Steelkiwi

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a fintech startup based in the UAE. We’re focused on an Eastern social savings concept. The product we aim to create will provide digital savings groups and peer-to-peer money transfer functionalities. I’m a co-founder of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We used them as our main provider for the development of the mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We created a scope detailing what we wanted the app to look like and what features we needed to add. They broke down our scope into requirements during a one-week scoping exercise. We didn’t see the point of that; we thought that most of it was already done.

Steelkiwi gave us an analysis of what technologies they recommended using on the front- and backends. They specialize in Flutter, and they convinced us to use that on the frontend, along with Django Python on the backend, AWS servers, and Twilio for SMS OTP (one time password) or mobile verification.

What is the team composition?

According to what we understood, the project would have two backend engineers, two frontend engineers, one UI/UX designer, one QA tester, and a DevOps engineer.

We were introduced to the team members. They were changed mid-project, something we weren’t happy with.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We saw their reviews on Clutch. The person in charge of their sales put in a lot of time and energy before we even signed with them, which we found quite impressive. That’s what led us to actually sign with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project went above budget from $50,000 to $55,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in April 2020. They needed a couple of weeks to assemble the team, after which we started the scoping exercise. The project was supposed to end in late-August, but we ended in late-November 2020.

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

We needed to make sure that the app would work, and we went through a lot of challenges. The app relied on an integration with an open banking API from a third-party in the Middle East, and Steelkiwi had lots of trouble integrating it. There were a lot of issues in terms of allocating the correct resources to help with that integration. That was our biggest qualm with them.

In terms of the proficiency of the tech team, the backend code was well-structured, according to our CTO. It was clearly done by an experienced backend developer. The frontend developer was unfortunately a bit junior, and we had to restructure the whole frontend code after we stopped using Steelkiwi.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager was a nice guy, and we really enjoyed working with him, but the communication wasn’t up to our standards. We didn’t know what was happening, and we had to nag them a lot to get information. There were a lot of missed deadlines, and the communication and project management could’ve been better.

One of the reasons we initially chose them is that they worked in an agile methodology, whereby we’d have sprints and target results for each sprint. According to what we experienced, there was only one sprint, and things became very blurry after that. We didn’t know which sprint we were on and what the next deliverable was.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The start of our engagement with them was the most impressive thing, in comparison to other tech vendors. Steelkiwi put in quite a lot of effort at the start, especially their sales team. We felt that they were going to be dedicated and passionate about the project, and they were flexible in working with our budget. However, things changed after a few months.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I knew that they had really good developers, but I was disappointed to hear that the frontend code wasn’t structured properly or as well as the backend code was. I can’t deny that Steelkiwi’s team worked very hard, though.

Another issue was resource allocation. After a few months, when things were getting very slow, we realized that we only had one frontend and one backend developer. When we started, we had a whole team. There was clearly something wrong with the resource allocation. We realized that they’d shifted some of our developers to other projects, which caused us wasted time and expenditure. They kept delaying, from September to late-November. That cost us a lot financially.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It depends on the client. For a large company with a large budget that already has an app or website running and needs to add on to those, I’d definitely recommend them. I’d recommend Steelkiwi to someone that already has an internal team and just needs more support.

If the client is a startup and fully reliant on them, I wouldn’t suggest going ahead with Steelkiwi unless they have an appropriate budget. In our case, $55,000 was not cheap at all, and what we got for it wasn’t good value for money, especially in the later stages.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager and marketing manager at a startup. We’re a travel guide company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed to build our product. It had a lot of data that needed to be translated into many languages, so it was important that our database was well organized.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi built the backend of our mobile and web app. Their team was also involved in frontend development. They used JavaScript and AWS for the backend, which their team built to enable us to easily add data to it. After we launched the app, we continued working together on additional features.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with one backend developer, one project manager, and one frontend developer.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

My CEO and manager hired Steelkiwi.

How much have you invested with them?

We hired them full-time for a year and probably spent $5,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in the summer of 2019, and we launched the mobile app in March 2020. We continued working together until September 2020 to add features.

