Interview with Kenneth Metral, CEO & Founder - Cosmico Studios

Kenneth Metral  

CEO & Founder, Cosmico Studios

Give us a quick overview on Cosmico Studios. When and how did you begin this journey, and what were your motives to be successful in app development?

Cosmico Studios has actually been around for more than 20 years but has gone through different brand names. Technology has always been a major passion of mine; I like to call it my first love. I have been involved in tech since the early age of 10 when I built my first computer with my dad, and slowly became obsessed with all things tech including the dawn of the internet revolution. Building my first website at the age of 12 I knew this was something that was going to take over my life and it has ever since. When the iPhone came out and they allowed third party apps in their app store I knew that this was the next wave I had to pursue after web design, and soon enough years later we would begin offering app development services to our clients.

What is your role in the management and development of Cosmico Studios?

I am the CEO and Founder of Cosmico Studios. My main role is to oversee all projects that we are currently working on and make sure that we are meeting our client’s expectations and deadlines. No company is perfect and there are times when we don’t perform as well as we should, but what we pride ourselves on is that we don’t like to give up and always try to find a solution to any problem, no matter how big or small.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry.

One of our biggest achievements is building an app for a local business in Miami, Florida. This client has a local directory website where he helps businesses grow by offering marketing services to them. The client wanted to build an app where they could offer a similar directory like their website but as an app instead. After we built out the app for both iOS and Android, it was an instant success. The client received thousands of local businesses signing up through the app and at the same time grew their revenue by 10x. It makes us proud to know that we were able to help local businesses grow by building a beautiful and powerful app that not only boosted their exposure but brought in actual customers.

How do you schedule the development phases of the apps to promise the timeline to your clients?

In our proposals we provide a clear roadmap of the development phases and the estimated timeline required for each. But timelines are very tricky nowadays when the client’s business goals are changing so frequently. For the most part we are able to reach our deadlines without a problem, but for those deadlines that we do miss, we try to really stay on top of completing the tasks at hand so that even though the progress might be slower we are still moving forward, even if it’s one step at a time.

How do you help your clients in choosing the right yet profitable platform for app development?

In the current app development world, most apps are built either Native using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android, or Cross-Platform using React Native or Flutter. To decide which is the best platform to build on, we first have to find out the type of app the client wants to build and what their plans are for it in the future. Not every app needs to be built Native, some are better using Cross-Platform, and some apps don’t have to be on all devices, you can easily have a successful app built only on iOS. We try to ask as many questions as possible so that we can choose the best platform to build on, while taking in consideration which platforms and frameworks will still be around in the future.

Which would you suggest for a successful and profitable business progression, Native or hybrid apps? How do you define the factors that influenced you to make this choice?

Similar to the last question, the type of app that the client wants to build will determine which is the best framework or platform to use. There are some apps that require higher processing power such as games, augmented reality, or GPS which are better to go Native, but the drawback is that they are more costly and take longer to build as opposed to Cross-Platform. The majority of apps could be built using React Native or Flutter and still be successful, but each use case has to be analyzed separately to find out what is the best approach for the business.

How do you scheme your pricing model? How do you fix your budget?

Our current pricing starts $100 per hour. Depending on the scope of the project we can determine the total cost and time frame required to build the app.

How helpful are the mobile apps developed by your team, for enhancing your clients’ business?

The majority of apps we have built for our clients have been widely successful, some of which were instant hits the same week they were released on the app store. But we do recognize that not every project is going to be a grand slam, it really depends on the client’s vision and their execution, but we always give 110% effort on every project that work on so that we don’t have any regrets later on.

What according to you are the best practices to attain client satisfaction?

We have 5 core values at Cosmico Studios that we stick to when working with our clients.
●    Client Obsession
●    Deliver Outstanding Results
●    Always be Accountable
●    Learn and Be Curious
●    Win as a Team

How do you update your business system to be in pace with the technological advancements?

Our design and development team are always striving to learn. We are constantly taking online courses, trying out new frameworks or platforms, and coming up with the best solution to move forward. We also take in the fact that not all technological advancements will be around forever, so we try to study and master the ones that we believe have a reliable and growing future.

What are your thoughts about AR, VR and Internet of Things (IoT)?

We currently don’t work much with AR, VR, or IoT, but we can definitely see the future in it. I would say that AR is the most attractive to us simply because the technology is more mature than the others, and we could see ourselves building apps around it.

What do you think will be the future of Mobile technology?

Mobile is here to stay, at least for the next 10 years or so until something else comes and takes its place like VR, but even then it will take much more time before the whole world adopts it. I would say that AR has a much higher chance of becoming widely used as mobile technology advances, since it can easily integrate with apps and provide a better user experience.

Your quick feedback on the services of TopDevelopers.co

TopDevelopers.co has done such a great job providing important information to people and companies looking to hire agencies. With so much noise on the internet nowadays, most people will get overwhelmed with so many choices that they become helpless. Having a directory like TopDevelopers.co makes the journey less painful and provides users with a sense of security knowing that the companies listed have been vetted and are reliable. Keep up the great work!