Playbook
We are Next 99
Founded 9/19/2019, we build applications to help the planet’s most compelling health startups and companies improve the lives of their patients.
“Our Playbook” is a detailed overview of our company and how we conduct our business. We reveal our methods and values for creating healthcare products, based on our experiences from designing and developing various web and mobile applications. It’s important to note that this document is constantly evolving as our company grows and develops.
Why we build
Our well-being affects everything we do.
We believe that the pursuit of accelerating and advancing all determinants of health is a profoundly meaningful endeavor. With a passion for driving positive change and an unwavering commitment to progress, we’ve grown restless waiting for someone else to take the lead. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to empower purpose-driven startups with the tools and resources they need to build, scale, and grow.
We understand the unique challenges and capital limitations faced by startups in the health and wellness industries. As your dedicated partner, we bring a wealth of expertise, creativity, and a relentless drive for innovation to help you overcome these obstacles and unlock your full potential. Our goal is to create a lasting impact on the lives of countless individuals, fostering healthier communities and shaping a brighter future for all. Together, we can transform the landscape of health and well-being, one startup at a time.
We build to advance the field of healthcare and to develop more advanced and capable digital health products. With an endless potential for innovation in the realm of technology and healthcare, the time is now for compelling healthcare products.
One of the key areas of focus for future technological advancements is improving healthcare access through the development of software and digital health products. However, there is a significant gap between healthcare professionals who may not have expertise in software development, and tech startup teams who may not have experience in building products for the healthcare industry. This presents a challenge in terms of bringing new healthcare technology to market.
We aim to bridge the gap between healthcare professionals and tech startup teams by building software specifically for the healthcare industry. We have a unique focus and experience in creating software for the various roles and needs within the healthcare industry.
It is common for founders and entrepreneurs to lose conviction in their ideas or products if they have not properly validated them. The key to successful software design and development is not about finding quick fixes or shortcuts, but rather about going through multiple iterations and learning from them. While planning is important, it is also important to take action, gather feedback, and actively engage with clients and all their stakeholders in order to ensure success.
How We Can Help
Building a successful health product requires a combination of innovative ideas, strong execution, and a deep understanding of the healthcare industry. Health companies from up-and-coming consumer health tech startups to biotech and life science companies hire us to build their software and digital products. To do that well, an orthogonal strategy that involves many individual steps, skills and deliverables needs to align.
Our team specializes in 5 types of work that spearhead all software initiatives.
UX and UI Design : Thoughtfully crafting polished and user-centric designs specific to each persona.
Software Development : Building robust web and mobile applications from scratch through a well-tested, tried-and-true process.
Discovery and Product : Intensive software planning through technology research and product validation in target markets.
Debugging : We use debuggers, profilers, static analysis tools, testing frameworks and good coding practices, such as using version control systems and following coding standards to help identify and fix issues during development.
Branding and Websites : Constructing bespoke brand identities, experiences, and assets for both internal and external audiences.
We believe that great products are actually the result of people coming together and building meaningful relationships. That’s why – beyond just software development –we build companies, teams and even individuals as well!
For many of our clients, we vet engineers and designers, advise on strategic initiatives, and introduce teams to capital.
Not only do we specialize in vetting engineers & designers to bring your projects to life; but if you’re a VC or PE firm looking for technical evaluations on portfolio companies– we provide those too—along with direct introductions to founders.
By forming these crucial connections today, tomorrow brings amazing possibilities no matter who you’re working with or what project lies ahead!
How We Work
We take advantage of wrights law. While we error-correct at velocity and solve for you at break-neck speeds, we don’t miss what’s important.
At our company, we pride ourselves on recruiting the most qualified experts. Chennai, Miami, Manchester and beyond, no matter where they are located geographically—we look for individuals who have the necessary skills to get the job done right. Nothing is ever off-shored or outsourced; each project that comes our way receives direct oversight from us so that we can ensure its success.
