Frogslayer

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at a franchises company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a simple, practical business operating system made up of timeless concepts and tools that help leadership teams clarify, simplify, and achieve their vision by getting everyone on the same page, instilling discipline and accountability, and creating real traction for healthier, more effective organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Frogslayer to accomplish?

• Build a Pure software to serve our implementer and client community

SOLUTION

How did you find Frogslayer?

Referral

Why did you select Frogslayer over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Frogslayer were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Froslayer did an initial assessment of our original One Beta to determine its viability. They also helped us determine how we can prioritize and manager our efforts to be the leader in digital enablement, empower  Implementers to drive client and franchise success and reduce the friction to operate and scale Worldwide, our own business. Ultimately, we did a complete rebuild of the product withi Frogslayer.
Key SOW headlines over these few years:
- Product Strategy Validation
- Software Product Development Services
- Fractional Product Leadership Services
- Product Portfolio Review
- One MVP Launch and Assist
- Public Product Launch
- Operationalizing the Business

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Launching on time (April 2024)
MRR/ARR
Trial Conversion rate
Paying Conversion rate
Trial Drop off rate
North Star companies
Active Trial Companies
Total Orgs Created/week
New Paying Orgs/week

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Frogslayer team delivered on time, with high quality and consistency. Ross and his team are exemplary in every way possible, and we have been so grateful for their support over a long period of time. They responded to our needs with as good or better than we could have expected.

What was your primary form of communication with Frogslayer?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The adherence to core values and culture that match Worldwide. It creates confidence and care to go above and beyond! 
Our core values are:
- Be Humbly Confident
- Grow or Die
- Help First
- Do the right thing
- Do what you say
They delviered in words, actions and behaviors that emulated these in spades!

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

This is not entirely a Frogslayer issue, but as we were bringing more of our team in-house, the joint efforts to work through the talent transitions over time could have been engineered better yet I take responsibility for that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Director, Business Applications & Technology of Student Transportation of America

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Through our family of drivers, dispatchers, mechanics, and managers, Student Transportation of America provides uncompromising transportation services to our communities and their families.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Frogslayer to accomplish?

• Implement best in class development practices
• Integrate over 15 systems throughout the company
• Build software to deliver streamlined processes to managers

SOLUTION

How did you find Frogslayer?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Frogslayer over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Frogslayer were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Scope varies based on businses priorities including but not limited to build out of net new platform for candidate screening processes, integrations using various API strategies, building of service bus architecture, best practice migration and CI/CD

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Cost savings through increased efficiency in business processes and decomissioning of valueless resources
• Time savings in employee/front line employee day-to-day operations
• Reduced downtime in applications 
• Increased customer satisfaction with system use
• Reliable security practices and audit results 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

All items delivered on time, on budget. Changes to schedule or scope were communicate efficiently and in advance wherever possbile. Constant contact & communciation through stand ups, weekly meetings, and status reports.

Never left us guessing what we currently being worked on, any blockers or issues. Oerall extremely satisfied with Project Management structure.

What was your primary form of communication with Frogslayer?

Virtual Meeting

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

The most unique quality is to be able to put this team in front of any level of business users from front line employees to C level executives and trust that they are going to communicate effectively and react quickly to business needs.

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

Not at all, we continue to be impressed with the work delivered and will continue to hire Frogslayer for future needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Technical Program Manager of an engineering company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provide networking solutions for first responders and rural communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Frogslayer to accomplish?

• Build out a custom network visualization dashboard

SOLUTION

How did you find Frogslayer?

Online Search

Why did you select Frogslayer over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Frogslayer were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The Frogslayer team was tasked with designing and developing a visualization dashboard for our network solution. Deliverables included: 

• Designing and developing the MICHAEL Dashboard 
• Providing QA to ensure robust end-product operation

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since including the MICHAEL dashboard into investor/contractor demonstrations, we have seen a dramatic increase in our client's understanding of how our networking solution operates. As a result, our company has seen a significant increase in investment and interest.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

99% of deliverable items were delivered on-time, and if there was ever any risk of a delay, unforeseen issues, etc,. the project manager ensured we were aware of these issues as immediately as possible and with solutions to mitigate the issues. Any time we needed to "pivot" as a company on prioritized items, the Frogslayer team ensured that we were informed of any potential impacts and provided multiple solutions if they were needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Frogslayer?

Virtual Meeting

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

Attention to detail. Genuine concern for the success of the relationship. They showed impressive technical capability. Development and QA teams were outstanding.

