineering team was a relatively new team at the time, and we needed someone who was interested in learning new technologies while also being self-sufficient enough to tackle complex projects on their own. We expected this person to be able to operate relatively independently as a data engineer, and take ownership in a few areas:

• data pipelines in the digital workstream (email, performance marketing, product analytics)
• data quality and stability  
• data platform (Airflow, Kubernetes, Redshift)

What was the team composition?

We only needed to hire one full-time data engineer, but Simplex also supported with a recruiting team and an account executive.

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

1. in conjunction with our lead, was able to stand up a new pipeline orchestration platform using Airflow and Kubernetes
2. deployed a new batch event service to power automated personalized emails
3. authored a variety of pipelines integrating with 3rd party advertising platforms
4. developed an alerting system around Airflow and Pagerduty

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

One of the highlights of our relationship with Simplex has been general project management. The team member seamlessly plugged into our Slack, JIRA, and Pagerduty for bi-weekly sprint commitments, but was also very self-sufficient in managing bugs and making improvements.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Simplex was able to be flexible and creative when we ran into budgeting issues. That level of trust and relationship building meant that we immediately went to them when we needed three new additional roles: two for software engineering, one for BI.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing off the top of mind! As we continue to leverage Simplex for more staffing, will be interested in any synergies from having a group based out of the same office.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Action Dating, a new mobile dating app which allows singles to view, chat and message with nearby people for a brief and casual date.

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

I documented all the requirements for the MVP in advance, and I provided them to Simplex to develop the app based on my specs. I still haven't needed any other developers, depending 100% on Simplex.

How did you select Simplex Software and what were the deciding factors?

I was referred to Simplex from a friend and former colleague whom I trust. I interviewed a few other firms but I selected Simplex because of their experience in my app category and because of the strong trusted referral.

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

Simplex offered a few options for how to develop the app's backend, mobile clients, and chat engine. We decided on React Native due to its ability to build Android and iOS clients from a single code base. We chose PubNub for the chat engine due to its competitive pricing and reputable brand.

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

I've worked with about 6-8 developers, project manager and engineering architects from Simplex over the course of the project so far.

In the beginning we had separate FE and BE developers working in parallel but I ended up with one full-stack dev who's able to keep the project moving along on his own, in addition to a strong project manager who clearly cares to see my project succeed.

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

The initial engagement was a fixed-price estimate, and the project was launched on schedule and on budget. The very first submission was approved to the Play Store and the third attempt was approved by the App Store, within a week of the first attempt.

I have a lot of experience launching new apps, so I know it's very unusual to be accepted into the App Store so quickly.

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

Simplex is very flexible, and they accommodated all of my requests. We use Confluence, JIRA, Slack and Zoom.

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

The project manager assigned to my account is very attentive, and I feel that he truly cares about my app's success. He finds and reports bugs on his own, and even researches solutions without being asked.

He's very responsive and even chats with me during the weekend without complaint.

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

I have found and reported a lot of bugs on my own, which I expected since I don't have the budget to hire a QA engineer. If a prospective client is not well equipped to find and report your own bugs, I would suggest you hire a QA resource as well.

I struggle to think of any issues that weren't quickly addressed to my satisfaction.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and CEO of Riv. Riv is a remote app collaboration and hands-free technology for mobile phones. Its a technology allowing teams to communicate and collaborate on any android app.

Riv is also a marketplace for users to reach a human assistant instantly for hands-free operation of their mobile device while in transit. Our technology is for international professionals and teams to maximize mobile productivity when working remote and commuting.

For what projects/services did your company hire Simplex Software?

Simplex was hired to complete two mobile apps and a back-end management software. One mobile app is for team collaboration and reaching a screened human assistant. The second mobile app is for screening and training assistants. The back-end management portal is for managing the marketplace.

What were your goals for this project?

Our initial developer failed to produce stable or reliable code and missed countless deadlines. Simplex was brought on to find and remedy security gaps, complete the project and to allow for scalability and reliability.

How did you select this vendor?

We were highly recommended Simplex as a premier and trustworthy selection for getting out project back on track and ready for Venture Funding.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was underway when we brought Simplex to join the project. They were open to working with our existing team to learn, improve security and improve processes. Simplex brought such professionalism to the project that we ended up handing the entire project to them to complete.

What was the team composition?

We have one android developer and two backend developers as well as a part-time project manager.

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

We are in the process of launching the app internationally in the coming weeks. The project is very complicated, and the initial code created by the other team was a literal mess. They have dealt well with the code they were handed in a professional manner.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet every weekday. We collaborate daily via Slack. They respond to feedback instantly. They are in Argentina, yet this is neither a language nor a timezone issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are great at communicating and truly care about the project. Some vendors just do what they are told. These developers have insightful suggestions and want to see the project succeed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They have been the ideal technology partner.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The world's largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.

