Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an energy management company that works with other businesses to reduce energy expense costs and help them transition to new technologies for energy production.

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

Our customers had been requesting a customized energy dashboard. We developed a generic dashboard in-house six years ago to allow engineers to interact with meter data in real time. However, we noticed that there were newer web applications out there, so we decided to update it to make it more user-friendly and allow users to customize their dashboards so that they could get the information they wanted immediately. Thus, we reached out to Technology Rivers to help us out.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers has helped us develop the frontend of our energy management dashboard. We’ve been in charge of backend development, and they’ve been in charge of UI/UX development. As for the technology stack, they decided to use React after our initial discussions and discovery process.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people and a lead developer from Technology Rivers. The lead developer is my main point of contact in between meetings. Additionally, I originally reached out to their owner, and I’ve had a lot of interaction with him throughout the project. During the initial stages, he acted as the project manager, but we later transitioned to an actual project manager in charge of scheduling our meetings with the development team.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I had invested a small sum into a friend’s company. They were using Technology Rivers to develop their web app, so being part owner of that company, I already had some indirect experience with them. Thus, when I needed to update my company’s energy management software, I got in contact with Technology Rivers’ owner and had some discussions about what we were trying to accomplish. They were the obvious choice.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $80,000–$90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. However, the project is on hold from my end until I compile a list of user feedback.

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

Thanks to Technology Rivers’ work, the page load speed of our product has improved by around 95% compared to our legacy product’s loading speed — it is a lot faster now. We deal with 30,000 data points; still, it loads very quickly.

Moreover, seeing our ideas come to fruition thanks to Technology Rivers has been outstanding. Throughout the project, we’ve thrown them ideas of what our app users would like to see on our product, and we’ve had quick discussions where they’ve figured out how to implement them. Their turnaround time for coming up with solutions and making those abstract ideas a reality has been very quick.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m more than satisfied with Technology Rivers’ performance, and I’m very happy with them. We use Slack to communicate and Jira for project management. On Jira, we can see what they’re doing, and they use it to track their progress and tell me their current tasks. We also use Google Docs to keep track of items and Balsamiq to create mock-ups.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Technology Rivers’ personable nature is outstanding. Initially, I felt very comfortable reaching out directly to their owner to talk about the project. Additionally, I really appreciate their flexibility. I initially didn’t have a clear understanding of our project’s end goals, but they’ve been very accommodating to different ideas and changes throughout the process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any complaints about their work. If I had to restart the project, I would still choose them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of IPGen. We’re building platforms to streamline and automate IP processes, moving towards a system for all types of innovation. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We hired Technology Rivers for their software development services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers handles many of our software development lifecycles, including the UI/UX designs. They’ve worked on the wireframes of our software's front- and backend sides — they’re involved in everything related to software development. The technologies they use include React.js, .NET, PostgreSQL, Python, PHP, and AWS. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 5–6 members from Technology Rivers. One is a project manager, and there are 3–4 developers working behind the scenes.  

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

One of my advisors referred me to Technology Rivers. He knew their work from before, and we needed their services. As a result, we engaged them. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in June 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

We’ve launched our platform with Technology Rivers’ help. Our company is about to have a funding round, and we’re raising about $2.5 million — you can attribute this to what the Technology Rivers team has done. 

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Our communications are great. We mainly communicate through Slack and have video conferences and telephone calls. I can call them whenever needed; they’re always available if I need anything or have to talk to them about something.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Being a non-technical founder, I have a vision of what I want. Technology Rivers has far exceeded my expectations of them. They’ve taken my vision and implemented it based on their experience and expertise.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. I haven’t encountered any problems with them; they’ve always been available when I need something. As an early-stage startup, we’re always looking out for our costs, but we understand that they’re also running a business.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be available. There will be a lot of back and forth in the beginning because they need to figure out what you want and how best to deliver it to you. Communicate things and be available so they can provide recommendations that might be better than what you originally envisioned.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Verbina, a social media app company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We’d already created an MVP of our app, and I wanted to find a team that could take it to the next level. Like other tech firms, multiple people on our side did multiple tasks. However, we needed the whole team to work on the app to make it more user-friendly; we also needed to speed it up because it used videos. To do those things, we hired Technology Rivers. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app was built on both iOS and Android. Part of Technology Rivers’ task was to take our work and help us transition it to them. The team also researched some app features that worked on Android but not on iOS, finding workarounds for the issues. The app also had problems with the Twilio integration. People were spamming it, and Technology Rivers had to figure out what was going on with that.

Meanwhile, we also worked with the team to load videos faster on the app. They built galleries of YouTube videos into the app in a way that end users didn’t have to go to the YouTube app or site to watch them. Technology Rivers used React Native to develop these features, and they used Zeplin to design them. 

So far, Technology Rivers has also helped us with strategies and networking. They’ve connected me with other clients and people. This can help us build our strategy for the app and think about how we can make it more beneficial to end users. 

What is the team composition?

I work closely with four people from their team, but other people have also been helping us. Their team members work on the front- and backend sides of the project and on its QA aspects. 

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I used Clutch to find Technology Rivers. One of the main reasons why I chose them was the strategy they offered. As a non-technical person, I wanted to work with a team that could help me think through technology. I knew the process required me to ask for their input and knowledge, so strategic advice was an important requirement for me. 

On top of that, Technology Rivers was a hybrid shop — some of their resources were in Virginia, while others were offshore developers in Pakistan. I’d worked with an overseas team before, and there were delays in communication since they were in a different timezone. By contrast, Technology Rivers had a local team that I could get in touch with any time. 

