Praxent

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of business development, product strategy, and corporate strategy for the retail arm of an energy provider for industrial customers and consumers in the United States and Canada. We provide commodity services including electricity and natural gas.

In addition to providing a solutions-based approach to our customers energy consumption needs, we also have a trading arm that is active in the wholesale power and gas markets across the United States and Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We have an internally built customer-facing portal where our customers access data that’s related to their energy consumption and a few other tools. That portal needed to be overhauled in terms of its UX/UI to make it a little easier to use and a little more intuitive.

We were planning a larger brand evolution and wanted to get that out of the way before we started a larger strategic expansion of the platform itself.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Even though the platform itself was homegrown in terms of its functions, we worked with Praxent to really dig into and help us understand the psychological effects of the design and technologies that we were using, as well as how those were affecting the human interactions being driven through the platform.

We have a fairly unique position within the market, so their first task after we brought them on was really to try to understand our customers, and the from there they were able to take our existing platform, perform a true heuristics evaluation, and break down how it needed to be redesigned in a lot of different ways.

It was an in-depth, iterative process, so they would send us wireframes and we would offer suggestions from across our business to try to incorporate as many perspectives as possible. Then they would take our feedback and come back with more wireframes, and that would continue until we had a product that we were all really pleased with.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the designers and evaluators directly, but since the design was so technically focused, our IT team was closely involved in cooperating with them as well.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I found their team on Clutch, originally. The platform was incredibly helpful as a starting point for that search because I was just able to Google UX and design consultants and then look through different companies’ ratings.

Our North American operations are based in Houston, so when I saw that Praxent operated in Austin I was pretty excited about them because it would allow us to meet with them in person pretty easily if necessary. They participated in an RFP with two other companies, but they really stood out throughout the whole process.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together lasted from July 2019–January 2020, which was our intended length for the project.

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

They dug into both our work and our culture in order to provide a more thoughtful redesign of our platform, and that effort really paid off in the product that we got in the end. We were incredibly pleased with the work that they delivered, in large part I think because it reflected their dedication to our account and their desire to stand behind the quality of the final product.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

In my 3 years at EDF, I haven’t worked with a more responsive third-party vendor than Praxent. They’re not just responsive, they’re proactive, which was an incredible benefit to the engagement as a whole. They would come to me anticipating potential issues that we were able to tackle beforehand because of the thoughtfulness of their engagement.

There was a lot of open and honest feedback back and forth provided by both of our teams which really made us feel like partners together more than just parties in a transaction. Praxent also has a very organized, methodical method of tracking budgets and milestones that really sets them apart from other consultancies and helps them to keep everyone in the engagement satisfied.       

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think the most noteworthy thing that I found about working with Praxent is that they really listen to what you have to say. Most similar companies tend to pressure their clients into doing what they think is best by arguing that they’re the experts so you should listen to them, but their team understood that understanding what we do was the key to doing their job better. The flexibility and iterative process enabled by their culture made the whole project enjoyable from start to finish.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly don’t have any negative comments on the engagement. They came in way under their forecasted budget, were on time with everything, and were always flexible, so we have nothing to complain about.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that no matter what you’re looking to do with Praxent, you’re open to having them come in and really understand your business. Our organization was really open to the effort that we were undertaking, so we had buy-ins from stakeholders across the business, but without that, it would have been much more difficult to establish the level of consensus of opinions that made our engagement with them as successful as it was.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT manager at Texas Mutual. We’re a workers’ compensation company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We have a mobile application, and an external-facing website with a portal for our customers to log into. We had an initiative to improve customer experience on both of those applications and wanted to start an internal design and UX team. Our preexisting internal team didn’t have the resources to do it ourselves.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the beginning, Praxent augmented our UX team and helped them train. We shadowed their team in order to learn the skills we needed.

What is the team composition?

The team consisted of a project manager, a UX researcher, a designer, and a sales representative.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

A coworker on another team was looking for a UX partner as well. They thought that Praxent would be a better fit for our project, so they passed their contact information on to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $30,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from 2018–2019.

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

Our UX team is up and running and is working every day to improve customer UX. Praxent trained us well and gave us all of the skills we need to be successful.