For what projects/services did your company hire Simplex Software?

Rapidly scaling our engineering organization with quality people in the US was a massive challenge. We needed to augment mobile development teams for iOS and Android, DevOps, QA and core platform teams to be able to innovate faster while providing 99.99% platform uptime to customers across the globe.

What were your goals for this project?

Scale the engineering organization to be able to work in parallel on features for Android and iOS platforms while enhancing backend systems supporting 4M daily active users in over 150 countries around the world. The application was seeing a lot of success and growing internationally back in 2014, but we weren’t finding local talent in California fast enough to scale the app.

How did you select this vendor?

We evaluated several near-shore firms in Central and South America for their ability to augment our engineering organization for technical proficiency, as well as, business english proficiency and cultural fit. Each firm would embed their developers with our engineering squads for several weeks trial period. Simplex was hands down the best in all categories while offering very competitive rates. Their developers truly felt like a part of our local team.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The initial goal was to migrate the backend from Ruby on Rails to Java, and to extensively test the new backend to be able to support realtime chat and geo-location based matching and search engine. At the time, Grindr was seeing an unreliable uptime, and we needed to scale it to handle the amount of traffic the application was receiving.

The new platform had to support 4M daily active users in over 150 countries. We found Simplex and to get an idea on how they work, started with QA testing over our new Java backend which was not working as we were expecting and needing it to. We started augmenting the test coverage of the existing code, and a QA framework was established with regression/acceptance testing over the API. Initially the backend was on Rails and the migration was done to Java.

The first problem was to increase the back-end API performance and its ability to support high user concurrency so we began using jMeter and Blazemeter for load testing. After some time, the reimplementation was a success, and from there we began filling in our open positions with Simplex in multiple tech stacks, including mobile and backend developers.

In less than 2 years the team at Simplex scaled to more than 30 engineers organized in full stack autonomous teams each of them including QA, Android developers, iOS developers, backend developers, a product owner and project manager. This allowed Grindr to have enough people to work on new features and reduce the technical debt at the same time.

What was the team composition?

The teams were organized into 11 cross-functional, autonomous delivery squads following the Spotify Agile model. Each squad would include QA, Android developers, iOS developers, backend developers, a product owner and agile facilitator. Supporting DevOps squad was also created with each member periodically embedding into delivery squads as needed.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We were able to completely re-platform our back-end while releasing new Android and iOS applications. Our uptime went from 95% to 99.99% while being able to get from 2 releases per quarter to 30 releases per month. In just three years Grindr platform was able to scale from 1M DAU to 4M DAU.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We followed Spotify Agile model and we organized engineering into 11 cross-functional, geographically distributed delivery squads with product owners and agile facilitators running each team. This model allowed us to achieve high product and platform ownership from each team and drive innovation.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to scale and the initiative their engineering team took at all times impressed us. Their developers truly felt like a part of our local team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

During the first year there were times when we asked for several roles at once to be added to the team and it took more time than expected to hire the talent. The quality of the engineers they found largely compensated the wait however, and my more recent experience with their recruiting process has been much more streamlined.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a start-up called Headway, which is a mobile app for “active mindfulness."

What challenge were you trying to address with Simplex Software?

I am a non-technical product manager, previously at Tesla, so I hired Simplex Software to be my technical partner in this.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I provided the designs to Simplex Software and they were in charge of the development side of the project. They developed based on the designs we went through and tweaked some things along the way. This was meant to be an alpha that we sent out to customers to get feedback in the early stages and then hopefully modified a little to sell in the App Store. We chose iOS as the initial platform, but we went with React Native so that it would easily port to Android.

The app is a simple twice-daily survey that has push notifications and SMS reminders. Users are able to customize their surveys, and the app switches between dark and light mode.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a project manager and one developer for the app, and then they had another developer set up the backend.

How did you come to work with Simplex Software?

I did some research and actually looked on Clutch. Between talking to them and a few other vendors, Simplex seemed to be flexible, reasonably priced, and had worked with some reputable companies. It also looked like they did some smaller MVP work.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent about $38,000 with them, but they estimated it to be $27,000 in the beginning.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March–November 2019.

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

I ultimately cut the project off in November when it became apparent they could not get it working consistently. I spent more than $10,000 fixing their work.

