Frequently Asked Questions
Learn about our work approach, team and everything that matters.
Who are we, and who are our clients?
We RaftLabs, are a SaaS and custom software development company building web and mobile applications. We work with businesses of all sizes - from startups, agencies, and enterprise customers. For startups and small businesses, we help them build products from the ground up.
With enterprise customers, we augment their technical team with our developers on-demand. It saves them time and money.
We’ve built multiple SaaS products ourselves for B2B space and understand what it takes.
What do we focus on?
We focus on building custom software solutions and SaaS products in the following verticals.
Media Tech and Communication -
Building web and mobile apps for live and on-demand audio/video streaming.
The typical use cases include :
Telehealth solutions for remote health care
Audio apps like Clubhouse and Twitter spaces
Enhanced workplace communication to help teams work together and employees get things done.
Asynchronous communication for remote teams
Live streaming to social media platforms
Social commerce
Video platforms for marketing and education
Complex video engineering workflows for news broadcasters and studios
Marketing Tech -
Solving digital marketing problems by building SaaS and custom web and mobile apps for consumer brands, businesses, agencies, and digital marketers
The typical use cases include :
Loyalty and rewards web and mobile apps platforms
Viral marketing and referral lead generation platform
Growth campaigns and cold mail marketing campaigns systems
Social media workflows and integrations with existing CRMs and CMS systems.
Check out our Portfolio to learn more about clients we’ve served and the projects we’ve completed. Our results are evidence of our dedication to success – check them out!
Where are all of the employees located? How many team members do we have?
We're a team mix of diverse languages, cultures, and varied professional experiences. We are 25+ technical team members based in India with business functions in the US and Ireland.
What are the benefits of working with RaftLabs?
Product Mindset - We’ve been obsessed with SaaS products. We believe in faster go-to-market, user-centric designs, system thinking, and value delivery in each step.
Focus - We play by our strengths in SaaS projects, custom software solutions in media tech, and marketing tech. It helps to get better with every iteration. It is a learning process, and we always aim to provide more value to our customers.
Founders-led approach - We as founders work hand in hand with you, focusing on the problems. We consult with innovative approaches.
Transparent pricing - We focus on your needs and find ways to optimize the overall costs. We are flexible, provide a complete breakdown of the efforts and work at reasonable costs. Our sales team will make a rough estimation of your project for free.
Full-service coverage - We work with you on various stages of software development. Starting from the product discovery phase, design, development, QA, and DevOps, We also provide support and maintenance for our clients.
Process approach - We believe in Agile development with bi-weekly sprints. We catch up once or twice a week as a team with you to go over project progress. We will work with you as one team with ongoing communication via slack channels and Asana. We are open to critical inputs and feedback so that we can improvise effectively.
About Us
How does RaftLabs ensure the quality of the engineering for my project?
We're a highly qualified team of experienced and skilled developers. We’re focused on building our competence in SaaS and custom software development in verticals like media and marketing tech.
Experienced and process-certified Project Managers will lead your product development. They ensure timely delivery as per the plan and Agile methodologies.
We have an experienced QA team consisting of both manual and automation testers. They create custom test plans and run methodical tests on an ongoing basis.
What happens when my project ends?
Your product or project is your IP. As soon as the project ends, we hand over the complete deliverables of designs, documents, code, and assets with cloud infrastructure details to you.
We’re there to support you post the project closure so that your project doesn’t suffer.
Who owns the legal rights to technology built by RaftLabs teams?
You do. As our client, you own exclusive proprietary code and design rights implemented in your project.
Who will own the source code?
Once the project is complete, you will have ownership of the intellectual property and the source code. We can work within your repository at this point by way of a contractual agreement we both agree upon.
How will my project be kept confidential?
Only our team or resources, who have signed a strict NDA with us, are exposed to your project.
Will I have the same team working together from start to finish?
Generally, yes. We try our best to keep the same team assigned to the project from start to finish. In case of any challenges, we replace any team member with an equally qualified resource.
Our Commitment
How good are your developers?
Focus - We’re a small and growing team focusing on SaaS and custom projects in our competence areas. So most of our engineers/developers are exposed to what we do.
Skills - Right from hiring, training, and inducting team members in live projects, we focus on building their skills with intensive training, tests, and certifications. One of the most important values at RaftLabs is ongoing learning. So skills upgrade is something we strive for.
