EL Passion

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CPO of a cybersecurity SaaS platform. We’re an early-stage startup; our platform helps our clients manage cybersecurity roadmaps and executes them so they can secure themselves for more business.

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We used EL Passion for design and software development resources for a web application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired EL Passion for two services. The first one was UX/UI design. We worked with Patrycja (Product Designer), who effectively helped us design the first two minor versions of the products. We initially gave her the scope, and then she went to do the mock-ups in Figma. We had a back and forth to provide feedback until we got the version to sign off on.

The second service was frontend design. Julia (Software Developer) took the designs that we did with Patrycja and implemented them in our frontend technology. She also migrated our frontend stack to a more modern technology stack. One of the deliverables she handed over to us was a new frontend version of our platform.

They used Figma for the design. We originally were on Create React App, but we migrated to Next.js, which is also a React stack. Additionally, they advised that we move away from our design framework to Tailwind CSS and custom components.

What is the team composition?

Patrycja and Julia were full-time staff, and they had a manager working with them who only spent a couple of hours a week on our project. We also had a project manager working full-time.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

We found them via Dribbble and partnered with them because their content was good. We also looked at their Clutch reviews. My first point of contact was Piotr (Project Leader), and from day one, they were very professional, flexible, and quick to respond and act. With other designers, we had to follow up with them, and they weren’t as flexible or quick to respond.

What is the status of this engagement?

The kick-off was in December 2021, and the project ended in March 2022.

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

We managed to design and release a beta version of the product, which we now have used to start onboarding customers. In summary, EL Passion got us a platform that we could actually sell to customers, which is a big success.

Moreover, the quality of the work was incredibly great. They were very thorough, and the team did their due diligence, including a lot of extra research to make sure they were doing the right thing. There wasn’t anything to complain about their technical capability; it was excellent. In that sense, we haven’t experienced any issues with the platform.

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

To be fair, it wasn’t a scoped project, as we brought them in as part-time members of our team. However, the project management was great in general. The only bottlenecks and hurdles that they experienced were from our end. Quite often, they waited on us to hand over the work. EL Passion’s team was very communicative, even when they had hurdles on stuff we needed to work on. Also, they made it easy for us to keep track of the project, follow up, and implement it. Everything was delivered on time and within budget.

We used GitHub for project management and had a separate Microsoft Teams channel to post questions. Also, we had a weekly catch-up meeting with different members of their team to make sure we were all aligned and going in the right direction.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really enjoyed how easy they made the whole process. Both Patrycja and Julia took ownership of what they were working on — they understood what we were building and used their judgment to go ahead. We didn’t need to micromanage them; we could hand them the project and know they’d work towards our goal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There wasn’t anything to improve on; they handled the engagement well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them the flexibility to make important decisions. For example, we weren’t experts in frontend development or design, so instead of imposing a standard of how we wanted things to be done, we let them set the tools they wanted to use. It set us up well.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO and founder of a recruitment platform built to disrupt traditional tech recruitment. Our platform helps companies hire better and faster, without compromising quality.

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

We hired EL Passion to help us build our product (web application) from scratch. We had been testing a simple MVP in the market for over one year when we started the collaboration and had very specific goals that we wanted to achieve. We hired EL Passion to do both UI/UX design and front-end+back-end development.

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

We got EL passion referred from a partner in Norway that had good previous experience working with them. We started out with a smaller website re-design project, and based on the positive experience we got from that project, we decided to partner up with them for our big project. We checked other vendors in the market, but no one was able to convince us to switch.

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

We started out with a product workshop in 2020 where we discussed the business, our goals, the research, and mapped out the scope of work that needed to be then.

After that, we started a 4 month UI/UX design phase where the goal was to deliver wireframes and UI designs for all web application screens. After UI/UX design was finished, we got a team of four developers (2x front-end and 2x back-end) that was going to take the product from design to production.

We had a dedicated team of devs that built the platform from scratch over the next 8 months. We ended up building the product with Javascript, React.js and Node.js. The goal was to deliver a production-ready web application with mobile screens (responsive) before the end of 2021.

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

We had one account manager, one project manager, one senior UI/UX designer (4 months), one senior front-end, one mid-level front-end, one mid-level back-end, and one senior back-end (8 months).

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

The product has just been launched and we have not been able to measure quantitative data yet. On the other hand, we have managed to gather a lot of positive qualitative data from the users. They are reporting a much better interface and a better user experience. Internally, we've also received a lot of good feedback and the product has proven to be very successful so far.

