Airnauts

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Fountain Digital Labs, a digital product company. We develop educational and entertainment digital products for children and adults.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AIRNAUTS?

We needed help with development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our children’s app in 2015. It has won awards. In 2017, they developed two virtual reality (VR) products available in the market. They were patient enough to pass all the tech reviews by Sony PlayStation, which are really difficult and quite horrible. They completed them in 2018.

We’re about to release a third product for Sony PlayStation which is meditation in VR. It’s going through technical QA right now. They use Unity. It’s an interactive VR project. We work with documentary videos that they can interact with. Users can see different wild animals. They have a series of different experiences. For example, there’s an experience with a lioness. You wait for a lioness and you feed the lioness. There’s sound recognition. You move the narrative with answering questions. You’re being asked questions and you need to give a correct answer to move the narrative forward.

They continue to do all the maintenance. They released the first release in Europe, then the U.S., and then in Japan. They work all the time with us.

What is the team composition?

I’m in direct contact with their CTO, who is the best CTO in the world. He is literally the only CTO that is able to transform sophisticated, conceptual ideas into proper tech brief without losing the complexity. He passes it onto the developers. There’s also a project manager who coordinates everything and makes sure all the tasks are followed.

How did you come to work with AIRNAUTS?

I’ve been friends with the owner for may years, but had never asked him what he actually did. When I got into the digital business, he told me he was a digital production company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in late summer 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The two VR products are the best sellers in Sony’s store in non-gaming category. The head of the VR lab in Stanford believed that it’s the best nature related VR he’s ever seen. He became our advisor pro bono. From the technical point of view, it works very well.

We’ve won Webby Awards and Bafta awards. We started working with a university that took our VR into their research with children and adolescents. We proved that our VR decreases level of pain and improves memory in senior people. We work with office employees and they mediate with our VR. They use the first and second VR product in their offices. We work with their bank, which is the biggest bank in Russia.

How did AIRNAUTS perform from a project management standpoint?

I was in daily contact with the CTO and the project manager. They make sure everything is done on time. I don’t usually talk to developers. I talk to the UX designer sometimes. They use Trello Slack, Asana, and Jira. I message them through WhatsApp. They’re the only company I’ve worked with that sticks to deadlines which is almost impossible in the digital world.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really client-oriented, but not in a superficial way. They get really involved in the project and treat it as personal and important. They’re very reliable. You can always count on them. They stick to deadlines. They’re very time and money efficient. They build your product like a proper house rather than like a tent. They’re awesome. I’m very impatient and a perfectionist and they’ve managed to work with me for all these years.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As long as they stick to what they’re doing now, I’m perfectly happy with them. They do it so well. There’s no need for change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They won’t treat your project as just one more project. If they’re motivated, engaged, and see the mission and they why you’re doing this project, they’ll really give back to you. They’re very open and interested in young people. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of an online auction house and art marketplace company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AIRNAUTS?

We were looking to develop a new page for our B2B customers, who are mostly non-profit organizations, foundations, or charities. Our team hoped to build a storefront page that would give these companies fundraising capabilities on our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AIRNAUTS was responsible for the design and UI/UX of the storefront page from scratch. Their team was involved from start to finish, taking into account our branding and design ideas before implementing them and making the site functional. They integrated a checkout page with a credit card processing system built in as well as the ability to host timed auctions. Our customers were able to log in from the back-end and customize the page to their needs.

What is the team composition?

There were four people from their team involved in the project. 

How did you come to work with AIRNAUTS?

I’ve personally known of AIRNAUTS for a few years and worked with them on multiple projects while at different companies. I had found them to be reliable and flexible in the past and decided to work with them again. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $25,000-$50,000

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from February-May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

AIRNAUTS hit all of the targets. While we did not have any specific metrics we were tracking, it was important for us to get a product finished on time and on budget.

How did AIRNAUTS perform from a project management standpoint?