Quality - Our team adopts technical stacks and frameworks that are robust, proven, and help us save time.
Do you use contractors, or is everything in-house?
We prefer in-house v/s contractors. However, there are times when we, too need an extra hand. Only in those cases do we pull in contractors that are vetted by our tech team and have an experienced member working with us, so deliverables don’t suffer.
Are your developers able to communicate effectively in English?
Yes. We’re a remote-first team. We work asynchronously across multiple time zones. So intermediate written and spoken English is the minimum. However, to avoid language barriers and regional tone influences, we always have a project manager or coordinator who works on your project to overcome these challenges.
Why Team RaftLabs
About
What services can you expect from us?
As technology partners, we work with startup founders consult SMBs, and enterprise customers. We offer the following software development services but are not limited to them.
Web Apps Development - Building highly performant web applications for scale and speed.
Mobile application development - Building iOS and Android mobile applications using hybrid or native technologies.
UI/UX design - Providing complete end-to-end product design services for new and existing software applications.
Can RaftLabs build my app from scratch?
Yes, we can. RaftLabs has significant experience creating products from scratch, including mobile and web applications and different web products. Our team led by Project Managers can provide you with all development solutions, from shaping the idea to post-release support.
Can RaftLabs help improve my existing app?
Yes, we can. RaftLabs has already delivered projects based on existing solutions. Following are the services we can offer to improve your app:
New feature development
Extension apps to newer platforms like desktop apps or mobile apps
Application redesign
Adopting modern stack for the outdated or legacy technologies
Can RaftLabs complete a project started by other developers?
Yes, we are ready to help you. Our engineers quickly understand the situation, hear the customer, and have a wide range of professional skills. We have enough experience in launching projects successfully that we did not start.
Software development services
What type of engagement models do you offer?
We offer 2 types of engagement models.
- T&M - Time and Material Model - In the T&M model, you get a fixed set of resources hours every month. You pay for these hours and have full control on the work done by the resources.
Here's how the T&M model works :
You’ve fixed a set of resource hours per sprint or month.
Assigned team members work with you to plan the sprint (bi-weekly design or development cycle) beforehand.
At the end of each sprint, you review the deliverables, the team puts out the deliverables, tests, and focuses on the next sprint.
The team takes your inputs into account when planning the next sprint.
Best Suited for :
Technical founders who rapidly want technical resources to scale up product development.
Startups that are undergoing a growth phase and want an extra pair of brains to boost product development.
Enterprise teams who want to augment their staff to build out new features or extend their current systems.
Design and marketing agencies who want technical team members to work with them under their branding and business processes.
- Product (Solutions) Engineering Model - We engage with a complete product ownership approach in this model. We work with you on every stage of the product development journey. We help you make a lot of product decisions keeping in mind the best outcomes for your business.
Here's how this model works :
Product Discovery - We kick start with product discovery and the road mapping phase. This phase helps us and you to go from an idea to the first version product scope. It brings clarity and business prioritization. Our business analysts led by founders work on this phase to arrive at the starting point.
Visual Design - We then go to the UX/UI design phase where our design team starts shaping up the product right from the base. Starting with low fidelity prototypes to a complete UI-ready app prototype. Our designers and front-end developers work with you during this process.
Technical Design - Our technical team starts laying down the technical foundation for the product. Our frontend and backend teams do this along with inputs from solution architects.
Development - We kickstart the development per the features defined, designs evaluated, and priorities set. Our project managers work hand-in-hand with our team and you to ensure we meet the timelines.
Testing and Launch - We run intensive manual and automated tests to ensure product quality and robustness. We help you launch the product and ensure it scales.
Support and Maintenance - We stand by you post-launch to support your product and maintain it till you’re ready for the next stage.
Costs - We provided you a blended cost that gives you a fixed set of development resources per month with on-demand support of resources like Project Manager, Designers, QA, DevOps, etc.
Best Suited for :
Non-technical SaaS startup founders who want to build out MVPs or proof of concept for investments or product-market fit evaluation.
Growing startups post-seed rounds looking for a matured development approach.
Design and marketing agencies who want to completely outsource their product development without worrying about technicalities involved.
Can I have an exclusive dedicated team that works on my project?
Absolutely. Most enterprise customers we work with choose this model. We enable skilled team members to augment your team based on the challenges and requirements. They will work hand in hand with you as a part of your team, adopting all the processes, tools, and development approaches.
