Building Better Products Through Ongoing Collaboration

For organizations with big ideas but limited internal development resources, creating and launching a technology product can feel overwhelming. Often, these teams struggle to find the bandwidth or the wide-ranging expertise needed to bring complex ideas to life. That’s where a development retainer with WhereWeGo makes all the difference.

A Development Retainer that Works for You

At WhereWeGo, our development retainers go beyond the typical build-and-launch model. They’re designed to provide your organization with an agile, versatile team that understands not only how to build a product but also how to collaborate with you from ideation to launch and beyond.

Our retainers allow you to bring ambitious ideas to life, providing you with access to the exact expertise you need at every stage of development. By working with us on a long-term basis, your organization gains a development partner who’s deeply invested in understanding your unique challenges, solving the right problems, and ensuring that those solutions evolve effectively over time.

Why Choose a Retainer Model?

1. Deeper Problem Understanding
   Developing a technology solution requires more than technical know-how; it requires a genuine understanding of the problem at hand. With a retainer, we take the time to deeply understand the issues you’re facing, your goals, and the needs of the communities or stakeholders you serve. This dedicated time and space for understanding lead to better-aligned solutions that address the real challenges your organization aims to solve.
2. Comprehensive Resource Management
   A robust technology product demands a variety of skills—UI/UX design, back-end and front-end development, database wizardry, security, and more. Rather than leaving you to manage a patchwork of freelancers or in-house roles, our retainers ensure that the right people are brought in at the right time, giving you access to the specific expertise required at each development phase. This saves you time and increases efficiency, allowing you to stay focused on your mission instead of on hiring and project management.‍
3. Support Beyond Launch
   One of the most significant challenges in tech development is ensuring that your product thrives long after launch. Many products die on the vine because ongoing maintenance, updates, and improvements are not factored in from the beginning. A one-off project can leave you with an under-supported product that fails to adapt to user feedback or changing needs. With a retainer, however, we’re here to support you beyond the initial launch, applying new learnings to improve, update, and sustain your product’s impact.

Real Results: Empowering Ambitious Projects

Organizations that partner with WhereWeGo through a development retainer gain the freedom to think big. By handling everything from discovery to ongoing updates, we empower you to launch ambitious, mission-centered solutions without needing to build an internal dev team from scratch. We also provide the flexibility to pivot and refine based on what you and your users learn along the way.

For example, our partnership with SkillUp has been an ongoing collaboration where we continue to refine and enhance their career coaching platform based on real-world usage and evolving needs. This wouldn’t be possible with a one-time project; it’s the depth of our relationship and the adaptability of our retainer model that enable us to build, learn, and improve together.

Partnership in this nature must avoid silos and unite cross functional teams around common social impacts and theories of change, from developer to director. Here is what some members of different functional teams within the same organization have said about WhereWeGo:

Team 1: Interstate Renewable Energy Council

• “WWG’s human centered approach combines technology and strategy to best meet the needs of their clients and the people they serve. WWG begins their work with the story, and ends with a product that is impactful. Our partnership with WWG has helped us to strategize and think critically and creatively about our mission and objectives. We expected a high level of expertise but were surprised by how easily they communicated complex processes. WWG is able to communicate to a diverse audience making everyone’s input meaningful. A must know when working with WWG is that you will get far more than you bargained for, they are true thought leaders and partners on our journey and we look forward to creating great things together!” - Cynthia Finley, Ph.D, Vice President Workforce
• “WhereWeGo was the clear choice to develop and implement IREC’s Green Workforce Connect initiative in support of our workforce strategy. Their human centered approach, deep technical expertise, and proven ability to design intuitive and user focused solutions allowed them to build a product that not only meets the needs of multiple audiences but exceeds our expectations. Their ability to translate complex challenges into actionable solutions combined with their thoughtful approach and strategic insights has made them not just a vendor but a collaborative partner in advancing our work.” - Pagan Paggione, Senior Director, Strategic Workforce Engagement
• “My favorite thing about working with WWG is that you are true partners. We think through our goals, opportunities, hopes and challenges together and our interests are now intertwined. It’s like having a real extension of our team. Also these guys are pretty cool!” - Scott Townley, Chief Operating Officer

Team 2: SkillUp Coalition

• “It’s hard, real hard, running a direct-to-consumer platform serving low wage workers. That’s why, when selecting a technology partner several years ago, WhereWeGo rose to the fore. Tech chops. Check. User design expertise. Check. But here’s the kicker. As former teachers and educators, their rai·son d’ê·tre is worker first; their mindset puts workers at the core of how they build technology products. It’s their secret sauce, and what makes them amazing collaborators. It’s undisputed that whatever success SkillUp has had over the years has only been possible because of our partnership. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.” - Steven Lee, CEO
• “Over the past two and a half years of partnership with WhereWeGo, I have come to appreciate their highly collaborative working style, forward-thinking approach, and strong integration with our team at all levels (leadership, functional, and partner-facing). Their design days and concept development help guide our team across both strategic and day-to-day development decisions, leveraging the expertise and skills of their growing team. On top of it all, their former educator founders, Ben and Leah, bring a learner-focused mindset, ensuring our platform remains focused on the core audience we serve.” - Desiree Jewell, SVP of Marketing & Communications
• “WWG is more than just a design firm—they are a true technology partner. Their deep commitment to understanding the real challenges that workers and learners face allows them to craft thoughtful, user-centered solutions that are as effective as they are beautiful. Thanks to WWG’s partnership, SkillUp has been able to create more impactful experiences for our STARs community.” - Elissa Salas, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Operations

Ready to Get Started?

WhereWeGo’s development retainers are designed to help mission-driven organizations like yours bring meaningful technology solutions to life, even without large internal teams. Our approach saves you the hassle of sourcing multiple specialized roles, aligns development with your real-world challenges, and ensures your product thrives long-term with continuous improvements.

If you’re ready to build and sustain a powerful tech solution with the support of a team that’s with you every step of the way, let’s talk about what a WhereWeGo development retainer can do for you.