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

During the design phase (4 months), we had weekly stand-ups with the designer and the project manager. We were actively using Trello for planning tasks and communicating async. We also collaborated async in Figma which made it very easy for me as a product owner to provide instant feedback.

During the development phase (8 months), we started out with weekly stand-ups to report on the status and to demo new features. After a period of time, we moved over to only meeting bi-weekly for demos as the team was already very involved and there were not a lot of things that needed clarification or elaboration.

In addition, I've also had close contact with our account manager and he has been supporting me with everything needed outside of the bi-weekly stand-ups. We've been collaborating in Jira and it has been easy for me to take an active role in the project.

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

EL Passion was very focused on client success and making sure that we were happy at all times. They are accommodating and flexible if needed, and will do everything it takes to create a positive outcome.

I also value the fact that their software developers and designers are product-minded and personally involved in the projects. They just don't do as they are told but come with ideas, suggestions, and improved solutions.

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

In general, I'm very happy with the collaboration. We've been working with them for a long period of time and on a big project. There are always things that can be improved when you look back but the total outcome is very positive and I'm surprised how seamless the collaboration has been. I was expecting a lot more frustrations, delays, budget increases, and so on, but that has not been the case with EL Passion.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product manager at TenantBase. We are an online marketplace to connect businesses with brokers and help businesses lease/buy commercial real estate.

For what projects/services did your company hire EL Passion?

We had previously created profile pages without the help of a designer. It was time to give these pages a redesign as we have plans to deeply integrate them into the rest of our platform now. We hired El Passion to take our ideas from wireframe concepts to a professional and polished web design.

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

We have used El Passion in the past for other projects and have had a good experience working with them.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We started with a kickoff meeting explaining the project - including the opportunity, wireframes, and inspirations for our intended designs. After the initial kickoff meeting, our designer, Mateusz, spent time researching concepts and learning about our business goals. It's worth mentioning that at this point, our company had also just completed a brand refresh and I handed him the new brand guidelines a few days after we started the project. He was able to quickly adapt and make all of the proposed designs match our new guidelines.

Together with his hard work, this made the pages really stand out and look very professional. About every other day we would meet to review and give feedback on the latest iterations. Mateusz was very proactive in providing suggestions and his own design opinion for these concepts, most of which were adopted in the final versions. The project went so smoothly that we finished our scope of work ahead of time, and we were even able to address other small items that were really nice to have as assets to consider using in the future.

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

We worked with two people, a project manager and a designer.

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

We have not implemented these designs yet, but we are excited to do so. Their documentation is very thorough and I expect it to be very smooth handing this over to our development team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager Arek was easy to communicate with and set expectations well. We all had virtual calls and communicated through Slack often. Overall this worked well and there were no communication issues.

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

We were very pleased with the suggestions and proactiveness from our designer. He took our wireframes and transformed them into pages that we're very proud of and I think they will have a tremendous impact on our business once implemented.

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

I have no critiques, I'm very happy with how this project turned out.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and co-founder of MindMatch, a teaching and learning platform. We match students with teachers who conduct tutoring sessions, depending on the student's learning preferences.

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We needed their team to develop and design our MVP, which was a web-based learning platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We launched our business at the height of the pandemic last 2020. It also served as our response to the situation, since students had no choice but to stay indoors and cancel their face-to-face classes. However, our internal team didn't have the ability to create our MVP, so we needed EL Passion's team to bring our ideas to life.

We started by designing a prototype for our MVP based on our combined ideas. We then had a two-day workshop with EL Passion to plan the user personas and the flow of our platform. Upon wrapping up the conceptualization phase, we decided to proceed with the development of our MVP: a web-based app that suggests a tutor based on the preferences of parents for their children while keeping their information confidential. Additionally, EL Passion integrated a feature that allowed parents to rate the performance of a tutor after each session.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about six resources from EL Passion from the conceptualization to the implementation phase.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

EL Passion was referred to me by a colleague. We liked their proposal, which included a detailed report of cost and timeline projection, so we were happy to hire their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The workshop ran from October–November 2020, while the design and implementation stages ran from January–April 2021. We're still doing maintenance and bug fixes, but our product is live as of writing.

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

EL Passion created a well-designed and user-friendly platform for us. They listened to our preferences and ideas, so our collaboration resulted in a web app that works seamlessly. Our involvement in the initial phases of the project also helped us come up with an MVP that we truly like, so not a lot of adjustments were made before the product launch.