More of our customers are able to use our self-service, and we’ve experienced a 30% reduction in call volume. Our net promoter score has been fantastic since working with them—it’s about 80.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was very good. They delivered consistently on time and within budget. We used Jira and cloud to track tasks and stories. I wasn’t a big fan of a project manager that came on board later in our engagement, but all of their other employees were outstanding.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their employees are great. They’re very skilled and they have excellent demeanors. They’re easy to get along with and they have a fantastic culture.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would tell them to make sure they continue to hire people that match their company culture.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your people are involved with the project so you’re able to learn from their team on the day-to-day.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a home building company that’s been in business for 20 years. We do 500–600 homes a year, in Birmingham and Nashville, Alabama. I’m in charge of customer experience, including warranties and anything else that has to do with touching the customer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We have a design process by which customers come in to make all their selections. As you can imagine, it can be pretty overwhelming to build a house and select everything from flooring to paint and light fixtures. We currently have a book, and it’s a good-looking book, but some customers will still forget what they selected, and it’s hard to make decisions.

We wanted to create a program that allowed them to go online, make their selections at home, and play around with it more, so they could be more confident with their budgets and selections by the time they met with our designer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent is developing a program that’s kind of a mix between Amazon and Pinterest. We’re in the final wireframing phase now. They’re only handling the design at the moment.

We have another system called Constellation, that’s entangled in all our business. Praxent is setting it up to talk to Constellation, so that all our selections are always up to date, with community-specific pricing and so on.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Kelly (Client Partner, Praxent).

How did you come to work with Praxent?

Our IT person threw out three names, including Praxent. We went through a month of interviewing all of them, and Praxent was the one we unanimously decided to go with.

How much have you invested with them?

The full project will cost about $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Praxent began in November 2019.

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

Praxent gives us weekly updates, so we always know where we are. They’ve always hit their dates and goals. They’re fantastic. Kelly and her team are great.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

I couldn’t have asked for better communication, and the project is exactly what we were expecting it to be. They’ve blown us away with the design, and truly listened to what we and our customers said. It’s a great product that they’re rolling out. It’s going to be a huge game-changer for our company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’m beyond pleased.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d recommend Praxent to anyone.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior vice president of strategy for Benefit Harbor. We are a digital technology platform providing employee benefits for employer groups. We aggregate employee benefits for employers to offer to their employees and for employees to self-serve the administration and election of their benefits.

My role is to map out the overall business strategy for the next one to three years. I make sure that we are headed in the right direction from an industry, profitability, and sustainability standpoint.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We engaged Praxent to help us create a modern and attractive UI and UX for our employee self-serve client portals.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first phase was research, and Praxent was tremendously helpful in pulling together competitive reviews, industry reviews, and information that pertains to the best practices for UI/UX. 

They did research to determine what we currently have in place and what we want our future stage to look like. We created a customer roadmap, and now we’re working on the wireframes. We’re in the process of doing internal and external interviews to get their feedback, and then we’ll have a second review.

Once we complete that, we will go from our low fidelity wireframes into a more high-fidelity wireframe, and we will add more graphics and colors. Once that is done, they will actually provide us with the design elements that we need for our internal developers to create the frontend of our backend system.

What is the team composition?

We chose them because of the team they brought to the table. It would be impossible to hire someone that has the breadth of knowledge that this team has.

We have people who are designers, project managers, interviewing specialists, research specialists, as well as best practice specialists. 
How did you come to work with Praxent?

When I was doing my research, we looked at Clutch and the top 15 UX and UI agencies in 2018. I interviewed about six vendors based on what I found on Clutch, and Praxent was head and shoulders above the others that I interviewed.

I signed an NDA with each of the six vendors, went through a discovery call, and provided them with a demo link to our site. We asked them to go through that site with no instructions or assistance from us so they would have the same experience as our end-users. 

We asked them to provide us with a presentation giving the highs and lows of what they see on the site. Praxent was by far the most thorough and most prepared.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested around just shy of $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in August of 2019, and the work is still ongoing.
We started with a 12-week research phase, and when that was up, then we started the design phase, which is projected to go through to the end of March or April. Following that, our third phase will be an ongoing upkeep phase.

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

As far as quantitative metrics, we don’t know yet because we haven’t released our new UI/UX. I would be surprised if, in the first 12 months, we didn’t have at least a two to one ROI. 