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

Introducing specific error handling for handling and reporting on corrupt or incomplete data received from our network.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an educational platform. We provide assessments and grading to the education industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We needed help with custom software for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re developing the custom software platform that we use, which is a web application with a database back end.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with Rob (Project Manager), a team of software developers, software and cloud architects, and project managers.

How much have you invested with them?

The original bid was for $150,000, and we’ve spent around $3,000,000 with them so far — that’s a big gap.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure the progress of the project by the number of faults on the platform, and there are constant bug issues — the project hasn’t been super successful so far.

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication has been OK at the bottom layer, but at the top layer, we don’t hear much about middle and upper management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Rob has been great as a project leader.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to define the requirements for the project in terms of custom management creation; the education industry has learning management systems, and that’s what they should’ve used instead of building everything from scratch.

It’d be fantastic if they could also integrate source control with issue management.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure the requirements are well understood. Also, the software is not a one-time purchase; it’s a commitment, and you have to be financially ready to commit to it for a much longer time than what’s estimated.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief commercial officer of a legal technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We hired them for software development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we first engaged Frogslayer, we didn’t have any software at all, just some ideas. Before the team even wrote a single line of code for the platform, we went through a six-month discovery, design, and planning process. The team spent hundreds of hours interviewing lawyers around the world, asking them about their challenges. They used what they learned to make recommendations to us in terms of the platform and what it should encompass.

The services Frogslayer provided covered ideation and design, all the way through to the actual development work. From there, they went on to maintaining and supporting the platform to where it is today, in beta. 

The platform is a collaboration platform for legal matters, and it includes a communications functionality, a project management capability, and a large number of integrations with third-party systems.

I don’t know the particular languages off the top of my head, but it’s a web application and an iOS app. It’s entirely cloud-based and hosted in Microsoft Azure.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about 20 or 30 of their staff. Our main relationship is with Ross (CEO). Our day to day contact is with Tim (Head of Experience Design), who’s been involved in the project for about two years and has had a key leadership role.  

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

We identified Frogslayer after a competitive tender process with about five or six other companies. I believe they’d won some awards and had come up in our desk research a few years ago.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere in the region of $15,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The metrics of success up until this point are user feedback, since we’re still in beta. We’re getting daily feedback from users of the platform. 

The metric we’re focused on for next year is daily active user, but it’s still too early to say whether we’re succeeding on that front. 

We’ve been very happy with their work throughout the project. The platform they built for us is well-designed, well-architected, and secure. It has everything we asked for. 

Frogslayer went above and beyond just software development. They were able to advise us strategically as a startup, on everything from the software to the business model.

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve used Microsoft Azure dev-ops as their primary tool for managing our product backlogs. Frogslayer works closely with me on that. 

In terms of other tools, we’ve used the usual ones, like Slack for communications. I’ve been happy with Frogslayer from a project management standpoint. Having direct involvement from their CEO has been a great thing. If there have been any challenges or issues, he’s always been on hand to address them. He’s taken a day-to-day interest in what we’re doing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their entrepreneurial approach is the most impressive part of working with them. There are many development firms that will just build what you ask them to, but Frogslayer is genuinely a partner. They have helped us with things like pulling together hiring strategies and business plans, and even suggesting things like marketing collateral. The team’s provided all of their expertise as part of their service, which has been absolutely key for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good to see some geographic expansion over time. Right now, they’re US-based, and I think there will be opportunities to grow what they do into other regions. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go talk to them. Have a conversation with Ross and make sure it’s the right fit. Frogslayer is particularly well-suited to startups and fast-growth companies in the legal sector and other regulated industries. They seem to thrive on new things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of a company that provides services to wholesale food distributors. We provide specifically unloading services. When manufacturers deliver the product to the facilities, our employees unload, sort, and segregate that product and bring it on the receiving platform for the warehouse to place it inside for storage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We deal with millions of purchase orders, so we needed a data capture solution so that we could capture all of that information related to each specific truck that we unload.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Frogslayer helped develop a software program that enabled us to have an Android mobile application for the people in the field who have tablets, as well as a mobile printing solution. They also developed a web version of the application for our regional managers and our sales team, as well as the back-office portion. 

Our business is very unique. There is no software out there geared toward our business. We developed it from the ground up. They came into our office, shadowed us, and did everything they could to understand our pain points, our business, and what we could do to make things more efficient. 