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack to communicate, while Figma and Jira were our main project management tools. EL Passion was always on time during our meetings, and they always imparted productive ideas that furthered the development of our MVP. I particularly liked how they made an effort to educate us on matters concerning our product and what it took to develop it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

EL Passion had the capacity to identify our needs and bring their expertise to the table to help us achieve those. They were a flexible and knowledgeable team, and we had a pleasurable collaborative working experience with their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were certainly no areas that needed improvement. EL Passion showed us utter expertise and professionalism from the get-go.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be open to communicating your ideas with EL Passion, and give them the freedom to share theirs as well. Treating them as a partner and not just a vendor will also help you make the most of the engagement.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a product owner at newonce - an urban culture powerhouse from Poland that represents and celebrates youth culture. Not only does newonce inform and educate with content stream it puts out, but also, and maybe even more importantly, it has meaningful discussions and relations with its community.

Reaching millions (vast majority being Gen Z & Y) on social media and having its content consumed by over a million users a month on digital platforms (newonce & newonce.sport) it co-creates a modern, urban universe.

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

Our goal was to bring together all completely separate newonce services into one coherent product, and transform it into a seamless and engaging experience for all types of content newonce offers. We hired El Passion to do exactly that - from UX&UI design to custom software development.

How did you select EL Passion and what were the deciding factors?

We found them through thorough market research. It came down to 5 vendors that we've had meetings with. At the end something clicked with El Passion and after workshops we decided to go along with our partnership.

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

The scope of work included:

1. discovery workshop,
2. key unknown huge features research,
3. ux/ui testing,
4. ux/ui design,
5. custom software development - building a connected ecosystem of two media outlets (backoffice, user data base),
6. quite a few api integrations (radio stream provider, podcast hub),
7. crazy content migration (over 8000 articles from previous sites),
8. data scraping (over 16 million music records from external database)
9. and content sync automations resulting in parts of the platform building itself, giving more room to content creators to focus on what’s more important, which is to create.

As for technologies, this was/is our stack: Client app: 1 Next.js 2 React + Typescript 3 SWR + axios 4 CSS modules 5 Jest + React Testing Library 6 Storybook 8 TWA for Android, React Native for iOS Mobile apps are hybrid apps, where content is viewed as webview. Stack backoffice front: 1 React + Typescript 2 React-admin 3 Material-UI Stack backend: 1 Ruby 2 Ruby on Rails UX/UI: 1 Figma

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

There were 9 people in the core team: 1 UX Designer 2 UI Designers 2 Front-end developers 2 Back-end developers 1 Project Facilitator 1 Product Owner - me

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

We launched both platforms on time and succeeded in having our apps installed on over 180 000 devices in 6 months after the release. We decided to keep working with El Passion on future features and develop our apps together.

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

We worked with scrum - 2 weeks sprints - with sprint refinements, groomings, plannings, demos, retrospectives. Our communication tools included: Slack, Linear, Notion.

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

The team was super agile. In the times of coronavirus we had to change scope, stop working for some time and then get back to it - and we've managed to adapt super quickly.

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

The quality of work was great, but there is always room for improvement. I think the communication between UX/UI designers and the development team could be a bit better and it would save us some time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CTO at Tooler AS / Sharefox based in Oslo, Norway. We provide the Sharefox ecommerce platform focused on rental business models to customers accross sectors (sport equipment, industrial equipment, etc.). I am responsible for product & infrastructure development & delivery

For what projects/services did your company hire EL Passion?

We had to redesign our Admin Orders module which is used by our customers on a daily basis. Previously it was in the MVP stage with minimal design and functionality. We had to step it up with latest design, improved features and to include feedback from our customers.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a clean and professional design combined with adding key important features based on our customer feedback.

How did you select EL Passion?

We were impressed by the quality of their work from the first interaction - a simple advertising in an email newsletter with links to their case studies - and through every step of selecting them as a supplier.

We saw they had what it needs to deliver design for an SaaS service.

Describe the project in detail.

The process was very professional. We had perhaps 1-2 discovery calls, information architecture discussions, UX & UI cleanup sessions, styling recommendations & component design which touched beyond our Orders module, as a starting point.

We then proceeded with wireframing & designing the new functionality that had to be embeded in the next version of our Order module. After a few customer feedback sessions, we refined design again.

What was the team composition?

We had a dedicated designer, Jakub, who took the lead for the whole process. The sales representative / account manager, Tomasz, was overseing the entire project, with touch points at the right time.