In other words, their strategic advice and their hybrid team composition were my two deciding factors. Apart from those, we also talked to people who worked with them in the past. Everyone agreed that the team was incredible, trustworthy, generous, and honest, so we finally hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $10,000–$30,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking to Technology Rivers in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We’re still building the app, so we don’t have quantitative metrics yet. However, the app is significantly faster now, and it’s more engaging. There haven’t been any bugs or crashes since Technology Rivers fixes things immediately. Their QA process is much better than our previous providers, and they’re thorough. 

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Technology Rivers is truly organized. We have weekly meetings, and before each meeting, they lay out what we’re going to discuss. After the meeting, they also lay out what we’re going to do moving forward. 

We use Slack to communicate, and it’s been a tremendous help in terms of getting inputs quickly. I can also see what everyone’s working on through it. Our teams also use Zoom video conferencing. Sometimes, I’ll email them, though Slack is the easiest way for us to communicate. We also have a shared Google Drive. 

On top of that, Ghazenfer (Founder & CEO) has been looking at some accelerator programs and wants to connect me with some investors down the road. That has also been truly wonderful. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their services are professional and personal at the same time. Ghazenfer is intimately involved in the project. It feels unique, and I know that he’s not going anywhere. For comparison, the last project manager I’ve dealt with has been great, but she moved away so I had to start again from the ground up. 

By contrast, Technology Rivers’ CEO is connected to the project, and everyone is on the same page. They’re not a one-man shop — there’s a whole team that works together with different expertise — but it feels good to have someone who truly wants the project to succeed. Ghazenfer sticks his neck out to connect with us, and he’s truly helpful in moving our project forward. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When working with technology, we don’t always know how many hours we’ll take to finish the project until we start working. Given that, we’ve asked Technology Rivers to give us an estimate of the hours our tasks will take and how much they will cost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The way you should engage with Technology Rivers depends on where you are in your project. If you’re just starting out, ask them how you can build the deliverable effectively. In our case, we’ve already built something, and they’ve done an overhaul to see where they can improve it. 

In simple words, trust their team. They know how to make apps more engaging, and they’ll help you understand your product with a new perspective.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing coordinator for IIIT. We produce research publications and conferences.

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We wanted to create a mobile application for our publications and journals.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app works on iOS and Android and is for smartphones and tablets. Technology Rivers worked from scratch; all we had was an idea on a piece of paper.

The application is bilingual for English and Arabic speakers. We provide some books for free and some for cost depending on copyright status. We also offer our journals on the app. The goal is to provide access to our books to the general public.

Users are able to sample a book or view and download the full piece. They can also share the book with others. There’s a search feature that filters by price, keyword, language, author name, title, and more. There are three main tabs: home, publications, and journals.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager as well as offshore leads and developers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I found a few different app creators online, and we chose Technology Rivers because of a combination of cost and their ability to succeed in what we wanted, mostly meaning the bilingual features in the application.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re still upgrading the application to allow for e-publication and audiobooks, but this initial build was between $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2017.

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

We’ve received feedback from employees, customers, and conference attendees, and they all highlight the functionality of the application.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate over email, Slack, and phone calls as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness to guide us through the process stands out. We haven’t developed an app before, so this was appreciated. Additionally, they’ve been committed to growing and diversifying the application.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Anything that we’ve had issues with has been brought up and addressed already. They’ve been very flexible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your own scope and what it is you want out of the application. This will help avoid some of the back-and-forth that comes when you’re not clear on your own scope.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product for a SaaS company in the civic tech space. We offer grassroots advocacy and government relations software to organizations, corporations, and nonprofits.

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were building a native mobile app for one of our products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a native app that was compatible with iOS and Android from scratch. It’s a search tool that allows lobbyists and other government affairs professionals to look up legislators. ON our platform, each legislator has a robust profile that includes their biographies, committee memberships, and key assignments.

Then users can take notes and attach documents to each profile, recording their relationship as they build it. Then users within the same organization can access the notes and documents to see who has established relationships with each legislator.  

We provided the pixel-perfect screen designs. As well as two different APIs that need to connect to our product. The first API is for authentication. The app features a login function that uses our authentication factors and permissioning system.  This lets us know who to grant access to according to their licensing status.

The second API connects the app to the legislators’ database system. It allows data entry and search from all mobile devices.

What is the team composition?

Our project manager and the main point of contact was the CEO.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

Technology Rivers was initially recommended by our CTO. Ultimately, they cost less than other vendors we considered. They also understood the scope of work and outlined a fixed price. We had a lot of confidence in them that they would be able to execute the work within the project timeframe.

How much have you invested with them?

The original contract was for $36,000, but their ongoing support work costs about $1,000 per month (approximately $46,000 in total).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020 and lasted about eight weeks. Now they provide ongoing maintenance.

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

They built a working version of the app that met our quality control standards. They delivered exactly to our specifications.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily use a shared Slack channel to communicate with the project manager and team leads. They also have a weekly 30-minute sync meeting that we use to check in with them and go through their work.

They built exactly what we wanted them to. The only time the project was delayed was when my team wasn’t able to provide the APIs. In that case, they were very flexible and absorbed those delays, preventing additional costs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, I’ve been impressed by their communication skills, their adaptability, transparency, and the final product. Even when challenges came up, they were accommodating and did exactly what we asked them to do. They were pretty transparent about everything.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wouldn’t change anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s really important that you define your scope of work upfront. If you do that and everyone understands what to expect and what the deliverables will look like, you’ll be set. They will produce a statement of work that reflects what you’re looking for and they will execute perfectly.