In fact, it will likely be better than that because our UX was really bland before this. Now, it is legitimately night and day. When the UI/UX is released, it will absolutely be a completely new experience that will be worlds better.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

I cannot say enough good things about their project management, reporting, and communication. We’ve had a great amount of input into the process, which I have really appreciated. 

As we go through the project, they make sure I’m fully aware of everything they are working on, everything that is expected of me, and all the required resource planning. 

They are believers in overcommunicating, even on sensitive things. They make sure they are bringing their expertise to the table for exactly what we have hired them to do. If I decide I need to cut a corner or take a different path, they make sure that I am thinking through all the potential risks. 

Outside of that, we have a weekly project meeting where I know exactly where I stand on the budget and completion of the project. They do a great job of making sure that there is never a question of where you are in the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their two high points for me are the synergy and preparation they bring to the project. Their synergy as a team is fantastic — truly is exponential in comparison to others. The other impressive thing would be their preparation.

They are always prepared in advance with great detail, but also a great amount of simplicity. They are very concise in what they provide you and the direction is always very clear.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would have been helpful to have a discussion earlier in the process around systemic alignment. They work on Apple, and we work on Windows. Now that we are further along in the process, we are finding there will be a bit of a translation issue with the design elements. They are doing the work using Sketch, and we are doing it in Adobe. If we had been aware of it months ago, we might have been able to take steps to avoid that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them when they tell you there are potential pitfalls. They have been right every time, and they have been very helpful. 

Outside of that, don’t shortchange yourself. If you are really going in on a project, go all in and get what you know you need. Fully utilize the team as a resource.

Initially, we decided on less research than our initial plans. But, after talking it through, we had decided to go with the full research method. Those 12 weeks made a huge difference for us. We felt good about the preparation we brought to the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of operations for a travel management company. We specialize in finding lodging for members of hardhat industries—like construction crews and oilfield workers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

In addition to belonging to a niche market, our company is in a unique position because the majority of our reservations don’t go as planned. We needed a flexible reservation system that could handle everything booking to billing while being receptive to last-minute changes and variations.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent developed a booking platform from scratch. The website allows permissions for not only our employees but our clients and vendor partners, so they can access the site to manage reservations. It’s a dynamic platform that provides CRM, account management, and a billing system, all in one.

They utilized Python, Flask, and SQL Alchemy on the backend. Other technologies they used included Heroku, AWS, and PostgrSWL.

What is the team composition?

We initially interfaced with a project manager who managed a team. There were quite a few working on the platform at any given time, but as we became more fluid in our communication, we eventually worked primarily with one developer and a QA analyst.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We were working for a local provider, because we anticipated that it would be a very interactive project. Our initial impressions of their website and their professional presentation had a large impact on our decision to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We first started working with them in July of 2017, and we’re wrapping up the project soon.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve spent somewhere between $1.5–$2 million dollars.

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

We’re now able to run a much leaner team because the platform has automated many of our administrative processes. While we don’t have hard numbers at hand, the amount of user errors that people experience has been drastically reduced.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

We somewhat struggled with the communication in the beginning, and after working together for some time, both of our teams realized that our collaboration was lacking. We then implemented in-person meetings, which significantly improved our engagement.

After everyone was on the same page, we were able to increase velocity and reduce the number of team members on their end. Their methods of communication and use of project management tools, like JIRA, were very streamlined. We’ve taken note of their communication processes and successfully implemented them in our own team, which was a major takeaway.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We stood to learn a lot from them, beyond the product that we were paying for. How their company is structured—and in particular, their sense of community—was imbued with positivity. They were well-organized and well-spoken. Interacting with such a company really made for a positive engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would encourage them to improve their onboarding processing for new clients. They could work to achieve effective communication before jumping into the logistical or technical side of the project. They should ensure that the project manager they choose is a good fit, both in terms of personality and communication, for that specific customer.

I’d also urge them to properly introduce JIRA to their clients. While Praxent might be used to the tool, a newcomer might not be familiar with it. It was a big learning curve for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d encourage prospective clients to gain an extremely clear understanding of the project at hand. Don’t be afraid to ask questions along the way. If you’re a prospective client, make sure to do some research and get caught up on some of the language that you’ll be using.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the sales manager for a protein snack company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We were trying to understand how to evaluate our retail operations, and we need help building an app to do this.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with them to develop an iOS and Android app that would allow any team member to do an evaluation of our retail execution. It started off as a pen and paper concept. 

