Ancient

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Mesada, a remittance company that handles international payments from Mexico to the US and vice versa. We receive remittances through electronic systems. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient?

We needed a software development service provider specializing in financial services and fintech with experience with our type of project. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ancient is building our full digital product. They’ve provided consultation, developed the product, done backend engineering, designed the product’s UI/UX, built the transactional layer, and built the frontend. 

First, we had an initial meeting to explain the project, product, and our needs. Then, we did a deep dive into the product parts and components we already had. Along with Ancient, we determined the sprints they would carry out to see how we would move forward. The app’s design has been a collaboration with Ancient since we already had preliminary UX work that they’ve helped us polish. The team has used Figma for UI/UX design.

Ancient first sent us a proposal with schedules, pricing, sprints, methodologies, and a 12-person technical team. From there, we worked with the technical team on the legal aspect of the project. Ancient then started the development phase. 

For development, Ancient has used Flutter, Python, Go, React Native, Flutter, and MongoDB. On the DevOps side, they’ve used continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), Kubernetes, and AWS. The team has built some native components on iOS and Android and a web version of the app. Currently, we have a functional MVP. 

The US-to-Mexico remittance market is the biggest in the world, averaging $80 billion annually, and we receive those remittances from users who are in the US. Users can log in and register, uploading some Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance documents to verify their identity to US authorities. Once registered, users can send money. 

For example, a user can send $1,000, the app generates a receipt, and the system generates over 1,000 payment points. The payment goes through a clearing house so that another user in Mexico can receive the money. This final user can insert the reference generated by the app. Final users must also upload documentation to verify their identity to Mexican authorities. Finally, users in Mexico can go to a withdrawal point to collect their remittances. In that transaction, we charge users a fee. 

Although we have a basic product, we still need to integrate services, optimize the processes, and build up the infrastructure. Ancient will continue to be our technology partner to perform these tasks. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with approximately 15 teammates from Ancient, including the technical team, the commercial director, the CTO, a technical lead, and a project manager. Each development area also has a leader.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I’d like to shout out Emilio (Co-Founder & CTO) and one other teammate, who have been the main drivers of this project. 

How did you come to work with Ancient?

We found them through a recommendation about Ancient’s commercial director. From there, our technology department got in touch with Ancient. Our goal was to form a large development team, which implied knowing the technological, financial, and compliance aspects of a product build. We decided to partner with Ancient due to their fintech expertise. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $500,000–$600,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our product has over 50,000 users and a very positive rating from users who send money to Mexico. As with every development process, we’ve had bugs, but Ancient has covered all the technical gaps. The team has handled all bugs within a non-productive app, so they’ve never affected the users. Although the work we have to do with Ancient is long, and our business will take time to develop, we’ve had great results so far. 

How did Ancient perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been very good. All deliveries have been determined under a statement of work, so when we have a review every two weeks, we know which modules and functionalities should be finished by which date. 

Our communication process is also great, thanks to a hybrid project management process. The commercial director and project manager visit our office for in-person meetings, and we also use Jira for project management and email, Slack, and phone calls to communicate. 

Additionally, we have an effective communication ladder structure where our CEO is in touch with Ancient’s CEO, I communicate with Ancient's CTO, and our product manager is in contact with Ancient’s project manager.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ancient’s fintech and software development expertise is their greatest strength, along with their project management and development methodologies skills. Their talented resources enable them to complete high-quality work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their delivery so that their work feels like a solid deliverable. This would be more for show than functionality, but it could be useful for them to grow. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend having clarity about your needs so the right team from Ancient can assist you. Initially, we thought we only needed development services, and it turned out we also needed product support, which Ancient helped us realize. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an operations director at an IT services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Ancient?

We had a high demand for resources for our projects and needed to expand our team quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ancient provides staff augmentation services for our multiple projects, including tasks focused on UI/UX design, DevOps, QA, and development.

What was the team composition?

We work with different members of Ancient’s team depending on the project, but our main communication is with their CEO and a project manager they assigned to us.

How did you come to work with Ancient?

We found Ancient on Linkedin and had an initial meeting with them in our offices. We realized we were a very good match from the first moment and immediately started collaborating with them.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we’ve spent about $600,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our main success metric is our client’s satisfaction, and we’ve successfully delivered all the projects we have worked on with Ancient. We’ve never had any complaints.

