Software Testing Blog

Working at a start-up is kind of like having kids. You get excited about every new milestone like a proud parent, even though you know it’s not the first time any of it has ever happened in history. This time it’s yours. Your child. Your company.

For parents, new milestones usually mean posting a select, few pictures to Facebook (give or take 50) of an an event like your child sitting up for the first time. Perched like a top-heavy teddy bear, staring wide-eyed at the camera and being photographed with adoration from many, many…many angles.

For uTest, it usually means hitting the local pub and celebrating together with a pint or two (give or take).

But this milestone was special. Our company, headquartered outside of Boston, opened up our first office in Silicon Valley. Exciting stuff for our founding members and newcomers alike! Granted, with so many recurring clients out here in the Bay Area, uTest has had a West Coast team for over a year, incubating in the Sunnyvale Plug & Play Tech Center.

But to keep up with demand, we’ve expanded pretty fast and definitely outgrew the nest. So now we have a space of our own in bustling downtown San Mateo, one block from the Cal Train and smack dab in the middle of a ton of great restaurants and shops.

What better way to celebrate the milestone and break in our new digs than throw a party! With our CEO Doron Reuveni and the executive team in town, that’s exactly what we did.

Living by the quote of our CMO Matt Johnston– “We take our work seriously, but not ourselves”– we spent a warm summer night celebrating with about 75 of our investors, customers, partners, new neighbors (the good folks at Attributor), new and old friends in the industry, the Chamber of Commerce…and even Mayor Jack Matthews.  Sushi, drinks, and music in the company of some of the Valley’s smartest, funniest, and most fascinating people. It doesn’t get better than this.

In fact, we’re already thinking about throwing another party in a few months for the many who couldn’t make it to this one.  Who knows…we may have a whole new milestone to celebrate.  And cleared space on our camera.

We’re kicking off a new, local chapter of the Crowdsortium — the most fascinating and inspiring group of crowdsourcing thought leaders and pundits that have self-organized to advance the concept of leveraging online communities to get work done.

The first Crowdsortium Meetup in Cambridge, MA will be hosted by Appswell and yours truly at the Microsoft NERD, June 21st at 6:30pm.

We have quite an exciting line up to offer you! Let’s start with the keynote: Harvard professor and leading academic expert on crowdsourcing, Karim Lakhani will open the meetup.

The feature panel — “What’s New & What’s Next in Crowdsourcing” — is up next featuring local VCs, CEOs and thought leaders of top crowdsourcing companies…

• Jeff Howe, Contributing Editor at Wired Magazine & Author of Crowdsourcing
• Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of Innocentive
• Doron Reuveni, CEO of uTest
• Daniel Sullivan, CEO of Appswell
• Jim Savage (moderator), Partner and Co-Founder of Longworth Venture Partners

These industry leaders have had great success advancing the ever-changing and growing crowdsourcing industry and will dispel some of the most common misconceptions about crowdsourcing and reveal their secrets on how to make it work.

Last, we will close it all up with networking along with FREE PIZZA AND BEER! RSVP to reserve your spot here (free to attend).

Besides the fact that our CEO Doron Reuveni rocked it at the Boston Marathon, beating his previous year’s record by 3 minutes, we had even more great news to celebrate last week:  we found out that uTest was selected as a finalist for the 2011 TiE50 award by the Silicon Valley chapter of TiE!

The TiE50 is the premier annual awards program for thousands of technology startups worldwide.  Every year, the winners in each of five categories (ranging from software to cleantech innovations) are announced at the TiEcon event, which takes place this year in Santa Clara, CA on May 13-14^th.  It’s one of the world’s largest conferences for entrepreneurs to meet and greet with venture capitalists, angels, and investors.

But we need your help!  As part of the award process, there’s a poll asking people to vote for their favorite company among the finalists (in our category, there are 43).

If you’re a fan of uTest, please vote for us by Wednesday, April 27.  It only takes 1 minute (we swear…).  Here’s how:

1. Visit the TiE50 web site:  http://www.tie50.net/TiE50Awards/Poll.asp?AlphOrder=A
2. Scroll down and click on uTest.
3. On our profile page, enter your email address in the ID box and click the green THUMB’S UP button.
4. That’s it!

You can also help us spread the word by retweeting or sharing this post.

Thanks for your support!!

