Web Development for Military Marketplace Startup
Magento Multi User Marketplace setup with complex functionality
portfolio
Military Marketplace
1-10 Employees
San Diego, California
After building a secure and scalable marketplace and helping market the concept, Clap Creative have also enhanced the site’s usability for vendors. They now make design enhancements on a case-by-case basis.
I'm the CEO of an online marketplace called Patriotic Online Marketplace, https://PompUSA.org. We are a dedicated marketplace for the military community to sell their goods to the public. All of our vendors are Active, Reserve or National Guard Service Members, Veterans or their immediate family members. We sell a huge variety of items that have mass appeal. I want to help the military community start their eCommerce store without listing fees or membership fees.
They are building the technology behind the marketplace. They are responsible for all web development and the construction of the website. The technology behind the site is very difficult. We are a software-as-a-service at our core. We are just a startup but we are similar to Shopify, Amazon or eBay. The technology behind those companies is expensive but it's becoming cheaper. Small startups like myself can now develop similar technology. I worked with two other developers in the past that couldn't execute. I then searched for other developers and hired Clap Creative.
They also work on a little bit of SEO. They provide some ideas and consulting. Their CEO is very responsive. We often talk and bounce around ideas. I've had bad experiences with developers. As a group, they overpromise and under-deliver. I was scammed by my first developer and the second wasn't good. Working with Clap Creative, we mostly focus on function but also design. We are switching gears to more marketing. The core of the website is functional and works. We are pushing updates today. We are starting to get some sales and looking at analytics and marketing now. They had to take over other developers' code. It was a problem looking back. I was ripped off for $12,000 by a scammer developer first. The second developer also had problems after charging me $80,000. My website wasn't very good after his work. Clap Creative works with several external organizations to extend our tool and make sure the different tie-ins work properly together.
I found them online. I discovered their website when we were in a really bad situation. I just returned from two combat tours in the Middle East. We were transitioning away from the developer that cheated us. We were ready to call it quits in August 2016. We decided to give it one more shot with Clap Creative. I did a ton of due diligence after I got scammed the first time. I still chose the wrong person for my second developer. Since I was so cautious, I talked to Clap Creative three times before hiring them for a small project. I then was confident enough to get rid of my second developer and go with Clap Creative exclusively.
Initially, it was $3,200 per month. There were some months early when I doubled that budget. It's now at $800 per month for maintenance work. I would say it probably has averaged about $4,000 per month for the past twelve months.
It is ongoing. We initially started in August 2016. They really didn't take over until September 2016. From there, our work is based on my budget. We can only invest so much every month. We worked with them on a monthly plan that allowed for a different budget every month. I was very involved with the work in the early days. I would send them changes for the website two to three times per month. We were able to fix all the bigger problems at that time. We are now in the marketplace and getting some sales. We are past the initial launch stage.
I'm pretty satisfied because I know what I'm going to get and they are responsive. I have learned to handle bad news. Other developers aren't responsive and will do whatever they want to do. Overall, I like my relationship with Clap Creative. I think I'm getting what I'm paying for so it's a fair value. It's a fair and honest relationship. Our customers have provided positive feedback on the website. We heard from one that we have the simplicity of Etsy with the function of a solid website. The more that I learn about the technology, the more exciting it becomes. I continue to be more impressed with what we've done together. There have been dozens of others that have tried to do military community marketplaces. All of them have failed miserably because they do it in a directory format or on a cheap Wordpress website. Those startups all failed. Our strategy was to build the right foundation. We took our time to build a solid platform. We are now building our network. Most of our customers are satisfied with our service. We are rarely down for maintenance. We can say that we are a true marketplace dedicated for military entrepreneurs that is secure and scalable. No one else has done that before.
They only work a few hours away from me. That was another reason that I chose them. I am stationed at a base in the middle of the Mojave desert. We are about three hours from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. They are near San Diego so we've met for coffee to discuss the project. We generally communicate by email. If it's high priority, I just call the CEO. He always picks up the phone even though he travels a lot and keeps odd hours. I can call him at 2 PM or 2 AM, he always picks up the phone. He said I can call him anytime. He is responsive.
The main thing is really their responsiveness and how they are fair. We get what we pay for, this is unusual in this industry. I don't know why this is. I like how their CEO acts as a project manager. He is fair and honest and he cares. He can speak in my language and doesn't use technical speak.”
I think our admin panel on Magento is an issue. I wish they would teach us how to update this panel. My team or I could figure it out if we were trained. I'm sure we could do it ourselves if he taught us. We would like to avoid paying developers to update these basic things. Also, I've allowed some bad habits to creep into the project. This is mostly my fault. The project management has become very casual. I am trying to right the ship currently. I was surprised by the current update. I told them to do it at 2 AM EST but I was unaware that it was pushed during the day. There are some improvements that could be made around telling me when something will be finished. We almost have a friendship now. I've allowed the relationship to change so I don't want to blame them. It's largely my fault.
The site has the look and feel of a more established firm and receives praise for its usability. Clap Creative provides fair value and shows honesty and integrity. Their CEO is highly responsive and offers ideas to improve the platform. They helped the startup stay in business and grow their idea.
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