We spent time here in the office and then we all went out into the field to some of our distribution centers so that they could see firsthand what takes place and how the operations flow. Then we spent several days together talking. They really dove into it to really understand the nuts and bolts of our business.

What is the team composition?

Early on, we were involved with all of the upper management and their senior developers. Once we agreed to move forward, they came up here. It was several years ago, but I believe a team of 6–7 people came up to New York and spent a week with us.

We were then passed onto John (Senior Software Engineer) who took the lead on the project. I still work with him and we email daily.

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

We were renting some space a while ago and there was a software developer down the hall. We were desperate at the time because we were doing it manually and were just drowning in data. We did a lot of searches online and struggled to find someone. 

The developer in the office wasn’t big enough but they dove in and helped us. The problem was that they utilized people overseas and it was incredibly frustrating. We decided to look for a developer here in the US that does all in-house work and doesn’t outsource it.

I wanted someone that had an office with a group of people who were working right there with oversight to ensure that the work was being done properly. We came across Frogslayer online. I was down in Houston and decided at the last minute to give them a call unannounced. 

We visited them on short notice and met everyone there. We walked in and we just knew instantly that Frogslayer was the company that we wanted to work with. They have a lot of young teammates with some really great ideas.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent over $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in about September 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From an operational standpoint, we have seen dramatic improvement. The other thing that they came up with is that we are linked with our customers now. We receive data files from them, and it was all Frogslayer’s suggestion that we get the data from them.

Each morning we ingest all of the pertinent load information, and this way the site manager at the field level punches in that purchase order and all of the information populates in his tablet. We then capture the driver’s signature, and that data is uploaded to the servers. 

We have seen a tremendous improvement operationally with our teammates in the field as well as the back-office from our customer standpoint. We’re able to provide customized reports, and when someone calls, we have the answers to those questions. 

I am certain that with the time saved with respect to efficiency we probably have gotten back much of that money that we invested in the software.

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been phenomenal and they have been there from day one. During the main programming phase, we had weekly sprint productivity meetings, where we were involved, and they were accountable. We had a call every Wednesday where we discussed what was done from the prior week. 

We talked about some of the problems that were encountered, how we were going to solve certain issues, or if there was a business question that needed to be clarified. For the first year, we had sprint meetings every week that kept the project moving along and we could see the progress of the programming.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their commitment is impressive. I can call John on a Sunday at 7 a.m., and he will pick up the phone. Frogslayer is fully committed to us and hasn’t backed off one bit. They are still on top of it. Their commitment to their customers is absolutely fantastic. 

With the other company that we first worked with, I would call them, and I wouldn’t get a call back for 12–24 hours, and sometimes more. In order for us to thrive as a company, we need to respond to our customers. 

I could get anybody from Frogslayer on the phone right now if I called and I will not be passed off. If I need an answer, it’s done no matter what. If they need to work all night long to get it done, they will do it. 

For example, just two weeks ago, there was a problem. My customer needed a report, and we didn’t have one set up, and it was a tremendous amount of data. I don’t know how many hours John worked that night, but that next morning, I had that report available to me. The full commitment from them is what I cherish the most.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. Frogslayer has dotted every I and crossed every T and has been there since day one. They have just been wonderful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make your goal crystal clear. If you know where you need to be with respect to the software, it’s much easier to get there. You can’t design as you go. You need to have a common goal that everyone knows. Frogslayer taught me that. 

With the first company I worked with prior to Frogslayer, we were designing as we were going, and it was just haphazard. It was problematic and it wasn’t structured properly. Frogslayer has the depth of experience to solve complex software problems. 

If you are looking to work with people of character and integrity, and people who possess a strong work ethic, Frogslayer embodies the highest standard of these attributes. They are just fantastic.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on October 22, 2020

Managing Partner, Express Freight Handlers Inc.

Logistics & Supply Chain

1-10 Employees

New York, New York

$1,000,000 - $9,999,999

Sep. 2017 - Ongoing

Project summary: 

Frogslayer developed a web and Android mobile app that collects data from the business' warehouse. The team incorporated reporting and customization capabilities to streamline the process.

Feedback summary: 

Frogslayer developed a piece of software that exceeds what the business previously had. The team has managed the project well, excelling particularly in their planning. Their ability to understand the business and its operations has made for a successful engagement thus far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing partner at Express Freight Handlers Inc., a wholesale food industry company. We provide labor to about 200 distribution centers throughout the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We were in need of a custom software application that could assist with collecting our data from our warehouse in the field. We had a system in place that another programmer had helped us with. It had become a nightmare. 