Well we certainly had a wicked good time at QAI QUEST (Quality Engineered Software & Testing Conference), this year on our very own soil, the “Hub of the Universe” — Boston! From the uTest tutorial on “Everything You Need To Know About Mobile App Testing,” to the amazing reception at the Seaport Hotel where we played human scrabble, to the eclectic expo, to Doron’s presentation on “The Top 10 Disruptive Trends Altering Testing,” to signing the hilarious Declaration of Independence from Software Defects — Beantown provided the ideal setting for this testing pahhty! See more pics above.

And of course we can’t let you go without sharing some insights from QUEST on today’s hottest topics and emerging trends in software QA and testing. As a bonus, the QUEST Magazine was distributed to all registered attendees and provided everyone with some great, original articles on testing. I’ve included it below. Check out eBay’s Jon Bach’s article on Transition and Exploration, uTest’s Doron Reuveni’s article on The Great Quality Challenge for Mobile Apps, HP’s Rafal Los’ article on Security and Requirements, and more! Complete magazine [pdf] after the bump.

Read more…

After years of matching skilled software testers with high-paying projects from leading customers like Google, Microsoft, AOL and Groupon, uTest is happy announce that it will now be matching testers with….other testers! You know, for dating.

That’s right, we’ve launched “QAdate.com“, a dating site designed specifically for testers. With a community of 37,000+ QA professionals, as well as a recent round of VC funding, this represents the next big step in uTest’s (previously) secret plans to dominate all facets of the testing universe.

“uTest has extensive experience matching the best testers with our customer’s testing needs. But at what point do we think about our testers’ personal relationships? Well, for uTest, that time is now,” stated uTest CEO, Doron Reuveni. “In fact, that’s the real reason we raised $13MM in VC funding last September. We already have tester profiles and advanced matching algorithms, so we assume this dating thing will be easy. Some companies offer their employees free child care, massages or dry cleaning. Well let’s see them compete with free dating services.”

Much like the regular uTest, QAdate.com is incredibly simple, and of course, it’s FREE to join. Just complete a short profile describing your interests, turn-ons, mobile devices, OS and (of course) anti-virus tools. We’ll take that information and connect you with the tester who matches your dating needs. Like the software apps you test, you’re looking for singles who are secure, functional, and free of “showstopper” issues – and you can find them on QAdate.com.

Also, as part of our expansion into the dating space, uTest is excited to announce a related acquisition: We have recently purchased the old blue sweater from that eHarmony guy. We’ll take turns wearing it anytime we want to tap into the mystical power of the 29 dimensions of compatibility.

You’ve searched software for bugs and defects. Now search our community for love. Visit QAdate.com today. Because testers need love too (please, no product managers, designers or developers).

Crowdsourcing has captured the imagination of many companies – from bootstrapped startups to global enterprises. The concept is that of a “Human Cloud” for labor. While it has proven itself effective, in many cases, modern managers are confused, wondering which everyday tasks can be crowdsourced, how to define the tasks, and under what conditions an elastic workforce is the right decision?

Below, three of the leading minds in crowdsourcing, including uTest CEO Doron Reuveni, LiveOps CEO Maynard Webb and Amazon VP Sharon Chiarella, discuss how an elastic workforce can be utilized, and what managers should understand when considering such solutions (GigaOM Net:Work Conference).

Just in case you couldn’t make it to CrowdConf this year, Doron’s CrowdConf panel is up for all to see! Ethan Kurzweil, VP at Bessemer Venture Partners (who played a major role in the Playdom/Disney deal) moderates the panel. Joining our CEO Doron Reuveni are Fabio Rosati, President & CEO of Elance; Brian Goler, VP of Marketing at oDesk; Wyatt Nordstrom, CEO of Maven Research; and Patrick McKenna, Founder & CEO of Keniks. Enjoy!

Make It Work: Big Ideas & Great Successes

As you probably heard, uTest closed a $13MM C Round last week. We were pretty stoked and, in our post-celebration bliss, we put out an open call for questions about the process of fundraising. Well, our friends, readers and followers did not disappoint. Check out the below list of questions and the off-the-cuff responses from our CEO and co-founder, Doron Reuveni (@doronr).

Is this the first company you’ve started, and what led you to launch your own startup?

