Gittr

Project Type: Web App/API Development, Front End Development
Dates: 2016-Current
Title: CTO

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Summary

Gittr is a project I started with my business partner Brennan in 2016. This webapp enables local-level courier companies to have online ordering and an all-in-one management system. Gittr routes payments, helps manage orders, and improves customer service. The main component of the app is the online ordering.

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Challenges

While building Gittr, we wanted to address 3 major issues we saw with similar solutions: security, simplicity, and integrations.

We found that online ordering systems our company had used prior had major security issues that could lead to data leaks. We wanted to provide a solution that was more secure and used modern methods of storing user passwords and information to prevent against attacks.

Simplicity was something that we are striving for constantly. Other systems were bloated and didn't always work the first time. Gittr was built to be easy to understand and has extensive documentation to make that easier for the user. It's not complex for admins or end users to navigate the site or do the things they need to while on the site.

We wanted Gittr to integrate with other softwares that couriers use - primarily TwinJet, a dispatching software. This would make the workflow for dispatchers seamless. We also integrate with accounting software and Stripe to make accounting and invoicing easier.

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Solutions

We addressed security issues by changing from the Yii platform to CodeIgniter, which made it much easier to keep our presentation layer and data layer seperated, which meant better security. We also never allowed our API to be accessible with out the proper keys. The biggest security solution we implemented was disallowing self-hosting, which allows us to monitor attacks and respond in kind.

We made Gittr easy and quick to use by implementing a no-nonsense presentation layer that makes actions quickly identifiable. Our admin dashboard is well documented and easy to understand. Since we both used the software in our day-to-day jobs, we had real-world testing to rely on while building, and trusted beta testers to provide feedback.

To integrate with other services, we built out optional services which sent data to the other software via APIs and exported files (like .csv files for accounting software like QuickBooks©). We integrated with TwinJet to seamlessly send orders over and update each system simultaneously.

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Results

Gittr has never experienced a security breach. We have been attacked, but we've been able to manage those attacks with good security practices and by using basic tools like captchas.

We're improving ourselves daily by responding to user reviews and reports. I'm not sure there's an imperical way to quantify simplicity, but our users like it.

Integrations have gotten even better since first launching. We've added multiple export options to integrate with many accounting programs. Our Stripe integrations have improved and users can manage Stripe settings right from the admin dashboard.

In the abstract, we have generated over $100k in pass-through revenue and turned a profit. We have helped our dozen or so clients take and deliver over 10,000 orders and route payments to 100s of partnered businesses like restaurants, bakeries, and small shops.

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