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Verified Profile
Five Jars is an international Web Development, Web Design, and Strategy company led by leaders with 10+ years of experience in web development. In the last 6 years, we’ve delivered 100+ projects for clients in health & fitness, media, art & culture, and NGO markets, including 20+ mid-to-enterprise clients such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Council for Exceptional Children, Fortune 500 organizations, and numerous large YMCAs across the US.
Locations
United States
2300 Wilson Blvd, Suite 700,
Arlington,
Virginia
22201
+18043959535
United States
68 Jay Street, Suite 201,
Brooklyn,
New York
11201
+18043959535
Ukraine
Popudrenka Street 1a,
Kyiv,
kyiv
02100
Focus Areas
Service Focus
- Web Development
- Software Development
- Web Designing (UI/UX)
- Maintenance & Support
Client Focus
- Medium Business
- Large Business
- Small Business
Industry Focus
- NGOs
- Education
- Art, Entertainment & Music
Five Jars Executive Interview
Alex Schedrov
CEO
Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the organization.
Five Jars is an international Drupal, Web Development, Web Design, and Strategy company led by leaders with 10+ years of experience serving mid to enterprise clients in health & fitness, media, art & culture, and NGO markets.
As CEO, Director of Business Development, and Digital Strategist, I lead the company’s growth and expansion and build relationships with clients and partners.
As CEO, Director of Business Development, and Digital Strategist, I lead the company’s growth and expansion and build relationships with clients and partners.
What is the story behind starting this company?
Five Jars was founded in 2017 by a group of technology enthusiasts, digital experts, and dreamers with years of experience in other Drupal companies to deliver high-quality web solutions. The desire to be not just another web development agency but to provide clients with an exceptional boutique service has united these Drupal professionals. The main people core of the Five Jars is obsessed with honing processes, striving for perfect results even in small things and full ownership of the projects they work on. We gathered together only top talents to produce quality products and be as successful as our clients. Our enthusiasm, passion, and focus drive our efforts to meet our clients’ needs. We’re proud of our client partnerships, and we love what we do.
What are your company’s business model–in house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?
We are a group of professionals who are looking to disrupt the way digital agencies work sustainably. Because we want to change the industry, we do things differently. We are convinced that creativity, talent, and potential are not bound by borders. That is why we have people all around the world. We only hire the greatest people - it doesn’t matter where they are located. We believe in opportunities and do not only hire well-experienced experts but also people who bring a new drive to the team. The mix of fresh ideas and established experience is the key to our success. That said, we have an in-house team but with an extensive network of partners.
How does your company differentiate itself from the competition?
We are a leading innovation agency that has built many progressive products. We aim to provide cost-saving strategies and always care about security. It is what really distinguishes Five Jars among other vendors. We build and support websites and perform overall digital transformation starting from work on the website, and we make a digital ecosystem and aim to increase our clients' revenue. Additionally, Five Jars team grew out of the Drupal community. We continue to be active participants in the community, allowing us to grow and evolve.
What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive? If yes, what ratio of clients has been repetitive to you?
We cover multiple industries with in-depth expert knowledge and extensive experience. Our main development tool Drupal is great for certain industries (such as nonprofit, art and music, culture, health, fitness, etc.). It allows us to focus on certain technologies and evolve. Most of our clients are nonprofit organizations, and through our work, we are part of the impact of their missions. Our best products are present in industries such as education, health, and fitness, media, arts and culture, nonprofits, and enterprises.
Please share some of the services that you offer for which clients approach you the most for?
We believe, and our clients confirm, that everything starts with web development. Five Jars is renowned for being at the forefront of development trends, and our developers are among the most experienced and senior ones on the market. Our teams are interdisciplinarily organized and consist of developers, marketing experts, design gurus, and many other professionals leading in their very own fields of expertise. On the other hand, Five Jars is more than a developer. We create a product strategy together with the client and also offer design, hosting, support, and integration services.
What is your customer satisfaction rate according to you? What steps do you take to cater to your customer’s needs and requirements?
Five Jars have tried different approaches to communicating with customers over the past few years and empirically came up with a combination of factors that work best for us. We’re transparent: we organize our work using Agile & Scrum and provide clients with regular status reports. Our empathy helps us maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. We look at each problem through the eyes of the customer and try to create solutions that help clients reach their goals. Speaking of the practical side of the issue, our team also uses collaborative tools for communication and tasks so that the needs of customers are heard as quickly as possible and implemented literally before their eyes.
What kind of support system do you offer to your clients for catering to their queries and issues?
We see ourselves as partners rather than service providers. Five Jars emphasizes long-term collaborations when it comes to supporting agreements. Together with clients, we develop an audit and maintenance schedule which integrates their unique peak times and requirements to accommodate clients' goals in the most efficient manner.
- Platform upgrades
- Security upgrades
- Bug fixes and improvements
- Website monitoring
- Personal support
- Regular checks of your website and its proper functioning
- Support in using all functionality
- Ongoing website testing to ensure functionality after browser updates
- Content management support
- Analytics support
As said, we see ourselves as partners – and we prove that with everything we do.
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.)
In our practice, Five Jars accepts both fixed prices and time and materials. The Fix Price strategy is based on detailed planning and sequentially defining milestones before the real development process begins. It works best for projects that have a well-defined execution strategy, a ton of project documentation, and a clear roadmap.
The T&M method does not throw a client into unpredictability as it might seem. Even if the agreement doesn't have a set ultimate sum, Five Jars nonetheless gives a customer an estimation of the number of hours needed to finish the job. Detailed terms of cooperation and penalties in case of violation will be specified in the contract. Our team values T&M for the flexibility and transparency of the payment method.
The selection of the correct pricing is directly related to the selection of the development methodology and must be consistent with the requirements and objectives of the project, as well as the overall costs incurred by the developer.
The selection of the correct pricing is directly related to the selection of the development methodology and must be consistent with the requirements and objectives of the project, as well as the overall costs incurred by the developer.
Do you take in projects which meet your basic budget requirement? If yes, what is the minimum requirement? If no, on what minimum budget you have worked for?
We have some basic requirements for the project. These are technology, organization size, budget, and timeline. They vary across industries, but we try to clarify them to guarantee that we have the capacity to start and finish the projects in time.
In our experience, small opportunities may lead to long-term and fruitful partnerships, so if we feel like we are a good match for the client, we may lower the bar of the entry budget, so it is a variable rather than a constant value.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2021?
Given that we offer various services for long-term and newly onboarded, that number should be reviewed case by case. On average, we worked with budgets of $50,000 - $250,000+ depending on the type and size of the project.
Where do you see your company in the next 10 years?
Five Jars will become a large company, a leader among other outsourcing companies. We will continue making a significant impact by providing the best in class services. Our projects and products will continue helping millions of people worldwide. Five Jars continues helping the largest and the best brands worldwide succeed by building innovative digital experiences and capitalizing on business and impact.
Five Jars Clients & Portfolios
Key Clients
- YMCA of the North
- Council for Exceptional Children
- YMCA of Greater Brandywine
- Spooky Nook Sports
- YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties
- Fortune 500 company
- Montana NSF EPSCoR
- George Washington Mount Vernon