The project was meant to serve as an alpha for 100+ initial testers in September. I did not receive a build until late September because they could not figure out the App Store certificate process in order to distribute the app via Test Flight. When I finally received a build in late September, it was a mess. The UI didn’t scale to screen size and had many inconsistent elements, transitions between screens were jumpy, and the survey recording functionality often did not work. The app also crashed regularly. Adding insult to injury, before this build was delivered, they sent a final invoice that amounted to an extra 40% above the estimate for an app that was both late and didn’t work.

To make amends, they offered free bug fixes for these issues, which is sort of standard operating procedure when delivering something that doesn’t work. After three weeks working through ~30% of a 100-item punch list, during which the developer kept introducing new bugs, Simplex approached me to start paying for bug fixes. I balked and told them I would not pay the recent invoice unless they agreed to fix the remaining bugs. They agreed and we continued.  

During this time, I had three different developers review the code base — something I should have done all along—and the verdict was unanimous: the person who coded the app was not only learning React Native, but was learning how to develop software as he went. The UI architecture was a mess, calls were overly complex and copy-pasted across the app, and so on. My brother, who works in UI prototyping, said it was the quality level of something thrown together in a couple of weeks for a meeting. 

After we continued for a few more weeks, it became apparent Simplex could not meet the quality standard I was searching for, and their management wasn’t interested in finding help for their developer who was having so many issues, instead telling me that the project was “no longer profitable for them,” even though this only happened because they mismanaged the project. A more competent developer would’ve moved faster and created far fewer errors, resulting in a profitable project (and a happy customer).

When cutting the project off, I sent an email outlining my frustrations with the poor quality and timeline as the reason I was cutting off the project. Simplex responded admitting that they should have had someone reviewing the developer’s code, but they didn't offer to have a more experienced developer review and/or fix my codebase.

Ultimately, Simplex Software created an app that was 2 months late, 40% over budget, and didn’t actually satisfy the criteria as something to be shipped and tested by hundreds or thousands of people.

How did Simplex Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They were communicative but lacked detail, especially in their invoices. They created agile sprints in JIRA, but they did not correspond to hours on the invoices. The project manager was communicative, but did not do much beyond setting up meetings and the JIRA board (ie did not step in during bug fixes until the very end).

What did you find most impressive about them?

The founder and one of the developers stayed in touch even when we had our disagreements about the billing. They did not flee or go silent as many firms would.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They assigned a developer to my project who didn’t know the framework. He seemed to be pretty new at coding and they did not have anyone overseeing him, so they moved slowly and passed that cost on to me.  

It’s standard best practice to have a senior developer oversee a new developer and do basic troubleshooting and answer technical questions. It was pretty clear none of that was happening, which they later admitted to me in an email as well. There was a bit of a language barrier, so I had trouble knowing if the developer understood what I wanted, which made the bug fixes and troubleshooting pretty difficult.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Conduct a technical interview with the person they’re going to staff for the project. Perform regular code reviews with a trusted, independent friend or advisor. Also, get itemized billing information as it relates to the actual task that they’re working on. Create performance-based incentives for meeting budgets and goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of My Field Audits. We are a SaaS Company that works with clients to manage their operational onsite assessments such as quality assurance and safety audits. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Simplex Software?

We wanted to outsource our technology team because having an in-house team with knowledge on a variety of technologies was not cost-effective for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simplex Software took the time to understand my business. With that information, they put together a team that could manage our technology needs full-time. 

We've had several teams work on this technology, so Simplex Software wasn’t starting from scratch. They did a fantastic job of deciding what aspects of our software we should keep and what we should get rid of. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with quite a few people at Simplex Software. They’ve been flexible with allowing us to expand or shrink the team based on the changing needs of our company. 

How did you come to work with Simplex Software? 

We were working with a consultant to troubleshoot our technology problems and he recommended that we work with Simplex Software. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested at least $500,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in mid-2016. 

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

I can’t attribute our monthly metrics to Simplex Software specifically since there are a variety of factors at play. However, they've delivered the technology we need to reach our financial goals.

How did Simplex Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Simplex Software met our expectations and even surpassed them in some areas. Their communication is excellent, especially for a remote company. We primarily communicate via Slack and over the phone. We’ve built a personal relationship with them through the course of our engagement. Some of the Simplex Software team has come to visit our office in California which has strengthened our trust of them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They worked with us financially. As a startup, we have our ebbs and flows when it comes to funding. They helped us a lot by spreading out payments and creating a system for us to get the work we needed without burdening us financially. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be beneficial for them to have expertise in more niche, up-and-coming technologies such as AI. There’s never been a question they couldn’t find an answer for, but I think more knowledge of newer technologies would help them elevate their business.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Series A, venture-backed startup that is disrupting the market research space. Our company is 35 people strong, 7 of which are on the engineering team. Most of our engineering challenges revolve around collecting, processing and transforming data. I am the co-founder and VP of Engineering.

