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Andrés Max SaaS Founder, Software engineer, UX Designer.

United States

Software Engineer + UX Designer + SaaS produt strategist. I help tech founders build their remote teams as CEO @ideawareco. 12+ years experience working with startups and fortune 500's.

$1.67/min

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9

Calls

6

Reviews

Interaction Design

Web development

Mobile Design

User Experience

User Interface Design

UX Design

Mobile Apps

Web Design

UX/UI Design

Member since January 2012

Areas of Expertise

Reviews 6
Answers 13

I called Andres for a second time. He always gives good feedback and practical advice.

Source: Clarity Nick Ocampo Aug 31, 2016

GO

Andres was great. Very insightful and provided actionable suggestions improve my app right away!

Source: Clarity Graham O'Gallagher Mar 31, 2016

He gave us very good suggestions how to improve the design of our app. Thank you very much.

Source: Clarity Frank Kasimov Dec 10, 2015

Andres was very helpful and game some good insights

Source: Clarity Nick Ocampo Nov 25, 2015

Really useful call helping me clarify my UX and Customer Experience strategy. Thank you!

Source: Clarity Carina Coleman Sep 24, 2015

The most amazing designer I've known. Every design he makes is a new piece of art that should be shown to everyone. Also known for mad ruby on rails skills.

Source: LinkedIn Jose F. Gomez Jan 3, 2013

Interaction Design

Web development

Mobile Design

User Experience

User Interface Design

UX Design

Mobile Apps

Web Design

UX/UI Design

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Clarity

Andrés Max

United States

Software Engineer + UX Designer + SaaS produt strategist. I help tech founders build their remote teams as CEO @ideawareco. 12+ years experience working with startups and fortune 500's.

$1.67/min

9

9 Calls

6

6 Reviews

23 minutes
Avg. call

Interaction Design Web development Mobile Design User Experience User Interface Design UX Design Mobile Apps Web Design UX/UI Design

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I help startups discover their products, target markets and build MVPs.

http://ideaware.co

8+ years of experience creating web and mobile apps. I've worked launching products for startups such as Badgeville and Mashable. I'd love to chat about areas where you could improve your product.

http://ideaware.co

Answers 13
Reviews 6

Answers

Andrés Max answered

Should I start a consulting service in a large city, or should I stay in a medium sized city?

I've run my agency (Ideaware) from South America for 5+ years now, from a small city. We have worldwide clients and do all of our work remotely. From my experience, it is possible to run a 7-figure consulting business from anywhere. In fact I would recommend it. Factors such as cost of living and talent availability are much more important than being in the center of Silicon Valley (and you can still have all of your clients there if that is your target market).

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Consulting

Corporate Relocation

Startups

Andrés Max answered

What is the best project management software out there for creative firms? Agency or video production, if possible.

We've created http://taskware.do which is kanban-based like Trello, we are an agency that dealt with many other apps that didn't quite cut it.

Check it out, I'd be happy to give you a free membership.

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Project Management

Andrés Max answered

If Airbnb started today, which platform (web or mobile) should they start with and why?

I would say they would start with a website, for a few reasons:

- You need to build a web platform for mobile apps to communicate with, you might as well build a frontend for it too.

- Responsive frameworks and technology is very advanced, you could go with a mobile-friendly approach and cover many devices & browsers from day 0.

- Easy to validate, gather feedback and tweak.

- Once they have traction and a large user base, start targeting specific mobile platforms and build apps for them. You take the guesswork out of defining what/if yo build a mobile app.

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Product Design

User Experience

User Experience Design

Andrés Max answered

Starting a new business: Hybrid application or native application?

I come across this question daily with my clients. From experience, it's usually best to go Hybrid on your first iteration.

It all boils down to validating your product and getting traction. Your quickest way to do that is to put a product out in the market quick.

Most frameworks for Hybrid apps (Phonegap, Angular, Ionic..) are really mature at this point and allow you to build an app at a significant fraction of both cost and time than going fully native.

Once you've validated your idea, if it makes sense to go native (and if it will provide ROI), by all means go native.

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Mobile applications

Android

Andrés Max answered

I have an idea for a web app I wish to validate. What is the best validation route using only visual prototypes? (Explainer videos, landing page etc.)

Visual prototypes can go a long way for validation. I recently validated a product Idea by:

- Sharing the prototypes with everyone I could get to meet IRL, asking for feedback and what they thought about the idea.

- Created a landing page to gather signups and show a bit about the product.

- Posted visual designs on dribbble, HN, reddit, twitter, etc (to your relevant target audience) - this feedback was invaluable as it comes from people who are not attached to you in any way. You may also get lots of signups this way.

- Promote the landing page in relevant communities, be straight forward and say you are validating your idea - even more signups.

I was still building my product in the background, but reaching over 900+ signups in a few weeks for a product that was not even out there counted as idea validation with just a set of visual prototypes.

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New Product Validation

Website Conversion

MVP

Andrés Max answered

What is the best crowdsourcing platform to find a website developer & designer?

Crowdsourcing platforms are mixed experience. Sometimes you'll get someone really great, other times you will hit rock bottom.

The key would be to find an individual or an agency that has both the experience and a name. We live in a service and relationship based economy, so aim for an individual or a company with a reputation to keep. They will likely go the extra mile.

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Hiring

freelancing

Outsourcing

Andrés Max answered

What are the pros and cons of building an app versus a responsive website as an MVP?

This is a great question and an important one as well. I would start by identifying:

Who is your target market?
How will they use your product? On the go? On their laptop or on their mobile device?
What kind of technology does your product need? Can it be built as a simple website or does in need to be an app (i.e. you need push notifications, integration with other mobile apps, etc).

On the other hand, how much time and budget do you have? Typically a responsive website is faster and cheaper to build than an app and will get you out the door faster.

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Product Design

Product Strategy

Product Development

Andrés Max answered

I have a business off-line which is working, however, I am not satisfied. How can I make it popular in the online world?

Any direct or indirect competitors doing something similar online? If so, learn and follow their business model.

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Social Media Marketing

Advertising

Online Marketing Strategy

Andrés Max answered

How can I balance time between my kids and startup?

I run a digital agency and a startup at the same time. I have a two year old and his little brother is on the way.

My way to do it is to set limits. I try to make a hard stop by 5pm, head home and be with my son and wife. I don't schedule any meetings after that until the next day after I drop him off at school.

Remember your calendar and to-do list is as busy as you let it be.

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Career Management

Startups

Entrepreneurship

Andrés Max answered

What is the best and quickest way to learn how to build mobile apps?

Give teamtreehouse.com a try, great resources, teachers and community. I use it for training my team and whenever I want to learn something new.

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Mobile applications

Andrés Max answered

How can I increase "international" traffic to my website and minimize USA traffic? What tactics/methods can I use?

One quick tip: set up localised Adwords campaign, doesn't have to be a big budget, has always worked for me.

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International Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Website Localization

Reviews

I called Andres for a second time. He always gives good feedback and practical advice.

Nick Ocampo Source: Clarity

Andres was great. Very insightful and provided actionable suggestions improve my app right away!

Graham O'Gallagher Source: Clarity

He gave us very good suggestions how to improve the design of our app. Thank you very much.

Frank Kasimov Source: Clarity

Andres was very helpful and game some good insights

Nick Ocampo Source: Clarity

Really useful call helping me clarify my UX and Customer Experience strategy. Thank you!

Carina Coleman Source: Clarity

The most amazing designer I've known. Every design he makes is a new piece of art that should be shown to everyone. Also known for mad ruby on rails skills.

Jose F. Gomez Source: LinkedIn

Member since January 2012