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

It is a bit too early to have metrics showing results of the project. However, all customer feedback was very positive, both from existing customers and during sales discussions or demos.

Some of the features designed together were required for new sales instances, so that was a success.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. Perfect flow from scheduling, communcation, managing expectations point of view. We used mainly Slack for work delivery communication, frequent presentation & feedback calls, email eg. for scheduling topics, all with right tempo.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Two things really: The way of working and the quality of the product delivered. It was an efficient and pleasant collaboration, from the first point of sales to product delivery.

Design was awesome and designer was very knowledgeable. I was amazed at his ability to handle high product complexity while still delivering beautiful design.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I am sure we could find tiny improvements here and there, but nothing that stands out, and the overall project was just great.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of one of the largest Nordic startup job boards. We specialize in supporting early stage growth companies with various challenges including hiring, fundraising, and finding their first customer.

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We had some difficulties on the platform. We received feedback that it wasn’t intuitive and, as a result, we had a high bounce rate. People were starting to post jobs but weren’t able to complete the posting because of UI/UX issues. On top of that, we had pretty outdated branding especially with our landing page.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us transform the entire user flow on the website to make is easier to list a job and checkout. They use React Native, React, and JavaScript to develop the platform as well.

They also completely redesigned the home page of the platform, and provided us with a new logo, additional assets, and new fonts. We had a lot of ideas, and although they followed our instructions to some extent, we let the use their creative freedom to expand on our ideas.

We started with a scoping session where I flew down to Poland. We did a 2-day workshop with the team to map out all the requirements and make sure everyone was aligned on our goals, our mission, and what we were trying to solve.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2-3 developers including front- and backend, two UX designers, and their creative director.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

I was considering hiring a single person to take care of all of this but I realized that I had some very difficult design requirements. I figured I’d try an agency instead. I met about 15 different companies from five different nations over a two-month period.

Their CEO made a really good impression on me. We had a very good meeting and their presentation was better than all the others. I had a very good understanding of their design skills based on their Behance and Dribbble profiles.

Compared to the other companies I considered, they seemed way more professional and top quality. I also spoke to a few of their clients that have used them in the past. It seems like everyone was super happy with the outcome. They’re not the cheapest but you don’t get high quality for the lowest buck either.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €35,000 (approximately $42,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January-February 2020. We’re still paying for their services. It’s not to the same extent since they completed the first project. The work is ongoing though.

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

They completely transformed the way jobs are published on the platform. As a result, we’ve seen a 45% increase in the amount of jobs published on the platform. The platform is up-to-date and features all the new services we’ve introduced over the last three years. Everything is clear on the website now. We’ve done a survey and our users think the new design is more user-friendly.

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

They set very realistic deadlines and were able to meet them. The scoping session was set up in a way to make sure every single detail was covered and we would have a very accurate estimation.

We use Jira to plan, estimate, and execute sprints and Slack. We also have Figma and Zeplin to collaborate in real time.

On top of that, they had to handle working remotely during a global pandemic and they managed that process very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They see the bigger picture and really want the solution to succeed.  They take their time to consider client requests and ask questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Participate in a scoping session. They have a format that they propose for every new client regardless of the size of the project. It’s completely up to the client if that’s something they want to do. I recommend doing it because they’ll include tons of different people from the company to ensure that more people are up to speed with regards to the project. It’s easier for them to swap people around.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the mobile product manager of mobile apps for Polaroid, the camera and film company.

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We plan to launch a new camera that connects to an app via Bluetooth, so we brought on EL Passion for mobile app development support.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re developing native apps on iOS and Android, and the main technologies are Swift on the iOS side and Copeland on the Android side.

They delivered an app for one of our cameras and app functionality for a printing device that allows users to print directly from their smartphone.

The last few months, we also worked on an app for a digital printer. This app was developed by another EL Passion team for iOS and Android. Users can send pictures from their iPhones directly to the printer via Bluetooth.

We’re continuously developing new features and doing maintenance to keep the apps up and running.

What is the team composition?

On the iOS side, there was one senior developer and one mid-level developer. On the Android side, there were two junior developers, two senior developers, and one mid-level developer.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

EL Passion was brought on before I was, but I know that their competitive price and their portfolio were the primary factors. They’re also located in Warsaw and our management has a lot of connections in Poland. So, I think they were recommended to our CEO.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $150,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018 and we continue to work together.

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

We’re looking at user engagement and user satisfaction in the app store. We’re tracking recurring use and how many people are using the apps to take pictures on their hardware devices.

