# MentorMate MentorMate Reviews (39), Pricing, Services & Verified Ratings - 4.7 out of 5 average review rating - 2 connections joined MentorMate's Network [Visit Website](https://mentormate.com/custom-software-company/?utm_source=clutch&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=company_profile) [Get a Custom Proposal](https://clutch.co/profile/mentormate) **Distinctly Designed. Brilliantly Built.** Since 2001, we’ve blended strategic insights and thoughtful design with brilliant engineering to create durable technical solutions that deliver digital transformation at scale. With an unwavering commitment to open and transparent communication, we earned the trust of hundreds of companies worldwide to guide their vision, design innovative products, and deliver secure solutions. We’re invested in our clients’ business challenges and bring innovative ideas, approaching every project with a deep understanding of the specific nuances of their industry. After growing to five offices across Bulgaria, we expanded to Latin America to further serve our clients. Now, as part of Tietoevery Create, MentorMate combines the power of local presence with the expertise of over 10,000 team members to deliver digital transformation on a global scale. With delivery centers on three continents and our headquarters in Minneapolis, we ensure ease of delivery regardless of where our clients are located. ## Company Information - Minimum project size: $50,000+ - Hourly rate: $50 - $99 - Number of employees: 1,000 - 9,999 - 4 Locations: - Minneapolis, MN (Headquarters) - Sofia, Bulgaria - Göteborg, Sweden - Asunción, Paraguay - Founded in 2001 - 1 languages: English - 7 timezones: Central Standard Time (CST), Central European Time (CET), Eastern Standard Time (EST), Eastern European Time (EET), Mountain Standard Time (MST), Phoenix Standard Time (PNT), Pacific Standard Time (PST) ## Services, Focus Areas, Industries, and Clients ### Service Lines - 45% Mobile App Development - 15% Custom Software Development - 15% UX/UI Design - 15% Web Development - 10% Application Management & Support ### Focus Areas - User Experience Focus: - 50% UX Strategy - 25% Usability Testing - 25% User Research - Mobile Platforms: - 30% Android App Development - 30% Hybrid & cross platform apps - 30% iPhone iOS App Development - 10% iPad iOS App Development - Application Platforms: - 25% Amazon Application Development Framework - 25% Azure Platform - 10% Google app engine - 10% Heroku - 10% Linux server - 10% Other app platform - 10% Windows server - Frameworks and CMS: - 15% .NET - 15% React Native - 10% Angular - 10% Flutter - 10% Laravel - 10% NodeJS - 10% React - 10% Ruby on Rails - 10% VueJS - Mobile Focus: - 15% Financial Mobile App Development - 15% Health & Wellness Mobile App Development - 10% Business Intelligence Mobile App Development - 10% Consumer Mobile App Development - 10% Enterprise Mobile App Development - 10% Field Operations Mobile App Development - 10% Learning & Education Mobile App Development - 10% Sales Enablement & CRM Mobile App Development - 10% Travel & Lifestyle Mobile App Development - Programming & Scripting: - 10% ASP.NET - 10% C# - 10% C++ - 10% Java - 10% JavaScript - 10% PHP - 10% Python - 10% Ruby - 10% SQL - 10% Typescript ### Industries - 10% Business services - 20% Education - 10% Financial services - 20% Medical - 10% Information technology - 20% Manufacturing - 10% Non-profit ### Clients - 20% Small Business (<$10M) - 50% Midmarket ($10M - $1B) - 30% Enterprise (>$1B) ## Pricing Snapshot Average rating for cost based on this provider's reviews: 4.5 out of 5 **What Clients Have Said** *(This summary is based on verified Clutch reviews.)*: MentorMate offers competitive pricing and delivers significant value, with projects ranging from $50,000 to over $5 million. Clients appreciate their responsiveness and quality, with many establishing long-term partnerships. Overall, they are seen as a cost-effective solution for diverse software development needs. **Most Common Project Size**: $200,000 to $999,999 based on 30 reviews *(Pricing information for this provider is based on reviews where the project size was available.)* ### Pricing by Service - Custom Software Development: $200,000 to $999,999 based on 15 reviews - Mobile App Development: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 based on 11 reviews - Web Development: $50,000 to $199,999 based on 7 reviews - UX/UI Design: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 based on 1 review - Other IT Consulting and SI: $200,000 to $999,999 based on 1 review - IT Staff Augmentation: based on 1 review - Web Design: $50,000 to $199,999 based on 1 review - BI & Big Data Consulting & SI: Confidential based on 1 review - Cloud Consulting & SI: Confidential based on 1 review - Other Digital Marketing: Confidential based on 1 review ## Reviews Clutch investigates each reviewer's identity and work history. Every review goes through a rigorous, human-led verification process to confirm the reviewer's identity, and reviews that we verify are visibly marked as 'Verified' so you can trust that they come from a real client. [Learn More](https://help.clutch.co/en/knowledge/how-clutch-verifies-reviews) ### MentorMate Review Insights Overall Review Rating: 4.7 - Quality: 4.7 - Schedule: 4.6 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 4.6 ### Top Mentions - Great project management (13 mentions) - High-quality work (11 mentions) - Communicative (8 mentions) - Professional (7 mentions) - Timely (7 mentions) - Team players (6 mentions) - Flexible (5 mentions) - Transparent (5 mentions) - Easy to work with (4 mentions) - Hard working (4 mentions) - Unique expertise (4 mentions) - Creative (3 mentions) - Proactive (3 mentions) - Receptive (3 mentions) - Accommodating (2 mentions) - Efficient (2 mentions) - Great team (2 mentions) - Innovative (2 mentions) - Openness (2 mentions) - Puts the customer first (2 mentions) ### Review Highlights **Innovative and Flexible Solutions** MentorMate is celebrated for their innovative approach, often providing multiple solutions to a problem and adapting to project changes. Their willingness to explore different methods and technologies is a noted strength. **High-Quality Deliverables** MentorMate is commended for delivering high-quality products that often exceed client expectations. Their work is described as professional, polished, and reliable, contributing to successful project outcomes. **Strong Expertise in Mobile and Web App Development** MentorMate has consistently demonstrated proficiency in developing mobile and web applications across various platforms like iOS, Android, and web browsers. Clients appreciate their ability to handle complex projects, including those in regulated industries such as healthcare and finance. **Commitment to Client Success** MentorMate is recognized for their dedication to client success, often going above and beyond to ensure projects meet client expectations. Their teams are seen as extensions of the client's own teams, fostering a strong partnership approach. **Cultural and Time Zone Coordination** Despite having offshore teams, MentorMate effectively manages cultural differences and time zone challenges, which clients appreciate. This is attributed to their flexible working hours and strong communication practices. **Room for Improvement in Strategic Guidance** Some clients, especially startups, have expressed a desire for more strategic advice and guidance from MentorMate, particularly in the planning stages of projects. **Challenges with Resource Allocation** Some clients have experienced challenges with resource allocation, such as project manager changes mid-project or needing a more consistent pipeline of candidates. This has occasionally led to communication gaps or delays. **Proactive in Identifying and Solving Issues** The team at MentorMate is noted for their proactive approach in identifying potential issues early and suggesting improvements, which helps in maintaining the quality and functionality of the final product. **Positive Impact on Client Business Metrics** Clients report significant improvements in business metrics post-engagement with MentorMate, such as increased user engagement, higher download rankings, and enhanced customer satisfaction with digital products. **Effective Project Management and Communication** Clients frequently praise MentorMate's project management skills, noting their ability to maintain open communication, meet deadlines, and manage projects efficiently. The use of tools like Slack, Jira, and daily stand-ups helps in maintaining transparency and progress updates. ### MentorMate Reviews #### Custom Software & Web Dev for Education Management Company (Featured Review) **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Mar. 2020 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an education management solution that facilitates mentorship. Using a provided prototype as a starting point, they went through an in-depth design phase before developing the initial MVP. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Partner, Education Management Company - Industry: Education - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 26, 2021 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate was able to drive development forward thanks to their commitment to fully understanding the solution. They proposed new functions and identified potential future consequences. Recently, the MVP completed a few soft launches, earning positive feedback for its intuitive UI and feature set. "“It really felt like every team member was bringing their expertise and creativity to the floor.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m a partner at a boutique consulting firm. We focus on the education industry, primarily in the K–12 public sector. We do HR consulting and work with educators on the teacher-principal-leader spectrum.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We’re developing a mentoring platform called Torace. At the time, we’d completed an in-house proof of concept as well as a prototype and felt that we were ready to take things to the next step. We opted to go with MentorMate to develop a scalable, potentially widely distributed piece of software for us. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement?  MentorMate developed a mentorship management solution for educational institutions. Initially, we came to them with a prototype that we’d implemented in a few places, talking them through what we’d done and what we wanted to do. That included some code that we’d developed, screenshots of our rudimentary platform, and customer research. MentorMate then guided us through their design phase. We went through journey mapping, developed user personas in much greater detail, and created wireframes. Once we transitioned into full-scale development, they built a cloud-based app in AWS and released the product. We also had them design and develop our marketing website, which was a Jamstack solution. What is the team composition?  At the peak of their involvement, there were around 15 people who rotated in depending on our needs. They assigned a business analyst, a project manager, two backend developers, a frontend developer, a full stack developer, three QA specialists, a designer, and a software team lead. How did you come to work with MentorMate? When we made the decision not to staff up internally, it was a natural step to start looking at companies that specialized in this kind of application development.  There were a lot of US-based companies that did impressive work in this space, but we were drawn to MentorMate because of their unique value proposition. They followed an integrated offshore model where they had a team in Bulgaria that was part of their main group. The potential value there coupled with our due diligence on their references and past work led to our decision. We didn’t jump into the engagement on the development side immediately. Instead, we worked with them from a design perspective to build confidence in their understanding of the solutions that we wanted to build and their ability to execute on them. What is the status of this engagement? After our initial conversations, we made it up to Minneapolis for an in-person working session sometime around January 2020. The initial MVP development lasted from March–September 2020, which was a major milestone for us. Then, they did our marketing website between September–November 2020. We’ve since transitioned into continued production and engineering support. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We’re in the midst of rolling out the product through various soft launches. Anecdotally speaking, we’ve received feedback from non-tech-savvy educators who’ve found the UI to be very intuitive. Our core administrative users have also found the feature set to be compelling. As we talk with both current and prospective customers, the solution’s flexibility has been really positive from a technical standpoint. We’ve had no bugs come out due to the system nor any downtime. It’s just been solid and reliable in its performance. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They managed the entire project really tightly but not in a way that felt overly restrictive or unnecessarily process-driven. It was one of those scenarios where we knew where the project was on any given day. We understood where our sprints sat within the larger time frame.  That level of professionalism was impressive. We knew what to expect going into every meeting, and it was clear that they had internal stand-ups prior to our meetings because they always seemed prepared. There was never any wasted time, and they took advantage of the Bulgarian work schedule well.  I’d also say that the communication was really fluid. It wasn’t limited to one point of contact, but rather, we could Slack anyone on the project team at large. It was clear that people could communicate with us as necessary, and there were regularly recurring structures around our budget and testing plans. What did you find most impressive about them? We were really impressed with the steps that they took to understand exactly what we were trying to accomplish. It went beyond understanding our requirements. Instead, they’d ask themselves, “If I were this type of user, what would I try to do? What would be the pain points?” That really allowed them to point out potential unintended consequences, thinking through if we needed to test a functionality because there could be downstream implications.  It really felt like every team member was bringing their expertise and creativity to the floor. They weren’t just delivering to our user acceptance criteria but rather pushing us during the development to consider other cases. It really helped us achieve an outcome that we believed in and felt good about. Are there any areas they could improve? No, this really was a great experience, and we’re still working with them now. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to work with them again on another sizeable enhancement to the product. Do you have any advice for potential customers? The more time you put in at the front of the project, the better. It always takes a little bit of time for a team to reach optimal efficiency, so you should try to make yourself available or get another decision-maker involved in those early design calls to sync up with their team. That will help as you convey what you’re trying to do, and it allows them to be solution-oriented. --- #### UX/UI Design & Web & Mobile App Dev for Wealth Mgmt Company **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development, UX/UI Design, Web Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: Oct. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate provides UX/UI design services for a consulting and wealth management company. They’ve built the customer digital experience for web-based and mobile applications using Figma. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Head of Client Digital, Wealth Management Company - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 10,001+ Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Sep 19, 2022 **Feedback Summary**: With the new digital experience, the client has seen a significant increase in the number of users and other usage metrics. Internal stakeholders are satisfied with MentorMate’s quality work; they stand out for their commitment and sense of partnership. Customers can expect great communication. "“They’ll work endlessly toward shared goals.”" **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the head of client digital for a consulting and wealth management company. I’m primarily responsible for the strategy and execution of our client digital properties and mobile apps. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We undertook a complete digital transformation of our platform and had several challenges. Some of those challenges were how we’d identify design talent and integrate UX into our overarching practices to ensure we adhered to human-centered design. Also, we knew we’d work with newer technologies that wouldn’t be familiar to our full-time employees. Since there wasn’t a large candidate pool in the US, we were looking for partners to help us address the design, resource, and integration challenges and help us extend our development capabilities, especially on new frontend technologies. Our primary focus was completely reimagining the client’s digital experience and building a mobile application that met our business and client needs. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We started by separating a special team to reimagine our client's digital experience. During that process, we engaged MentorMate for design resources to help us as we looked at the competitive challenge, user expectations, and initial prototypes to validate our approach. As we continued the process, we also started growing our modernized tech stack and integrating resources to straddle the design and development. Then, we started functioning in a dual-track design process. First, our product owners identify the core capabilities and priorities based on the strategic alignment with the business needs. We then create prototypes and designs that resonate with what the users look for. We go through a user testing process, and once we confirm we have the right approach, we hand it off to our development teams. In this process, the design side helps us ensure we understand what we need. On the other hand, the development team ensures the product is robust enough to survive in a production environment. We’ve been involved in these processes for the last two and a half years. MentorMate has been a growing partner throughout the journey; their UX designers are deeply integrated with our teams, and they now provide several development teams. They’ve brought an outside perspective and best practices around how users expect web and mobile applications to function and people’s expectations of digital tools. Initially, we used Envision and Sketch, but we use Figma now. What is the team composition? We currently have over 30 people on our team. We primarily work with our account manager and Denny (VP of Design). How did you come to work with MentorMate? Another client used them for mobile app development work and referred them. Also, we used MentorMate on a small-scale project several years ago. Based on the referral and our initial experience, we decided to extend our relationship with them. How much have you invested with them? We’ve spent more than $5 million. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them in October 2018, and our relationship is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Since we’ve relaunched our client website with the new experience, we’ve seen dramatic growth in the number of users on the platform, visits per day, and deposits done using the mobile check deposit feature. Overall, we’ve seen a massive uptick in usage. The design is unique to the financial services in healthcare; it’s incredibly regulated and data-dense. MentorMate has listened carefully to our different requirements and unique demands to craft designs and prototypes that answer our needs. Currently, we have production-level reimagined web-based experience and mobile apps that keep pace with our clients’ expectations and business demands. Also, we’ve been impressed with the quality of the resources and work we get. On the rare occasion we have a resource that doesn’t meet our expectations, they immediately respond to rectify the situation. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? We have a few project managers who are Scrum masters, and they’re deeply embedded in our teams. They come to all our management meetings and do an exceptional job communicating. We use Jira for project management. Additionally, we use Slack, email, phone, Webex, and Notion for communication. What did you find most impressive about them? Their level of partnership is impressive. Also, we have an overlap in time, so we spend half the day working directly with the resources. Their responsiveness and ability to manage our needs have made them stand out from other companies. Are there any areas they could improve? Since we have an increasing strain on resources, it’d be great if we could ensure that we have a promising pipeline of candidates for when resources leave the teams. However, that’s probably out of their control. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Approach MentorMate as a partnership; they’ll work endlessly toward shared goals. --- #### Mobile App Development for Bicycle Retailer **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development, Mobile App Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: June 2022 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate was hired to develop iOS and Android development for a bicycle retailer. They're also tasked with helping them rebrand to complement their own infrastructure.  **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Digital Product Manager, Bicycle Retailer - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 5,001-10,000 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Aug 18, 2022 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate is doing a great job of staying on task and hitting near-term milestones. They have a responsive, talented team that is enjoyable to work with. The client looks forward to continuing their collaboration within the year. ""Mentormate is responsive, with talented employees and a well-tuned communication and service model."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I'm the Digital Product Manager at Trek Bicycle, focused on a new Rider, Retailer, and Brand platform. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire MentorMate, and what were your goals? We hired Mentormate to do iOS and Android development on my platform, which was purchased by Trek in June of this year. I have worked with Menotrmate for many years, building the platform that was just acquired. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors? I have worked with Mentoemate for ~5 years and suggested that Trek continue working with them, particularly on the mobile elements. Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used. They are extending the functionality of existing mobile apps, rebranding them for Trek, and tying them into the existing Trek infrastructure. How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions? 2 iOS developers, 2 Android, and 2 QAs. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables? We are still in active development, but so far, the team is doing a great job of staying on task and hitting all of the near-term milestones. We're happy with the progress and look forward to working with these developers over the next one year-long phase to release this new product. Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness. We are project managing them, and they have integrated well into our existing system and processes. We use JIRA and work in short sprint cycles. What did you find most impressive or unique about this company? Mentormate is responsive, with talented employees and a well-tuned communication and service model. I enjoy working with them very much! Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently? So far so good. Nothing to remark on currently. Very happy with them! --- #### Music Streaming App Dev for Music Rights & Permissions Firm **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: Mar. 2020 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate has developed a music streaming MVP for a music rights and permissions company. Their tasks involve creating a development strategy, improving the client's designs, and QA testing the final product. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** President & Director of Technology, Easy Song - Industry: Arts, entertainment & music - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Aug 10, 2022 **Feedback Summary**: The company expresses confidence in the app, which has been published on the iOS app store; the client also compares it with other prominent apps like Spotify. MentorMate's project management is amazing. The team has shown genuine care about the project. They're hands-on, innovative, and respectful. ""They're a remarkable company and a rare gem."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I am the President and Director of Technology for Easy Song, a music rights and permissions business based in Minneapolis, MN. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire MentorMate, and what were your goals? We had an original idea for a music listening interface. We wanted to fuse this unique concept with our industry knowledge to produce a new music streaming service called Giddy. We knew we needed an app for Android and iOS and we had no app developers in-house. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors? We searched online for mobile app developers in our area and out of state. We met with several of them in person and some virtually. MentorMate stood out as the company aligned with our vision and capable of meeting the technical demands of the project. We also liked that they were local. Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used. We had done quite a bit of legwork, creating plans and mock-ups to help define our vision. MentorMate took these plans and designs to the next level, mapping out a development strategy, cost estimate, and timeline. MentorMate's designers improved our designs and simplified the interface. We then developed the app in an iterative process using the agile methodology, organized on the Jira platform. My project manager, Frank, was instrumental in orchestrating the project and keeping us focused. The developers pulled off some impressive technological achievements, and QA ensured we released a quality product on time. How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions? We had an amazing project manager, Frank, who took a personal interest in the project and demonstrated marvelous professionalism and leadership. The team size fluctuated a bit but generally consisted of a story writer (forgot what you call them), and roughly two each of front end, back end, and QA. We also called in your cloud professionals to set up dev and prod environments in the cloud. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables? We have only been in the iOS app store for less than a month. It's too early to say, but we are optimistic. I am happy that the finished (MVP) product "hangs with the big boys". It looks top-shelf and like it belongs beside Spotify, Apple Music, Google, and Amazon. Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness. My project manager, Frank, was amazing. He took the project personally and treated it like his own company. He would challenge my thinking, but always respectfully. We were teammates working to build the app/company together. I now consider him a friend and we meet out of work as well. The project management itself was done in Jira. What did you find most impressive or unique about this company? Two things. 1) They seemed to personally care about the project as if they were a part of my company. 2) They technically pulled of some very challenging feats. Namely, creating a totally new and unique user interface, unquestionably requiring heavy math, time, and geometry calculations. Also connecting to third party services Apple Music and Elastic Search. And finally making everything run smooth and FAST. Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently? Looking back over the 2.5 years together, I wish the big picture had been mapped a little better. It felt like there was quite a bit of work thrown away, which was unfortunate. I suspect they could argue that my strategy pivoted and forced the throw-away. Still, I think the coding could have been done in a way that assumes it's going to go the distance (built modularly, to avoid throw-away work). For example, even though we determined we were building a proof of concept, I don't see why we apparently (mostly) started fresh when we decided to keep going and build the MVP. I suppose this is largely unavoidable, but still it's a little frustrating in retrospect. I don't blame MM much for this, but I think it's a small area where they could improve. --- #### Dev Staff Augmentation for Health Insurance Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development, IT Staff Augmentation, Mobile App Development, Web Development - Project size: $10,000,000 + - Project length: Feb. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: A health insurance company sought MentorMate’s services to ramp up multiple scrum teams for various projects. The engagement covered frontend and backend development as well as quality engineering. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Chief Software Architect & VP Engineering, Bind - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Dec 20, 2021 **Feedback Summary**: Being deeply embedded in the client’s own teams, MentorMate has made significant contributions that are indistinguishable from the work as a whole. The team’s integration with internal processes has made them an indispensable resource and partner. They’re responsive, dedicated, and highly adaptable. ""MentorMate provides really good, dedicated talents that possess a strong work ethic."" **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Bind Benefits was acquired by UnitedHealthcare in 2016. Its whole purpose is to bend the healthcare cost curve by introducing new, innovative, and on-demand health insurance products to the market. I am the VP of technology in the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We didn’t have the ability to ramp up a local development team at the pace that we needed to get our project moving, so we turned to MentorMate. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate provided full stack development services. We started from scratch but we had a basic architecture in mind that needed to be built from a product-driven perspective. They helped us spin up multiple scrum teams to build out the frontend of our Angular web application as well as our mobile app. We decided to go with a Java stack for our backend, and MentorMate provided the resources for that as well. They also provided quality engineering services. A lot of times, the industry refers to it as QA, but QA has  a legacy association with manual testing which we don’t do. Everything is automated on our end, so we had their team perform the automated testing on our platform.  In order to set up our pipeline, MentorMate also helped us with platform engineering work.  What is the team composition? The current team size is 65. We’ve had three waves of hires; from the initial scrum team of 6–7 people, we’ve ramped up to bring in six more, and then four more shortly thereafter. That was a three-month ramp-up in early 2017. Over the last few years, we’ve expanded and streamlined our product teams as we began to need more staff.  How did you come to work with MentorMate? When this engagement started, MentorMate had a pretty decent and proven track record of delivering high-quality software engineering talent. I did some offshore resourcing in a previous company and had really good luck with the European talent pool and work ethic, so I decided to give it another shot for this project.  How much have you invested with them? We spend about $4 million a year on their services.  What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in February 2017, and we are still engaged with MentorMate. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our team as a whole is split half-and-half between onshore and offshore, so I can’t say that we have any particular metrics to show that MentorMate’s presence has resulted in greater success for our team. Our relationship with MentorMate has become more of a partnership; their team is purposely embedded with ours, and there is a blurry line between our onshore and offshore resources.  We do measure our team’s velocities as well as the quality of their work in terms of defects that have been introduced into the production environment, but we cannot attribute either of those from a contribution perspective. I will say, however, that a lot of our product owners, if given the choice of staying with our onshore team or with the MentorMate, would definitely choose the latter. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? We’re in constant communication over Slack, and we hold meetings over Zoom. Our correspondence is pretty much nonstop during our overlapping business hours, but there’s a fair amount of communication outside that timeframe as well. Most of the people at MentorMate are pretty dedicated people and will sometimes answer during the wee hours of the morning when they see that we’ve messaged them on Slack. What did you find most impressive about them? MentorMate provides really good, dedicated talents that possess a strong work ethic. We appreciate that they not only recruit and onboard for us but also do specialized training for the resources they provide. What’s more is that they tailor this specialized training to cater to particular team deficiencies that we have on our side. There is a great integration experience there. Are there any areas they could improve? No, there’s nothing they could improve on. Even their geographical distance is a small issue against the overlap of hours and tools that we have between us. Our communication and hand-off procedures work quite well.  Do you have any advice for potential customers? Make sure that you approach this more as a partnership than a contracting relationship. From experience, I can say that there are a lot of rewards to having MentorMate embedded into your own team rather than having them as contractors that you hand off tasks to. This will not only enable you to engage with their higher-level people when it comes to design decisions but will also give you the benefit of working with a company that understands your requirements, goals, purpose, and mission.  --- #### WordPress Dev for Health Benefits Company **The Project** - Services: Web Design, Web Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Apr. 2017 - Dec. 2018 **Project Summary**: MentorMate was responsible for developing a WordPress CMS integration for a health benefits platform’s marketing site. They integrated PathFactory, Marketo, and other plug-ins. **Review Rating**: 2.5 - Quality: 2.5 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 2.5 - Willing to Refer: 2.0 **The Reviewer** Principal Designer, Health Benefits Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jun 29, 2021 **Feedback Summary**: While the site launched as planned, MentorMate’s project manager switched in the middle of the project, which caused some hiccups. The team also could’ve been more precise with timelines. Additionally, the internal team had a hard time adapting to WordPress. "“There were sometimes things that I had to follow up on more than I liked.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the principal designer and design manager for a tech benefits broker. We help broker different benefits plans for various startups. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We hired MentorMate to help build a CMS and marketing site for us back in 2017.  **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement?  MentorMate helped build out a WordPress CMS. We provided the general look and feel for the marketing site through Sketch files, putting them on InVision to do some prototyping. Their team was responsible for the staging site for the marketing site where we’d test out WordPress and the actual HTML responsiveness. They put together the raw design files from our prototype and developed some of the frontend. In terms of the tools integrated, there was PathFactory, which helped clients understand what our company did and how we helped people. They also did our web forms through a Marketo integration. What is the team composition?  Our main point of contact was a project manager left in the middle of our project. We were reassigned another manager from there. Also, there were 3–4 developers working on the project — one might’ve been handling certain pages while another might’ve been doing the contact form. It felt more random than I would’ve liked. How much have you invested with them? It was about $100,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them in early 2017 and ended the engagement in late 2018. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Both PathFactory and Marketo helped us communicate with our customers, but I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head. As for the development, the feedback loop was basically going over the code or the look and feel on the browser as well as troubleshooting WordPress. I should note that a lot of our internal team had not used WordPress previously besides as a traditional blog. Using WordPress for an entire site was different — and it was difficult for some of our team members to wrap their heads around. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? I wasn’t as thrilled about their performance here because we had to switch project managers in the middle of the project. I’m used to working with 1–2 main points of contact, and when that person left, I remember having to work with the new project manager to get them up to speed. I had to remind them of everything that we’d done, which wasn’t a great experience for me. In the end, we still got the site up. We primarily communicated through Trello, Jira, email, and Google Meet. They were pretty good at responding to emails. However, there were some things that I had to follow up on more than I liked. For example, they might say that they’d get a component done on Friday, but nothing would change on the staging site. I’d end up having to send a follow-up email that night, and then I’d usually get a pretty quick response after. What did you find most impressive about them? They were a larger organization, so they were definitely staffed well. Are there any areas they could improve? My number one comment is keeping the project manager down on the project from end to end. I also think they could’ve stuck to the timelines a bit better. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Be really clear and upfront about your goals and timeline. Maybe we didn’t do as good a job early on there, which might have led to a couple of bumps in the road. Setting up more calls might also be helpful in getting the project off the ground. --- #### Mobile & Web App Dev for Tabletop Game Company **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Dec. 2019 - Nov. 2020 **Project Summary**: MentorMate redesigned and developed a mobile and web app for a tabletop game company. They revamped the platform’s UI/UX, redesigned the menus, and improved its functionality. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Miniatures Manager, Tabletop Game Company - Industry: Arts, entertainment & music - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — May 11, 2021 **Feedback Summary**: Compatible with iOS and Android, the app functions well and accurately reflects the game. Eager to find effective solutions, MentorMate asked questions and even played the game to get a better understanding of the platform’s significance in the game. Great partners, they were also communicative.   ""We faced several challenges, and they were able to identify several different ways to resolve them.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the miniatures manager for a tabletop miniatures game company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We hired MentorMate to help us rebuild a platform that we use as a gameplay aid. That particular app allows players to pick and choose from the collection and create squadrons to play against their friends in a tabletop strategy game. The app was originally developed by another company, but there were some significant issues with the UI/UX. It was difficult to navigate the menus and the features weren’t great. Although users could access the app through the web or through their mobile devices, there were significant problems with the mobile platform. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate overhauled the platform, making it more user-friendly and less prone to bugs. We sat down with Jake (Senior Experience Designer) and discussed the project. We even played the tabletop game do he had a better understanding of how the game worked and how all of the gaming materials in the app relate to the tabletop experience. From that point, he worked with the rest of the team to redesign and develop the platform. Now the app can be accessed through an iOS or Android device or the web. What is the team composition? We worked with Jake and Suzanne (Senior Project Manager). Designers and developers in Europe. We had a point of contact in charge of different aspects of the project. One individual focused on graphics and visuals, while others worked on the database and backend, UX, and menus. How did you come to work with MentorMate? The previous company we worked with was solely located in Europe, which created some language barriers and time zone challenges. When we started looking for a new partner, we wanted a local company so we could go to their office and communicate freely with them. Although a lot of MentorMate’s team is located in Europe, their local points of contact were just across town. We looked at several different options nearby, but at the end of the day, MentorMate was the team we wanted to work with. How much have you invested with them? We spent between $50,000–$200,000. What is the status of this engagement? Development took about 11 months, lasting from December 2019–November 2020.     **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  Overall, I was pleased with the results. The quality of their work was good. It was really important that different aspects of the app looked or functioned a certain way for the game, so it would have been challenging to design it if you weren’t an expert in the game itself. MentorMate did a good job of asking questions in order to figure out the best solution. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? Generally, they were very professional. Suzanne maintained organization, kept everyone up to date, and coordinated everything. We worked in sprints, so we set weekly goals and they focused on immediate deliverables. Then, as they completed each task, we would move on to the next one. They had some general systems in place to track each task. Because there were so many different aspects of this project, they had to be very detail-oriented. They did a very good job of keeping things on track and providing us with updates. They were transparent about the cost and often gave us several different solutions to choose from to keep the price low. Overall, correspondence was on-point, but we did run into some snags due to communication and efficiency issues. However, the team was eager to help out and fix problems. What did you find most impressive about them? They were eager to find solutions and were very flexible. We faced several challenges, and they were able to identify several different ways to resolve them. At one point, we had a massive spreadsheet with tons of data points that needed to function together, and they were able to handle it. Even in those situations, they were efficient and maintained their composure. Are there any areas they could improve? Of course, things fall apart every once in a while. There were some instances when they didn’t communicate how difficult it would be to achieve certain deliverables. A few times, we were surprised by hidden costs. Had they focused more on that during discovery, we could have avoided that. This was uncommon, though. Generally, I was very happy with their work. --- #### Custom Software & Web Dev for Education Management Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Mar. 2020 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an education management solution that facilitates mentorship. Using a provided prototype as a starting point, they went through an in-depth design phase before developing the initial MVP. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Partner, Education Management Company - Industry: Education - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 26, 2021 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate was able to drive development forward thanks to their commitment to fully understanding the solution. They proposed new functions and identified potential future consequences. Recently, the MVP completed a few soft launches, earning positive feedback for its intuitive UI and feature set. "“It really felt like every team member was bringing their expertise and creativity to the floor.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m a partner at a boutique consulting firm. We focus on the education industry, primarily in the K–12 public sector. We do HR consulting and work with educators on the teacher-principal-leader spectrum.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We’re developing a mentoring platform called Torace. At the time, we’d completed an in-house proof of concept as well as a prototype and felt that we were ready to take things to the next step. We opted to go with MentorMate to develop a scalable, potentially widely distributed piece of software for us. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement?  MentorMate developed a mentorship management solution for educational institutions. Initially, we came to them with a prototype that we’d implemented in a few places, talking them through what we’d done and what we wanted to do. That included some code that we’d developed, screenshots of our rudimentary platform, and customer research. MentorMate then guided us through their design phase. We went through journey mapping, developed user personas in much greater detail, and created wireframes. Once we transitioned into full-scale development, they built a cloud-based app in AWS and released the product. We also had them design and develop our marketing website, which was a Jamstack solution. What is the team composition?  At the peak of their involvement, there were around 15 people who rotated in depending on our needs. They assigned a business analyst, a project manager, two backend developers, a frontend developer, a full stack developer, three QA specialists, a designer, and a software team lead. How did you come to work with MentorMate? When we made the decision not to staff up internally, it was a natural step to start looking at companies that specialized in this kind of application development.  There were a lot of US-based companies that did impressive work in this space, but we were drawn to MentorMate because of their unique value proposition. They followed an integrated offshore model where they had a team in Bulgaria that was part of their main group. The potential value there coupled with our due diligence on their references and past work led to our decision. We didn’t jump into the engagement on the development side immediately. Instead, we worked with them from a design perspective to build confidence in their understanding of the solutions that we wanted to build and their ability to execute on them. What is the status of this engagement? After our initial conversations, we made it up to Minneapolis for an in-person working session sometime around January 2020. The initial MVP development lasted from March–September 2020, which was a major milestone for us. Then, they did our marketing website between September–November 2020. We’ve since transitioned into continued production and engineering support. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We’re in the midst of rolling out the product through various soft launches. Anecdotally speaking, we’ve received feedback from non-tech-savvy educators who’ve found the UI to be very intuitive. Our core administrative users have also found the feature set to be compelling. As we talk with both current and prospective customers, the solution’s flexibility has been really positive from a technical standpoint. We’ve had no bugs come out due to the system nor any downtime. It’s just been solid and reliable in its performance. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They managed the entire project really tightly but not in a way that felt overly restrictive or unnecessarily process-driven. It was one of those scenarios where we knew where the project was on any given day. We understood where our sprints sat within the larger time frame.  That level of professionalism was impressive. We knew what to expect going into every meeting, and it was clear that they had internal stand-ups prior to our meetings because they always seemed prepared. There was never any wasted time, and they took advantage of the Bulgarian work schedule well.  I’d also say that the communication was really fluid. It wasn’t limited to one point of contact, but rather, we could Slack anyone on the project team at large. It was clear that people could communicate with us as necessary, and there were regularly recurring structures around our budget and testing plans. What did you find most impressive about them? We were really impressed with the steps that they took to understand exactly what we were trying to accomplish. It went beyond understanding our requirements. Instead, they’d ask themselves, “If I were this type of user, what would I try to do? What would be the pain points?” That really allowed them to point out potential unintended consequences, thinking through if we needed to test a functionality because there could be downstream implications.  It really felt like every team member was bringing their expertise and creativity to the floor. They weren’t just delivering to our user acceptance criteria but rather pushing us during the development to consider other cases. It really helped us achieve an outcome that we believed in and felt good about. Are there any areas they could improve? No, this really was a great experience, and we’re still working with them now. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to work with them again on another sizeable enhancement to the product. Do you have any advice for potential customers? The more time you put in at the front of the project, the better. It always takes a little bit of time for a team to reach optimal efficiency, so you should try to make yourself available or get another decision-maker involved in those early design calls to sync up with their team. That will help as you convey what you’re trying to do, and it allows them to be solution-oriented. --- #### DevOps Tool Evaluation for Sports Entity **The Project** - Services: Cloud Consulting & SI - Project size: Confidential - Project length: May - Aug. 2020 **Project Summary**: As an external consultant, MentorMate evaluated a sports organization’s Azure DevOps tool, comparing it to other toolsets in the market. They assessed each program to see how it met the organization’s needs. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** SVP of Media Operations & Technology, Sports Entity - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1,001-5,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Nov 19, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate presented their findings and recommendations in a Pugh matrix, giving weight to higher-priority requirements. The team also impressed with the quality of their work. Professional and experienced, they took helpful approaches that the internal staff wouldn’t have thought of. "“The quality of their output was exactly what we were looking for.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the SVP of a sports organization that organizes and displays live sporting events, specifically in the media operations and technology group. My team is responsible for broadcast operations and engineering all the way through to digital products. The latter applies to software and development for our owned and operated direct-to-consumer products. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? As part of a new initiative, we’d signed a partnership with Microsoft to rebuild our owned and operated platforms. The project would help us refocus on our direct-to-consumer side with the end goal of better supporting and enhancing our customer base. Ultimately, we wanted to have a direct relationship with our customers. MentorMate helped us reevaluate the DevOps processes, tools, and services that Microsoft had to offer as part of their cloud environment while we transitioned from an open-sourced methodology to a more Azure-centric experience. They acted as an independent voice in the project, sharing the pros and cons of a Microsoft toolset versus other tools in the market.  **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement?  For this analysis project, MentorMate compared the Microsoft Azure DevOps tool that we had in place against other competitors, both open-source and commercial. The first step was to understand our requirements and needs from an internal standpoint. There was a lot of greenfield in what we wanted to do going forward, so they needed to know that what we were doing at the time shouldn’t necessarily govern what we’d do in the future. Frankly, this was an opportunity to reinvent our processes. From there, MentorMate evaluated various tools across 4¬–5 DevOps toolchain components, including repositories, pipelines, artifacts, agile boards, and test plans. They created a weighted Pugh Analysis Matrix across each item based on the features and functions that we deemed important. Then, they did the hands-on work of going through the tools to see if they did what they said they did and how well they met our division’s specifications. MentorMate’s final presentation covered the results of the Pugh Matrix along with a set of recommendations that showed us where Microsoft’s DevOps tool stood among others in the market.  What is the team composition?  We worked with 4–5 resources depending on the project cycle. An on-shore executive oversaw the program, and there were 3–4 domain experts from their Bulgaria office. The combination of on- and off-shore teams allowed us to have a little bit more cost containment. How did you come to work with MentorMate? MentorMate had done some fantastic work for one of our member teams, so their name came up a couple of times during our discussions. It was an easy decision because they were a preferred Microsoft partner, provided end-to-end software delivery, and had the experience and capabilities to deliver this project. What is the status of this engagement? The project lasted from May–August 2020. The hand-on work ended in July, but the final presentation didn’t come until later. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? The quality of their output was exactly what we were looking for, from the methodology to the groundwork and final output. In many ways, they’d approached the evaluation from angles that we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. That’s why we brought them in as consultants — to fill out the gaps where we didn’t have that internal expertise. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They performed very well. The executive touchpoints were once a week, and we had direct Slack channels with the engineering team. That allowed for constant communication between our questions and answers. We also used Confluence for the more formal deliverables. Because they had an off-shore team, they accommodated us by shifting some of their work times to better match ours on the East Coast. What did you find most impressive about them? It was the quality of the output. They were professional throughout, and, quite frankly, we received exactly what we asked for (with a bit more than anticipated) on time and within budget. Are there any areas they could improve? Had we had the foresight of what MentorMate’s approach would be, we might have included a few more things earlier on. We would’ve expanded the scope to include cybersecurity tooling, looking at how it relates to our DevOps pipeline. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Let them share their full capabilities and describe what they have to offer. They’re a full-service organization that can tackle anything from design all the way through to deployment support. Even though we only did a short-term project for one particular discipline, I suspect that they’d be equally competent in all of the services they offer based on the success we had with them. --- #### Order Entry System for Manufacturing Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: Apr. 2016 - Jan. 2018 **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed custom software for a manufacturing company. The team created an order entry system working in C# with a SQL Server database. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CIO, Manufacturing Company - Industry: Manufacturing - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — Aug 21, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: The new system has recieved an incredibly positive response from both the internal team and external customers. MentorMate produces high-quality results that received accolades from the technology community. The team is hard-working and innovative. ""They have a great staffing model and were able to understand our issues." " **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. CIO for a manufacturing company that manufactures custom products for homes and businesses. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire MentorMate, and what were your goals? To develop an solution that would allow our customers to easily order our customized products, plus be easy to maintain and provide real-time visibility of orders. **SOLUTION** How did you select MentorMate and what were the deciding factors? We wanted to use modern web-based technology with a current and fresh look and interface. We did not have the internal staffing and expertise to build this, so we developed our requirements and met with several companies. MentorMate had the expertise, the available staffing, and were able to show us other solutions they had developed for other clients that were very impressive. Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used. We had ancient existing systems that handled some of this, but they were limited in their functionality and expensive to maintain. We wanted to replace our internal system and that of a 3rd party vendor with a single system, which would reduce our complexity as well as maintenance. We followed the agile methodology, with daily stand up meetings, two-week duration sprints with reviews of the application, requirements gathering and review meetings, and user involvement. The key deliverable was a single web application that provided all the functionality and could handle different user roles as well. Main technology was C# with a SQL Server database, plus integration of Azure AD to provide integrated single sign on. How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions? About 10. We had a Project Manager, Architect (early in the project), Senior .NET lead, several .NET developers (back end and front end), a QA lead plus another QA person when needed, plus a business analyst. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables? We were able to completely sunset our old order entry system plus not renew a contract with a 3rd party that was giving us headaches. Our customers were able to quickly learn the new application, and we have received numerous accolades. Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines. We used Jira to track all tasks, timelines, and deliverables. A sprint planning meeting was held every two weeks as well as a backlog review. We were able to know what was being worked on each week, plus we had the opportunity to suggest changes based on our observation and testing of each release of the application. The PM we had kept everything on track, and challenged the team to get key components done when we ran into some challenges. What did you find most impressive or unique about this company? They have a great staffing model and were able to understand our issues. They were able to provide excellent staff members (developers, PMs, analysts) and not just bodies lacking key skills. When we had to replace a person they found just as good of a candidate to replace the person leaving. The PM did an excellent job understanding what we were looking for in a solution, and asked a number of hard questions and gave his input. We ended up changing our approach on a number of items after hearing and thinking about his input and ideas. Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently? We had some issues with our requirements not being captured and organized, and we had to scramble to find our copy and resupply them. Once we paid more attention to make sure we were providing everything we stopped having this issue. --- #### Custom Software Dev for Supplemental Education Nonprofit **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: Apr. 2019 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate used Azure and .NET to develop custom software for a large education nonprofit. In addition to adjusting technology infrastructure to meet long-term goals, they helped with virtual volunteering. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Executive, Supplemental Education Nonprofit - Industry: Education - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jul 30, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate delivered an excellent product and the continue to provide support. They’re a supportive partner, dedicated to helping them succeed. They listen closely to project goals and offer suggestions that help them get there. "“If there’s an issue and we need a resolution, they’re always calm and  roll up their sleeves to solve any issues.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the VP of education delivery and technology solutions for an education nonprofit. We’re focused on supplemental education for k-12. We help students own their own economic success by providing course on financial literacy, work and career readiness, and entrepreneurship. We build programming and solutions for hundreds of nonprofits across the country. We use a unique volunteer model, in which volunteers come in to create content that enriches the learning experience. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We were redeveloping a virtual program from what used to be an onsite program. The program helps students learn about what they need to be an adult, such as budgeting, spending, and balancing budgets on a monthly basis. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement?  We’ve also done some technology architecture with them. They helped us figure out what our long-term technology infrastructure would look like to help us evolve and meet future goals. They’ve also built an evaluation engine that allows us to do real-time, data-driven, evaluations through student assessments and surveys to measure impact. Now they’re helping us with virtual volunteering to help us through the COVID-19 crisis. Our infrastructure is based on Azure and .NET. What is the team composition? Lucille has always been the project manager and Clint is the account manager. The team changes things based on the sprint cadence and what we’ve needed. So we’ve also worked with some QA people, engineers, and designers. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We went through an RFP process and MentorMate was th3 best company we came across. How much have you invested with them? We’ve spent about $1.5 million. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in March 2019 and the work is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  They finished up delivery, but we’re beginning continuation engineering as we roll that product out. They’re a great organization. They listen well and have helped us figure out the best solution. They’re intent is really to guide their partners and foster a good relationship. They’ve bought into our mission and have engaged in our success. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They followed an agile project management process. They’re constantly looking at how we’re building out our technology. We’ve had multiple projects with them in which they really stepped up to be the partner we needed. If there’s an issue and we need a resolution, they’re always calm and roll up their sleeves to solve any issues. They use a lot of project management tools. I particularly liked Jira to track stories. They have daily stand-ups that we’re invited to, and they have monthly management meetings. If I raise a flag when there’s an issue, they respond right away. The cadence of our communication is great. What did you find most impressive about them? The most successful vendors are willing to spend the time with their clients and are really engaged. MentorMate really listens and focuses on our mission and shows how they can help. For example, they adjusted our project to incorporate a new design that would improve the engineering and help us meet our goals. Are there any areas they could improve? We did face some challenges with a few resources. With any organization, I think there may be some communication issues. They do outsource some of their stuff, and communicating across language barriers was tough sometimes. I think we could get ahead of some of those things. Whenever we raise an issue, they deal with it quickly. --- #### Web Development for Social Benefit Corporation **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: Jan. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate is using Ruby on Rails to develop a cloud-based product hosted on AWS. The platform is secure, has admin features, and supports case management. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** PR Advisor, Healthcare Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jul 24, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: So far, the project has been successful. MentorMate is a committed partner, dedicated to learning more about the industry and delivering a top-notch product. Following a n agile development structure, they’re flexible and organized. "“They’re truly invested in our project, so we call them our partners. They believe in what we’re trying to accomplish.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the COO of a social benefit corporation that helps people with their processes and system failures. We have a methodology that can help identify where the system is failing and work on quality improvement, categorize and work on quality improvement projects in healthcare. We’ve recently started expanding into other industries. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We needed a piece of technology to build a product that would record and capture the process and, over time, help learn from failures. We worked with another vendor first, but it didn’t meet our expectations. So we asked MentorMate to help us make the product what we needed it to be. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? The product itself was developed on Ruby on Rails. It’s a cloud-based product hosted on AWS. Now the project has been extended to understand compliance rules and regulation around health data privacy and move the platform to a government cloud environment. The platform has high-security access, and entire system administration and the tool for the end-user supports workflow management and case management. In addition to that, it has analytics, reporting, some bells and whistles for communication amongst users, and some document storage for learning. What is the team composition? We’ve had about five people on the team. Some come and go depending on the expertise we need. We’ve worked with a project manager, a system architect, programmers, and information security expert. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We initially reached out to them for this project, and they declined to work with us because we were a startup. After working with the other vendor, we went back to MentorMate to ask them to reconsider. How much have you invested with them? We’ve spent about $750,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them in 2018 and it’s ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?   The project is ongoing, but we’ve been able to see the value of their output in a quick and iterative way. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? We follow an agile methodology. We needed a  very flexible project management in that we needed a project manager that could ebb and flow, but yet keep track of all of that change. And so I think from a standpoint of doing change, management is an absolutely phenomenal. They’re flexible when we make changes, and they’re still able to stay organized and keep going. What did you find most impressive about them? I appreciate that they stay current in our space. They’re always presenting me with options and they do challenge me. Sometimes I think I have the right solution, but they’re able to help me if there’s a more modern solution. They’re truly invested in our project, so we call them our partners. They believe in what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re in a challenging industry during COVID-19, and they’re always there to work with us. Are there any areas they could improve? There isn’t a whole lot. They continue to improve their understanding of security features. Do you have any advice for potential customers? They don’t just dump into the technical. We always explain our thought process, which has made it a seamless relationship. They’re willing to listen, and that prevents thing from going wrong. --- #### Mobile App & Web Devs for Digital Cycling Platform **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Jan. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate provides ongoing engineering services to maintain and expand products for a digital cycling platform. Using .NET and Java, they build a web app as well as native iOS and Android apps from scratch. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 4.5 **The Reviewer** Founder & CEO, blackriver.cc - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Apr 29, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate produced stable deliverables that continue to generate new clients and users to support growth. The team accommodates the needs of the partnership, which facilitates transparent and effective collaboration. They are accessible and deliver on estimates, enabling an ongoing engagement. ""MentorMate’s been able to quote work accurately from the beginning." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the founder and CEO of blackriver.cc. It’s a digital cycling platform aimed at riders, bicycle retailers, bicycle suppliers, and corporate partners. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? I’ve worked with MentorMate on a variety of engagements. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate worked on the first major version of our web application. They also created both iOS and Android mobile applications, which are native. We also used their services on a couple of longer engagements to produce the core of all our technology. They’re currently working in an ongoing engineering capacity. Their team does maintenance, upkeep, and small projects in between these larger sprints. They work with .NET and Java primarily. Their team does soup to nuts technology for us. What is the team composition? During our first engagement, our team included about 15 people. The next engagement involved a smaller team of 10–12 people. Our current engagement involves five people in total. How did you come to work with MentorMate? A colleague recommended MentorMate. What is the status of this engagement? We started our engagement in 2017. In between our larger engagements, we had a 4–5-month gap when we weren’t working on anything. After the second engagement, we’ve stayed working together through their continuation engineering program. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  I essentially license the software to the bicycle industry. If we say success is the ability to continue growing your business and adding high-value clients, then it’s been a successful partnership. We’re a strong, growing platform. We’re continuing to grow users and customers.   How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? Project management’s one of MentorMate's strengths. At the beginning of the engagement, they said that we could be as involved as we wanted to be. They prefer the customer to be involved with their team directly. I’m a hands-on person, so I’m on the phone with the project manager and the team a couple of times a week. I also communicate with the project manager one-on-one. My project manager has always been based in the U.S. and the development team’s in Bulgaria. That communication chain has been strong. The projects have run on time and on budget. What did you find most impressive about them? MentorMate’s been able to quote work accurately from the beginning. They built a team to make sure that we got the expected work done. I worked with another provider that gave estimates that weren’t realistic and overly aggressive. Ultimately, we had a hard time getting tasks done within the budget. It’s not common to have the kind of success that I’ve had getting complicated projects done on time and on budget with MentorMate. Are there any areas they could improve? To be honest, I don’t have anything substantial for them to improve. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Make sure that they have a chance to dig in on the project management structure to make sure that it’s comfortable for them. I describe success with them and a large part of that is because I’ve been engaged with their team. It’s important for whoever’s making the decisions to understand the time requirements and commitments MentorMate asks them to make. Stick with the project and work as a team. --- #### Mobile App Dev for Agricultural Technology Company **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: Jan. 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate supported full stack development of an iOS and Android app for a technology company. They built the UI, implemented a backend cloud interface, and integrated the platform with internal products. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CEO, Agricultural Tech Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 2, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate produces deliverables that receive positive user feedback and support continued growth in sales. They accommodate the partnership’s needs, developing a cohesive relationship with internal resources to foster productive collaboration. They are accessible to enable ongoing engagement. ""MentorMate provides better communication than other agencies." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the CEO of a company that develops a flexible module for automation of farm equipment. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We hired MentorMate to assist us in the development of a mobile app for iOS and Android. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate works closely with our onsite development team to build the product. Their team helped to develop the app’s UI and functions. They created an interface with our cloud backend and linked the product with our electromechanical controller. Their team also provided assistance with the development of our website’s UI. What is the team composition? The number of teammates from MentorMate who support us varies. We’ve worked with up to 15 people. Lately, around 5–6 people from MentorMate are assigned to our project. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We found MentorMate through a referral. We liked their thoughts on the app’s direction and UI. We engaged them with a longer-term development contract. How much have you invested with them? In total, we’ve spent probably $700,000 with MentorMate. What is the status of this engagement? Our collaboration started in 2017, and it’s ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  We track sales and user feedback to measure their team’s success. So far, the user feedback’s positive. Sales continue to go up month over month. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? MentorMate works following Agile methodology. Their team uses tools that allow them to collaborate with our onsite team successfully. They document and communicate the scope well. They interacted with our team effectively to define an executable schedule. They look forward, so the engagement’s fantastic overall. What did you find most impressive about them? MentorMate provides better communication than other agencies. As well, they’re more flexible when working with an integrated team. Other providers prefer to have a completely separate scope rather than working with our engineers. Are there any areas they could improve? They could increase their team’s skill sets. We would expand our use if they had engineers with more backend infrastructure capabilities or regional support. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Go through their ideation session and define their requirements upfront. The more time that you put in to bring the MentorMate team up to speed and set the sprints forward, the faster their team will work and the better the outcome will be. --- #### Development and QA for Online Education Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: Jan. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate handed several software development projects and QA work for an educational services provider. They operate within the partner’s sprints, working directly with their team. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** VP Development Resources, Edmentum - Industry: Education - Client size: 5,001-10,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 12, 2020 **Feedback Summary**: The internal team, working collaboratively with them, is impressed with their work and dedication to tasks. They possess high-quality skillsets that made integrated them into internal workflows easy. Their accommodating nature and willingness to work on teams made them stand out. "“The quality of their team members has really impressed us.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. We’re an online education provider that caters primarily to the K-12 market. We provide a variety of educational products for the use of schools as well as a fully accredited online academy. I’m the VP of development services, so I work closely with our software development teams. My group is responsible for QA, product continuation, Scrum Masters, and everything that supports the direct development of the product.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? Primarily, we used them for software development and QA purposes. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We embed them directly on our existing sprint teams rather than packaging work that specifically for them. They’re participating directly with our team members. We’re dabbling in using their skills for product ownership as well. They’re mostly handling custom software development.  What is the team composition? We’re working with a group of 13 developers and QA teammates.  How did you come to work with MentorMate? Our current CEO worked with them previously in a prior role of his. We had worked with them on a one-off project several years ago as well, but they had really expanded their abilities with custom offshore development. We started off with just a couple of developers to see how our collaboration would work, and our team was impressed. We decided to keep them on and work them into our sprints. How much have you invested with them? We’ve invested about $2,000,000 on their services. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together at the start of 2018 and are continuing our collaboration.   **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our internal team has always been very impressed with the work that they do. They’re closely tied to their operations and have consistently favorable responses to it.  How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? Because we have them embedded in our workflow and operations, we’re handling much of the project management. However, the team member have performed well and up to our standards.  What did you find most impressive about them? The quality of their team members has really impressed us. They’re technically proficient, creative, and able to work both independently and on teams. We would hire any of them on a permanent capacity based on their skill level. Are there any areas they could improve? The demand in this market is very high, so it can be difficult to find people when we need them. But, they bent over backward to help us find the right people.  Do you have any advice for potential customers? Embed them directly into your team and treat them as such. They’re great at working both independently and on teams. They can take your requirements and figure out solutions. --- #### Web Development for Media Services Company **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Jan. 2018 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an online portal for a media service company. They included key functionality such as the ability to customize templates and upload photos. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** President, Modulist - Industry: Media - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Aug 26, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: The portal has cut processing times in half and has received positive feedback from clients. MentorMate personally invests in each project, educating themselves on the industry at hand. Their team is knowledgable and dedicated, leading to a successful ongoing relationship. "“MentorMate has done such a great job that I can’t imagine working with another software vendor at this point.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the president of Modulist, a media service company. We specialize in processing paid content for local media, including obituaries, weddings, engagement notices, birthdays, and more. The client builds the ad themselves and we process it and send it out to our various newspaper and digital clients. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? Our online portion of our business was a piece of our accounting software and didn’t have the functionality we needed. We needed someone to build us a new digital portal. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate developed the software for an online portal from scratch. After our first initial meeting, we spent two days scoping out what the project would be. They gave us a projection of what the infrastructure would look like and what the cost would be. Their team was responsible for front- and backend development.  The client can create an account, choose from different templates, and create an app. MentorMate ensured that clients could customize their add, including uploading photos, adding graphics, and editing text. Once the ad is created, it is submitted to our team for proofreading and we then pass it to local media.  What is the team composition? The team we work with is varied in size depending on the stage of the project. Initially, there were seven people we worked with, including a project manager and four developers. Periodically the upper administration of MentorMate might sit in on a stand-up or reach out to me directly to see how things were going. Within the last six or seven months, we scaled down to four members of the team.  How did you come to work with MentorMate? We found MentorMate through mutual business contacts.  What is the status of this engagement? Our ongoing engagement with MentorMate began in January 2018. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?  The time it takes for us to process our orders from the old system to the new system has been cut in half. We used to estimate it would take us around 10 minutes to process an order. Now we do it in five. Our volume on our team has increased.  Our fixed clients tell us that it’s the best paid content software on the market that they’ve used, so we take that as a good sign. MentorMate has done such a great job that I can’t imagine working with another software vendor at this point. From the beginning of the project, they’ve invested themselves, not just their resources but their talents.  How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? We meet with their team on a daily basis through Google Hangouts, usually for around 15 minutes. In addition to these daily stand-ups, the project manager would meet with me one on one a couple of times a week. What did you find most impressive about them? MentorMate takes their project’s personally in a good way. They take ownership of the product. From early on, they bought into the concept of what we were trying to do and wanted us to be successful. It feels like every person on their team is invested in us. To see the knowledge they’ve gained about our specific niche business has been really assuring. It’s not just another project for them. Are there any areas they could improve? Nothing off the top of my head. It’s been a great relationship. Do you have any advice for potential customers? One of the things that has made us extremely successful is that we trusted their developers. We would come to them with a new issue or feature and our teams would talk about it out loud. They would come back to us with a couple of ways to achieve it and give their recommendation. MentorMate is very upfront and honest. They would present the cost of each option but tell us when it was worth it to spend more. Their team is good at spending your resources wisely. Trust them and their process. --- #### Web Development for Insurance Startup **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: Jan. - June 2016 **Project Summary**: MentorMate designed and developed a website. The team built a marketing side and data repository. They now provide maintenance. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** COO, Insurance Startup - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 20, 2019 **Feedback Summary**: The team readily adopted lean methodology and delivered high-quality results. MentorMate’s compliance with guidelines benefited the close collaboration between teams. Their flexibility was a notable strength. ""They did an outstanding job." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the COO of a subsidiary of an insurance and financial services company. I run an innovation lab that creates brand new products and builds new businesses. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We wanted to execute a rapid launch for our first web product—a tough goal for the insurance industry. We hired MentorMate to function as part of our lean startup team. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate developed the website. They built the marketing side, UI, purchase flow, and backend data repository. The team also designed the site. This build enabled us to present the product to the consumer, have them purchase it, and then set up the policy documents in our system. Our team would then service the policy and pay claims. What is the team composition? The 10-person team included one architect and nine developers. One of our resources was a liaison between the business and development teams. How did you come to work with MentorMate? An employee in our main company referred MentorMate after they had worked with the team. How much have you invested with them? We spent roughly $500,000.   What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in January 2016 and the website launched that June. MentorMate continues to do maintenance and make changes. They’re also helping us build other products. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our team assessed progress on existing functionalities and the consumer’s reaction to them. We built the minimum functionality and got continual input from consumers while tracking acceptance testing. In an iterative process, MentorMate capably revised the app based on user feedback and achieved a working system. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They did an outstanding job. What did you find most impressive about them? Since a corporate entity owns us, most providers didn’t know how to approach us as a startup. Several couldn’t prove their capacity to follow our preference for collaboration and iterative workflows. But MentorMate embraced our startup team and adjusted to our specific approach. Are there any areas they could improve? No, I can’t think of anything. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Be communicative and provide specific guidelines at the start. MentorMate has their own methodology, but readily followed ours. Likewise, clients should decide what kind of partnership they want. The relationship can be collaborative, or MentorMate can execute the work independently with their preferred workflows. Either way, everyone needs to understand their role and expectations clearly. --- #### Web Dev & Design for Creative Arts Festival **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Oct. 2017 - Jan. 2018 **Project Summary**: MentorMate designed, developed, tested, and launched a custom responsive website under a very tight timeframe. The site features a custom CMS and navigable schedule of events, all built using a scrum method. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Executive Director, The Great Northern - Industry: Arts, entertainment & music - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — May 2, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The new website saw a 68% increase in page-visits compared to the site it replaced. With team members located on site and overseas, MentorMate was able to extend the workday and finish a six-month project in half the time. ""MentorMate never lost focus of our business objectives and found creative solutions to keep us on schedule." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I am the acting executive director of the Great Northern, a winter celebration in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota that began in 2017. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We launched our original website very quickly on Squarespace, but we needed to really expand our functionality. We bring together several different partners throughout the Twin Cities area and really wanted to find a more compelling and visual way to showcase all our different events. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate planned, designed, built, tested, and launched a custom responsive website for us. When we originally went into conversations with MentorMate we were pretty focused on building a mobile app, but after conversations and reflection, we decided to focus our investment on a responsive website. They used a scrum development process that allowed us the flexibility we needed to make course corrections and build a platform that we could grow for years to come. We worked with a creative design partner here in Minneapolis that helped identify the look and feel of the site based on our brand guidelines, and MentorMate then made all the wireframes. The site showcases the schedule of events in a visually compelling and easy to navigate way that allows users to discover and share with family and friends. They also created a custom CMS system allowing for internal administrative control of our content, including a system that puts a spotlight on signature events on our home page. What is the team composition? We had around 10 people working on the project divided between the main team here and a development team in Sofia, Bulgaria. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We had originally approached a bigger agency in Minneapolis but found they were cost prohibitive for us to work with. This agency really felt passionate about what we were doing, so they recommended MentorMate as an alternative. At the same time, one of our board members was involved in his own personal technology business that had worked with MentorMate and had a really great experience with them. How much have you invested with them? We have spent $50,000–$100,000. What is the status of the engagement? The entire project lasted from October 2017–January 2018. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Before we began working with MentorMate, our Squarespace site generated just over 31,000-page views for the entirety of 2017. Then, in January and February 2018 alone we had over 53,000-page views. That is a 68% increase in just two months. Overall the website is easy to use and has great visuals. MentorMate was very professional and thorough in debugging the site. As far as I know, we never had a crash, and they really thought through worst-case scenarios to have plans to address any issues in advance. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They were great. We had daily stand up meetings on Google Hangouts and used Jiro to keep track of each sprint. What did you find most impressive about them? I really felt that MentorMate never lost focus of our business objectives and found creative solutions to keep us on schedule and on budget. We took a very long time to make a decision about whether we were going do a mobile app or a responsive website, and that put a lot of pressure on MentorMate. We did this project in less than three months, and to be able to develop this custom build in that timeframe was unbelievable. I think it speaks to the passion and dedication of their team. Originally I had some reservations about having a split team here in Minneapolis and overseas, but I was so pleased with how connected the team was. Plus, it actually helped us expand the workday because the team in Bulgaria had already started work before we were even awake. They also had a really creative approach in tackling something that seems as simple as a schedule of events, but quite honestly was very challenging due to all of the variables. They were very clever about doing a two-phased approach that allowed us to spotlight different partners at different times all on the backend so that I wasn't worried about switching over content manually. It was a huge timesaver and a very positive experience. Are there any areas they could improve? No, they were wonderful and I have nothing negative to say about the experience. --- #### Web Dev for National Real Estate Network **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Mar. 2016 - July 2017 **Project Summary**: MentorMate provided staff augmentation to scale up efficiency, capacity, and production. The team engineered a new backend system, payment process, and assignment algorithm, and redesigned the frontend UX/UI. **Review Rating**: 3.5 - Quality: 2.0 - Schedule: 3.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 4.0 **The Reviewer** Senior Director of Technology, Real Estate Company - Industry: Real estate - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 22, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: The site deliverable has a sleek new layout, minimal bugs, and has never gone offline. MentorMate is a deeply involved, responsible, and technically proficient development partner. Seamless integration with the internal team and exceptional project managers facilitated a smooth, efficient workflow. "“A reliable and hardworking partner, they’ve met us halfway during each challenge we've faced.” " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I lead the shared services area at a national real estate network, which includes technology work.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? At the time, we needed to revamp and upgrade our site’s entire backend. We hired MentorMate to mitigate internal capability limitations and expedite the timeframe. We could have acquired or executed the requisite support in-house but had to prioritize our existing responsibilities. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate assessed the initial scope of rebuilding our current platform on a new stack. They led the entire analysis and design effort in conjunction with our internal teams. Specifically, they developed both the platform and payment processing arm for our program's membership option. They revamped the payment portal's UX/UI to make it more accessible. The backend is built on a PHP Laravel platform and the frontend website uses WordPress tools. Potential customers often find our company through online marketing channels. They generally use our program to buy, sell, or refinance a home. MentorMate helped us create an assignment algorithm to match new users with one of the thousands of realtors in our network. While they don't provide traditional marketing services, they designed our site to produce increased conversions. What is the team composition? MentorMate contributed 12-15 resources including architects, engineers, and testers. Their teams always include a project manager to facilitate engineering tasks and monitor performance. We've scaled down to two or three support personnel since the post-conversion period of June 2017 plus 60 days. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We found MentorMate through word-of-mouth. A member of our board might have recommended them. What is the status of this engagement? We first started working with MentorMate in March 2016. They completed the bulk of the project in July 2017. From a production support standpoint, they’ve worked as an extension of our internal tech team and provided ongoing maintenance ever since. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Our partnership has worked extremely well. They seamlessly collaborate with our internal teams. MentorMate contributed an expansive skill set that helped us deliver more efficiently. A reliable and hardworking partner, they’ve met us halfway through every challenge we've faced. Their dedication was especially apparent during the conversion phase. Notably, the site has yet to crash since it launched. We've only had to resolve minor bugs along the way. Throughout the support stage, they’ve accurately implemented all our requests on the first try (with maybe one exception). That's a significant qualitative metric from my perspective. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? Their resources are easy to work with and flexibly accommodate a fluctuating volume of responsibility. Our two project managers were effective and disciplined. Their headquarters are also located in Minneapolis, which we found appealing. We mainly stayed in contact via email. Since we're not co-located, we also used the Google suite of tools, including Hangouts and Chat. The majority of development is done in conjunction with their offshore team in Bulgaria. Despite some misunderstandings, those resources exhibited phenomenal responsiveness and availability. What did you find most impressive about them? Their greatest asset is disciplined project management. Past vendors often had to try multiple project managers before finding a functional dynamic. MentorMate’s two management resources excelled at their roles from the very start. Are there any areas they could improve? We experienced communication challenges with the offshore engineers. They’re amazingly talented but tend to take directions at face value rather than fully thinking them through. We’ve learned to take a broader perspective when laying out requirements and requests. Do you have any advice for potential customers? Before hiring a contractor, any client organization should know what they need both broadly and explicitly. Don't expect them to help define your objectives. That's never a fair expectation for a vendor. --- #### Web Dev for Employment Matching & Assessment Tool **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: June 2017 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate designed and built a web tool that helps employers assess the work style of potential employees. They’re currently developing a customer-facing model. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Founder, deltPRO - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Feb 7, 2018 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate functions as a full-service consulting partner, offering dependable technical expertise for a startup. Their team cleanly organizes projects and produces quality results on time, despite scope changes. They place extra focus on affordability. ""They've gone above and beyond to ensure deadlines are met, regardless of scope changes." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I'm the CEO of deltPRO. We’re creating a recruiting tool to help employers identify the working style of potential employees prior to the interview. We have an objective, technology-based assessment grounded in psychology to give employers that data point early in the hiring process. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We're a startup and needed to build our web tool. With a background in finance, I needed reliable technology experts to help guide me through the development process. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We started with a six-week rapid ideation session to determine the necessary functionalities and produce wireframes. I paused the project at this point to gauge interest among potential clients. Once I was ready, we began work on a beta version. They created an inward-facing version of our tool that allows me and my team to administer the program for our customers. MentorMate is currently developing a customer-facing version so clients can self-administer the assessment. This model will include an e-commerce function for online purchase. What is the team composition? There are between six and eight people and I communicate with the whole team directly, including a project manager, the Minneapolis-based staff, and the developers in Bulgaria. MentorMate does a good job of recognizing the workload and adjusting the team size accordingly. We changed the scope to include a mobile component, for instance, and they added a quality assurance person to ensure the deadline wasn’t affected. How did you come to work with MentorMate? They have an excellent reputation in the Minneapolis area, so I was already aware of them. The company I worked for previously hired them to develop a custom web tool, so I contacted them and a number of other firms after deciding to start my own business. Unlike their competitors, MentorMate really understands the needs of startup, so it was a no-brainer. Their process is designed to complete projects efficiently while keeping costs down. The small price point offered me the flexibility to start and stop the project as needed, allowing me to keep my options open. How much have you invested with them? I’ve spent around $75,000 so far, though this includes a rapid ideation session for a separate business idea. What is the status of this engagement? I contacted them in June 2017 and our relationship is ongoing. We started beta development in November and they’re currently developing the customer-facing version. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We only have a handful of customers at this time, but the tool works exactly as designed. I’ve received positive feedback about the intuitiveness of the consumer-facing component of our current model. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They use Jira to coordinate the project. I had no familiarity with this tool, but it helps me keep track of items I need to approve and monitor the developers’ progress. We also have daily, 15-minute phone calls to go over any questions they have or concerns on my end, and they’re flexible enough to work around my schedule. I was worried that I would be unable to articulate my technical needs to their Bulgarian team, but this has never been an issue. They communicate effectively and provide more than mere development, offering proactive suggestions for improvement. MentorMate also helped me with documentation, writing detailed business requirements based on our meetings. As a startup, this saved me a ton of time and ensured that the requirements were written correctly. They produced deliverables on time, even after a significant scope change. What did you find most impressive about them? They have an incredible team. As a startup, I handle most of the work related to my business, so it’s helpful knowing that I can depend on MentorMate. They’re an extension of my team and go out of their way to help improve the product and create the best solutions for my business. Most consulting partners only try to bill as many hours as possible, but I plan to remain loyal to MentorMate because they take affordability into consideration and provide a good value. Are there any areas they could improve? I’m not tech-oriented, so I felt they could have done a better job of explaining certain components so that we could make early decisions together. The mobile solution, for example, was added mid-project because they assumed I wasn’t interested in it. We had to go back in and make our encryption more robust for a similar reason. We could have avoided these problems by talking through the development more thoroughly. Still, they were highly receptive when I raised these concerns and have demonstrated an effort to improve their process. --- #### Mobile App Dev for Online Loyalty Rewards Platform **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: June 2013 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate built native iOS and Android apps for a rewards platform. They developed the first version of the app from scratch and, several years on, continue to work on new versions of the apps. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Director of Product, Online Rewards Club - Industry: Advertising & marketing - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Sep 20, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: They are trusted, flexible, and communicative partners. The apps have over one million downloads, and bugs are always fixed promptly. MentorMate has become a long-term partner because of their high-quality work and prompt responses and adaptations to strategy changes. "“We felt like we could work with them for many years, and subsequently we have.”" **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I work as the director of product at a loyalty rewards platform designed for people who want to make some extra cash for doing various online activities like taking surveys, trying new products, watching videos, etc. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We already had a desktop website and a mobile website but didn’t yet have an app. We were interviewing various consulting companies to help us develop our initial mobile app presence for iOS and Android. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? We did this project from scratch. MentorMate's team is responsible for all of the programming and most of the QA for the development of our iOS and Android apps, from version one through to today, and over the course of 100 different versions of the app. They don't develop our internal server logic, our database, or our application layer, but they do build the apps themselves, which is a pretty substantial contribution. Both the Android and iOS apps are native. They assisted in strategy and design, but we lead those fields. They helped us with the app store process. Whether they facilitate the release independently or we will participate in the release, is up to us. They will take that process as far as we request them to go. A key feature that they've helped us to develop over the years is a video product which rewards members for watching video content, monetized with video advertising and display advertising. It required MentorMate to get a better understanding of advertising technology, specifically related to video ad tech. What is the team dynamic? They essentially are our iOS and Android development team, and we work with them in that capacity. Although the development team of MentorMate is based in Bulgaria off-site and is a consulting company, we work very closely with them and consider them an external extension of our team.  We communicate directly with the developers. The outsourced Bulgaria team usually consists of six individuals, two iOS developers, two Android developers, and two QA engineers. We also worked with two local Minneapolis-based individuals, one project manager, and one solutions architect. In general, we usually work with eight people. How did you come to work with MentorMate? Through networking and word-of-mouth within the Twin Cities. Our decision to go with MentorMate primarily came down to a combination of two different things. Firstly, their pricing is competitive, especially because they outsource the development to Bulgaria. Secondly, they were interested in partnering with us and working closely. We got the impression that they took our project seriously and wanted to work with us long-term, not just for the initial release of the app. We felt like we could work with them for many years and, subsequently, we have. How much have you invested with them? We pay them $30,000–31,000 a month. What is the status of this engagement? We started working together in June 2013. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? We've had well over one million downloads on each platform and maintained a rating of over four stars on both app stores during that period of time. That speaks to the quality of the work fairly well. The quality of the work is high. On occasions where there are issues or bugs, they are very quick to help us resolve them. We can usually minimize the impact of those bugs substantially. If we find an issue, we can probably have it resolved within one or two business days, which is pretty quick with app releases. That's the most important thing from my perspective because mistakes are almost always going to be made. Our company moves fairly quickly, and our strategy shifts fairly quickly. We do push MentorMate's team to get changes out quickly. What's most important to us is that they can very quickly respond, whether it’s to bugs or strategy changes. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? Over the last two years, they've been using JIRA for project management. Before that, they used a tool called Pivotal Tracker, but they've moved away from Pivotal to JIRA.  We work with two different individuals: a project manager and a solutions architect. We work very closely with the solutions architect. They actually come on site to our office roughly every other week, and sometimes weekly. Having that one-on-one, in-person contact really helped facilitate good communication between us and the team at MentorMate. The project manager mostly works behind the scenes. Other than two phone calls a week, we don't really work directly together. He manages the team of six individuals, making sure that they're on task for the expected timeline and objectives. What did you find most impressive about them? Their flexibility and willingness to partner with us long-term. As things change, I can always communicate to them and explain what has changed for our business. They're always readily available to accommodate those changes. They've been there long-term. We have an established long-term relationship with them and they definitely see it that way too, which is much appreciated. Are there any areas they could improve? I don't have anything at this time. --- #### iOS Mobile App Development for Digital Health Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: Oct. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an iOS mobile app that will soon extend to Android. They created a secure connection to a cloud database through Amazon Web Services and also built an additional web interface. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 4.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CEO, POPS! Diabetes Care, Inc. - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 27, 2017 **Feedback Summary**: The project was finished on time and on budget. The look and feel of the app has received positive feedback, and the design is very high quality. MentorMate’s project manager listens well and manages her internal team efficiently and effectively. ""On a daily basis, their project manager was one of the best I’ve ever worked with." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m the CEO of POPS! Diabetes Care. We are a digital health company working on a combination device, mobile app, and backend system application that allows people to manage their diabetes better, hopefully reach their goals, and reduce healthcare costs. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We had developed a concept app and system. We wanted to partner with a firm that knew how to develop software in an FDA regulated way. We also wanted them to take our technical view of how the system should be done and put more creativity to it. We wanted an interface that would excite our users. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? To begin, they worked on a mobile app for iOS. We intend to expand to Android in the future. They created a secure, HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] compliant connection to a cloud database. Together with MentorMate, we decided to use Amazon Web Services for this. They then created an additional web interface to allow healthcare professionals to log in and look at the data in different ways. MentorMate created all the software elements of our system. We needed the work done in a controlled design process that we could document appropriately for an FDA submission. They did all the right documentation and testing so that we had what we needed. MentorMate helped us to take our concepts and put them into a user design that really made sense. We had daily stand-up meetings, and there were probably around 10 people on the calls every day. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We did a thorough search and spoke to other people with similar projects. We became aware of MentorMate through the Mobile Conference (MobCon) that they’ve sponsored in the past. We took quotes from four vendors and visited each of them. We selected MentorMate as our best prospect after doing that search. How much have you invested with MentorMate? We’ve invested between $250,000 and $500,000. What is the status of this engagement? We began working with them in October of 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? We’re not at the point where we have good metrics, but I can comment anecdotally. I was very impressed that we started the project in October and finished it in March. That was on the schedule that they provided at the beginning. They accurately figured out the time they needed, and they lived up to it. We came out within 10% of the original projected cost. They were very good at understanding the project’s requirements, doing an estimate around that, and then executing and getting it done. Since we started showing the system to people, we’ve gotten very positive feedback about the look and feel of it. We demonstrated the product to people at a glucose manufacturer that develops apps in-house, and they were very complimentary of our design. It’s been a very good outcome in that respect. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? They accurately estimated both time and cost, which was a very good sign to me. On a daily basis, their project manager was one of the best I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve been in the software development industry for 30 years. I was very impressed with her ability to listen and to efficiently manage a mixed team of onshore and offshore developers. She knew when to say, “This is the way we’re going to do it.” I believe that’s the reason the project ran on time. I give her much of that credit. We primarily used JIRA for communication, and the daily stand-ups were with Google Hangouts. We never had issues with language or time barriers. Even though part of the team had a six or seven-hour time difference, we were still able to get very timely responses to anything we asked. There was no verbal communication issue either. One of our partners is in Taiwan, and we were initially worried about the communication. However, the team in Bulgaria communicated directly with the team in Taiwan without our help. What did you find most impressive about MentorMate? It was the best software project management that I’ve ever experienced. Are there any areas MentorMate could improve? The jury is still out in terms of how many bugs we find in the software. As we finished up, we probably found a few more bugs than I would have liked, but they were easily worked out. I hesitate to say that because software is never perfect and you can find bugs forever. You have to weigh the cost of testing for bugs forever versus actually using the product. --- #### iOS Application Development for Education Startup **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate was brought in to deliver an iOS app due to their experience building scalable products. This has been a successful partnership that will extend on to new products and platforms. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Technology Lead, Andamio Games - Industry: Information technology - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Dec 14, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: The app MentorMate developed has been downloaded almost 100,000 times and have been used in over 40 classrooms throughout the US. ""The team [MentorMate] is efficient, which is always desirable when working with limited government funding." " **BACKGROUND** Introduce your business and what you do there. Andamio Games is a startup company which develops educational applications and games for high school kids, teaching them difficult concepts via mobile apps. Our company was founded in 2014 and we have a team of 4 people, including myself. I am the technology lead of the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We had proposed and won government funding from the National Institutes of Health, in order to develop a mobile-based application called iNeuron for teaching neuroscience. We needed to find a company that could develop software at a commercial level. We are researchers at heart, mainly developing apps at a proof-of-concept level, but we needed a partner with experience in developing mobile applications that are used by thousands of people. **SOLUTION** What was the scope of their involvement? MentorMate developed an iOS application which ended up splitting into 2 apps, based on our proof-of-concept work. They redeveloped our software from the ground up using Swift. MentorMate was brought on board when the transition to Swift was taking place. iNeuron is an application meant to teach neuroscience to kids. MentorMate also built a teacher dashboard, allowing them to customize content, as well as interact with students and monitor their activity. The app can extract trends and provide helpful information and grading. How did you come to work with MentorMate? When we were writing the grant, we knew that we needed someone with commercial-level experience. We knew MentorMate's owner, but we also spoke to some of their past clients. We called MentorMate, talked some things through, and decided that they were the company we should go with. How much have you invested with MentorMate? The cost of MentorMate's work was between $50,000 and $200,000. What is the status of this engagement? We started working with them 2 years ago. We're continuing our relationship with MentorMate for additional products. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement? The apps have been downloaded almost 100,000 times and have been used in over 40 classrooms throughout the US, mainly in Minnesota. We've seen extremely positive feedback from teachers and students. The success of this app is what allowed our company to grow and tackle subject matters beyond neural science. How did MentorMate perform from a project management standpoint? Rather than being a subcontractor, MentorMate became a part of our team. It was easy to work with them and get on the same page quickly. What did you find most impressive about MentorMate? From a development point of view, MentorMate's process and quality of work were extremely high. The team is efficient, which is always desirable when working with limited government funding. We were able to accomplish more than what was initially proposed. Are there any areas MentorMate could improve? Because we were working with government funding and needed to adhere to regulations, the development needed to be done in the US, which meant that we paid a bit more than other companies that have hired MentorMate and were able to work with their Bulgarian developers. This was a minor detail which we resolved during bidding. There isn't a lot that I was unhappy with. It's been an extremely positive experience. --- #### App Development for Large Advertising Agency **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed apps for both the Android and iOS platforms as part of a larger project that the client was delivering to a customer.   **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Project Manager, Advertising Agency - Industry: Advertising & marketing - Client size: 1,001-5,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — May 5, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate maintained open communication with the client throughout the build process and worked well within the overall project scope. The client notes that MentorMate’s iOS team was particularly strong. ""[W]e were extremely happy with the work that MentorMate provided to us."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. We are a full-service digital advertising agency. What is your position? I'm a producer and project manager. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We were working on a very large project that consisted of many different products for our final client. One of the asks was to do both iOS and Android apps. We reached out to MentorMate to help us out with the development of those apps.  **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail. MentorMate delivered applications for both iOS and Android. How did you come to work with MentorMate? I was not part of the discussion or decision-making process to bring on MentorMate. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? The applications combined were a $200,000-plus project. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement? The end client hasn't provided many quantitative metrics to us, but we were extremely happy with the work that MentorMate provided to us. What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? MentorMate's developers were very open and easy to work with. They were all very strong especially their iOS team. We didn't run into problems. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? No. Not that I can think of. --- #### App Platform Development for Healthcare SaaS **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate assisted with the development of apps for both the android and iOS platforms, as well as a web portal. They maintain a continuing partnership with the client. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CIO, Sensei - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Apr 1, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate provided the initial business analysis, product roadmap and development, initial prototypes, designs, beta, final product, and production support. The client felt that MentorMate’s entire team was highly qualified and professional. ""[H]aving worked with lots of teams in the U.S. and around the world, I would put MentorMate at the top."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. Sensei is a mobile app and software platform company for the healthcare industry. What is your position? I’m the Chief Information Officer. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We have a very expensive product development roadmap, and we partnered with MentorMate for our native iOS, Android, and portal development. **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail. It’s been going on for two years, and it will continue in the future. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We developed a very robust vendor scorecard, did extensive interviews with a number of firms onshore and offshore, and we selected MentorMate off of a 26-scaled matrix. They are experts in the full software development life cycle. They cover everything from the initial business analysis, product roadmap and development, initial prototypes, designs, beta, final product, and then production support. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? In total, this project is close to $1 million. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement? I wouldn’t know how to give you metrics. I know that our client count is increasing. Our user base is increasing. We just went to South by Southwest, and the organizers said it was the best presentation and app that they have ever seen. We must be doing something pretty good. What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? The quality of the MentorMate team stands out, having worked with lots of teams in the U.S. and around the world, I would put MentorMate at the top. Everybody is super qualified for their job. Everyone is an expert at what they do. They’re 100% professional. Everybody comes dialed in and strapped in every day, and they work hard. They have not just skills, but are true professionals. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? No, nothing comes to mind. --- #### Video Creation App for Media Production Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an app for the iOS platform and a web app. The client felt that their internal team was not equipped for the scale of the project and sought a development partner. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CTO, Media Production Company - Industry: Media - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 22, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate collaborated with the client to meet every deadline on their aggressive timeline. They created an open dialogue and were always willing to find a way to make the client’s ideas a reality. ""[MentorMate] demonstrated a thorough understanding of what we were trying to achieve and how we wanted to achieve it."