How did Ancient perform from a project management standpoint?

Ancient’s team has met all deadlines, which is one of the main reasons we’ve continued our collaboration with them for so long — our clients are very important, and delivering on time is key. Regarding communication, we use Jira, Slack, and WhatsApp, but other project management tools depend on the project and the client.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ancient offers good quality for a good price. In addition, they’re flexible, and their management team offers great communication — whenever we have any slight issue, they solve it right away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and transparent, and have them set up a team that works for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m an executive at an online medications marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Ancient?

We have numerous challenges in terms of technology, and our in-house development team focuses on our core needs. Whenever we have other projects, we need IT staff augmentation services or partner companies to help us with our custom software development. We often hire Ancient for these kinds of projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Ancient works with us on projects related to scrapers, which is the technology we use to extract information from our e-commerce sites. They’ve also worked on projects related to frontend development, using mainly React.

What was the team composition? 

The team varies depending on the project; we’ve worked with up to 10 people from Ancient.

How did you come to work with Ancient? 

We found them through a Google search. 

How much have you invested in them? 

So far, we’ve invested between $350,000–$450,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Ancient has implemented everything we’ve asked for. We establish KPIs to measure the success of our projects. For staff augmentation services, we measure the quality and skills of the resources. As for software development projects, we evaluate deliverables, deadlines, and code quality.  

How did Ancient perform from a project management standpoint? 

We’ve never had any issues in terms of budget management. As for deadlines, they’ve finished about 94% of deliverables on time. We use Trello and Jira as project management tools and email, WhatsApp, and Slack for communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with numerous technology companies, and Ancient is among the best in terms of professionalism, timeliness, and costs.  

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I can’t think of anything they need to improve at the moment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

My advice is to be clear about your goals and KPIs from the beginning.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at an IT services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We were preparing to welcome new users after the height of the pandemic concluded, and we needed to upgrade the functionalities of our web applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before launching the development stage, we've relayed our UI/UX design requirements to Ancient Technology's team. We've entrusted the expansion and development of core features to their team, including a single sign-on function for all our brands. Using React, AngularJS, Node.js, and Jenkins, they build and test map integrations, filters, and other newly incorporated solutions that we plan to deploy across all our web apps. Additionally, they're helping us configure our apps' AWS cloud systems.

What is the team composition?

We're working with 10 engineers from Ancient Technology.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

Their CEO played an integral role in our client communication efforts, so I touched base with him to communicate our needs for this particular project. Apart from our connection, we chose Ancient Technology because of their impressive skill set and reasonable price point.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $400,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our ongoing engagement in February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I can't share specific metrics about the products because of our company's stringent policies on confidentiality — however, I can confirm that Ancient Technology meets our quality and design standards. We're planning to increase their team size next year because we're impressed with their performance.

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack and Zoom and organize deliverables and timelines via Jira. Ancient Technology dedicates a lot of time and effort to ensure that our needs are delivered on time and each project phase is communicated transparently to our team. We can always count on their developers to respond to our questions and work extra hours to resolve any technical issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ancient Technology gets things done and communicates agreeably with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can consider growing their team by hiring more experienced engineers.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be open to their young team's innovative suggestions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and director of a machinery component commercialization company in Mexico. We sell parts worldwide, and our spare part inventory is enormous, with over 2–3 million parts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We have a different system for each parts provider. Our project is to connect each of the main factories to one system to get real-time access to the entire parts catalog.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ancient Technology developed a web app with APIs that connected each factory to our software to control everything in just one place. The first step was getting permission from the factories to integrate their systems with our software. Then, Ancient Technology created a plan, and we put them in contact with each factory.

What is the team composition?

The group involves about 15 people. However, we only maintain contact with their owner and senior programmer.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

It was a recommendation. Ancient Technology had done a development project for the largest telecommunications company in Mexico. I play golf with one of their directors, and he spoke highly of them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $850,000 on this project; it’s a fixed-price contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018. The original project is already completed, but we continue to work with them for the second phase, which involves new ideas and integrations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The most significant impact has been on how fast we can send out quotes. In the past, sending a quote to a client meant reaching out to each factory. It’d take 1–2 days for them to get back to us, so we’d lose clients due to this delay. Once everything was integrated into one system, we had control over the inventory, so we could see which parts were available at each factory and easily create quotations for clients.