We tried to leverage the fact that everyone has a mobile device and then tried to create the easiest, most simple app possible. We trusted that they would use the top, best in class platforms. They went with what we drew and built it from there. 

The app incorporates geolocation. Using this feature, we are able to review how the shelf looks and if we’re getting the proper placement and fill rates. These “store checks” get uploaded straight into the cloud. Then, we can review them through an access portal. 

Tagging features allow us to start identifying different issues or metrics at the point of retail. We also trained a machine learning model so we could see if we’ve achieved our goals as a sales organization. The machine learning model runs every night, and it takes all the executions of retail and it decides whether it’s compliant with our initiative and mission that we have.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a dozen people at one point. In the beginning, there was a lot of heavy lifting, and then it got scaled back to two to three folks working on the project.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I went through a pretty heavy RFP process and vetted out a lot of different vendors. 

I liked Praxent because the majority of their team was developing products in-house and in-country. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018, and the work is ongoing. We still turn to them for a lot of support on this app.

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

They helped us build a tool more focused on what we actually needed versus what we originally wanted. We’ve launched the app globally within our organization, and all teammates use it. 

We’ve been able to create a network of information about how retail is being executed on a global scale. At any time, we can go into this platform and time travel anywhere around the world.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done an excellent job of working around my personal hectic schedule of work. It didn’t matter where I was, they were always flexible and understanding. 

The planning process was very thorough. We did several in-house meetings and a lot of brainstorming. They came back with an excellent scope that was within our budget. 

Also, they kept up with deadlines and expectations. They always monitored to see if something was out of scope. There were no surprises. Everything was communicated well to us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team displayed hospitality and patience. They really did a lot of handholding and walked us through the process since it’s a different type of technology. I was very pleased through the entire process. 

There were points where we didn’t agree on things, but they saw the long-term relationship and not just the short-term results. We’ve decided to develop more work with them because of the relationship we have with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They only use Slack, email, and their work phone for communication. But, I’m so used to using WhatsApp. This was definitely an inconvenience at times, but I got used to using Slack.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for a cheap vendor, don’t go with Praxent. If you’re looking for the best, they’re definitely the best. 

It comes down to how you define your ROI and what kind of product you want. We wanted something that would function no matter what, and we intensively bug tested it. Pricing-wise, there are much more competitive bids, but they didn’t have the history or the recommendations that Praxent had.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Austin Capital Bank. We have a FinTech division, which is what we engaged Praxent regarding.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We have a software platform that powers a financial service product, which we have on the market. We hired Praxent to review the platform and its UI/UX. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent reviewed our product and verified that the platform was scalable, well-designed, and well-architected. They also provided a host of beneficial and useful UI/UX recommendations. 

What is the team composition?

Our product manager was Kelly (Client Partner, Praxent). 

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I’ve known Tim (CEO, Praxent) for years; we’re in EO together. We interviewed a couple of different companies and went through their proposals before settling on Praxent.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent $40,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–August 2019.

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

We wanted to have a third-party opinion that what we’d built was indeed well-architected and scalable, and Praxent provided us with that independent verification. They also had really good UI/UX suggestions and feedback, a lot of which we’ve incorporated into our product’s customer interface.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a very well managed project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found that they delivered on what they said they would deliver on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Praxent met the needs of the engagement. They did what they said they were going to do in the agreed-upon timeframe and budget, which was great.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clearly define the objectives and the timeline upfront. If you do that, they will manage those objectives.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the community partnerships manager at the world’s largest nonprofit breast milk bank in Austin, Texas. I manage the marketing strategy within the organization. I think about ways to expose our work to new audiences and ways to motivate donors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

There was low awareness in our area, and we were having trouble receiving support from mothers that could potentially donate. We approached Praxent with our idea, sharing data about why and how people support our nonprofit. We asked them to find a creative solution to expand that number and increase our success locally.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent completed a design sprint for us. In six days, four members of our team worked with five from theirs. The first few days were spent in a room for seven or eight hours a day. Our teams brainstormed creative solutions for our problem, thinking about the big picture.