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

Although the frontend wasn’t good, the backend was great. Steelkiwi assigned a good backend developer to our project. We were able to translate the database quickly because the architecture was great.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

I was the project manager, and Steekiwi was responsive. Their team acted like our employees, so it was easy to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their backend development was great because their backend developer was skillful. Steelkiwi developed great software.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their project management skills.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend them if you already have a project manager and clear end goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a COVID-19 platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed a trustworthy partner to develop our web platform for a good price.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi developed our web platform. It works natively on all browsers. There’s an admin page as well as a control panel for the clients. We or the client are able to create queues, and then QR codes for these queues, then put in the code in public places where people can queue virtually rather than standing in line physically. 

There’s also an interface for whoever is managing the queue. Rather than standing up and ensuring people are separate from each other, all they need to do is press a button on the page from the interface to call the next patient. 

The frontend was AJAX. The backend is hosted with AWS and we use Django.

What is the team composition?

There were 6-8 people including a project manager, backend, graphics, and QA.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We inquired about different companies I found on Google and Clutch. They came up as the best value for money for the type of solution we wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $30,000-$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from October 2019-March 2020.

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

We like their approach. Steelkiwi was flexible and they accommodated our timing. The account manager was really amazing, engaging, and understood our requirements. He was able to pull together the right team and start the project fairly quickly. They continued the journey at a good pace and to our satisfaction.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

We had some issues with our initial project manager and had to change. The next project manager was great. The project management was 4 out of 5.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re always available. They listen and they respond fairly quickly. We like their engagement style.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re satisfied. We can trust them. They deliver whatever it is we need.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare for a good journey with Steelkiwi. Ask for Igor (Account Manager).

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and operations for a startup. We’re creating a home restaurant platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed help building our platform. We wanted a single platform with two different interfaces depending on the user’s profile.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi’s helping us build and launch iOS, Android, and web apps. It has to be a two-way application, meaning it’s not only for customers but also home restaurant owners.

There was a discovery stage that took us about three weeks. As a result, they delivered the scope of work and then moved into the wireframing stage. They helped us with wireframing and designing the user journeys and UI. Their team then moved onto building the whole backend, which they’ll ultimately transfer to us. They built the backend architecture and are now working on frontend development.  

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with six people from Steelkiwi including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We used Clutch to find Steelkiwi. When we started the project, I lived in Europe and wasn’t sure about the quality of different development companies. I needed a point of reference and Clutch helped with that.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $150,000–$200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since about June 2020.

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

It’s easy to work with Steelkiwi. It’s fairly normal for there to be tension at the beginning of projects. However, it’s been smooth with them. They’re great at managing stakeholders, clients, and expectations. In terms of the deliverables, so far so good.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re working with Jira and Confluence. There are daily scrum meetings conducted remotely too. Their team follows an Agile methodology, which makes them flexible. Even when we change the scope, the conversations are easy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Steelkiwi listens to us. When we meet with them, they essentially capture everything we tell them. Their team tries to comprehend and incorporate our ideas into either the scope or the sprint. They’re attentive. The value for money proposition with Steelwiki is one of the best in the market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m based in Quebec, which is a francophone province. Part of our team speaks French, so it would be great if they had a French-speaking team member.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Steelkiwi is budget sensitive but also concerned about value. That’s important for startups.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a creative director / project manager at Uhsome LLC. The company provides various IT services with production offices in USA and Europe.

For what projects/services did your company hire Steelkiwi?

We had a project with the original idea that was never implemented before, and we needed a solid and experienced team to develop it into a mobile app. It was a math puzzle game similar to Scrabble.

What were your goals for this project?

We started with simply creating a playable board, and moved on to bots, complex play availability calculations, scoreboards, rewards system, ... The main goal was to grow user base to a point where we can start monetizing on it.

How did you select this vendor?

We've searched online for app development businesses. Shortlisted three, and had a few online meetings with each of them. Steel Kiwi turned out to be a perfect match.

Describe the project in detail.

We handed over the design files and the initial scope of work. Within a few days we had a meeting where Steel Kiwi provided their always useful input. After we specified all the details, they've started the development process with reports coming in every week and meetings whenever needed.

After about two months we had the initial package which worked surprisingly well. The development included backend, iOS app, and Android app.

What was the team composition?

