Dreams.Build

Development hand over

Consulting

Dreams.Build is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform based in the US state of Virginia. The platform offers two-stage funding, digital files, an integrated community, and multi-charity donations. Users can sponsor dreams and innovations of their choice.

CHALLENGE

Crowdfunding platform to support the innovations of tomorrow

Espeo developers and the Dreams.Build team came up with an initial list of over twenty features for the platform. Part of the business challenge was to refine the scope to deliver the highest-quality features that time and budget allowed. We finally decided on the most useful features and laid out plans for further development.

USED TECHNOLOGIES

MySQL

PHP

Stripe

Our role

Dreams.Build needed a partner to take over their project from a previous group of developers.

They also needed to build a platform that would follow code quality standards and get the first version out to consumers, as well as have a solid base for scaling in the future.

OUTCOME

Our team developed the platform and implemented its unique two-stage funding system, including currency conversions.

We completely reworked some of the old code from the previous developers to bring it up to current standards as well as sorting out technical debt. The main work was around the implementation of 2-stage crowdfunding functionality into the platform.

The first stage was all or nothing and was geared to short term minimum funding. The second stage was supportive and was meant for long term stretch funding. If a project was in stage 2, it had been successfully funded and the project creator would be able to keep any funds they raised. The innovators could start working with the funds during stage 2 since funds would be transferred at the end of stage 1 and stage 2. A goal for them was provided to hit in stage 2 to help with stretch planning.

Of course, innovators would still have complete control over the time of each funding stage and funding amount they needed to raise. We also did other custom work to deliver features that were specific to Dreams.Build like their digital files that needed to be downloaded. The team consisted of 2 developers, a tester and a project manager. On the client side, the founder of a company acted as a product owner. We worked within an agile setup, maintaining day-to-day contact between the development team and the product owner.