How did EL Passion perform from a project management standpoint?

We work remotely with them and use agile methodologies. As a project manager, I have daily interactions with the whole team to clarify and discuss user stories and the backlog. I also communicate with the project management and scrum master, so communication takes place on multiple levels.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The developers are knowledgeable, talented, and committed to the project’s success. It doesn’t feel like a client-vendor relationship; it feels like a partnership. Working with them feels like working with a colleague. They go the extra mile to ensure that deadlines and quality standards are met. They’re also very proactive. For example, they flag issues that even I haven’t been able to deal with. As a result, we have a very strong partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re missing a QA department. Usually, we have to take care of testing internally or we need to hire a mobile app tester. However, I know that’s not part of their core services, and they’ve been very transparent about that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them with respect. I also try to give them more context on what is happening inside the company so they understand how the project fits in with company goals. We brought them into strategy sessions and into meetings with customer support to give them a better perspective of what our goals are. In my experience, that added more dimension to the collaboration. It helped them feel like they were part of my team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company stands behind the range of behavioural analysis tools for enterprises. It started with the original behavioural methodology that I developed based on existing theories. In the portfolio, there are various tools adjusted to the needs of the clients, accessible via web, iOS and Android apps. I’m the CEO of the company.

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

I contacted EL Passion because initially, I needed help with the development and design of a new web app for the tool that had been working online since 1999 the first version of the tool that existed as a desktop app.

During the years of our cooperation, EL Passion was developing new features and tools. They’ve developed both the main application together with the engine behind our tools and another simplified-interface web app for end-users as well as they’ve created iOS and Android apps. We still continue the cooperation.

How did you select EL Passion and what were the deciding factors?

Cost, immediate communication and feeling that they are willing to understand my needs.

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

During the years of cooperation with EL Passion, we developed various features and tools. One of the main milestones was the design and development of the web app that enabled us to move away from the olddesktop app that we were using before.

EL Passion also conducted complex data migration from the old system to the web app that helped the business tremendously. Moreover, EL Passion designed and developed mobile apps for iOS and Android.

The apps include simplified functionality of web app enabling users to take tests and view reports. During the project, we also developed an API that enables third-party companies to create their own interfaces and apps using our app’s engine and methodology.

It was a very important part of the project and enabled me to grow the business. EL Passion also constantly works on improving and updating the code, so the app is easier to maintain. It also enables us to still develop new features after years since the start.

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

The team was changing throughout the years and varied from 2 to 6 team members. Depending on the needs in the team there were frontend and backend developers, iOS and Android developers and UX&UI designers.

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

The team achieved the goals of the initial project and delivered web and mobile apps as well as migrated the data from the old solution to the web app. During our cooperation, EL Passion delivered new features and tests further expanding the product.

Over the years the product was translated into 80 languages and extends to all continents and close to 100 countries. During the cooperation with EL Passion and thanks to their input to the product, it became the top 5 product in the field.

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

El Passion always has had one person in charge of the project, but at the same allowed us to be highly integrated in the management of the project. Communication is daily both via skype, project management software and email. It has been very easy to build rapport with new programmers joining the project.

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

The best thing about my cooperation with EL Passion is that whatever my need is they can quickly help me out. Whenever I have some design to do or new features to add the team is ready to help it and I really appreciate it.

It’s a one-stop for my design and development needs and I don’t need to worry about it. It speeds up the process and benefits my business goals. Moreover, they manage to deliver great quality with very complex products like mine.

After years of cooperation, the initial code of the app is updated and being constantly developed.

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

I’m really happy with the cooperation that was smooth throughout the year. It’s hard to come up with some bad experiences. Success in projects like this is not dependent on the vendor, but also we do carry responsibility of it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of the company developing a SaaS application.

What challenge were you trying to address with EL Passion?

We were looking for them to do the UX design for the first iteration of our enterprise web application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

EL Passion was supposed to deliver the MVP UX design of an enterprise web app, but ultimately they failed to deliver. We expected to receive a design product that we could share with prospective customers, but ultimately had to move to a different firm.  We suffered a serious setback and lost a lot of credibility with prospective customers we’d spent months cultivating due to the issues with El Passion. 

We fully committed to the project from the outset, conducted a full week-long kick-off session with them, and devoted heavy executive resources, but, after a full month of two and a half designers and a PM working on the project, there was no usable output.

What is the team dynamic?