After that, their team worked independently for two days to develop a prototype. We had talked about different ways to get the word out to mothers within the community about our needs. Our teams agreed upon a mobile solution that offered a two-minute quiz that users could take at home. The quiz tested if a user was a good fit donor, while also relaying information about our work. The two-minute quiz was then tested on day four with five users.

On the final day, the team at Praxent shared the results, making their final recommendations for how we move forward as an organization.

What is the team composition?

We had designers, strategists, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

Their team actually reached out to us. We entered a summer program through a design school here in Austin that was offering to complete pro bono work for nonprofits. While we weren’t selected, one of the leaders at Praxent heard about our work through the application process and wanted to offer support.

After he received permission from other leadership, they offered the design sprint pro bono. We had a couple of exploratory calls where it offered to me that they were offering real value. Compared to other agencies I’ve worked with, the team at Praxent didn’t plan on wasting our time with testing new ideas and staffers. While their design sprint system was new, it was completely fleshed out. We were happy to accept their offer.

How much have you invested with them?

It was done pro bono, but we would’ve spent around $41,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Praxent took place in July 2019.

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

The prototype received positive feedback. Everyone from our side that participated even came back to the office with pages of new ideas. Some of which we implemented the right way. Most importantly, our team agreed that the prototype was worth investing in.

After the design sprint, we engaged with another vendor to build the solution from scratch. It launched a few weeks ago. We’re currently promoting it through digital ads and tracking the results through Google Analytics. Initial results have been positive. We’re tweaking the wording and ad targeting, but the click-through-rates have been high. People aren’t leaving the quiz right away. About 10% of users are contacting the milk bank and asking to become a donor, which was the ultimate goal.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style was one of their strongest areas. I’ve worked with a lot of projects and have even been one on a few projects. I was incredibly impressed with their organization. Their team is intentional and thoughtful about time and activities.

The assigned project manager seamlessly led us from one activity to another, looking at the problem with potential solutions our staff never considered. Not to mention, they walked us through two long and intensive days in a conference room. The days never felt long or dragged. Our time was used effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Aside from project management, the design sprint that their team curated in-house is higher quality than similar efforts I’ve done with other agencies. Each activity is thoughtfully-designed to get people to think outside the box. We didn’t look for the easiest solution but found new questions to ask and new ways to answer those questions. This is ultimately how we came up with an idea that has effectively benefitted our organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. I wish that they were more reasonably-priced, so we could afford them regularly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend engaging with Praxent, but only if your team is ready to dedicate time and think outside of the box. The client needs to bring decision-makers to the table, for it to be effective. The decision-makers need to be engaged, focused, and creative. They also need to be willing to be questioned and communicate what they don’t know.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former executive director at Keller Williams Kids Can, a national nonprofit educational organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We needed scalability for our new educational program. Our team needed to be able to educate and onboard our volunteer trainers. We wanted to provide a tool for them to create events, generate marketing pieces, register, and make orders to deliver materials. This digital system would do as much of the work as possible. Nothing in the marketplace was adequate for the complexities of our specific strategy of digital delivery.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided full-scale development from the frontend consumer interface to the backend. They built a technology platform from scratch. The core function is an event management system. However, it doesn’t only organize events, it also allows us to onboard the volunteer trainers from all over the country. Many of the students enrolling were under 18, so it was typically the parents who were doing enrolling and donations. We needed a system that could handle the many variables. Sometimes a student would book the event and sometimes the parent would do it for them. Sometimes somebody else would donate to cover the expenses for others, or just donate outright. Because of these moving parts, Praxent developed a custom solution in Symfony for us.

Uniquely, all of the trainers were Keller Williams agents. They built a gateway for prospective trainers to accept the role, watch training videos, and read and download materials. Upon completion, they were able to create their own event and sent it out to the general public, and students could register and donate on that link. The platform needed video integration. It also had a very versatile database that we could make available to any trainer so that they could download the training materials, documents, and PowerPoints. We were also able to categorize the system—if you wanted to teach high school, you could go into the high school section. There was also a location for students where they could see the videos and other content.

What is the team composition?