We had an assigned project manager who would relay information to the appropriate people on his team. They were great at management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Coming from someone who oversees costs and budgets within a company, what I really liked about them was how efficient they were while being within costs that are still competitive for the industry. AIRNAUTS never relied on our suggestions, coming up with their own ideas. It became a collaborative effort to make the site better and faster.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Generally, I was very happy working with AIRNAUTS, but at times, communication became difficult due to time differences. Although this would not turn me away from working with them again.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of BASE2, a data design company based in Stockholm and San Francisco. We operate Last Meter, a platform integrating real estate and home services. Our community is composed of real estate owners, managers, developers, retailers, and lifestyle service providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Airnauts?

We hired them to build our data platform, custom modular dashboards, and a user app.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create a user-friendly and reliable platform that allows real estate and service providers to input and review data. We also wanted to replicate and style those dashboards at an increasing scale.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our selection process included telephone interviews, portfolio reviews, personal referrals, and offer reviews.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Airnauts provided frontend coding and native iOS app scripting based on custom design and UX specification. They also did the backend stack, architecture, and dashboard configurators. They are responsible for data curation, analysis, and infrastructure-as-a-service management.

What was the team composition?

I’ve worked directly with Jakob (Co-founder, Airnauts). They also assigned a designer and front- and backend coders and architects to our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Jakob is a brilliant and thoughtful software architect. Many of the features we requested were improved significantly by his insight and detailed planning of the implementation model.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They manage the project remotely using tools like Slack, Asana, G Suite, InVision, Sketch, AWS, Heroku, and GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Airnauts team is friendly and flexible about the budget.  

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could still improve in terms of timeliness and UX logic. For example, they need to double-check details like spelling and back buttons.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm one of the founders of Artificial and currently oversee the product. We use the latest technologies and techniques to digitize the insurance value chain and improve customer experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AIRNAUTS?

We were looking for a skilled team to implement the designs and animations for our new marketing website by a hard deadline of March 2019. With minimal internal engineering resources that could work on this project, it was far easier and faster to outsource the work. The additional resources would communicate on Slack with our distributed team as necessary.

What were your goals for this project?

We need to implement the designs in a pixel-perfect, engaging manner, including micro-interactions and animations when appropriate. We required that the team use our chosen tech stack to build the site—React, GatsbyJS, Contentful headless CMS, and AWS serverless hosting.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We posted on several websites looking for an experienced frontend developer to implement our designs. AIRNAUTS reached out in response, offering their help. Upon further discussion, they said they could manage the entire project for nearly the same cost. After reviewing their previous work and a detailed quote, it was clear that they knew what they were doing. We were happy to give them the project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They implemented responsive versions of our designs using React and styled-components, then integrated our blog and other dynamic sections. They used GatsbyJS for static site generation and implemented responsive product mockup animations using SVG.js. To finish, they conducted multi-browser tests and QA.

What was the team composition?

Approximately six people worked on the project, including about five engineers and one project manager. The team fluctuated in size to meet our requirements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Investors and other partners received the website well. Potential customers are visiting the site and directly contacting us more efficiently than ever. It's been a great success.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Communicating with them was fast, efficient, and regular. Our project manager did a great job handling the team and the overall project. They used multiple tools, including Slack, Asana, Github, and Figma. We had no communication barriers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their attention to detail was exceptional; their responses were extremely fast. We received excellent value for money and will definitely work with them again.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we couldn't be happier.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a technical product manager at the International Gem Society (IGS), a group that educates members about subjects related to gemology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AIRNAUTS?

We hired AIRNAUTS for a complete rewrite of a complex WordPress website. 

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a faster website with a more organized structure. Our ideal site would also have the ability to add and test new features over time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The team was strongly recommended to us by another agency.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

AIRNAUTS rebuilt our site architecture from the ground up. They rewrote the theme design, eliminated unnecessary code, and improved the existing custom code.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a project manager, a web developer, and a QA tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team elevated the visual appearance of the platform with a more cohesive design. Now, the code base is well structured. It's easier to add new features and improve existing ones using the new site architecture. The speed of the platform continues to improve.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The AIRNAUTS team has been making great use of tools such as Asana and Slack for communication with internal stakeholders. Through continuous engagement with our team, they pushed the project forward in a purposeful direction.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team’s expertise has been matched by a motivation to truly understand all of our business goals. They've handled our complex project in the most thorough manner. They didn't cut a single corner when rebuilding it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only issue we encountered was during their initial assessment of the work, which fell short of the amount of effort the project required in the end. However, this is not out of the ordinary at all. It's often difficult to do initial scoping of a project with any new relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical lead of a design and digital agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Airnauts?

