IT Services
Ongoing
United Kingdom
Less than $10,000
5
Opportunity & Challenge
We hired Altar.io to conduct a Product Scoping exercise and to develop a Proof of Concept for a key technology component of our proposed product. Our goals were to narrow down the feature sets that we needed as part of an MVP and verify that it was possible to build a product around our value proposition.
Solution
The project began with several days of in-depth discussions, during which Altar.io led us through a systematic questioning process to identify the core ideas and feature sets. They challenged our assumptions and helped refine our thinking, effectively acting as co-founders throughout the process. These insights were then captured in a set of structured deliverables, tailored to help us progress to the next stage.
During this phase, we identified the need to test a key set of technologies. Altar.io offered their software development services to support this, and we moved forward in parallel with building a Proof of Concept, which proved successful.
Team Composition
The effort was led by CEO & Head of Product Daniel, who coordinated both of our simultaneous projects. He was supported by a broader team: two project managers and the CTO. We also received additional contributions and advice from the CMO and Head of Operations.
Reason for Choosing Altar.io
We discovered Altar.io through online research and decided to reach out. They quickly scheduled a call to understand our needs and presented a clear, step-by-step path to achieve our goals, including transparent pricing. We chose to work with them because we were impressed by their structured approach and depth of experience.
Results & Feedback
The project enabled us to move forward with the next phase of our startup, and we’re now looking ahead to collaborating with Altar.io on the larger software development effort.
Their project management was generally solid, though there were occasions where we needed to follow up for updates, particularly when the two parallel workstreams were interconnected and reliant on one another.
What stood out most about Altar.io was their mindset. They didn’t approach the engagement as a typical service provider; instead, they fully immersed themselves in the project, taking on the role of a co-founder. It was clear that our success was their priority, even over their own business development efforts.
If there’s any room for improvement, it would be in providing more timely status updates and increasing the client’s exposure to the technology side of the engagement.
Shaalin Tandon is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Ovvio, a knowledge-sharing platform designed to connect individuals seeking practical advice with real experts in real time. Launched in 2021, Ovvio aims to humanise online knowledge exchange by facilitating direct, person-to-person interactions. Under Shaalin's leadership, the platform has rapidly grown, attracting tens of thousands of users and expanding its reach across various knowledge domains. His vision centres on creating a more personal, privacy-conscious alternative to algorithm-driven search engines.
