Case Study 2: MMP Build Technical Case Study
Prsnt | Gifting App
Prsnt is an e-gifting app that makes it amazingly easy to find and personalise a truly thoughtful gift in a few taps. The gifting catalogue comes from the biggest premium brands in the UK at your fingertips.
For all occasions, Prsnt has got you covered.
“We needed someone to match our vision and deploy it the way we want. Somebody who would listen to us, side by side. To help us execute what it is we have in our mind…to be able to bring that product to the world. Every step of the way it has been pretty efficient and effective…and we’ve got something now that we’re very proud off. ” — Omid Moallemi, Prsnt CEO
Executive Summary
The Prsnt team had a vision: to enter the gifting industry with an app that lets you choose a gift from hundreds of the UK’s best-loved high street brands and send it directly to another person’s smartphone instantly.
In Q3 2021, we proudly announced that PRSNT’s Minimum Marketable Product (MMP) was finalised on a state of the art scalable technology stack and went live.
That’s not all, Prsnt 🎁 became B2B on the back of its successful C2C (MVP) launch. A revolutionary way to gift your family and employees is now a reality.
Challenges
In November 2020 Creative Stack came on board to help Prsnt make their idea a reality and build an award-winning MVP.
We helped them overcome common stumbling blocks encountered with their previous offshore software development house to finish the product and get to market. The goal at this point was to validate the idea and secure further funding.
Creative Stack delivered the MVP and it was so convincing that Prsnt were able to over-raise on the round. This meant they now not only had confidence in the new resource supporting their in-house team – they also had extra money.
“ We already knew enough from the MVP to know what the international, scalable product needed to be….it was important at that point we had the proof we also had the platform that could scale….” — David Parr, Prsnt CMO
“ We wanted to build something the customer will love…we know success will follow that.” — Omid, Prsnt CEO
In the process of launching their MVP, Prsnt discovered the limitations of their first build: their envisioned gifting process required technology that would better support the unique user experience.
Prsnt wanted to develop the more social and emotional side of the gifting experience with customisable video messages using AR filters but they were limited by their current codebase. In addition, to be able to grow the user-base organically, a fundamental part of their business model; Prsnt needed to leverage their built-in network effect. This worked a charm, but it was time to improve and optimise to reach more users.
All in all, Prsnt were ready to build a more robust and scalable product; their minimal marketable product (MMP), to bring a feature-rich iteration of their App to as many users as possible. As well as that, this version needed to be easy to maintain, and have the capability to quickly roll out new features.
“Everyone can outsource stuff…you [Creative Stack] go that extra level. What you bring in is awesome and that’s what makes it such a good value proposition in the end. Obviously, you can get cheaper, but cheaper’s not always best…we’re proof to that!” — David Parr, Prsnt CMO
How Creative Stack Helped
As a result of a successful MVP launch and fundraising round, Prsnt’s decision to re-build an internationally scalable product on a codebase they wouldn’t have to change again was made much easier.
After evaluating the gaps between their MVP and their ideal product, Prsnt committed to building the next iteration of their App on a more scalable micro-service architecture built in Flutter.
Creative Stack’s Deliverables
- Technical documentation; Business Requirements Documents (BRD) and Feature Requirements Document (FRD)
- Product Architecture – Micro-services
- Mobile Application Development in Flutter – IOS on App Store and Android on Play Store.
- Admin Dashboard (User and admin management, Product catalogue, Transactions, Settings, Analytics)
- Business Platform (B2B gifting platform)
- API (For Mobile and Dashboards)
- Infrastructure
- Testing
- Data/User Migration
- Piloting
- Agile scrum project management
The Process
Our Process included the following phases:
- Analysis
- Software Design
- Implementation & Infrastructure
- API Development
- Dashboard Development
- Business Platform
- Mobile Development In Flutter
THE SOLUTION
THE SOLUTION
We arrived at a bespoke software solution that utilised:
- AWS – custom infrastructure & services
- Microservice Architecture Approach
- Flutter Mobile Development
WHY MICROSERVICES?
01.
Made of many small modules with specific functionality
06.
Ensures mobile independence, communication between microservices is through Rest API
05.
Allows more than one codebase/language
02.
Every microservice is a separate deployment and has its own database
03.
Allows Possibility of “zero downtime” deployment is flexible and migration seamless
04.
Scalability, reliability and high quality of the system makes it highly maintainable with a testable collection of services
Select gift that you want to send.
Browse UK’s top high street brands in order to find an amazing range of gifts they can collect from anywhere in the UK.
Send a gift to your loved one.
Choose a friend to send a gift to. You can send a gift from Prsnt to anyone in the UK, even if they don’t have the app!
Add a message with the gift.
Send your gift attached with a heartfelt message or video straight from your phone. Your gift will also be sent wrapped!
Solution Summary
Together with Prsnt, we took a close look at the UX/UI, performance flow, and the whole logic of their initial product (MVP), and then redesigned and refined the Prsnt App closer to the ambitious vision of the creators – ironing out kinks with the dashboard and making significant improvements with the business platform and the API. The infrastructure itself was reworked too. At launch, they now cater to both C2C and B2B.
Key Product Features
- Send gifts instantly
- Reminders on friends and family’s special days
- Huge selection of amazing gifts
- Redemption anywhere in the UK
- Gifts are wrapped
- Send with a video, using AR filters
- Earn gifts for yourself
- A free gift for you to send
- B2B Business Dashboard
Tech Stack
Technologies: Python using Django framework, Reactjs with AntD UI framework, Flutter toolkit for cross-platform applications, Persistence Layer, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, CICD, GitLab and GitLab Pipelines, GitLab registry. Kubernetes Container Manager, Monit server monitoring, Automated Infrastructure Deployment: ansible scripts, Web servers/proxy: Nginx.
“ We managed to deliver 30% more than we estimated with the same timeline and budget- (including) a complex and completely new model for this application that wasn’t in the original roadmap/ planning… Within budget, within the timeframe – the customer is very happy and I am very happy for him.” — Project Manager, Vasile D.
“ The best thing is that our team dealt with your team, and we didn’t have to think about it.” — David Parr, Prsnt CMO
RESULTS
- Apple App Store: 5* reviews
- Google Play Store: 4* reviews
- 2021 Overall Awards Silver Award Best Mobile App of 2021
- Featured in Forbes.
- Featured in The Guardian
LETS BUILD SOMETHING TOGETHER
There are few decisions more critical to the success of your venture than your choice of technology partner.
Don’t be seduced by the false economy of those too-good-to-be-true offshore estimates – “Buy cheap and pay twice” as the saying goes.
If you’ve got a product idea you want to bring to life, talk to us.
Creative Stack.
Your idea, Delivered!