They had a PM, a lead UX designer, along with a mid-tier UX designer, whose competency was drastically overstated. There was also a more graphics-oriented UI designer who was supposed to come in and turn low-fidelity designs into high-fidelity ones.

How did you come to work with EL Passion?

We heavily relied on Clutch to find them. They had five-star reviews, and very visually-appealing case studies of UIs they’d posted on Dribbble.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them in 2019.

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

As far as the work goes, it was appallingly low. They oversold the team and the firm, and then seriously under delivered. In terms of delivering initial work, they delivered nothing acceptable. They burned a lot of hours and churned out many iterations, but there was ultimately zero useable work product.   

My partner and I both have deep experience building and launching software products. The team simply wasn’t good, and I don’t think that they were capable of comprehending that they weren’t.  They’re really more graphic designers than UX people.  They post a lot of visually appealing designs on Dribbble, but when it comes to fundamental UX, they don’t have a clue.  Based on our experience, I don’t think they’ve ever worked on complex products before (beyond the standard fare of e-commerce and basic fin-tech).  The result is a pretty serious lack of self-awareness that didn’t fare well when confronted with criticism. 

EL Passion got defensive when we gave them feedback, but the whole reason for working with a firm is that they should have a resolution path, including staffing changes. The project manager should be able to deal with something like this, and, if they can’t, whoever’s running the shop should.  It may also be that they just don’t have the talent.

Working with El Passion was a truly bad experience, and it really had a detrimental impact on our business. We had customers that we’d promised to show the product to, and we had to basically start over. It put us out by 3–4 months behind and broke every timeline and commitment we’d made to potential customers. 

Our engagement with El Passion had a devastating impact on us as a startup. 

How was project management handled?

We had an intensive 1-week kick-off session.  Then, they used Slack, and we had regular design calls. We had rapid-iteration design sprints using various screen-sharing platforms — everything you’d expect, just without a good outcome.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

EL Passion followed the form of how a design engagement should be approached. They followed many best practices, but I don’t think they fully understood them. At some point, their efforts seemed academic or theoretical.

Their lead designer had some talent, but was probably oversold and ultimately out of his depth on a project like ours.  The lead designer was really undermined by his PM and junior designer and El Passion’s scheduling regime.

In what specific areas can they improve?

El Passion’s ultimate failure was at a management level. Failure of technical team members happens all the time, and we just swap people and find the right fit. But that requires a management team that is client-focused and self-aware, which El Passion certainly is not. The management team, both at the project management and CEO level, fundamentally lacked the self-awareness to recognize that there was a problem.  They were incapable of taking client feedback and doing something with it. 

The other problem is that, in addition to overbilling/hyping the resource they have, they sell their resources out so tightly that there were no options when team members didn’t work out.  El Passion management mentality is that this is the client’s problem: if we didn’t like the team (that we’d given a chance but didn’t deliver), we could wait three months.  They’re trying to have 100% of their staff on projects 100% of the time, but it leaves them zero margin for error while still keeping clients happy.  

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

First, realize El Passion is really only focused on El Passion.  It’s a very self-absorbed culture.  If you happen to have a project that is in their sweet spot and they can reflexively churn it out, you might be ok.  Or if you’re a big enterprise customer that is going to spend hundreds of thousands per year with them, they may work with you.  But our experience as a start-up working with them was that if something goes wrong, there’s zero recourse. The management team has zero client focus and did nothing to back us up. That’s a real risk with this team. 

Second, don’t rely on their representations of team quality, or that they have a firm standard of quality.  Test your ACTUAL team members before they start the project. El Passion has real quality and staffing issues, and they try to pass of C-level players as A-levels.  Even though they have strong reviews, every team member needs to be put through design challenges and be made to demonstrate their skill, especially the mid-tier (but actually very junior) ones.

Third, realize that El Passion is a team that only performs well on cookie-cutter projects or low-sophistication, thick wallet clients.  If your project is complex or outside the mold, and you’re looking for quality and value, steer clear of El Passion.  

Fourth, assume that El Passion is WAY overpriced.  If you’re focused on Poland (I’d look outside Poland), there are better shops with better talent for less.  Start by getting out of Warsaw.

Lastly, take caution in relying on Clutch reviews.  El Passion had 31 reviews with an average rating of 4.9 stars equates to a heavily-reviewed firm on Clutch. There aren’t that many firms out there with as many reviews, especially with that high of a rating.  Not enough of the negative experiences make their way into the Clutch reviews.  It really undermines the credibility of the Clutch platform when you don’t get a realistic perspective on how these firms are really performing.