Now, it takes us 5–6 minutes to make a quote, which has greatly benefited our sales. Also, our maximum response time is one hour, which is one of the fastest response times in the market thanks to their system.

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

During development, they created a monthly report detailing what was done and what was still missing so we could reach out to the factories and ask for support. Also, we’d go over what was needed to keep the project running.

We have direct contact with their owner over the phone. We can easily and quickly get in touch with him. All documentation has been sent over email, including progress reports, timelines, and so on. We’ve also met in person to go over pending work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their versatility is impressive. For this project, we’ve worked with people from various countries. Ancient Technology can collaborate tactfully with each provider, and some of these factories can be difficult to deal with.

Whenever there was an issue with one factory, the team would do their part and try to solve the problem with their in-house programmers. They were willing to go above and beyond their responsibilities and help out the factories just to get the project ahead. Overall, they’re supportive and excellent at problem-solving even if the problems aren’t theirs to solve.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We thought we’d have about 1 million SKUs but we ended up at 3 million, so we had issues in the beginning because the volume of inventory would crash the system. We hadn’t foreseen this, so we had to set up our own servers and connect the entire system to them. Once that was up and running, everything worked fine.

However, Ancient Technology could’ve recommended the server installation from the start. It would’ve saved us a couple of months if they’d just told us to invest another $20,000 to create the infrastructure directly in our offices. They shouldn’t be afraid to recommend something that may be more costly upfront but ends up being useful and saving time in the long run.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Agree on deliverables. At the end of every month, we check in on them to ensure they deliver on what we’ve agreed on. It’s important to put a bit of pressure on them. If they don’t deliver exactly what was due for the month, then ask for a detailed report on why it wasn’t ready.

It’s always important to find any issues or delays because we can move more pieces and solve things faster as business owners. Whereas they’re just the programmers, so the same task can take them three weeks to resolve. Therefore, use pressure to find out the root of the issue and use your higher-level stance to take immediate action and find a solution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I'm the CEO of an IT consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We had different platforms that were already well-positioned among our clients. Still, our ERP system was becoming obsolete, so we worked with them to develop a new web platform to improve its infrastructure using updated code.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ancient Technology is helping us renew our software completely; It is an ERP platform with different modules that allow our clients to control their business through a single site. The system is based in the cloud, and there is also a landing.

What was the team composition?

I had meetings with at least 20 developers, although my main point of contact is the CEO and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

We met them in a project; we provided our software to a client they were developing for, so we contacted them. They offered us their services for this project, so I searched them online, and I felt like they were a company I could trust. They're a young team, have a lot of energy and great skills in the latest technologies, which caught my eye.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent around $500,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2019, and it is an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Updating this system was essential for us. We already had many clients, but after updating the system and offering the training and integration, we increased our revenue by 300%. 

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

It was good; as with every new big project, we had some setbacks and a learning curve, but we've been working well for the last year and a half once we got on track. Our communications have become fluid, and they have a clear idea of what we want to achieve with this product. Currently, we use Slack to communicate and Jira as a project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're young and have a great sense of innovation and vision; to me, that's been one of the best things we’ve seen from them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the things I was not too fond of was the rotation of personnel. I don’t know if it’s a general matter in the industry or an issue from their side, but we had some changes, and I felt like it was hard to keep track and maintain good communication with the developers. Also, when the project manager was busy with daily activities, our processes tended to slow down, so they could work on that too.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can trust them; sometimes, we have prejudices when working with young people, but you'll be surprised with how professional, skilled, and liable they are.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Digital Solutions of Bupa México

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

insurance company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Ancient to accomplish?

• Technical partner
• AI

SOLUTION

How did you find Ancient?

Referral

Why did you select Ancient over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Ancient were assigned to this project?

13

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Implement new AI-focused technologies to help with operational improvement, and additionally, technologies focused on digital health.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

improving NPS and operational improvements

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

perfectly aligned to our needs

What was your primary form of communication with Ancient?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The human quality of the staff and the professionalism are most impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Ancient could have done differently?

no