DJHill & Associates

client and needs
Dr. Andrew Weil, world renowned integrated medicine expert (dean of medicine for University of Arizona, multiple best selling author and frequent interviewee for many news organizations) had a strong portal for the integrated medicine audience, with over 700K visitors monthly.

And, when Polaris Ventures took the site over from Time Warner and decided to revamp it, they found many willing development firms. With bids (all from respected development firms) ranging from nearly 10 times their anticipated budget, to less than 25% of the budget—obviously it wasn’t an apples to apples comparison—but who would deliver the highest quality on time?

Who’s prices were reasonable for what they promised, and which firms were milking it?

our contract

	Help Polaris Ventures figure out what they actually needed to build in order to meet their business objectives.
	Compile comprehensive functional requirements documentation, and an RFP based on it.
	Review the proposals from the solicited firms and get them to an "apples to apples" comparison.
	Interview the firms, and make educated recommendations.

out of scope
We did not actually build DrWeil.com (unfortunately, it would have been a conflict of interests with our consulting role.)

Results...

	*A bid was selected, fully compliant with business objectives, for less than 50% of targeted budget.*

	Full usability review, and analysis of usage patterns of existing site.

	Integrated marketing strategies from Polaris' Business Plan into existing usage patterns and created 115+ page full functional specification, and presented it back to bidders.

	Interviewed suitors, and profiled the skill-sets, strengths and weaknesses of each. Conducted final review of bids, and made presented top 3 recommendations.

"Thanks for the great job
and fast turnaround!"

Larry B. Tree III
CEO, Polaris Ventures

definitely different.