For what projects/services did your company hire Simplex Software?

We hired Simplex to augment our staff. We worked with Data Engineers, Backend Engineers and Mobile Engineers.

What were your goals for this project?

To increase the amount of new features the engineering team could deliver.

How did you select this vendor?

We originally were referred by a fellow technology leader after trying a few other firms with mixed results. We started with an initial engagement of 2 engineers and once that was successful, we increased our partnership.

Describe the project in detail.

The mobile engineer was responsible for helping us build our Android SDK. The SDK is a data collection SDK that runs in the background and must be very reliable, privacy-sensitive and performant, at scale. The SDK runs on 2MM+ devices. The engineer’s work included improving the SDK API, researching new APIs and approaches and built new data collection features. The Data Engineers and Backend engineers worked in both Ruby on Rails, Python, AWS and Spark. They built our client dashboard which is used by some of the biggest food service brands in the world as well as our survey UI that collects 10’s of thousands of survey responses a month. They also built features on our API service which handles 10K requests/minute. On the Data Engineering front, they created Apache Spark processing scripts for our data pipeline that handles 2 TB/daily. They worked extensively with a variety of AWS services including S3, Redshift and EMR. They worked heavily on our automated surveying pipeline which creates thousands of surveys a day. On the infrastructure front, they helped dockerize our Rails services for our local environments.

What was the team composition?

Currently, we have 3 mobile engineers. 1 of which is from Simplex. Our Data Engineering team is 4 people, 2 of which are from Simplex.

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

The Simplex team was embedded within our engineering team (vs being separate) and thus the successful outcomes belong to the team rather than any individual.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Overall very smooth. Their engineers are embedded within our teams so they are treated as the same for most purposes. They did well in adopting our standards and practices, and even contributed to improving them. The time change of 4/5 hours is the biggest obstacle, but not as big of an obstacle as working with some other timezones. But the engineers are adept at making sure the time change doesn’t block them on work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

How committed they are to making sure that the engagement is a mutually beneficial one. For example, they really value having constant communication between myself and their leadership. They want you to surface potential issues quickly so they can help bridge the gap. They invest in their engineers whether it is a hard skill or a soft skill. It genuinely feels like a partnership.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at this time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of OpenJaunt. We formed in January 2019, working in the travel space. Our main offering is a platform and mobile app that allows people to create and share their travel stories to their communities. We integrated e-commerce and marketing opportunities for destinations and hotels into the platform as well.

What challenge were you trying to address with Simplex Software?

We look to them as our go-to technology experts with the ability to build scalable systems and develop mobile solutions with high-quality, thoughtful craftmanship.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged Simplex Software to work on two projects with us. The first is our mobile app that lives in the iOS and Android stores. The mobile app development consists of essentially a team of develops that focus on the app and APIs. We provided wireframes and designs for them to work with, but their dev house provides the developers, project management, infrastructure, and software development needed to support their ability to deliver. The products were created using React Native and Node.js, and Firebase. We deploy AWS Lambdas on the backend of our site.

The second project involves more data engineering and science. They’ve been tasked with big data analysis and extracting content that is applicable to our platform.

The final app takes the traveler through various recommendations for activities they can partake in during their travels all over the world. It also allows users to employ their camera roll to share past experiences with an interested community of family, friends, and like-minded travelers.

What is the team composition?

We collaborated with a project manager and four developers. One of the developers was a technical lead.

How did you come to work with Simplex Software?

Our team has used Simplex Software in the past, and we’ve had several great experiences. They have experience working with a large project scope with massively complicated distributed systems. This makes them an asset for cross-site development and general project structure. 

Secondly, in our experience, they were able to integrate well with our team. It had never felt like we were throwing our work offshore because they acted like true partners. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in January 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

Their ability to release products and features rapidly is impressive, and often one of the hardest parts of the business. I challenged them to be able to ship out new features each week, and they achieved that. This became a huge differentiator for us within the market. We were able to integrate new functionalities quickly, making the product better each week. 

How did Simplex Software perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was solid. It can be a pain to work with an offshore partner because communication is inherently more challenging without time or effort being wasted. Simplex is successful with the offshore model due to their ability to communicate. They have all the project management resources they need in day-to-day development to get ahead and properly monitor the workflows.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s rare for vendors to have experience building systems that are used by millions of active users. Most potential partners have built products and services that are used by thousands. They’ve created systems with much more bandwidth than that. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m struggling to think of any reasonable criticism for them. There’s a five-hour time zone difference, so overlap can be an issue. But, other than that, the partnership has worked well.