Take your start-up to the next level with software solutions from Rocketmakers

In October, Bath-based software agency, Rocketmakers, celebrated 15 years since its launch and Business Live has taken a closer look at why the company has been such a success.

Founded in 2007, Rocketmakers designs, develops, and delivers innovative software for ambitious companies by using deep software development expertise. The company designs and builds scalable solutions that solve complex problems for mission-focused founders.

Since launching, Rocketmakers has won the prestigious Queen’s Award and earlier this year, won the Innovation category of the 2022 BathLive Business Awards for AR/VR product, Beam.

In the last month, the team picked the prestigious UK Digital Agency of the Year award at the UK Business Tech Awards in London. Described by the organisers as “the big one”, this was the final award of the night and the competition was tough as five other agencies with national profiles were also on the shortlist.

Take your start-up to the next level

Rocketmakers works closely with founders and business leaders of start-ups and scale-up businesses. The agency helps ensure that a businesses’ vision becomes a reality through the use of innovative software. The process starts with a simple conversation with the in-house developers to establish what you need from an app, website, or another project.

Coupling visual design and user experience with award-winning development expertise, the team then develop your software making sure every last detail is catered for.

Rocketmakers’ CEO, Richard Godfrey, explained how the company helps clients: “We’ve helped raise tens of millions into early-stage start-up companies.

“We add value by deeply understanding the idea, where you’re trying to take it, what stage you’re at and trying to create a business plan alongside a technology implementation plan for it.”

Making a positive impact

The award-winning team is proud to work with ambitious organisations such as UK Sport, Neighbourly, and Travel Local, who help improve lives and drive positive change. But it’s not just large companies that benefit from Rocketmaker’s skills. The company has a track record that means clients trust Rocketmakers to implement ingenious software solutions that balance people, planet and profit.

Rocketmakers works with companies of all sizes, with Richard noting it’s not just about making money: “At the start, I had about 10 core goals. Things like making a place that I would’ve wanted to work in when I was at different points of my career; making an impact – it’s really important to us that we’re doing something bigger than just making money.

“Our 10-year goal is to use the technology that we make and make it have a positive impact on at least 50 million people.”

Business Live took a look at some of the recent projects to find out more:

Biscuit: There’s a growing demand for pet wellbeing and Biscuit is helping pet owners to support healthy lifestyles for their pets. To complete this mission, Biscuit needed a smartphone app and turned to Rocketmakers for help.

Rocketmakers successfully designed a fully-functioning MVP ready for use on Android and iOS devices that incorporated authentication and new user onboarding, profile creation, GPS integration for route and distance capture, and a loyalty programme.

Wellanz: While many people use lifestyle and health tracking platforms, you’ll often find that each system only measures one or two variables. Wellanz noticed a gap in the market for a unified platform to allow anyone to track dozens of data points across six categories: sleep, nutrition, movement, relaxation, relationships, and self.

Rocketmakers was given the task of building the best possible prototype with a limited budget. The result? The UX design team created a view which would allow users to quickly see which days they reported feeling better, and then compare them to other data points collected by the app. To ensure the app was user-friendly, the design team sent out a questionnaire and received extremely encouraging feedback.

Leukaemia Care: The UK’s leading leukaemia charity, Leukaemia Care, came to Rocketmakers for help with its upcoming unicorn-themed art trail which will launch in Bristol next summer. To generate real excitement, the two companies came up with a brand design to capture the ‘best summer ever’. The final logo is a mix of colour, friendly unicorns, 70s-style fonts, and Bristol’s famous Clifton Suspension Bridge.

However, the logo was just the start. Rocketmakers went on to create the Unicornfest website and AR app which creates an interactive opportunity for participants to collect stickers when they visit the unicorns, and even capture a selfie with them, while shining a light on the hard work done by Leukaemia Care.

But why choose Rocketmakers over any other software agency? Richard explained: “I look at it through three lenses: the first thing is, I think we’re really good at innovation. So if there’s something that’s new, whether that’s a new business model or the use of new technology, that’s a crucial part of it.

“The second part of it is what I kind of call ‘quality’, but in my mind, it’s two things. It’s building the right product and then building the product right. So, it’s understanding the design and how to understand how users are going to get the most out of that product from a usability and design perspective. Then when building the product, we’re making sure it’s done in a quality way so that you know that it’s going to be able to scale and grow with the business.

“The third one is purpose. It’s where there’s a bigger goal than just making money. It’s going to have some social or environmental impact and materially make the world a better place. The way I think of it is our focus is on the centre piece of those three bubbles.

“Doing something new, wanting it to be done in a really good way, and making the world a better place – those are the sorts of projects we love.”

Maximise your software

Successful businesses know the importance of innovation and scalability. To keep your business current and up-to-date, you need to build a product that serves your customers and that’s why Rocketmakers has created a guide to ensure your innovation is as effective as you want it to be: Five ways to maximise the effectiveness of your next software innovation.

This free guide to digital innovation breaks down five principles to follow which can help you make the best possible decisions during your own development project.

The guide will help you to assess your readiness for innovation and explain the three foundational areas where you should focus your energy, plus it includes a breakdown of the tasks you should consider before launching your next software innovation. Download the guide now, here.

For more information and to find out how software can help your business, head to the Rocketmaker website, here.