DR: My co-founder and I really came from two different spaces. He came from more of a testing and QA background, while I came from more of a business and engineering background. But we both felt the same pain: We would spend so much time and money on improving the quality of software with the standard processes and tools, yet there would still be lots issues found by the customer. Eventually, we asked ourselves, “What if we could find a way to test software under live conditions, on-demand?” That’s really how uTest came about. And yes, uTest is the first company I started.

What was the a-ha moment that triggered the idea behind uTest?

DR: My co-founder and I had both experienced the pain, cost and frustration of trying to test software via traditional means. We were doing everything right – in-house, outsourcing, automation, documentation – but unexpected bugs and defects still emerged when we put it in the hands of users.  Every single time.

So we started thinking about moving testing outside the lab and into the wild.  And the only way to do that was through a crowdsourced model. That really got everything started.

What have been three major obstacles that you had to overcome as an entrepreneur?

DR: I would say the number one challenge – because I don’t consider them to be obstacles – was to sell the original idea to potential investors. At the time we started looking for our first round of funding, all I had was a PowerPoint presentation and a smile. For that first round, we didn’t really have any prototypes – and we certainly didn’t have any revenue – so it was very much a challenge to talk with some of these potential VCs about the theory of crowdsourcing and how it fit the software testing space.

I would say the second biggest challenge has been recruitment, which is of course an ongoing challenge. At the end of the day, it’s really the people that make the difference – not the product or the technology or the marketing – so we made it a priority to recruit and retain high-level talent and to develop a company “culture.” These things are a lot more difficult than they sound, especially when you are expanding internationally.

The third major challenge we had to overcome was managing revenue and customers with a maturing platform. We made it a goal to get the platform to market quickly, and so we already had a few beta customers by the time we launched. We didn’t really have time to refine a lot if it before our customers got to use it. We were getting tremendous amount of feedback almost instantly, but this puts a lot of pressure on you to improve the product at a pace you can’t really keep up with at first.

Once you starting add customers and revenue to the equation – especially for a technology startup – it completely changes the dynamic.

Read more…

What an exciting way to wrap up the week here at uTest. As we continue to grow (and by grow, I mean in all aspects, including cool customers, brilliant testers and amazing staff) and expand into new areas of testing, the most renowned awards organizations are taking notice.

Late last night in San Diego…after an extensive review of our track record and our CEO Doron Reuveni’s on-site presentation, uTest was selected as a winner of the 2010 Red Herring 100 North America Award. The list honors the year’s most promising private tech ventures from North America. The companies were selected based on their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition and financial health. Congrats to all other RH 100 winners, including our good friends at SOASTA!

This past Monday in Boston…uTest was also honored as an AlwaysOn East Top 100 winner, a list comprised of leading East Coast companies pioneering in cloud computing and SaaS technologies. uTest’s Matt Johnston was invited to present at the AlwaysOn East event (a.k.a. Venture Summit East) as part of a select group of top execs showcasing their technologies. Here’s the presentation below in case you missed it!

Thanks to all for following our adventures across the country this week!

Where are you going, where have you been? Yes it’s the title of a creepy short story, but it also happens to characterize the  fastest-growing segment of consumer applications.

Location-based apps like Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite – apps that let you check in, find hot spots and get rewarded with prizes & accolades – are attracting thousands of new users every day. Just how popular have they become? They’re sooo popular, even uTest CEO and co-founder Doron Reuveni has attained ‘Mayor’ status (see if you can guess where).

Why am I telling you all this? Because these  geo-based apps are the subject of our latest uTest Bug Battle. We figured that since Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite are all global in scope, that they would provide our global tester community with a challenge unlike any of our previous bug-hunting competitions.

The Bug Battle gets started this Friday, May 14 at Noon (ET). Testers will be given ten days to search these applications (both web and mobile) for the most compelling bugs, and to report them through our online platform. We’ll be dishing out nearly $4,000 in prize money for Top Tester, Best Bug, Best Survey Feedback, Best Mobile Bug and a bunch of other categories.

More details on this Bug Battle – as well the rules, prizes and deadlines –can be found in this uTest Forums thread. Of course, we’ll be providing frequent updates via our blog, forums and newsletters.

Special note: This competition is available ONLY to members of the uTest community. Not a member yet? Find out more about the benefits of joining uTest.