Steel Kiwi team included project manager, 5 developers, and 2 QA managers at a later stage.

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

The app is constantly growing and retention level gets higher with each new release. Our expectations were met and so far everything is aligned to our business plan. There were minor bugs in every release, but those were mostly corrected within 24 hours after filing a report.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

From the start, we've agreed on fixed communication channels which meant that no information gets lost and we have clear schedules and deadlines. Every feedback was discussed and implemented in shortest possible time. Even though the team we were working with was based in Ukraine, there were no language barriers as their English is very good.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The thing that impressed us the most is the level of their involvement in the project and how they wanted to understand every little detail. That lead to them proposing solutions to some of the problems that definitely helped lift the app to where it is now.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a medical healthcare service.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We engaged with Steelkiwi to design a website and build its infrastructure.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi designed and developed our website including the platform’s three dashboards. There’s a dashboard for doctors who log in to interpret results. There’s a customer dashboard for them to see their results. Their team built the e-commerce platform with Django, which enables people to order products. The website’s live, so we’re now just working on site improvements.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about three people including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We’ve spent roughly $100,000 on their services.

How much have you invested with them?

I found Steelkiwi through Clutch. Their team was approachable and friendly.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2019 and the original scope’s complete. Now, we’ve hired them for further work.

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

We’re quite happy with their work. We’ve only just gone live, so we don’t have metrics yet. Everybody likes the website at the moment but it's still in its early days. We’re certainly happy with the design and the technology at the moment. 

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Slack and worked on the designs with InVision. We can contact them anytime. Initially, project management was challenging. When the issues got more complex, their CEO got involved, so it became really good. We always reach an agreement and manage to deliver the product.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility sets them apart from other service providers. We’re quite demanding and the fact that they’re responsive to our demands is good. They’re approachable, which gives us confidence.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we didn’t have a problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that your requirements are clear to prevent misunderstanding with any party.

Please describe your company and your position there.

2B LOCAL is an online and mobile peer-to-peer platform where users share authentic, trustful insider knowledge and unique experiences for all destinations around the world.

We help empower people to get closer to local life and unlock the city’s best kept secrets

For what projects/services did your company hire Steelkiwi?

• MVP Development as iOS App
• UI/UX Design

What were your goals for this project?

Successfully design and develop a zero bugs iOS app from scratch and App Store deployment 

How did you select this vendor?

In-depth research and distinct advantages over other developers. We were immediately impressed on the professional team and work-process of Steelkiwi

Describe the project in detail.

To develop a mobile app travel network that allows people exchange local experiences around the world including common social media functionaliteis, networking, internal and external sharing, internal messenger, global search, push messaging, commenting and much more.

• UI/UX design
• Front-end development
• Back-end development
• AWS setup
• Development of custom CMS
• App Store deployment
• Project Management
• Quality Assurance

What was the team composition?

• Project Manager
• UI/UX Expert
• Designer
• Min. 3 developers
• QA Team

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

The project was excellent.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were in constant contact and had frequent video calls and demonstrations. We were fully involved in the complete development process. We used several software and online tools to communicate and work in a virtual environment. Slack, Jira, InVision, Google Docs, Sketch, Google Meet and more.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The efficiency, speed and the way they tackled difficult challenges impressed us. Very professional team that uses a 4-eye principle.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. We are planning to develop the next stage of our app with Steelkiwi - an online marketplace for local experiences. It will be a challenge for all of us, but fun at the same time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Hoopit. We deliver our platform as a service to sports organizations. We have two mobile apps. That includes one app for clients and a dashboard. We offer member management, money management, payments, and calendars.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelwiki?

We wanted to expand our current development team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had some in-house developers and developers in a different country. The company needed to boost the speed of development. We also wanted to hire someone with more experience to reduce our technical debt. Lastly, we needed to improve the quality as well as the ease of maintenance.

We initially started with having one developer from Steelwiki for each part of our stack. They worked with both Android and iOS native. We had another developer doing Angular work and a backend developer who worked with Python and Django.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we had three developers, a QA person, and a project manager. Later on, we added another developer and then finally a designer.

How did you come to work with Steelwiki?