We needed a skilled and qualified partner to work on various projects. We needed someone who could assist in the transition from design to functional implementation on the front- and backend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Airnauts mainly works on websites,  web, and native applications. Usually, our clients will need design help and a new website, so our internal team does the branding and Airnauts provides development. However, Airnauts also provides input and feedback on our designs, which we’ve found incredibly useful. They also provide tons of useful insight during the planning and architecture phase of each project. They integrate the front end build into our CMS or e-commerce solution or whatever other platform we may be using. A lot of their work is done in JavaScript, using Node and other JS frameworks and interacting with various APIs. They also work on custom PHP, Rails, WordPress, and Shopify builds.

What is the team composition?

I work with four managers and about six developers usually but have reached out to others as well.

How did you come to work with Airnauts?

My company had already hired them when I started working here.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They deliver beautiful and flawless interfaces. Everything functions smoothly and seamlessly across platforms, devices, and browsers. The responsive layouts always scale perfectly and the user experience is smooth and modern. The sites are a pleasure to interact with, and our clients recognize the good work.

How did Airnauts perform from a project management standpoint?

They thoroughly plan projects, always deliver on time, and respond quickly. All the project and technical managers are deeply involved in the projects and know what’s going on in each one. With other firms, you may wait a few days to get a solution, but Airnauts answers right away. They’re excellent at communicating. We mainly use Asana, Slack, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They put a lot of work into our projects and focus on the details. They’re proactive and go above and beyond to deliver flawless products. The entire team is pleasant and fun to work with, which makes them an unbeatable design and development partner. It’s refreshing to work with a team that has such expertise and is so personable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a performance-based, scalable marketing platform. We work with influencers to push performance campaigns for different brands, companies, and products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Airnauts?

They helped us build our platform. We’ve worked with them on two versions: one for Twitter and another for Instagram. They’ve been our sole developer for years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wireframed everything out ahead of time and were building off of a template. We docked all of the functionality and provided descriptions for everything. If there was anything I hadn’t thought of or if problems or discrepancies arose, they were very diligent and found solutions.

We started working with Node.js but switched to Vue.js, plus Twitter and Instagram APIs. We pulled information from campaign assets from various influencers. We collect the number of impressions for each engagement and input them into the administrative panel. They built up the panel using those APIs and gave administrators easier ways to facilitate campaigns.

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with four or five people from their team. I have a dedicated point of contact for bigger things, but can also work directly with the team.

How did you come to work with Airnauts?

We found them on Crew before it was acquired. We interviewed several different teams but they had several features and profiles that made them stand out.

How much have you invested with them?

The entire scope of everything is between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2015. The finished the first version of the web platform by late March 2016. They recently completed the second version, which we’re currently beta testing. We’ve had an ongoing maintenance agreement with them since we started working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us build an influencer platform that is the only one of its kind. It’s difficult to compare it to anything else out there and the user feedback is great. We’re in a very unique position.

How did Airnauts perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with them is perfect. We communicate mostly through Slack. I work on a lot of different projects and it’s easy to send them wireframes and mock-ups and anything else they need. They manage projects and ask questions whenever necessary. If I can’t get back to them right away, they’re patient and willing to wait until I can test the versions they create. Their flexibility and responsiveness are a big part of why we’ve worked together so long.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really flexible and honest. They’ve given me options for different solutions that will save me money but are always willing to give me what I ask for. They also have an impressive portfolio and a diverse set of capabilities and experience. I have another app that I’d like them to build out and they showed me several similar platforms they built.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were times that things didn’t move as fast as I wanted them to, but that wasn’t their fault. I don’t retain them full-time and sometimes my expectations are unrealistic.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a creative agency. We specialize in video content, branding, and other projects of varying size. Recently, we’ve been focused on helping startups launch their marketing strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Airnauts?