Currently, our workflow is optimized for 100% remote work.
At our core, we thrive when working with ambitious and proactive people or companies who are devoted to creating something truly extraordinary in the healthcare industry. Instead of invoicing you for every hour we’re at work on your project, it’s much more cost-effective to pay us by week/sprint, or month. After all; you don’t want a timekeeper; but rather someone whose expertise will produce great results.
Recently, we have specialized in digital products for companies within the health and wellness industries as well as HCIT space. We are open to considering select projects outside the scope of health-tech if your project is ambitious and noteworthy.
At our company, we utilize a combination of experts – designers, engineers and product owners – to guarantee the highest quality results. If you have your own team but need extra help with continual growth services, then our staff augmentation model is ideal for you! We understand how stressful building a business can be and make working together as flexible as possible in order to support your success!
Even with the most ambitious projects, we find that smaller teams work best. You will be assigned a SQUAD led by a scrum master. With enough eyes on a problem or task at hand – even the deepest bug can be found!
For any given project, we’ll establish a product roadmap and group assignments into two-week “sprints” to make headway. This helps us clearly determine where our work begins and ends; otherwise, goals can become muddled together. Building an outstanding product requires both structured procedures (peer review protocols, checklists) and creative thinking as well – that’s why we’re dedicated to giving our team members uninterrupted time for concentration without interruption. With this unencumbered environment in place, everyone will be able to reach the coveted flow state of peak performance!
We consider our meetings to be a priority and ensure that they are both organized and allow for creative exploration. During every client gathering, we review the progress of our past projects, tackle any obstacles in the way and determine what tasks need to be completed in the next Sprint.
On a daily basis, we come together to review our client projects internally. Then, every week when it comes to our clients, we meet up and take their feedback into account in order to continuously refine the output of our work. It is of utmost importance for us that our clients be an integral part of this process each week; not only do they benefit from the results but also gain firsthand knowledge on best practices that become ingrained habits over time due to such consistent involvement!
We are not strictly constrained in the ways we can collaborate on software engineering projects–be it scope, design or development. Our team is knowledgeable with Agile, Kanban and other project management methods to ensure that high quality code is produced.
We keep up-to-date with current programming languages and frameworks but also understand essential aspects such as testing, documentation creation and communication between stakeholders for successful delivery of a project – all without overlooking our clients’ needs!
Finally, we measure what matters most to us.
Product Philosophy
We start with four simple questions, Is your product compelling? Does it relate to the story your user is living? Why this product, and why now?
Before you start coding, the most critical part of any software product has already begun.
We ensure that all products we build are designed with a specific purpose in mind, and begin by carefully evaluating the issues they will solve.
Our champion clients come to us with some form for product validation and demonstrate it with both anecdotal and real-world evidence. For startups, we help validate ideas as part of our product ops framework program.
We frequently take our clients through a Discovery and Product Sprint in order to clearly define their problem space and evaluate the accuracy of their assumptions, thus enabling us to determine whether or not an idea is actually effective.
For clients who have discerned their product-market fit (or are close to it), these Sprints offer us the chance to discuss your vision, analyze any user research, designs and code previously developed and summarize our findings in a Product Roadmap that details what needs building, how it should be built and why.
By collecting your requirements, trimming down and organizing the features, evaluating technology options and vendors, as well as mapping out a sequence of operations to build your product – our Discovery and Product processes will enable you to feel confident that: You’re building the right product, at the right time with a realistic timeframe and budget.
Design Philosophy
Intentional design is the key to creating a remarkable product experience. Even products with the most sophisticated code can remain meaningless if they don’t have an intuitive and memorable user interface.
UX and UI Design are not simply visuals that express your product’s idea; instead, they’re the representation of its inherent worth.
Design is a crucial process that helps us to cultivate ideas when we do not have specific requirements, as well as express them once they are established.