What if I need to start a project without having an exact amount of work in hand?
We get this. This is the most common challenge. We recommend the Time and Material (T&M) engagement, model. It allows you to flexibly plan the scope’s project and still have control over the budgets.
Here's how the T&M model works :
You’ve fixed a set of resource hours per sprint or month.
We work with you to plan the sprint (bi-weekly design or development cycle) beforehand.
At the end of each sprint, we review the deliverables, put out a demo, test, and focus on the next sprint.
We take your inputs into account when planning the next sprint.
Engagement models
Services
What types of industries does RaftLabs serve?
We focus on building custom software solutions and SaaS products in the following verticals.
Media Tech and Communication -
Building web and mobile apps for live and on-demand audio/video streaming.
The typical use cases include :
Telehealth solutions for remote healthcare
Audio apps like Clubhouse and Twitter spaces
Workplace communication for real-time collaboration between team members and employees.
Asynchronous communication for remote teams
Live streaming to social media platforms
Social commerce
Video platforms for marketing and education
Complex video engineering workflows for news broadcasters and studios
Marketing Tech -
Solving digital marketing problems by building SaaS and custom web and mobile apps for consumer brands, businesses, agencies, and digital marketers
The typical use cases include :
Loyalty and rewards web and mobile app platforms
Viral marketing and referral lead generation platform
Growth campaigns and cold mail marketing campaign systems
Social media workflows and integrations with existing CRMs and CMS systems.
Check out our Portfolio to learn more about our clients and the projects we’ve delivered.
Can you give an example of software products you’ve already developed in these domains?
We have developed a wide range of products that have been effectively delivered to our clients, including:
SaaS platforms for real-time audio/video communication and engagement for the workplace that replaces Slack, Zoom, and MS Teams.
SaaS audio chat web and mobile apps like Clubhouse/ Twitter space and survey apps.
Custom software for building OTT live and on-demand video workflows for web, mobile apps, and STBs (set-top boxes).
Custom web and mobile app platforms for ERX through Telehealth in healthcare solutions.
Building massive scale loyalty web and mobile apps for global brands.
Referral marketing platforms for tech and non-tech industries.
Live video commerce for engaging with social media audiences for growing DTC brands
Industries
What technologies are you specialized in?
We mainly specialize in:
Cloud computing and Cloud migration
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies for audio transcription, text extraction, audio, and video processing
What specific programming languages and tools do your developers work with?
We’re constantly learning and improving our tech stacks and frameworks. At the moment, we most often use (including but not limited to):
Back-End Languages — Node.js, Nest.JS, Serverless - AWS Lambda
Front-End Languages — React, Next
Native Mobile — Swift, Objective-C, Java, Kotlin
Cross-platform — Flutter
Database — MySql, Postgres
API Engines - Hasura GraphQL Engine
Cloud solutions — Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean
Data Science — Apache Spark
Technologies
Expertise
How do you estimate project duration? Can you guarantee such estimates with accuracy?
For most projects starting from scratch, we highly recommend the Product Discovery and Roadmapping phase. This helps you and us to clearly understand the product vision, features, immediate goals, and business priorities. We will share the user flow diagrams, low fidelity prototypes, tech stack recommendations, and overall timeline/cost estimates at the end of this phase.
Our business analysts team prepares estimates for the project in the initial phase based on your requirements. These estimates are derived from the project managers, developers, designers, and DevOps team.
Our proposal will give you an estimate of the timeline and costs. These costs would be about 80-90% accurate. After the discovery phase or the first few sprints, there will be changes once products start shaping up.
How much will my project cost?
Pricing is based on the estimated number of days (hours) required for building the product. Most web/mobile apps with standard features along with costs from USD
Here are estimates for projects in the different categories:
Small projects (a web/mobile app with 4-5 key features, not counting static content or sign in): US$ 10-25k
Middle-sized projects (a web/mobile app with 6-9 key features, not counting static content or sign in): US$ 25-50K
Big projects (a web/mobile with 10-15 key features, not counting static content or sign in): from US$ 50K
To get more precise information about costs, please, contact our business development specialists: hi@raftlabs.co
What forms of payment do you accept?
For payments, we accept all common gateways, including ACH, wire transfers, and bank cards.
Estimation