There were 4–5 people at peak moments. After we got past the first release, we were able to trim that down. They were very flexible. When we needed more people, they were able to bring people in. They also worked with us to manage expenses.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I called around to people that I knew. I met Kevin (Managing Partner, Praxent) and I liked him because he was able to speak my language as an entrepreneur and as a non-technology person. He really understood what I wanted to do. He was also able to communicate with our technical team. I then met their team and they listened to what I wanted. They brought back a presentation and how much it was going to cost. Even though they weren’t the lowest, I chose them because of their understanding of the vision of where we were going.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $500,000 in about 24 months of working with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2015 and the work is ongoing, though now is more maintenance. We created the original platform to easily accept a new curriculum, new phases without any substantial investment.

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

The platform pretty much managed everything. Events could be started and people would be getting trained and thousands of kids being taught all over the country. The platform also continued to have onboarding for instructors. The website automatically delivered materials. Very little hands-on work was needed.

While we were building the first iteration of the website, we were still designing the content. When we fully launched in September 2015, we had zero trainers at that moment. Within 1.5 years, we had 380 trainers and taught over 11,500 students. They’re still using the platform now and have added new curricula and events tools. After I left, KW Kids Can had only one employee running the entire system by herself for a year, proving that we could deliver an educational product across the country with minimal labor.

They added a few really cool features since I’ve been gone, and I'm very proud of what we built. It’s an excellent platform that allows them to run the business with minimal human interaction in the system, educate young people all over the country, raise money, and communicate the message of unlimited potential.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a few hiccups here and there because we were moving very fast. There were times I needed them to slow down to manage the expenses, giving us time to determine our immediate goals as it relates to the site. We had a high level of conversation to make sure we were in the right spot. They used a system that allowed them to say where they were at and what they got done today. Quarterly, we’d look at everything that was on the roadmap and decide when it’s a deliverable and when it has to be done.

They were really good at prioritizing and getting things put in the right place. They were also able to tell us what would take longer than other tasks. They offered to put another person on it or we could wait an extra month. They were also really good at navigating speed versus investment. There were things we had to redo because maybe they didn’t come out exactly the way we planned it, but that’s normal when building something that intricate and large. Most of that was cosmetic and not operational or process-oriented. I have pretty high standards and I was completely happy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did a really good job of listening when I had something to say. I’m not a technical guy, so I talked to their project manager about what I want. If I needed to be really clear about the expense versus the deliverables, they did a good job of interpreting that and really meeting me in a place where we needed to be. I liked that they’re honest and candid. I’d rather work with someone who tells me the truth.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, they had some communication processes that I felt took up a lot of time. They had meetings where there were three people in their office talking to us for an hour. At $180 per hour per person can be very expensive. After a few weeks of that, I talked to them about it. They came up with a different process that worked better for me. However, they weren’t ready to shift into that other process until I flexed a little muscle and told them I needed them to do it. I respect the fact that there were some things they didn’t want to change. Eventually, there are some things they were willing to change because it made sense after they heard me out. Eventually, we really ironed it all out and got moving very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear upfront. They’re not cheap, but they’re very good. Take your time. Before signing the contract, be willing to really get clear about what you want. After they present it to you, take a step back and make sure that’s what you want. Once we got going, we were going full blast.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a firm in the reproductive technology space focusing some of our attention on software. We’re the preferred software solutions provider in the fertility industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We were trying to identify a partner with experience in our space and complying with regulations. For our backend development project, we needed someone with solid tech skills.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed the backend of a development project, providing us with documentation and fully-functioning code at the end of the engagement.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the managing director, a backend developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

For the past 15 years, I’ve been working with development shops across the country, so I’m good at identifying strong talent and partners. I interviewed many shops and decided Praxent was easily one of the strongest for backend development. That encouraged me to hire them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2019, and our work with them is ongoing.

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

Between the quality of their work and the ease of collaboration, the team did a fantastic job. In my 15 years of experience, they’re one of the top firms I’ve dealt with. However, it’s too early to give any specific metrics at this point.  

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their managing director and backend developer were major strengths. The project manager was also very on top of things and provided us with good documentation. The team was great about following up in real time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re honest, technically strong with backend development, and always deliver strong results. Praxent impressed me so much that I referred them to a friend how runs a very large company. While I can only speak to their backend work, I know they’re credible, reliable people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything I can think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as a partner instead of a service provider. Make sure to stay open to feedback because they bring a lot to the table.