Mert Torun

Xamarin is geared towards enterprise, and needs whole teams to handle it. In a bootstrapped startup, you don't want that. React, although made by a company just as large, is much more approachable and friendlier.

I have been using Basecamp since 2008 to handle my client communications. I have gone through all of its three iterations.

I'd recommend Basecamp above the others because:

• It is a communication tool through and through. Looking at your description, that seems to be what you need. Zeplin is a developer handoff tool. It isn't designed to cover a more broad use case as you describe. Invision has some features that you want, but it is primarily a tool for building quick low-fidelity prototypes from website mockups. Figma is a great design tool. For the last two, communication is a secondary feature.
• It was designed by a design agency (37 Signals) for their own needs, which were quite similar to yours. (They later closed the agency to focus on Basecamp as a product full-time)
• It has flat pricing that doesn't count the number of projects, clients or team members you have. You don't have to think twice about opening another project or inviting another user. You always pay the same price.
• It can separate team and client communications. The team can talk about something without the client ever seeing it, in the same context.
• It can keep todo lists, which I think you will need anyway.
• Access control is based on projects. Every team member or client will only see the projects they are invited to. They will not even know the existence of others. (Except admins. They can see and join all projects)
• It is easy to understand and use. The design is free of clutter and easy on the eyes. Your clients (especially the tech-averse ones) will appreciate it.
• It has mobile/desktop apps with the full functionality of the web app. You won't have to wait for someone to sit down to get a quick approval.

The only real downside for me was the lack of language support in the user interface. You will be fine if your users understand some very basic written English. Some of my clients did not, so I had to walk them through it.

First of all, it seems that you are comparing apples to hammers to wristwatches. Webflow, React and Bootstrap are entirely different tools trying to solve entirely different problems. So, with respect, I want to ignore that part of the question and focus on what you probably need as I understand it.

Second; the marketing website and the customer portal are different beasts entirely. They will probably have completely different problems to solve, and those will require completely different tools.

Third; as I understand from your explanation, it is yet too early to decide on a tech stack for the systems you want to build. You have some goals in mind, but those must first turn into well-thought designs that include user flows, information architecture, service design blueprints etc. as needed. Only then it may be possible to make a sensible comparison of tech tools and components that would best support that architecture.

Most techies have their favorite tools that they would vouch for, and some others that they disdain. They have their reasons for that, but those are not your reasons. A tool that has worked wonders for someone's project may create friction for you, while another that was a disaster for for someone else's project may just solve your most critical problem. There is no one size fits all answer to choice of tools. So please take all sorts of "Tool X rocks/sucks" advice with a grain of salt.

As I understand it, your company does not have the intrinsic capability or tech acumen to get this done with its own people. That's ok. Your core business is something else. But this is an important supporting business function, so I think it deserves some care and attention.

So my primary advice is: The first tool you need is a capable and experienced consultant. (If you were a bigger company, I'd say employ one full time, but with your current scale, a long-term contract with an independent professional or consulting firm will be more cost-effective). This consultant is supposed to guide you through the entire process of design and implementation of the systems you need. They should be your guide and advocate when you hire contractors to design or build your site/portal/whatever. They should make sure that the end result is aligned with your business goals.

The second thing you need is a solid design process that clearly defines the things you need (portal/website/etc.) for your -guess what again?- business goals. Decide with your consultant from step 1 on how to best get that. Contracting, partnering, and forming an internal team should all be on the table.

Only then you may realistically start to think about how to build these things. When you have your implementers (again, contracted, partnered or internal) and your detailed design documentation describing what you want in detail. those people should be able to make the best call on what sort of tech stack to use, in order to bring that design to life.

All this may sound daunting and arduous but it is not. The practice is established and solid. A simpler project can go through all that within weeks and go live. Even a larger project can launch in a couple of months and keep building on that afterwards.

On a side note, projects like this are living projects. they are never "done". Please account for having time/money/resources for these as long as they stay up. Going live is just the beginning.

So, start by finding your consultant :)

PS. StackShare forces me to "recommend a tool" before I can post this, so I'm "recommending" my favorite videoconferencing tool (which was recently renamed to Whereby but SS seems to have missed that). Feel free to get in touch for a video call if you have more questions :)

Trying to explain things to others is the best way to understand them yourself…