UX and UI designs should achieve a harmonious balance between user expectations, technological feasibility, financial sustainability, and corporate objectives. Not only will they define the features of your product as well as its target demographic; but also help you determine where to draw the line in terms of what is included or excluded from your offering.
User journey is unique and so is the user experience. Navigating between the intent of the user and the intent of the creator is the space of design excellence.
We tailor our design strategy to each product, taking into account its industry, unique qualities that give it an edge over competitors, and the distinct character of your brand. Our designers then curate several designs based on user feedback; you’d be given a selection of conservative models as well as those with more vivacity and everything in between. Once you’ve had the chance to review them all with us present, we’ll narrow down your options by marrying opinions together before making further adjustments to these possible outcomes.
Every application that we design and construct is accompanied by two specialized diagrams: Site Maps to outline the workflows, and Information Architecture diagrams to recognize the vocabulary of each app. We further detail our wireframes with annotations for every action a user can take within each view; moreover, no state is left out – from loading states, errors and empty views, through transitions between different sections.
The parallel between law and design is that the devils in the details.
The amount of effort invested in design depends on the goals for each product. Some customers feel comfortable developing prototypes without substantial UI design, yet others want something more polished and suited to their target users. Usually, good design will amplify a product’s success but not always; Craigslist is an example where UX was neglected with no long-term negative repercussions. Ultimately, it is more necessary to comprehend the problem and gain traction rather than investing time crafting a beautiful product right away.
Development Philosophy
We don’t just care about the quality of our software, but the process too.
To kick off our development process, we analyze the data model layer to recognize and arrange the objects in an effective hierarchy. By doing this, it helps us create a precise understanding of how these elements connect within the program.
As part of our development process, we now integrate both the view layer and frontend coding. The approach we take varies depending on the tools selected such as programming languages and frameworks, as well as the architecture of the app (monolithic vs microservices, single page vs CRUD), to ensure that it aligns with the goals of the project.
If we are constructing a basic marketing website with the utilization of a CMS, then our software development process should be less intricate while simultaneously placing emphasis on frontend implementation and refinement.
During extended application builds and legacy transformations, we must prioritize software process, app architecture, scoping, and other technical details. Software development calls for shrewdly finding a balance between what needs to be done immediately versus later.
We urge our clients and colleagues to remember that software needs more than just building – it also needs upkeep. Skilled engineers acknowledge the fact that there is no such thing as an “eternal, one-time code.” Third party libraries may malfunction when updated; cloud services can fail without warning. It’s essential to be mindful of these potential issues when developing a program and remain diligent in maintaining its quality.
In popular software programs, major bugs can go undiscovered for extended periods of time before being identified and fixed (e.g. the Heartbleed vulnerability). Upkeep of the software requires money, effort, and energy. Refactoring code is just as vital as creating features that drive revenue.
Our champion clients are passionate about delving into the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) – from design to development – and we thrill in imparting our knowledge. Even better, they carry on those habits for months and even years afterwards!
To ensure the highest quality of our code, we write and execute a plethora of tests: from Unit Tests to Integration Tests, UATs and beyond. This is especially true when developing in established startups or enterprise companies that demand more rigorous testing standards.
Despite this, we don’t let over-testing stand in the way of launching. If you’re constructing an MVP, then a comprehensive test suite is not necessary– get your product out to the world quickly!
We are cautious when it comes to merging and deploying code, taking every measure necessary for success. We utilize a mix of tools such as Gitflow and monitoring test coverage before pushing anything live. Moreover, the code we write is hosted across multiple cloud providers tailored specifically to each project’s unique requirements and our clients’ needs.
We have our favored tech stacks, but we are more than willing to work with certain tools if requested by the client.
Our proficiency extends beyond the latest technology, we are well-versed in coding of all eras, from legacy code that is over 20 years old to contemporary programming languages such as Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and the frameworks of these languages including React, Angular, Node. Additionally, we possess expertise in mobile development using Swift and Java.
