Kindly share your feedback on how Goodfirms has been doing so far in increasing your visibility among potential clients.
Goodfirms serve as an independent source of truth for entrepreneurs, especially non-technical, enabling them to find technical solutions tailored to their needs more efficiently and effectively.
For us as a company, Goodfirms allows us to better connect with entrepreneurs and business managers that need our help.
By hosting our reviews and case studies, Goodfirms allows us to showcase our strengths clearly, impacting potential clients when they are ready to buy.
That combined with the ability to reduce uncertainty for the user makes Goodfirms, in my opinion, a perfect bridge, helping the industry as a whole.
Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the organization.
Altar is a product & software company in London, Lisbon, and Milan.
We help companies - ranging from startups to big corporations - bring their products to life.
The way we work is, the client brings visionary concepts and deep knowledge of an industry that they want to transform. Then, we bring our accumulated knowledge to transform this concept into a tangible product that is better than any other solution on the market.
My role is to manage the company with a specific focus on commercial activity.
What is the story behind starting this company?
It all started when I left banking to pursue entrepreneurship. I had an idea to solve a problem I had found in the leisure industry.
So I set out to build my first startup. I had little to no tech literacy and was very much a non-technical founder with a business vision.
This startup failed for a number of reasons, one of which was I didn’t know how to manage and communicate with a technical person – it was literally like we were speaking a different language.
More than this, I didn’t know how to assess if the couple of developers I had working with me were actually high-quality talent or not.
I was not alone in this. I began to hear more stories of non-tech entrepreneurs who were struggling to communicate their business ideas to developers.
There was a clear need for a company that was not just a software agency, but a company that could also provide the bridge between the business person and the developers.
And that entity that can create that bridge takes the form of a product person. Someone who understands both the business side, the tech side, and the UX/UI side.
So I came together with my co-founders to launch Altar.
We focus not only on the software development process but also on the product aspect - which is the core of our value proposition.
This results in products that more effectively meet the demand of their users – who are a lot more demanding nowadays due to the rapidly maturing tech world over the last 15 years.
What is your company’s business model? In-house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?
Consultancy firm, with an in-house team, on a T&M business model.
When you sign up with us, you’re working with Altar and our in-house team and no one else. The reason is we find that too many cooks really do spoil the broth.
The more players you add to a project, the more likely you are to face issues of miscommunication, cultural clashes, and loss of control of the process.
In terms of our T&M business model – our estimates are approved by the client before any work starts. If we exceed the budget that has been agreed upon through our fault we take responsibility for that.
Of course, if anything outside of the scope of work comes up, it must again be discussed and approved by both parties before work can begin.
We know when you’re launching an early-stage startup, every penny counts. That’s why we ensure as much as is humanly possible there are no unexpected costs for the entrepreneurs we work with.
How does your company differentiate itself from the competition?
Our leadership, as a rule, must have experience as either a founder or an early employee of a startup.
Why? Because forming a startup is the only real way that you learn how to bootstrap and follow a lean methodology.
It’s this basis in lean methodology that makes us tailor-made for entrepreneurs.
More than this, we are able to more effectively serve our corporate clients, such as Coca-Cola, as we use those same lean methodologies to build their products.
Lean methodology, twinned with the focus on the user and the product, is something rarely seen at a corporate level – however, leads to better products.
What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive? If yes, what ratio of clients has been repetitive to you?
We work across a number of industries. That being said due to our early clients, and subsequent referrals, we have a vertical in fintech and heavy data solutions.
We do have repeat customers in some cases. In other cases don’t for one simple reason.
We cater to entrepreneurs and startups. And we believe strongly that startups should eventually recruit an internal team – normally after their MVP has begun to gain traction.
The repeat clients we do have generally stay with us because they do not yet see the need to onboard an internal team and wish to continue their project with us.
Please share some of the services that you offer for which clients approach you the most?
Product Scope: This is our service to help an entrepreneur structure the business vision and prepare it for the development phase.
This process begins with finding the project's unique value proposition. Then, we analyze all the stakeholders who will benefit from that value proposition.
Then, we create the user stories for the product – along with a Key BPMN (Business Process Model & Notation), Tech Scope, Tech Spike, Business Model if needed (this is judged on a case-by-case basis).
MVP Builder: First, we design the UX/UI of your product. When you’ve approved the full design, our team progressively delivers the modules of your MVP. Finally, we go through the testing phase, where we stay in constant contact with you to fix major bugs and make sure your MVP is ready to go to market.
Custom Software Development: This service is designed with corporate projects in mind. It takes the same lean methodology, and user-centric approach to product development and applies them to larger projects.
What is your customer satisfaction rate according to you?
We would recommend looking at our testimonials on platforms such as Goodfirms to perceive what our clients think about us.
That being said, we have an average internal net promoter score of 9/10.
Most of our clients turn into brand ambassadors, which is another thing that makes us really proud.
What kind of support system do you offer to your clients for catering to their queries and issues?
Transparency & open communication.
We ensure that, throughout the project, we have recurring mandatory calls set in stone to assess the project with the entrepreneur we are working with.
More than that, our model does not include account managers. When you work with us you have access to the lead stakeholder for the specific aspects of your project. For example, if you need to talk tech, you talk to the lead developer on your project. If you need to talk product, you’ll talk to the lead product manager – just like you would have if you hired an internal team.
You will also have a direct channel to contact us in case of any emergencies relating to your project.
What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, Pay per Milestone (could be in phases, months, versions etc.)
We have a pre-agreed fee to commit to a starting date – then we work on a T&M basis up to the pre-agreed estimate.
We also carry out time reports to ensure you can see where your money is going.
Do you take in projects which meet your basic budget requirement? If yes, what is the minimum requirement? If not, on what minimum budget you have worked for?
There is no minimum requirement or maximum requirement – we evaluate every project on a case-by-case basis.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2020?
Where do you see your company in the next 10 years?
Becoming the industry queen in product development.