A client of mine requested an application. I don’t have the proper resources in-house, so I needed to outsource a company that could perform within a tight budget and timeline.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I came to them with a schematic of the app I needed them to deliver. My client had developed a version themselves, but it was inadequate. Airnauts overhauled the app’s UI/UX and rebuilt its backend architecture. They successfully launched the platform via native apps for iOS and Android.

They helped us build software that’s one of the first of its kind. The app links into smart cars to pull second-by-second driving data that can then be read on the user’s smart device. We initially ran into a host of issues involving the third-party app that usually connects cars to phones. However, Airnauts provided another third-party software that functions as a concrete solution to the problems we experienced. The main development associated with this project has been completed, but they still provide ongoing support and maintenance. I’ve contracted them to work on multiple projects since the initial engagement.

What is the team composition?

I’ve met most of the team, but work directly with three of their company principals.

How did you come to work with Airnauts?

They were recommended to me by both a sourcing agency and a colleague who had worked with them before. I narrowed my search down to three firms and called Airnauts for a phone interview. They quickly grasped the project, so I hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The mobile platform is currently in public beta, so we’re getting a ton of feedback. The client is extremely happy with the product they’ve received. They’ve even hired my firm to provide an additional app related to the original deliverable. It’s become a great working relationship.

We intend to continue working with Airnauts. I’ve found that they honestly care about the products they create for us and that’s uncommon when working with freelancers. I made the right decision hiring them. They might be the best vendor I’ve ever used.

How did Airnauts perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a great group of people that communicate and make themselves available. Despite working from a different time zone and country, we’ve never had trouble sharing essential project directives. We communicate via phone, email, and use Skype for video conferencing. We also interact through Slack occasionally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m completely satisfied with their work and look forward to an ongoing relationship. We’re always in lockstep and they frequently go the extra mile. I wish I could hire some of their team members as full-time employees.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Reach out and have a conversation with them. They’re available, talented, and hungry to do great work. I’m super happy with the results they deliver.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a social media company based in Paris.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Airnauts?

We wanted to review and refresh the UI of our existing web app. We ended up working on the wireframes and UX, as well as brand identity.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Airnauts had worked on the original design, and we enjoyed working with them.

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

Their team started with a branding questionnaire, in order to better understand the personality of the brand, and match its UI accordingly. They reviewed the design and functionalities of competitors, then established end-to-end wireframes, and finally designed the interactive UI on Figma.

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

We worked with 5 people from Airnauts:

• a Project Manager
• a Brand Designer
• a Creative Designer
• a UI/UX designer

All the while, the CEO was attentive to overall progress.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The branding exercise we started with was probably the best experience we had overall: the Brand Designer was very attentive, listening to our feedback, and absolutely nailed our brand identity. The logo, animations and color schemes that ensued were absolutely on point.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We communicated via slack day-to-day, and on calls every week or so. The Project Manager did a great job of monitoring progress and coordinating with her team. There was a bit of a miscommunication on the scope of project, but it eventually worked out.

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

Overall, the branding work they did was the most impressive.

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

It seemed like there was not enough communication between Branding and UI, so that the identity of the brand was not always transcribed to the overall design.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of Flymachine, a social concert live-streaming platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Airnauts to function basically as an internal platform development team - working closely with our Product & Engineering leads to build our APIs and B2B facing product.

SOLUTION

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

We had a prior relationship and a successful project under our belt. Airnauts has good communication, experienced developers, and a flexible model that met our needs.

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

Much is confidential, but Airnauts proved to be adept at complex cloud services architecture, security, and scalability.

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

We have a few frontend and backend engineers all focused on web development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were realistic about deadlines and deliverables, and showed profound dedication to the project's success. Deliverables were of high quality.

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

The integration with our in-house team was seamless. Excellent communication.

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

Their willingness to fit into our in-house team's process, cadence, and communication parameters are fantastic.

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

They've been very responsive to feedback and suggestions on how to continue to elevate the level of efficiency and collaboration.. can't ask for more!