We spent a lot of money, time, and effort working with another company and we had to move away from them. We had an existing custom software app in place but needed a complete redesign from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Frogslayer developed a web and mobile-based app for us. We have a backend system that’s web-based here but we have a mobile app that operates on Samsung tablets in the field. They’re actually collecting the data and pumping in all the information for the inbound receiving so that we can invoice it back here in our main office.

One of the best features or the most functional feature they built out for us was the reporting capabilities and the customization of the reporting itself. We’re taking in thousands of line items of data on a daily basis across 200 distribution centers. 

The best thing they were able to do was to give us a lot of flexibility and customized reporting for the data collection. We have visibility on the backend to see the profitability of facilities and daily throughput through those facilities. 

In an ongoing capacity, our customers are constantly requesting variations, new reporting, and even whole new features and components that have been added since they actually did the original build. Frogslayer also worked on vendor compliance. 

If a truck shows up to a distribution center late, they have to be charged a fee because they missed their appointment time by two hours. It was a whole secondary component that my customer wanted us to handle for them. Frogslayer built that out to where it’s now inlaid in the existing software. 

On the backend, I’m able to provide reporting to my customers and show them, across 50 distribution centers, the trucks that were late on a specific date, why they were late, and what went on. It’s been ongoing builds, developments, and refining things. They also help with a lot of streamlining the invoicing part of it as well.

What is the team composition?

At the most labor-intensive portion of the build, we worked with 5–10 teammates. We’ve had one lead, John (Senior Software Developer) all along. Sometimes we’ll have 2–3 programmers and sometimes they’ll throw some more manpower at it. 

We’ve also interacted with the owners of the company and a top-level executive programmer there. We’re in the process of developing a whole secondary company based in the gig economy that we are just now ramping up. We’ll have a whole new team of probably 5–10 teammates working for the next 6–12 months.

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

We vetted a number of companies we found on Google. We went through a bunch trying to find somebody who would be a good partner for us and eventually landed on Frogslayer. 

We wound up meeting them in person. The other company we were dealing with was outside the U.S. in China, so we really wanted someone based in the U.S.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were in such a bad state with our old software. It was failing. Anything would have been better but anecdotally, just from the perspective of customer service, responsiveness, and the way we’re able to work with them, it’s a completely different situation. It’s 100% better than what I was dealing with.

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

They handle project management very well. We talk with them daily and weekly. We have calls weekly with programmers. There are multiple people on their teams trying to develop target dates, workflows, etc. It’s something they excel at. 

They’re great at developing a plan whether it be benchmarks or dates of completion. Everything we’re doing is custom software. It’s not always 100%, but the coordination between their team and us is fantastic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing is that Frogslayer has learned our business in depth at this point. Even with the new project, which is a spinoff of our existing business, their lead people, especially John, who we deal with most frequently, understand from an operational standpoint, not just a software, probably as well as we do. 

In that, some of the nuance whether it be invoicing, reporting, or new trends, they research it in a way that advances what our goals are regularly. They’ve learned our business back and front. Pretty much anytime we’re on a call, they’re able to move the conversation forward easily and really help us progress.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our biggest pain point is we spend a lot of money with them but I don’t have any complaints or things they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Find a lead programmer or developer there that works well with you. We’ve worked with a few but the one we deal with most frequently meshes very well with my partner and me and our business. You need to be comfortable with the lead person you’re dealing with.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 5

Quality: 5

Schedule: 4

Cost: 4

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a company that makes wireless camera systems for target shooting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We needed them for software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our project started when we needed to make some updates to our existing app, which had been developed by freelancers. They helped us align our existing app with the new version of a product that we just released, guiding the development toward iOS and Android users. 

We’ve continued working with them. They’re now focusing on a new version of our app that will replace the old one entirely. At this point, they’re making sure the app is up to date with current standards and adding some new features.  

What is the team composition?

They assigned 3–4 people to the project. 

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

We participated in a startup accelerator in their area, and Ross (President) served as an advisor through the program. He ended up being one of our advisors, so we connected there. 

How much have you invested with them?

At the end of 2020, we will have spent about $200,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They stayed on budget and schedule. Since our app isn’t connected to the internet, we measure customer satisfaction by tracking the number of troubleshooting calls we receive and how much help our team has to provide. Both have decreased significantly since working with their team.   