Branding Philosophy
People purchase from companies not only due to the product or service, but also because they have a strong emotional connection with the brand. A successful brand is more than just visuals and symbols; it conveys values that define who we are as a business. When done correctly, your company’s branding will demonstrate where you’ve been, what journey lies ahead of you, and why this purpose drives us forward.
Developing an unforgettable brand identity is not only a way to make your business stand out from the crowd – it can also be used as a tool for eliminating any and all competition. When you create something so unique…so compelling, you will be remembered.
While our branding process is similar for every client, the resulting brand of each customer is unique. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of their target audience and then build upon this foundation to create one-of-a-kind visual and written elements that bring the identity together.
It is essential to craft your visual identity whether you are a startup launching in the world or an established enterprise seeking a facelift. Designing how you show up matters and could make all the difference.
There is no replacement to intentional design. It is at the heart of everything we do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:How do you price your services?
A:To ensure the best value for our clients, we offer a combination of Time and Materials and Value-Based pricing. When tasks have concise parameters, Fixed Cost may be available as an alternative.
When it comes to service companies, there is an age-old saying “you can have it cheap, you can have it fast, and you can have it good – but pick two”. So if someone tries to tell you they possess all three attributes at once, be wary. Nothing in life is ever truly free of tradeoffs!
A fair warning: our services are fast, efficient and of the highest quality. And that level of excellence comes at a cost; we do not offer bargain prices.
Q: How do you estimate software timelines?
A: We practice Evidence Based Scheduling to accurately compare your project with similar past projects, taking into account the Cone of Uncertainty which allows us to accurately estimate software development time after we design and technology research.
Boasting a comprehensive dataset of 12,000 digital health projects and having accomplished 35 such initiatives over the course of our 4 year journey in this industry, we are incredibly confident in our capacity to precisely evaluate projects.
Unlike other agencies out there, our quotes are the maximum amount you can expect to pay when working with us. We won’t attempt to mislead you by presenting low prices and then price gouging mid-project due to scope changes (because it almost always happens). This allows us both to avoid any unpleasant surprises at a later date.
Q: Do you accept equity in exchange for work?
A: We occasionally invest in equity, but it is not a frequent occurrence. Our usual practice is to only invest in one company per year, and we typically engage in a working relationship with the startup client for about six months before making an equity investment. We always provide a combination of cash and equity, rather than just equity, in exchange for our services. The amount we ask for when investing in equity is in line with what is typical for seed-stage investors or accelerator programs.
Q: Do you work on-site with clients?
A: In the past, and we look forward to the opportunity to do so again in the future, once the current situation is resolved.
Q: Will you sign an NDA before meeting?
A: Similar to a venture capital firm, we meet with many individuals and as a result, we generally do not have non-disclosure agreements in place. However, exceptions may be made for enterprise companies, government organizations, or startups that possess a significant amount of intellectual property. In cases where a startup only has an idea or a prototype and no users or traction, it may not be necessary to sign a non-disclosure agreement
Q: Do you take legal ownership of the software you write for us?
A: When you invest in our work, it is YOU who has total control of the project. We are here to serve as your trusted partner in building something that will benefit you and help take your business goals further. Be wary of firms that say otherwise.
Q: What happens when we’re done with the project? How do you transition the work to us?
A: As part of our process for every client project, we develop a plan for the completion of the project. Once a project is finished, we typically transfer all of our work to our client over a span of one to two weeks. We ensure that our client has access to all the assets we created, such as designs, documents, and code, during this transition period.
Most of our clients have their own internal engineers that collaborate with us on the transition process. In the event that they don’t, we have the option of continuing to work with them on a monthly retainer basis or starting a new project with them afterwards.
Q: How soon can you start?
A: Once we have a signed contract and have received the project deposit, it usually takes 2-3 weeks for us to start the actual work. During this initial phase, we review any materials provided by the client such as user stories, wire frames, or product roadmaps, or evaluate the condition of inherited code from a previous development team.