Marketplace Dev For Education Company
Please find under a summary covering project details and feedback. The innate facts are kept as they are, private information is amended.
Introductory information
A fast induction on the buyer’s organisation
The New England Venture Capital Association is a lean non-profit structure with a comcommission of making Massachusetts the best locate for starting and growing companies, by tapping into and providing approach to all elements of the local ecomethod. We connect founder to founder, marketing ecomethods, and advocate on side of the aggregation with compliments to program. The terminal ingredient is workforce outgrowth, which is the piece I centre on. I am the companion ruler of educational programs. I run our two workforce outgrowth programs, Hack.Diversity and TechGen.
Desired goal
What challenge were you trying to address with Echobind?
We needed help with TechGen, which had been launched in 2015, with a very rudimentary beta test of whether or not we were heading down the right path. The goal of TechGen was to bridge the gap between New England University students and the top life-science and healthcare companies. Massachusetts is disproportionately the best at attracting genius from almost the globe, but we’re the worst at retaining it, so we saw an occasion for creating a marketlocate.
We had launched a very old-fashioned design using Weebly and Wufoo. It had a manual and somewhat afflicting method for users, but it worked, and proved claim. In year two, we doubled down and invested in outgrowth and design.
Provided solution
What particular tasks were Echobind responsible for?
We have worked with Echobind for edifice an complete new website and web app which students and companies could use to connect.
We worked with a design firm, and spent a week discussing our client experience and flow for the new website. We connected with Echobind, granted wireframes, and had them create all from the ground up, from the homepage to all other support pages. The meat of the work was surely in edifice a web application. It’s a two-way marketlocate which allows students to sign up, form profiles, and show what they’re looking for, in provisions of activity and job verticals. On the organisation side, users can post internships as they arise, and take suggested candidates. Students can adduce to companies, and companies can unite promising students and extend out to them.
Echobind used Ember.js for the outgrowth, but I’m not a technical individual, so I can’t converse too much on this area. The process of working with them has been big, since Echobind has been able to construe these details into single provisions. Throughout the initial outgrowth and continuing with the livelihood, all has been hosted on Heroku. The code is stored on GitHub, and we’re tracking the workflow using Waffle.io.
Since this project, we’ve brought Echobind back for some enhancements. The website was launched one year ago, and things looked well, but there inevitably were a few bugs which crept up, or experiences which we didn’t fully forestall or program for.
We have been approached by a startup for an API integration for plugging in their own technology. I extended out to Echobind for this, asking for consultation on how we should transact the integration. They’ve been key in helping me apprehend the process, since it was my leading time negotiating something like that. We haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but it’s something we’re owing.
We’ve worked with a different marketing and media firm.
How did you come to work with Echobind?
It was referral-based. A fruit director was brought in when it became clear that we needed to invest in the platform. He granted coaching, as well as contacts, and connected us with a design firm in Boston. When we artistic that part of the work, someone at the design firm recommended Echobind. We also shopped it out a pliant bit, talking to late grads from McGill University, bigger firms, and Echobind. We picked them owing they had excellent referrals and they were local. We were centreed on edifice something for the local administration and aggregation, so we preferred leveraging local genius.
How much have you invested with Echobind?
The cost of Echobind’s work has been almost $115,000.
What is the terminal result of working with Echobind?
We began working with Echobind at the end of December 2015. They’re quiet implicated with us.
Results achieved
Could you share any evidence that would prove the fruitivity, condition of work, or the contact of the engagement?
When we ran the beta of the platform in year one, we occupied almost 700 students and 100 companies. In year-two, when we launched the fruit built by Echobind, we grew to over 3,000 students and almost 300 companies. The platform built by them processed over 11,000 applications in 2016. With it, not only did we see a terrible increase in participation, but also huge size in the applications submitted and processed through the platform. I attribute this to Echobind’s work, since it was the sole factor that allowed us to extend that layer, and last to grow.
How did Echobind accomplish from a project treatment standpoint?
They accomplished well. Two of the things I esteem almost Echobind is their transparency and workflow setup. We’re working with a firm which has distant employees, some of whom are working in different time zones, so, having platforms like Waffle.io and Slack allowed us to keep tabs on what we were working on, and reprioritize tasks. If I come up with a wacky idea in the middle of the night, I can login and add it. Echobind will ask me questions almost it, and it will be entered into the confuse.
One of our challenges has been that there are times when Echobind is busy. We have a lean agency, so, when we have a new project, we need it done yesterday. Echobind has been good at kind us and working as fastly as they can, but, owing of how they’re setup, there can be a lag in the project kickoff.
What did you find most forcible almost Echobind?
I’ve had nation look at the code, and they’ve been blown away by its condition. There are standards for working with Ember.js and edifice an application like ours, and Echobind has gone above-and-over.
I know that Echobind’s team attends meetups and conferences in Boston and athwart the country. I like the fact that they’re invested in giving back to the aggregation almost the code and fruits they’re working with. This is in-line with our own structure and comcommission. To this end, Echobind has also been supportive of TechGen, and partnered with us over our typical services. We have a separate sponsorship contract by which they support us, providing some pro-bono hours per region. This goes a long way for us, since, as I said, we’re excellently lean.
Are there any areas Echobind could better?
Not that I know of.