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

It was easy to track their work through their weekly reports and calls. They communicate very well over the phone, email, and Jira.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took the time to understand our business. While they have larger clients, they gave us a good amount of attention. They were willing to coach us through the development, almost acting as a CTO or tech advisor. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think I’d like to see anything different from them at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time upfront to ensure they understand your business. They make an effort to do that anyway, but it’s important. Additionally, be sure to develop a solid relationship with your project manager.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a global law firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We are part of a consortium of law firms globally. We were looking to build a platform for massive synchronization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They collaborated with us to plan, design, and develop the software platform. It is accessible on iOS and the web.
The platform is market-facing, open to the industry. It’s open to law firms and clients around the world. They used Microsoft Azure to host the platform. We also made use of document management systems, such as NetDocs.

What is the team composition?

I interact with Ross (CEO). There are 13–14 people on the development team.

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

We interviewed seven firms and had a small test project. Frogslayer outperformed its competitors. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $16,000,000–$20,000,000 on their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around May 2019, and it’s an ongoing project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We plan to launch the software publicly in Q1 of 2021. They worked to maintain the intense timeline and were quite collaborative through each phase.

They have a strong development process. We’ve had extensive feedback at various points, internally and externally, to help us achieve the best outcome. We’re quite happy collaborating with this team. 

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

They have exceeded expectations. Communication is clear, between timelines and budgetary requirements, and updates on any adjustments that need to be made during the process. They have stayed within our budget and met all major milestones.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed to the quality of their work and the success of the project. They’re collaborative; it’s a pleasure to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At times, they underestimated the extended work that would be required. However, the project has become much larger than anticipated, and they’ve done well at scaling up to meet the demand.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take time to make sure they are the right partner for you, and that you choose the right people from their team to work on the project. Stay on top of milestones and budget to ensure the direction of the project is on track to match your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a compensation consulting practice that services middle-market private businesses in North America. We offer consulting solutions related to compensation programs, primarily for leadership teams. For instance, we provide bonus plans and long-term incentive plans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

We weren’t happy with the development partner we had before hiring them. They were tasked with cleaning up code from our past partners and complete a major stage of development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they had to clean up and redo some of the work that was completed by our past developers.  They preserved that we agreed could be preserved before starting development work of their own, driving us toward client use. The platform is a web app that digitizes our consulting process into various online tools. 

Even after the platform was usable for our clients, they’ve continued to take the project forward, expanding it quite significantly. The final solution has a Kohana framework, making use of PHP on the backend. The frontend uses a Materialize framework and connects with the backend via Ajax. They also provided hosting services.  

What is the team composition?

We’ve had one lead developer who’s stayed on our project since the start. There have been other contributors when we needed UI refreshments or UX enhancements. Most of our interactions have been with the development team, led by one individual. 

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

A member of my team found them when we began planning our transition away from our previous developers. He did some research, and we narrowed our search down to 2–3 teams. After interviewing them, Frogslayer stood out the most.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $600,000–$700,000 in their services.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Feedback has been awesome. The product provides an unusual level of direct client access for our industry. When we introduce the solution to a business or CEO, almost all feedback has been positive. The “aha” experience is pretty common for us. 

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

They offer structured project management tools, but we’re a pretty casual team. After we found that regular weekly meetings with our project manager would suffice, they were flexible in adjusting their communication systems. We involved other members of their team in monthly calls to make sure we were staying on track. 

Culturally, they were a great fit for us and felt like members of an in-house IT team. They blended with us very well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of the work has been very high. I have nothing but good things to say about their culture and flexibility in working with us. When we needed to shift the project’s focus and direction, they were always willing to make adjustments and corrections. They demonstrated a very professional demeanor over the course of our relationship.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have no complaints about how they’ve handled themselves over the past four years. They’ve always respected our small firm environment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be super clear on your expected outcomes and deliverables. That will help you avoid any bumps in the road. Even when hiccups happen, though, they’re great about getting the project back on track. They’re flexible in helping you achieve your goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior director of flight training technology for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. We advocate for general aviation cross-country. I’m involved in anything tech-related in the company, including app development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Frogslayer?

I was initially hired to create a training application that would change the way students are taught how to fly. We found out through surveys that roughly 80% of students start training and never finish, and we wanted to figure out why by creating an application. 

The app was meant to be a gamechanger for flight training for general aviation. We wanted to speed up the process and make it a little more fun, to enable students to learn and not redo the things they’d already learned.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Frogslayer is developing our system. It has three components, the first one being a grading piece for flight instructors, in the form of an iPad app. It displays all the student information, lessons, activities, student histories, and certifications.

