Silicon Rhino
case study

Bubble

From startup to scale up

Stage

Scale-up

Product

Marketplace

Platform

Mobile App

Website

joinbubble.com

Awards

Best of 2017 (Apple)

Technologies

React, Typescript, Angular, MongoDB, Node JS

Overview

We have worked with Bubble for the last 5 years to refine, expand and scale what started as a simple but great idea. The original MVP grew into a full business solution that includes mobile app, web app, operations portal, and a back end supporting countless users. We have helped Bubble establish its internal technical team, and transitioned all the technology operations.

Strategy

Understanding what a business needs given it's current product stage is key to successfully supporting a startup. When we took on Bubble the most important things were agility and adaptability, and so in the initial stage we worked closely with Bubble to ideate, design, and develop new features which would help the product expand. This meant solving more parts of the overall problem and gaining more users. As the user base grew and the strain on the system increased, the next important step was to optimise performance and improve their operational abilities, such that the system could dynamically scale during busier periods. With all of this in place, the product was in a great place to iterate and polish the overall user experience. Bubble's technology and product were developed to such a high standard that having an external development team was seen as a benefit in assisting the company's growth.

Highlights

  • 2017

    Initial sprints

    With a freshly launched MVP on the App Store and Google Play, Bubble began their partnership with us.

    We started with some initial sprints to improve the UX & design of the existing app, before being ready to start development of some new features.

  • 2018

    Growth

    This year saw lots of new features, and a redesign of the existing mobile app to be able to work with this vast expansion of functionality.

    It also saw the introduction of an admin portal to allow customer support to manage the ever expanding user base.

  • 2019

    Performance

    As the number of users kept growing, there was a need to ensure the infrastructure supporting them was able to grow as well.

    This saw the introduction of containers and auto-scaling, ensuring the system was able to adapt to the busier weekly periods while maintaining a low baseline infrastructure cost.

  • 2020

    Bubble 2.0

    By now the app had outgrown it's original technologies, and so the year started with the launch of the brand new version of the Bubble App, moving from the Cordova framework to React Native.

    When Covid started, we worked closely with the Bubble team to try to have a positive impact, launching free babysitting for the NHS doctors in less than 2 weeks.

  • 2021

    Onboarding their technology team

    After reaching cruise ship velocity it became clear Bubble were ready to have their own internal development team.

    We collaborated with the Bubble management team on the recruitment process, onboarding, and training of the new hires.

Stats

9

Developers

10K +

Hours

600K

Lines of code

Results

Over the past 5 years, we have helped Bubble to grow to hundreds of thousands users.

We have been involved in feature design, product design, UI/UX design, development, infrastructure, and support. Being able to take part in the multiple stages of Bubble as a business, from MVP to high scaling, has proven Silicon Rhino is the right partner to bring your product to scale.

As their technology partners, we achieved our original goal and more.

quote mark
Silicon Rhino has been the Bubble technology team since shortly after launch. They've transformed the product and been able to provide strategic advice to guide us to be a stronger business. As we transition to our own internal technology team, I'm grateful for all the value Silicon Rhino has been able to build into our world class care app - they have been invaluable support.
Ari Last
Founder & CEO