I searched on Clutch and I believe they had the best skills match to our current tech stack. They specifically mentioned Django, Python, and Angular.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in May 2019. Currently, things are suspended due to current circumstances, but we plan to continue with them once things settle down.

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

Right off the bat, the iOS developer provided great work on the iOS platform, which was key because it had the most issues. We have halved the number of bug reports coming from users over first few months.

In terms of the overall system, we’ve reduced complexity and the number of bugs. We were able to simplify quite a bit of the code, especially in the backend. They basically became the platform leads on each of their platforms, relieving our developers and myself from managing the release schedules. Their team basically handled all the releases and incoming bug support for all the platforms.

How did Steelwiki perform from a project management standpoint?

I would say they performed very well. Each of the developers has really good communication skills. They are able to communicate directly with all of the other teams using Slack which we had some issues with before. A lot of the developers we hire externally just contact a few specific people, but Steelwiki is able to contact whomever they needed to talk to which was great. They were able to accommodate and use our Jira platform so that we could track the progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The project manager was really helpful. We didn’t expect to have one, but he came with the rest of the team. He was really experienced and facilitated and organized meetings whenever we needed them. They have shown they care for the product and voluntarily worked overtime whenever there have been any issues that need resolving. They also stepped up and took the lead when they were assigned to be the platform leads.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. I am extremely satisfied with everything they have done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them responsibility or a sense of ownership. They are definitely able to show care and make decisions on their own.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a large rice trading company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

Our company wanted to create a trading platform for rice and other agricultural commodities.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi developed our web trading platform. Trading companies can post RFQs there, and we have suppliers listed on the platform.

They used Django Python on the backend, React on the frontend, and PostgreSQL for the database.

What is the team composition?

We had one frontend and one backend developer. They also offered us a project manager and DevOps services for free. We had multiple developers at times to deal with extra requirements from us. They provided any extra resources we asked for.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We talked to friends and companies, and some of them referred Clutch to us as a good platform with legitimate reviews. Through Clutch, we got in touch with a lot of companies from the US, India, and other countries. We reached out to Igor (New Business Development Manager, Steelkiwi) and liked his communication skills. He understood our business plans and product easily.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Steelkiwi between May–October 2019.

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

Steelkiwi delivered everything we expected in terms of business requirements.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

We had multiple types of communication in place. We used email, and they added us on Slack. We could talk to the team if we wanted to, but we usually spoke to the project manager over Slack. If there was something that needed to be explained in more detail, we had a call through Google Meet. We used Jira for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The thing we liked best about them was that they were very responsive. They got back to us in a short period of time, and the team was very cooperative. If we asked them to work on a module a bit longer, they were willing to do it. That helped us a lot, and it showed their interest in our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m also an IT guy, and I can say that Steelkiwi is very good in terms of company structure. The way they’re working is perfect, so I don’t have any suggestions for them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a language learning company that facilitates business language learning through an enhanced peer-to-peer exchange. Based in London and Paris we have helped thousands connect with other people to work on their language skills.

For what projects/services did your company hire SteelKiwi?

After building a large community we wanted to launch an MVP to extend our services based on community feedback.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to launch an MVP to test validate our value proposition.

How did you select this vendor?

After shortlisting several companies, we found that SteelKiwi had a great team and professional service. We chose them because they had designers, project management, quality and developers all in one place. They were also flexible and professional.

Describe the project in detail.

We started off the project with a meeting in Odessa where the team spent several hours listening to the needs and asking questions abotu the project. We then set up regular meetings to outline the mockups and within a few weeks these had been finalised before development began. The project was launched within two months.

What was the team composition?

My main contact was the project manager, I also had someone to work on the requirements and a designer. Soon there was then the backend and frontend developers and finally quality assurance. There was great contact with support team throughout.

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

Within 3 months we had a launched MVP webapp which works in web browsers, android and iphone. We now have growing traction and continue to develop this.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager was very easy to communicate with and ther was great exchange with the support teams. There were some misunderstandings but a great approach to work through solutions together and be flexible to find good outcomes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was really impressed by their professionalism, their flexibility, and their speed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are always areas to improve, I think a little more could be done on integrating user feedback into design but we worked on this together and I really loved their approach of learning and iterating.