The student will sign in through a web app, where they will see all the grades they’ve received, the next lesson, and their homework, which is assigned adaptively based on the lesson.

The owner of the school has the third access point, which is also a web app. They get to see the entire school’s attendance and how the trainers are working with each student.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 5–10 people from Frogslayer, depending on the milestone, including developers, testers, database engineers, and a UI/UX designer.

I have a dedicated project manager, who’s also a developer. We’ve had him throughout the project, so I haven’t had to constantly go over things with new people.

I know that at least three of the developers have been here the whole time, and I have access to them if I want it. I’ve also been in contact with two of their systems people and the testers. I’ve worked closely with the designer, and I’ve also interacted with their owner.

How did you come to work with Frogslayer?

I was brought to my organization for this project, so I started searching Google for custom software development from day one. I knew that, based on our needs, the product had to be an iOS-specific app. 

I made a list of around 15 companies that had worked with associations like ours and had appropriate processes. I contacted all candidates and gave them two weeks to respond. 

One of the intangibles I had on my list was just what felt good. Of all the people that called me back, only one was an owner, and that was Ross (CEO) from Frogslayer. To me, that also counted for something, that he was intimately involved with the business and wasn’t spending his time on golf courses. 

Ross was open and sincere, and he talked to us in order to get an idea on how we did things. He told me that they only take 200 of the 500 projects they’re offered per year, namely the ones that are interesting to them. I talked to him several times, and he was intimately interested in our app.

How much have you invested with them?

The requirements phase cost around $80,000, and the overall project will cost $1,400,000 when it’s all said and done.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started here in June 2017, and my first contact with Frogslayer was in July of that year. We had some back and forths and callbacks over the next six months, and the decision to actually use them came at the end of the year.

We’re wrapping up the project now. It was supposed to take 13 months, but it was extended because the requirements got broken off by our counsel. COVID also changed things for us, given that we’re an aviation association.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn’t expect Frogslayer to know anything about the field of aviation, but they were really good at listening and not interjecting until they’d learned more. They actually offered up things I’d never thought of and helped me improve the look and feel of the app. We ended up designing some new screens based on their input.

We’re in beta testing right now, and we have third-party flight schools using the app. It looks exactly like what I designed, and actually seeing it is phenomenal. Everyone says it’s easy to use and to find things on it, and generally helpful. The fact that it’s intuitive is a huge compliment. All the feedback for the UI/UX has been great.

In terms of functionality, building any kind of adaptive system that uses AI is going to be complex, and so is ours. There are a lot of rules and other things in place, but it’s working really well. We’ve gotten compliments on that from third-party users.

I’m able to say consistently that I’m glad I picked Frogslayer and stuck with them. They’ve backed me up all the way, and nothing they’ve done has been bad.

How did Frogslayer perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints. As an association, everything here has to go through a committee before it’s decided, but Frogslayer hasn’t let that slow them down. They haven’t once told us that they can’t continue the work before we come up with something.

On the backend, they’ve done everything they could to be as transparent as possible, and they’ve kept things going even when we had to take a three-month break because of COVID. They got that we had reduced earnings, so they were willing to charge us for certain things at a later time. They’ve actually helped us stay on the timeline.

Our project manager has our best interests in mind and is constantly walking me through their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been doing this for 28 years, and the fact that their CEO reaches out to me to see how the team is performing and how I’m feeling about it is really cool.

It literally feels as though we’re dealing with family and/or friends. I can call their CEO by his first name, and he continually calls and texts me. The access I have to Ross and his company is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Everyone at Frogslayer treats us with respect, but they also talk to us like we’re friends. There’s never a surprise, and they give it to us like it is.

I can’t say I’ve had a bad experience with them. It’s all been great. They feel like a part of our organization when we deal with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve thought about this, and, if I had to come up with one thing, it would be testing. I brought it up with them, and they included me into their Jira, so that I could see what was being tested and comment on it. 

The testing was fine, but I mentioned it to them because they pushed me to come up with something, and it got better after that. I wish I could mention more stuff that they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to communicate. I pushed for multiple communication channels when we started, and I probably would communicate more than some people. If the client continually asks for communication when working with them, they’ll get it.

Secondly, clients have to ask the right questions. I’ve been a software developer all my life, so I knew how I wanted the process to be. Asking for references is also important. 

Clients should know what they want, and, if the provider isn’t offering up an answer or the right references, then they’re not the right choice.