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. We are a whiteboard animation company. Our first application is the building blocks of a vocal visual language so it allows you to draw, tag, and to play different games with drawn images that animate. The second application that we have is actually a video creation software. What is your position? I’m the Chief Technology and Implementation Officer. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? Because of our timeline, we knew that an intro development team wouldn’t have been able to wrap up as quickly as we needed to because of the scale we wanted to hit. Therefore, we were looking for an experienced development partner. **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail. Today, MentorMate has provided an iOS and web application for us. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We interviewed a number of partners and MentorMate fit the bill the best. Their understanding of our vision was huge. They demonstrated a thorough understanding of what we were trying to achieve and how we wanted to achieve it, and they helped us paint a picture of how they would help us achieve it and be part of this life cycle of development. That was one of the biggest deciding factors that lead us to work with MentorMate. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? Our partnership spanning both projects with MentorMate has been over $200,000. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement? We’re live in the app store and we haven’t missed a deadline, and that’s fantastic. We had a very aggressive timeline for our road to launch and entry into the market, and MentorMate has made sure that we’ve done everything we can and been in a position to achieve every one of those milestones. What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? They’re very open to our thoughts. They’re actively looking for our feedback on everything that we’re doing. In doing so, they’re also very willing to share their thoughts on information and input that we have. If there’s something that makes a ton of sense, they’re going to tell us that. If it’s something that makes a ton of sense but it’s going to take a lot of work, they’ll also tell us that. I really appreciate the open dialogue. It’s never something that is a non-starter to a conversation. It’s always “let’s have a conversation and figure out what this is really going to entail”. I’ve always appreciated that because I have run into partners that always end up saying they can’t execute our big ideas. MentorMate always encourages our ideas, and when they’re not in scope, they’ll propose a meeting to figure out what we need to do to make that a reality, and how it’s going to fit in and impact the whole process. I really love that approach. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? I think overall MentorMate has been great. There’s always small things along the way that could have been improved. I think our expectations from a design perspective were not met initially. We’ve now gotten to a place where they are being met. What would have been appreciated is an acknowledgement of that earlier on. An acknowledgement did come later and we did appreciate that.  --- #### App Development for Manufacturing Firm **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an app for the Android and iOS platforms, expanding on the client’s previous web-based software offerings for their customers. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Program Manager, Manufacturing Firm - Industry: Manufacturing - Client size: 1,001-5,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 21, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate identified both the business and technical requirements necessary to deliver an all-around high quality product. Their transparency and communication have led to a strong partnership with the client. ""It felt like our business mattered to [MentorMate]."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. My company is a manufacturer of test and measurement equipment. What is your position? I’m a program manager within the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? In conjunction with the products that we offer, we also offer companion software and previously had only offered it as a native desktop option specifically for Windows. We wanted to branch out into consumer devices, specifically iOS and Android. We didn’t have in-house expertise in that area so we looked to partner with a firm that had that capability, and also just in general the experience and background to help us navigate through the app development process. **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail. MentorMate provided us both an iOS and Android application. How did you come to work with MentorMate? I was reviewing MentorMate and a competitor of theirs locally. I went through the same process with both. I did some research and reached out, had an initial requirements gathering session, went and did a meet and greet, and ultimately got some proposals back. Both were comparable in terms of what I could view as capabilities, services, and experience, but I chose MentorMate because of a gut feeling and intuition. It felt like our business mattered to them. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? This was a larger project for us and we have over $200,000. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement? We average 2,500 downloads a month, which for us is decent for the volume of customers that we serve. We feel that we have pretty good market penetration and utilization of the app. What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? From end to end - identifying the requirements, both business and technical, MentorMate did a great job. They helped us understand what’s important and what’s not from a user experience/design perspective; they had those services as well. They became an extension of our team. From a development perspective, they deliver high-quality all the way around. They did a good job with the project management of the team.  Some of the team members transitioned over throughout the course of the project and we understand that that happens when outsourcing work. It’s wasn’t an egregious amount of turnover but there was some. They were pretty good about it. It wasn’t seamless in terms of changing out team members, but it was reasonable and certainly within expectations. They did a good job serving us. The project management was outstanding - keeping us in the loop, keeping our team on task, as well as theirs. They’re very transparent with the status of the project as well as with the financials of it. It was all very well done. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? Nothing comes to mind. We had a positive experience with MentorMate and their team. One nice thing is that we had an opportunity to use onshore or offshore resources which was important to us. Sometimes we used onshore and sometimes we used offshore, and both were done with quality and were relatively seamless to work with. --- #### Loyalty Platform Development for Marketing Solutions Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an app for both iOS and Android, as well as a web app with a responsive design across tablet, mobile, and web platforms. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 4.5 **The Reviewer** Project Manager, Marketing Company - Industry: Advertising & marketing - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 14, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate’s initial app has been extremely successful. The second, web-based app provides a competitive user interface that functions seamlessly across multiple platforms. The client feels that their high standards have been met. ""One of the biggest things that MentorMate provided was as strong design team along with an equally strong development team."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. We are a marketing and development company for brands, retailers, and casinos. We provide marketing materials and branded promotional materials. I work to build loyalty platforms for online sports. We’ve built prediction applications with MentorMate. Currently, we are creating a daily fantasy website with MentorMate, with both free to play and pay to play options. What is your position? I am a project manager and work directly with MentorMate. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? What we were looking to accomplish with MentorMate had two parts. The first project we did with them was mobile development for iOS and Android. Our most recent project was a web app with a responsive design across tablet, mobile, and web. We wanted a clean design with good user experience. Both the back end and front end needed to be fully functional. **SOLUTION** How did you come to work with MentorMate? We're based in Saint Paul, so geographically MentorMate was a fit. In the past, we had a relationship with a West Coast developer. We did have success with them, but we wanted someone more local. We interviewed, vetted, and got quotes from five or six candidates, based in and just outside Minneapolis. We liked MentorMate’s rate structure and generally enjoyed working with them. We believed in what they could develop for us. The deciding factor was looking at their past projects and successes they had in the industry, and the belief that they were the best partner for us. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? Individually, there have been $150,000 to $200,000 projects. What is the status of this engagement? This is an ongoing engagement. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement? The biggest marker for us with regard to success is having a fully functioning product in the market that we believe is the best out there. One of the biggest things that MentorMate provided was a strong design team along with an equally strong development team. That was important to us. We had previous failures with other companies on the front end. We felt we were lacking skills on front end design. Our partnership with MentorMate fixed that, and has really driven user experience, especially in our most recent project. Because of that, we had an iOS and Android app that was very successful. We wanted a responsive design that looked, felt, and worked great, regardless of the device. MentorMate did a great job accomplishing that. We have a competitive user interface that functions seamlessly across multiple platforms. What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? Our project manager and developers were excellent. We've had great success working with them. They’re very easy to work with. The relationship that we've built with MentorMate’s developers is extremely strong. Great communication is another thing that has led us to being successful. They're very good at communicating and they're upfront. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? We have been working with MentorMate for about three years now, and in the first six to 12 months of working with them, we had a lot of constructive criticism. In the past two years, they've made quite a few changes which have been successful. For example, they have rebuilt some of their departments and rebuilt their project management structure. They've done a very good job of adapting to the industry and growing as a business. Our relationship and success with them are much better now than it was in the first six months. --- #### Inventory Platform Development for Supply Chain Management Company **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed a cloud-based mobile inventory management app for both the Android and iOS platforms. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** VP of Technology, Supply Chain Management Company - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 11, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate’s capable, honest, and transparent product management has led to a strong relationship with that client, and the app has since become an independent, revenue generating business within the client’s company. ""MentorMate was very capable, honest, transparent, and has excellent project management. Those qualities are important to us."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. We are an international supply chain provider. We're a wholesale distributor of aftermarket parts and components. What is your position? I am the Vice President of Technology. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? We wanted to develop a mobile inventory management solution. **SOLUTION** What platform is the application on? It's cloud-based cross-platform service available on iOS or Android. How did you come to work with MentorMate? We wanted a local partner, and they were the leader in the Twin Cities. The size of MentorMate was very appealing. We first engaged them several years ago; mobile development was a relatively new and upcoming industry. Because they have offshore developments, it was more cost effective for us. Mobile development is in high demand, so if you're doing it onshore locally, it's more expensive, which was a driving force for us. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? The project expense was between $200,000 and $1 million. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement? What MentorMate helped us build has since become an independent and revenue generating business inside of our company. What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? MentorMate was very capable, honest, transparent, and has excellent project management. Those qualities are important to us. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? I've been developing technology solutions for 25 years and nothing stands out. This has gone as well as anything I've ever done, so it's hard for me to pick out anything. --- #### App Development for Financial Services Startup **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate built a web-based financial platform, as well as Android and iOS apps with partial functionality. More functionality will be added when the client has a stronger understanding of customer app use. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Founder, Financial Services Startup - Industry: Financial services - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Mar 9, 2016 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate adopted the project with enthusiasm. The client felt that they had found a true and competent partner but notes that, as a startup with no development experience, they wished more strategic advice had been given. ""MentorMate came in under budget for everything we've done."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your organization. We're an online financial planning company. We do algorithmic financial planning and investments. What is your position? I am the founder of the company. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What business challenge were you trying to address with MentorMate? I have zero background in development, and I'm a one-man show at this point. I needed MentorMate to help me build a complex financial platform. What platform is the application on? It's web-based at the moment but we're also building both an Android and an iOS application for the platform. The full functionality is on the web, with limited functionality on the iOS and the Android platforms. This limited functionality will change once we have a better idea of how people use it. **SOLUTION** How did you come to work with MentorMate? I considered a number of other agencies, a mix of onshore and offshore development. There were a few in San Francisco where they did most of their development in-house. There were a number of offshore companies that I looked at as well. MentorMate was in the middle for pricing, so I decided to go with them. Their hybrid model made me much more comfortable. Due to my own lack of technical experience, I wanted to make sure that communication between my partner and I went smoothly. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms? The project cost $400,000. The original cost estimates were low because I continued to change and expand the scope of the project. MentorMate came in under budget for everything we’ve done. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What distinguishes MentorMate from other providers? MentorMate treated us as a partner. From the beginning they seemed to love my project. They really treated the product as if it was their own. Is there anything MentorMate could have improved or done differently? If you're focused on start-ups, a development company needs infrastructure to help guide customers. I could have used more strategic advice because there was a lot for me to learn. --- #### Mobile App Marketing for Online Resale Marketplace **The Project** - Services: Other Digital Marketing - Project size: Confidential - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate provided a range of SEO services, social media strategy, and App Store optimization to increase the visibility of an online marketplace's mobile app and website. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CEO, Online Resale Marketplace - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Oct 2, 2014 **Feedback Summary**: The app moved up in download rankings after the engagement began, and soon grew to outrank its competitors. Search rank across keywords has also improved markedly. All MentorMate's employees are intelligent and experienced in their subject areas.  ""We’re one of their smaller clients right now, but we’ve never felt like a small client."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company. Our mobile app company is a marketplace for parents to sell preloved or secondhand children’s articles, clothing, shoes, and gear. We are similar to Etsy or eBay, but we just sell kids items. Our mobile app has been available to the consumer since December of 2013. We are based in Minneapolis. What is your role and responsibilities? I am the CEO. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What was your goal for working with MentorMate? We engaged with MentorMate to help us specifically with SEO [search engine optimization] and social strategies. We needed them to help with App Store optimization and SEO work for a new Web component to our product offering we’re releasing right now.   **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their work. We are now in the process of rolling out a particular feature we’ve been working on. We’ve engaged them to think about how to architect the Web piece strategically and think about URL structures and other SEO considerations. We’re actively engaged in this project right now. We will continue to use them for short term spikes that we need to handle. What was your process for selecting MentorMate with which to work? MentorMate is well known around Minneapolis and we chose them through word of mouth and feedback from others. They have a good reputation.  Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you? We’re one of their smaller clients right now, but we’ve never felt like a small client. I do not want to discuss a specific price.  **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What were the results of the project? We can see their results with the Apple Store optimization campaign. Our app is in the Apple App Store and a lot of the same principles apply as they do with SEO work. As a direct result of their work, we have moved up the daily download rankings very significantly after implementing their recommendations. We’re now ranking ahead of pretty much all of our competitors in keyword search terms. Some of our competitors are very well established and much more mature. Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project? I don’t know the exact numbers, but relatively they increased our search rank across keywords. We were anywhere from 100 or lower for important keywords, and now we’re in the top 20. There are many instances where a keyword was in the top 50, and now we’re in the top five after working with MentorMate. It is a free download for anyone to use the app. For every purchase made, we charge a small transaction fee. Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out compared to other companies? Their team is really smart, and they know their craft in their specific discipline areas. They offer good service, even though we’re not a big client. Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently? I don’t even have constructive criticism because I can’t think of anything they did incorrectly. --- #### Custom Web and Mobile Application Development International Parts and Logistics Firm **The Project** - Services: Custom Software Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Aug. 2013 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed a custom Web and mobile application for Android and iOS, aiming to generate profit and help users control service parts in their vehicles and peripheral locations. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.5 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** VP of Technology Solutions, 3Wired Group, Inc. - Industry: Business services - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Apr 23, 2014 **Feedback Summary**: While the app was still in development, crucial potential customers were very impressed. MentorMate earned praise for their strong communication and quick response to feedback. The team's effective offshore development model eliminated language barriers and emphasized high-quality work. ""MentorMate is the shining star in my mind.”" **BACKGROUND** Could you describe your organization? I work for 3Wire Group Inc. We are an international supply chain solutions provider for aftermarket parts, focusing on the food and beverage equipment industry. What is your position? I’m the vice president of technology solutions. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with MentorMate? Our end customers are ultimately service agents or service technicians that are the guys in the van similar to [the] HBAC [Group]. If you’ve ever had a furnace, I’m not sure where you live, furnace air conditioning, that type of thing. Half of the time when they go on a service call, and they need a part to fix an issue with a piece of commercial equipment. This kind of equipment is in commercial kitchens, restaurants, and commercial beverage devices. Those customers, there aren’t very many because in the beverage side of the world, instead of the restaurants calling the service agent, usually it’s either Coke or Pepsi that comes and fixes their own equipment. Ultimately, the service agent is the end-user. They were experiencing some pain points that we wanted to solve, specifically around visibility and control of service parts in their vehicles and their peripheral locations. We had identified these pains and felt that a Web service with a corresponding mobile application would be a perfect way to solve the issues. Think of it as launching a new revenue-generating service. We’re launching a new business product. Think of it as a software service. It is something that we will sell. It is available on a Web browser for log-in. Service technicians will download the app either on Android or an iOS device and use it to manage their inventory. All of that activity rolls to a backend website where the manager or the owner of the company approves and manages different inventory levels for each of the trucks and then does automatic electronic ordering to various suppliers. All of this is integrated into one backend system and process seamlessly, which makes it easy to track, monitor, and organize. **SOLUTION** Could you describe the scope of the project? We provided them with our requirements and the scoped the project out for us. We started from scratch. They have built all of the entire solution in collaboration with us from conception. We’ve basically launched the system, including the marketing site. The tool is called 3Plenish.com. You can go check it out. They built the marketing site as well as the native applications for iOS. We’re about to release an Android version in about a month, and then the entire backend of the SaaS [Software as a Service] offering, too. How did you select MentorMate as your solution partner for this endeavor? We operate out of Minneapolis. There really are only a few companies that are strong in this particular area. If you pay any attention to mobile development, which I do in the Twin Cities, MentorMate is near the top or is always in the top tier because they sponsor MobCon. If you Google it, you’re going to find them at the top. I have also some friends of mine that are CEOs of companies that MentorMate has done a lot of work for. Their reputation really precedes them in this area, and since we were searching for a local vendor, it made perfect sense to go with them. Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms? I’d rather not disclose that information, but it was a substantial investment for us. When were the Web and mobile applications completed and launched? The application was launched around the first of April [of 2014]. We started the project about nine months ago. Honestly, I’ve been head of technology organizations, and I’ve been responsible for development of a variety of different ways. I’ve been on the marketing side of software companies. I have been extremely happy with MentorMate. I have no trouble holding them accountable. A lot of times you need to measure how good somebody is by how they respond to your concerns. They’ve been fantastic. I’m not just saying that. I’ve used other vendors for similar types of projects. We use another vendor in town for a very significant website and mobile app projects. It’s not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison. MentorMate is the shining star in my mind. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or anecdotal feedback you’ve received from end-users that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work delivered? We’re literally in the very first stages of launching this, and we haven’t made it public in our marketplace yet. We’re gearing up for that. It’s hard for me to give you metrics other than all of the big potential clients and customers that we’ve demonstrated it for throughout the deployment process have been very excited and impressed. When working with MentorMate, is there anything you’d consider special or unique about approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors? They have a very effective model for offshore development. They’ve managed to eliminate the language barriers that would typically arise during most offshore scenarios. The leadership that we liaise with face-to-face are located here in Minneapolis, which means we receive great project management attention in addition to high-quality, cost-efficient custom development. In retrospect, are there areas you think MentorMate could improve on as a service provider? That’s a good question. I don’t want to throw anything out there that’s unjustified. There’s nothing significant at this point. My relationship with them is only less than a year old, but I’ve been very pleased with the experience and the work they’ve delivered. I’ve got an internal team of developers that I didn’t use for this project because I knew MentorMate would be able to deliver. --- #### iPad App Development for Management Consulting Firm **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate worked on a retainer to develop an iPad app and its backend content management system. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CEO, Management Consulting Firm - Industry: Education - Client size: 1-10 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Apr 22, 2014 **Feedback Summary**: The app was completed on time and under budget. Stellar project management, dedication from the project manager, and expertise from the systems architect and VP of sales all brought value to the process. Their initial storyboarding session, separate from the main project fee, was also appreciated. ""The project management was one of the best things they did."" **BACKGROUND** Could you give me a brief description of your firm and your role? Sales Fitness is a scenario-based, e-learning, sales training, and product-training platform. We use a mobile app to access the cloud-based platform. I’m the CEO and president of the company.  **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What was your goal for the work with MentorMate? The ultimate goal was to develop the mobile app and the backend content management system for the Sales Fitness app. We actually used MentorMate from the initial storyboard design all the way through MVP completion.  **SOLUTION** Can you describe the scope of their work in more detail? MentorMate had a unique approach to the way they design and develop an app. They started with a storyboard session. That actually helped us lay out the system architecture and the initial concept of the user interface. What made them unique is that they actually priced that separately; you had to pay for the whole project before you could start. We like MentorMate because they actually did the storyboard phase as a separate contract up front. After that meeting, we decided to engage them for the full project build. What platforms were the app developed with? For the minimum viable product, it’s just available for the iPad. It uses iOS 7. At some point in the next year, we hope to roll it out to Microsoft and Android. What was your process for selecting MentorMate? My business partner and I are familiar with the development shops here in the Twin Cities. Their name came up frequently in conversations as a key company in our area. We probably spoke with nine or ten different firms and then selected MentorMate. Could you provide a sense of the size of the project with a general cost range or the amount of work hours they dedicated to the project? I don’t know the specifics on either of those. It’s in the $100,000 range. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** What were the results of the project? Do you have statistics or metrics you could share about the development? They came in on time and slightly under budget. They have a unique approach in that their design work is done in the U.S., but the development work is generally done in Bulgaria. They manage that process very well. We are very pleased that we used the agile product design methodology since it worked very well. We’ve had some experience with other firms that had done a little bit of offshore development and the communication was difficult. It was not so with MentorMate, they communicated very well. How did MentorMate perform? There were several things that we felt were particularly stellar. Their systems architect, Stephen Fluin, is a sharp, bright guy. He did a really nice job in helping us architect the solution. Because this is a sales/product training application, it’s a B2B [business-to-business] solution that we provide, their VP of sales was involved in a lot of the discussions and almost became an additional internal consultant that I could bounce ideas off of during meetings. The project management was one of the best things they did. They just kept us informed and kept their teams informed. I just talked with the project manager recently and told her we felt like she was an advocate for us and yet, we also knew that she had to be an advocate for MentorMate. She was so dedicated to us as a client that it almost seemed like she worked for us rather than MentorMate. Looking back on the project, is there any area that you think MentorMate could improve upon or something you might do differently? Not necessarily, when you’re managing a project that was as complicated as ours, the communications were sometimes a bit delayed. It could be difficult to ensure we had everybody on the same page. But that was really quite minor. One of the things we may have done differently had to do with the platforms that we chose. We realized that when we came up with our long-term systems, the systems architecture, and our porting process, the project became quite complicated. We didn’t understand the whole process at first. --- #### Mobile App and Website for Wine Shop **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $50,000 to $199,999 - Project length: Mar. - May 2013 **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed an iOS app tracking customer purchases and a reward program. They also redesigned and developed the shop's website and began work on an Android app. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Project Manager, Wine Shop - Industry: Retail - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Apr 22, 2014 **Feedback Summary**: Customers who use the app spend more money at the store than before, through rewards points and recommendations. MentorMate was accommodating of many change requests, conducted weekly remote meetings, and kept the project running smoothly.  ""We are very satisfied. On a scale of 1 to 10, MentorMate is an 11."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your firm and your role. We are a wine, spirits, and cheese shop. We started operations in 1959. We’re more of a specialty store. We’re not your everyday store. We have everyday items, but we really specialize in boutique wines. We have a brick-and-mortar store and then an online store as well. Our online store is a really small portion. Our brick and mortar is what makes the business. We’re working to make the online business bigger and stronger. We are located in Minnesota. I am a marketing employee that was primarily responsible for managing the project with MentorMate. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What was your goal for the work with MentorMate? Our first goal was to build a mobile app. We have a rewards program called Club 44. Our club members receive a $25 gift card for our store in the mail, but most people forget them and put them aside. So, we wanted to build an app for them, which tracks all of their sales, their purchases and has gift cards appear on their phone. We looked at our clientele, and about 80 percent of our club members have iPhones, so we started with an iPhone app. It’s really brought in a lot more money because people are finding cards from three years ago on their phone. It’s phenomenal because they come in and spend more. The other goal is it tracks everything you buy. We also created an online marketplace that gives suggestions and reviews like Amazon. Users can search for wine, beer, spirits, or cheese; whatever products we carry that are similar. We did all of that on our point-of-sale system. We put attributes for every item we have. It’s really nice for people to have this feature in case the wine they want is no longer in production, they can hit more like this, it will bring up other options, and gives them a nice way to try. That was the main goal. We also like that users can use the app at the register, and it’s easier than remembering a gift card or having to find it at home.  **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their work in more detail. They developed the iPhone app and will do an Android app at the end of 2014. MentorMate redid our entire website last year, too. We’re doing a lot of projects with MentorMate. We’ve had such a good experience that we don’t need to go anywhere else.  Why did you select iOS and Android as the development platforms? Not many customers have Android, but we’ve had a lot of complaints, so we will port to Android later. We’re only going to do iPhone and Android. We’re not going to do anything else. What was your process for selecting MentorMate? One of the owners decided that I should find a mobile app developer. I Googled mobile apps in Minneapolis, and we met with MentorMate and with one other company. The third company never got back to me. We were really impressed with MentorMate right off the bat, and that’s why we went with them. They were very professional and very easy to work with from the get go. Could you give us a sense of the size of that initiative with a general cost range or the amount of work hours it took them to complete? I want to say the app was about six weeks and around $100,000. When was the project completed? March to May of 2013.  **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Do you have any statistics or metrics you could share about the project? I can tell you that people who are using the app are spending more money. We have 908 people, and you do not have to be a club member to use it. Anybody can download it and just use the app. It’s not strictly for Club 44 members. It does encourage them to become a Club 44 member, but you don’t have to be. You’ll get a record created for you. You can come in and shop, and it will still track your sales, but you’re not getting rewards points. Some people just like to play with it, just look at it, and find different recommendations, just see what we have. I can tell you that the people that are using it love it. In the fourth quarter of 2014, we’ll be doing an Android app. How did MentorMate perform? We are very satisfied. On a scale of 1 to 10, MentorMate is an 11. What is unique or special about MentorMate that stood out as different from other companies? They’re very receptive to our needs. That was really important because I’m not a technical person. I can run the mobile app and the website, and they made it very user friendly. Everything they do, you’re with them every step of the way. You have weekly meetings with them. Sometimes, more than weekly, but weekly with their whole team, and I’m included. Everyone was on the same page as to what our expectations were and they always met or exceeded our expectations. Can you describe the meetings? They were remote meetings because a big part of their team is in Bulgaria. There have a few employees here, but Bulgaria is where most of their developers are. We met with GoToMeeting. It worked out fine, and we used screen share. They’re very easy to work with and very receptive to every one of our needs. The changes that we made were not easy for MentorMate, we always had complaints and changed our minds. Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think MentorMate could improve upon or something you might do differently? No. There is nothing that I can mention. --- #### Mobile App Development for Digital Retailer **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: Jan. 2011 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate designed mobile apps for iOS and Android tablets in order to promote customer engagement. They also handle UI/UX and creative design on an ongoing basis. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 4.0 - Cost: 5.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** Head of Ecommerce, Digital Retailer - Industry: Retail - Client size: 501-1,000 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 29, 2014 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate lived up to their reputation as a full service vendor, instructing in-house staff about best practices and implementing a road map for future enhancements. The launched apps performed well, and included live streaming and synchronized content. ""[T]hey don’t sell you a Cadillac when you need a Chevrolet."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company. We are a retailer in the TV and online home shopping space. What is your role and responsibilities? I am the vice president of e-commerce, and I oversee our website, all of our mobile, customer analytics, and our IVR [interactive voice response] voice recognition or capture platform. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What was your goal for working with MentorMate? This was to create a mobile app. We’ve been working with them for two or two and a half years. Initially, we started out developing an iPad app that was a content-only app that we were building to support one of the segments of our business that has a large collector base of very loyal customers. That was our first foray into tablet app development. Since then, we've built two additional apps, one for iPad and one for Android tablets. We’ve worked with them on quite a few projects during a long period of time. The goal for all of them was to create engagement for our customers, and there was a commerce component to it as well. One of the key factors was just to engage our customers with different content specific to the tablet form factor. **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their work. From the beginning, they were great in terms of coaching us on best practices, going back two and a half years when we didn’t have a lot of development experience in tablet applications. They were great in guiding us and in developing a scope for the initial project that wasn’t too broad and expansive. They built a core set of capabilities and a roadmap for feature enhancements. Frequent updates and enhancements tend to work better with applications. They guided us on building that core set of capabilities and whiteboarding that out. We have our own creative team, and we thought we would have them do most of the design. As we got into the design piece of the project, we started going down that path. But, MentorMate started showing us some of their ideas. Their creative was so good, and their UI [user interface] was so good that we eventually decided to go with their creative. We have worked very closely with them, but at the end of the day, their creative has turned out to be just outstanding. They always come to the meetings with great ideas, great solutions, and they’ll present multiple options or suggestions that they have. They tend to be very innovative and, at the same time, they don’t sell you a Cadillac when you need a Chevrolet. Or, maybe you start with a Chevrolet, and they build a Cadillac in time. In addition to the applications themselves, they’ve built us a content management system to fuel the content into the apps as well. They’ve really built us an entire solution: A content management system, and we're using racks-based servers. At this point, it's all done outside of our firewall. They’ve really provided us with an end-to-end solution. What was your process for selecting MentorMate with which to work? We found several different companies that we brought it in pitch us. We didn’t go through a full RFP [request for proposal] process because it wasn’t that large of a project at that point. We settled on them because we liked their working style very much. They guided us as they operated, and we are both based in Minneapolis. That was great because they could come out for an onsite meeting, and we could discuss things face to face. That was helpful. We interviewed four or five different options and settled on them. Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you? The projects that we have done are anywhere from $100,000 to about $300,000 on each of the various apps. We are constantly making enhancements to them. When was the latest milestone completed for that work? We launched two new apps in the fall of 2013, which was a major milestone. We worked on that for about six months, maybe a little longer to get done. There has been constant work on enhancements since then, and that’s been ongoing. They have been mostly large enhancements to the functionality. We launched our initial apps in September, and then we launched some functionality. We're like QVC; we're live TV retail 24/7. We have live streaming video in all of our mobile applications. We launched some functionality in November, a major release that we call Second Screen. That allows us to deploy synchronized content in the app, and it's synchronized with what is being broadcast on our TV network at that time. That was a large release, and now we're working on some enhancements to that functionality. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project? We have full analytics in all of the applications. We can look at downloads, and we can look at page views and type of thing in the apps. We can also measure the revenue coming through the apps. I can’t share the figures with you, but we’ve been very pleased with the results. How did MentorMate perform on a day-to-day basis? MentorMate's performance is outstanding. They are probably about the best vendor that I’ve had the opportunity to work within this space. Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies? Their speed, responsiveness, and innovation are unique. Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently? No, they were good. Anything I might have done differently would be on our side as opposed to theirs. --- #### Outsourced IT for Mobile Advertising Platform **The Project** - Services: BI & Big Data Consulting & SI - Project size: Confidential - Project length: **Project Summary**: MentorMate provided an advertising firm with outsourced IT resources for software development, mobile app development, business intelligence, and other back-end work. **Review Rating**: 5.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 5.0 **The Reviewer** CTO, Mobile Advertising Platform - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jan 13, 2014 **Feedback Summary**: The firm appreciated MentorMate’s developers in both the US and Bulgaria, who are put through a post-hiring boot camp to ensure their ability to deliver excellent quality results. The development team also accommodated the time difference with flexible hours. ""They always work hard and work long hours to help us."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company. We are an advertising firm for mobile apps based in the United States. We help mobile apps sell and market their advertising space. We offer the leading mobile app advertising platform. We have about 100 employees. Our job is to help companies monetize their apps. We have offered these services for 14 years or so, a very long time in this space. We have three offices in the U.S., but are based in Minnesota. What is your role and responsibilities? I am the CTO. I am responsible for leading the engineering group. I also oversee many MentorMate resources that staff different internal teams at my firm. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What was your goal for the work with MentorMate? We needed to add staff members for a variety of different work teams we have. We decided to do the staff offshoring route for a number of reasons; the first is cost. Also, our business fluctuates every month. It would be difficult and costly to hire people since we don't always need a larger team. MentorMate offered skilled resources at a lower cost since they are based in Bulgaria. They also have a tremendously diverse skill set and service line offering.  **SOLUTION** Please describe the scope of their work. They do a lot of different things for us. At first, we gave them simple projects to assess their skills. After they completed those with ease, we decided to work with them as an ongoing partner on an indefinite basis. They provide resources for our BI team, software development, backend coding, and other groups. They actually changed their office hours to accommodate our work. They start work at noon in Bulgaria, so we have four hours of overlapping work hours each day. This is a major engagement for both companies. What was your process for selecting MentorMate? We did a lot of research before we landed on MentorMate. We needed a very diverse team that could offer resources in mobile app development, BI, software, and many other areas. We also liked their pricing. They also have a large office in Minneapolis, near one of our offices. Can you give us a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or personnel work hours? I cannot give a dollar figure. I can share that the resources are scaled up and down depending on demand. Some months, we have $100,000 in business for them, but some months less. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** How has MentorMate performed so far? Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement? They have performed very well. Most of my feedback comes from other employees here. They all like working with MentorMate resources in the U.S., and the Bulgaria-based team as well. We don't really track metrics like ROI or anything like that. I know that they are professional and skilled and can complete all of our projects on time. Our working relationship is strong, and we have grown with them as partners. They are more than a vendor at this point. What is unique or special about MentorMate compared to some other companies that you may have worked with? They are professional and skilled. They always work hard and work long hours to help us. They don't let the time difference affect their deliverables or timeline. They also are great about expanding their service lines. They know how to recruit the best developers that graduate from Bulgarian universities. They even put their new hires through a boot camp of sorts. They want to make sure that all of their new employees can handle typical projects. They are great at producing new talent for mobile app development and .NET programming. They have a really strong pipeline of talent overseas. They keep adding quality resources. Looking back on the project, is there anything that you think MentorMate could improve upon, or something you might do differently? I am trying to think of something, but I really cannot. They seem to be competent in every aspect. Of course, they are not perfect but I am really satisfied. --- #### Healthcare Communication Mobile Software **The Project** - Services: Mobile App Development - Project size: $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 - Project length: Jan. 2009 - June 2012 **Project Summary**: MentorMate designed four mobile apps for the client, including a secure smartphone messaging app to facilitate communication with their customers. **Review Rating**: 4.0 - Quality: 4.0 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 0.0 **The Reviewer** Director of Product Development, Mission-critical Communication Solutions - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jul 12, 2012 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate was proactive in app improvements and delivered products with very low defects. The client appreciated the shared values and mutual trust of the relationship. ""They worked with us as true partners to ensure that we delivered a quality product on time."" **BACKGROUND** Could you give a little background on your company? It appears to be mission critical communication for healthcare providers? That is correct. We’re really focused on ensuring that we get the right information to the right individual at the right time on their preferred device. We have multiple modalities in relationship to communication strategies. A key area of that is mobile, and that is something that we have partnered with MentorMate. What is your position within the company? Vice president – product strategy and development. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** Before you started working with MentorMate, what were your business goals or reasons for undertaking this type of project? We historically have communicated with our customers on pagers via texting and other methods. If you’re looking at more mobile, we received quite a bit of feedback from our customers in relationship to wanting to have secure messaging smartphones, and so we needed to develop a smartphone messaging application that interfaced with the existing secure and robust solutions. **SOLUTION** What was your process then for selecting a developer to work with? I actually had a very rigorous process in relationship to looking at partners. We essentially had a set of criteria that we evaluated including who they were how long they’ve been in business, and what type of experience they have that was similar. We looked a lot at whether or not there was going to be a cultural set between resources. We utilized an agile development methodology look. We want to do embed resources within our team as opposed to simply sourcing something out. There’s multiple methods to interface, and that was something that they were supportive of until we went through and looked at all the criteria. I had a shortlist of three. I took all three through the same process. We actually not only asked them to respond. We gave them a definition in regard to the product we are looking to create. We asked them to give a response in regards to product architecture and directional guidance, we evaluated all of those responses, and then we did determination to go with MentorMate. What set MentorMate apart from the other candidates? Was it mainly the factors you listed there? Yes, and quite honestly for me, one of the other factors was that there was a core value alignment between our organizations and that there was a trust factor in relationship to they were going to say what they’re going to do what they said what they’re going to do. That they were going to fulfill the commitments that they made to the organization, and they absolutely have done that. Could you talk a little bit about the scope of the project? We have actually partnered with them across a number of projects, so we’ve been working with them for more than 18 months. The more mobile-oriented solution offering was something that they stepped into when we were partway through the process, but needed to ensure that it was an enterprise level architecture. It is a set of mobile applications that’s been the iPhone platform, Android platform and Blackberry platform. There’s a backend server. That backend server – actually, there’s two pieces. There’s a backend posted component, and then there’s a backend premise base server for our customers. They were involved in all of the components of the solution. Do you think you could give me a sense of the size of the project in terms of the overall cost?  Well, that can be difficult. That’s both internal and external resources, and so we started developing this in 2009 when we looked at the net total investment. It’s more than $1 million. You said that you used Agile development throughout the whole process? That is correct. It also sounds like they collaborated with a team you had in-house? That is correct. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** How satisfied are you with the results of the project? We are very satisfied with the results. They have not only executed on what we’ve asked them to, but they are proactive when they look for areas of improvement. They will actually make those recommendations, and then work with us to implement those. Do you by chance have any stats or metrics about improvements from the project? I can pull those from the team potentially, but it was an immature product that we hadn’t released to market when they got involved, so it’s hard to do a before and after. Not only that their team members are they comparable but, in many cases, they actually exceed the velocity of our team members. When I look at overall quality, what I would say is that the quality of deliverable is on par or better than our own internal resources as well. The defects per feature and things like that are overall very low. They have worked with us very comprehensively to introduce unit testing to improve the overall quality further, and we’re not on the cusp of adding some additional automated test them to the overall solution offering. Compared to the other people you worked with, is there anything unique or special about MentorMate? They have created a great environment and culture where they partner very strongly with their customers. They are very open in the relationship to talking about where their areas of expertise are, and where they may not have as much experience, which is unique. They are very dedicated to the successful outcome, so they’re in most times when we got close to a deadline, and their folks rolled up their sleeves as much as our folks rolled up our sleeves, and worked with us as true partners to ensure that we delivered a quality product on time. All of those are differences from other organizations that I’ve worked with. The other piece of this is they have such a strong mobile presence and mobile practice that they are exceptional at helping with user interface, layout, and design. One of the things that they have done all the way along the way is when our product owner says, okay, I need a new function to do X, they’re actually able to help us determine the appropriate strategy for implementation amongst the different mobile platforms. The other side of that then would be maybe being overly critical but, looking back on the project, do you think there’s any area that they might be able to improve a bit, or you’d do differently? What I would say is that early on, they were very respectful and polite of our team members, and when we had strong advocates for one design model or implementation approach, they would sort of very politely say, “Hey, you might want to consider something else though.” The course of our relationship they are in now, they are more confident and willing to be a bit more assertive in regard to leveraging their expertise. So, they do this day in and day out. Just to sum it up, they didn’t push back quite as much at the beginning, and they’re doing more of that now. So in some situations, I would approach it such that I was giving them the confidence and assurance that that was something that was not only acceptable. It was appreciated by our organization. --- #### Local News Mobile Development **The Project** - Services: Other IT Consulting and SI - Project size: $200,000 to $999,999 - Project length: July 2010 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate assisted with the development of a quickly-scalable mobile news application. The project has been long-term and large scope. **Review Rating**: 4.0 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 3.0 - Cost: 4.0 - Willing to Refer: 0.0 **The Reviewer** CEO, Mobile Development Firm - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 11-50 Employees - Review Type: Phone Interview - Verified **The Review** — Jun 11, 2012 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate exceeded expectations in design effort and with above-standard features. They had an excellent understanding of the client and the project. ""They are a great group of people [who] produce excellent results."" **BACKGROUND** Can you give an overview on what your company does? We are a mobile application development company that has been focused on developing solutions in the healthcare, real estate and news industry. We are the largest delivery of news for mobile, and also for real estate in the market today. What is your position within the company? Chief executive officer. **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** What was your company’s business goals for undertaking the development project? One of the reasons was, obviously, proximity. We knew people had used them before, so we knew of them from a reference standpoint and their ability to scale up. Their level of quality work very good. Capacity was the majority issue, but they did us some things outside of our organization that was beneficial. That wasn’t the main reason. The main reason was definitely to scale up quick. What was your process for selecting a partner? Word of mouth. We had reviewed other groups that were overseas, and were not real happy with what their outcomes were, so we decided to find somebody who had a reputable background. **SOLUTION** Could you just tell me about the scope of the project? Pretty large scope. We deliver tied to infrastructure and backend. It’s really a platform, so there was a pretty large scope to this. There was probably about a four- or five-month intense development process and they’ve been still doing work with us for the last year and a half, so it’s ongoing. How many developers are you normally working with from MentorMate? Initially, we had probably nine. Now, we’re down to three. Is there a specific model that you use, such as Agile, Scrum, or Waterfall? We are a Waterfall. We square around the Waterfall approach. With the projects they did for you, what were the main technologies used? The iOS platform, Java, backend API stuff and RESTful APIs. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** How happy are you with the results of the project? Very happy. They’re a great group of people, and produce excellent results. Compared to other developers you may have worked with in the past, do you find anything special or unique about MentorMate? Better design effort and capacity to do more advanced features going beyond the standard SDK stuff and that was really what we needed. We need somebody of that nature versus somebody who just does standard SDK type stuff. They know IOS platform, so we’ve been very blessed in that regard. That was the main reason. I have some guys – European developers – who can do it also in the United States, and both of them understand. The other thing is it’s easier for us to deal with them on a management standpoint vs. some groups that just don’t have that. Understanding our goals and accomplishments and they’re able to meet those needs without us having to repeat it 55 times. Is there any area that you could see MentorMate might be able to improve or do slightly better in? I think probably sizing the per-pricing model is a little better, and that’s always a tough gauge because you’re trying to gauge the requirements pricing. That, and just real date expectations and implementing some more test time, such as a pressure test. But, I probably think that worked. We worked through those now but I think, at first that was a little tougher. I assume you’re continuing to work with them on other projects? Absolutely. I love them. I couldn’t give them a perfect score just because of the timing of the first one. That’s something they’ll learn from, but since that made them great. I’d recommend them to anybody. --- #### Web Dev for Swim School **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: Confidential - Project length: Jan. 2016 - Ongoing **Project Summary**: MentorMate develops an MVP web platform for a swim school hosted on AWS. They develop features that allow end users to submit enrollment requests and manage their accounts. **Review Rating**: 4.5 - Quality: 5.0 - Schedule: 3.5 - Cost: 3.5 - Willing to Refer: 4.5 **The Reviewer** Digital Product Owner, Foss Swim School - Industry: Other industries - Client size: 201-500 Employees - Review Type: Online Review **The Review** — Dec 14, 2022 **Feedback Summary**: Thanks to MentorMate's work, the client witnesses increased efficiency and improved customer experience, has opened 10 new schools, and sees great response time and performance. Their agile methodology and project management style are hallmarks of their work. They are experienced and knowledgeable. ""We've been provided with both breadth and depth of knowledge from the Mentormate team."" **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I'm a digital product owner for Foss Swim School. We provide premiere swim lessons to people of all ages across 23 schools in 6 states (and counting!) **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire MentorMate, and what were your goals? Our process for managing our customer enrollments and classes was not digitized, time consuming, and wouldn't support our needs as we grew. We needed a custom-built solution to support our processes - both in our customer management and our internal operations. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors? N/A Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used. Once the core requirements were determined, the design and development team partnered up to deliver an MVP, which launched roughly 4 years ago. The software serves two purposes, the first as a web page for customers to submit enrollment requests for our classes and manage their customer account. The second is for our employees in the schools. They use the site to enroll customers, manage class schedules, schedule shifts and assign teachers to classes, monitor student progress through our curriculum, communicate with customers, and more. The instance is hosted by AWS. Since launching, we've followed an agile methodology to build new features, keep the coding language up to date, refactor the product to ensure a smooth experience on the front end, and offer other enhancements as the business deems necessary. How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions? Our core team consists of 4 full time developers, 2 full time QA analysts, a part time Business Analyst, a part time Project Manager, and an additional part time QA Analyst. We have other team members on board as necessary for software updates, application support, data optimization, and design work. **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables? Since 2016, the increased efficiency in our enrollment and class management has allowed us to open 10 new schools. The recent enhancements have led to an improved customer experience, as we've seen an over 20% increase in the number of customers who receive their first class choice. Our Enrollment Day is a crucial day for performance, and the software needs to support a volume of customers on the site (30x normal daily volume), and we now see great response time and performance on these days. Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness. The agile methodology has been well adopted by all team members, and allows us to focus and work at maximum efficiency. We have an open line of communication, and trust that our Project Manager will appropriately ask questions and escalate within Mentormate as needed. Their responses to our questions and feedback are timely, and in cases of emergency, we've been able to quickly get in touch with the team who can help us get things back up and running. What did you find most impressive or unique about this company? Mentormate has been a great partner to us over the years, and we are impressed by their range of expertise in the technology development field. When we have a question about a particular functionality within a feature we'd like to consider, there's always someone we can connect with who has experience in the area we're looking for. We've been provided with both breadth and depth of knowledge from the Mentormate team. Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently? Some of the proposals we've received for enhancements and software/coding upgrades have differed significantly from the time and cost estimates that the work ended up requiring. To mitigate this for future work, we've started involving our lead developer and QA analyst in the scoping discussions. We'd recommend Mentormate include the hands-on team in the development of their proposals, as these team members have the best sense of the lifts truly required for the work. --- #### Web Development for Freelance Web Designer **The Project** - Services: Web Development - Project size: Less than $10,000 - Project length: Jan. - Mar. 2021 **Project Summary**: MentorMate developed a website for a web designer's client. Their goal was to create a platform that was interactive for the end client. **Review Rating**: 4.0 - Quality: 4.5 - Schedule: 5.0 - Cost: 4.5 - Willing to Refer: 4.5 **The Reviewer** Freelance Web Designer - Industry: Advertising & marketing - Client size: 51-200 Employees - Review Type: Online Review - Verified **The Review** — May 10, 2021 **Feedback Summary**: MentorMate provided a well-organized workflow throughout the project. They were eager to receive feedback on their progress, which they routinely reported on email and designated spreadsheets. In the end, the output was finished as expected. ""They always asked for feedback after every single milestone." " **BACKGROUND** Please describe your company and your position there. I'm a freelancer and I provide website designing services **OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE** For what projects/services did your company hire MentorMate, and what were your goals? One of my client's websites was created recently, and we hired them to make their website. **SOLUTION** How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors? Someone recommeneded them! Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used. We had a meeting together, and we decided the project milestones. How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions? A project lead was the main point of contact **RESULTS & FEEDBACK** Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables? The website was good and interactively designed. Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness. Emails for communication and spreadsheets for work progress. What did you find most impressive or unique about this company? Their polite behaviour towards thier clients. Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently? They always asked for feedback after every single milestone. This way, the project was welly managed without any failures. --- ## Portfolio & Awards ### PING PING partnered with us to build a brand-focused microsite to strengthen its market position in its new PLD line of putters. Overview: Former General Electric engineer Karsten Solheim began making golf putters in his garage in 1959. That endeavor eventually turned into PING, a golf equipment manufacturing company that is still operated by the Solheim family today. In 2020, PING partnered with MentorMate to build a microsite featuring a new premium line of putters for consumers. The Putting Lab Design (PLD) initiative fuses PING’s engineering excellence and decades-long history in the business.   Challenge: PING sought to launch a microsite that builds awareness of its PLD brand, informs top-tier customers of an unmatched custom fitting experience, and drives sales of PLD products.   Insight: As a company founded on putter innovation in the 1950s, PING deemed it important to remind golfers of its inspiring heritage and solidify its presence in the putter market. Solution: We built a microsite for the PLD brand where golfers can purchase premium putters either directly via a customization option or through the company’s traditional retail partner channel. Read more here: https://mentormate.com/project/ping/ ### Canon Medical We helped Canon Medical create a mobile solution with a robust notification system that empowers healthcare professionals to better care for their patients globally. Overview: Canon Medical integrates next-generation medical imaging software with scanners and other diagnostic healthcare solutions used by hospitals and healthcare centers around the world. The company leverages artificial intelligence to detect potential patient medical events but needed a technology partner to develop a mobile solution with a robust notification system. The mobile application had to be able to access sensitive patient data and alert medical teams securely and promptly.  Challenge: To unleash the full potential of its AI-powered medical imaging health alert detection, Canon Medical needed a partner to develop a mobile notification solution for healthcare providers.   Insight: Proper patient care requires timely action. Information needs to be in doctors’ hands as soon as it’s available. The notification stream flowing through this new app must be quick and compliant with necessary security standards.   Solution: Canon Medical’s new native iOS and Android application receives push notifications when medical issues are detected. The app leverages Firebase and Java to ensure a smooth and secure digital health user experience.   Read more here: https://mentormate.com/project/canon-medical/   ### Chekt (Cargill) We helped Cargill’s Digital Business Studio transform the software infrastructure of its newly developed startup, Chekt, into an enterprise-ready scalable and secure product. Overview:  Driven by the vast industry knowledge of Cargill’s food experts, Chekt is a smart modular food locker solution designed to automate controlled handoff for takeout and delivery order pickup. The product combines state-of-the-art locker pods and robust, flexible, enterprise-ready software with vast integration capabilities. It establishes a new front-of-house experience for quick-serve restaurants. Challenge:  Secure and scale the infrastructure of the Chekt product, which is in the pilot stage of its lifecycle, to resolve reliability issues and get it ready for production at scale.   Insight:  Chekt’s architecture has to be designed with 99% uptime in mind and be able to handle peak workloads to account for the various use cases and user demand. Solution: After a cohesive assessment of Chekt’s architecture, we transitioned its monolithic API to microservices to transform it into a secure and scalable enterprise-ready product.   Read more at: https://mentormate.com/project/cargill/ ### Namu Travel We helped Namu reimagine, redesign, optimize, and support its Costa Rican Vacations website to provide a seamless user experience. Making Dream Vacations Come True Namu Travel Group is a boutique vacation booking company that offers bespoke travel to Costa Rica and other countries in Central America. Namu partnered with MentorMate to revamp the speed and user experience of its Costa Rican Vacations website.  CHALLENGE Namu Travel’s decade-old, WordPress-based website needed to be rebuilt from the ground up to improve UX and website speed for web and mobile.    INSIGHT The Costa Rican Vacations website contains thousands of image files. The solution required a flexible, headless CMS with high-fidelity image optimization to run faster and more efficiently. Creating and customizing vacation packages must be convenient and straightforward.    SOLUTION We helped Namu reimagine, redesign, optimize, and support its Costa Rican Vacations website using Strapi CMS running on AWS.    ### ARKRAY ARKRAY develops diabetes testing and management products that support both patients and the healthcare providers they trust with their care. The company worked with a previous partner to build its diabetes management system (DMS) but was unsatisfied with the results and kicked off an RFP process to find a new partner. CHALLENGE The DMS built by ARKRAY’s previous technical partner was full of bugs and defects, many of which were hindering the success of the entire platform. INSIGHT Despite its flaws, ARKRAY couldn’t afford to stop using its existing DMS. With some quick fixes, we stabilized it so it could still be used while we rearchitected a new version. SOLUTION We delivered a redesigned, rearchitected, and rebuilt DMS for ARKRAY on time and slightly under budget. The new solution’s user experience was designed with accessibility top of mind. ### Ascend Analytics We breathed new life into Ascend Analytics’ flagship product PowerSIMM™ with a modern, human-centered user experience. Analytics & Data Infrastructure at Scale Ascend Analytics is a software and consulting company specializing in the energy sector. The Boulder-based company offers analytics and data infrastructure to energy providers all over the United States so they can make informed decisions and increase efficiency. One of Ascend Analytics’ longest-running products, PowerSIMM™, is an energy analytics platform that provides energy portfolio management, resource planning, and project optimization.  CHALLENGE In early 2021, Ascend Analytics realized that PowerSIMM™ needed a few significant updates, most notably its user interface.  INSIGHT Previously, PowerSIMM™ was actually a combination of several different products, each with their own user interface and sign on process. SOLUTION To create a much more streamlined experience when using PowerSIMM™, we pulled the most critical features from each product into a single interface.  ### Star Wars X-Wing Squad Builder GOAL: One of Fantasy Flight’s most popular games is Star Wars: X-Wing, a tabletop miniature game that allows players to recreate the epic starfighter battles from the films. Fantasy Flight sought to create an accompanying app to enhance gameplay. The app gives players access to tools like a squad builder, game modes, and card databases to make the overall experience better.  ONE COHESIVE DESIGN CONCEPT AND UX PATTERN: A core piece of the look and feel meant pushing our animation capabilities to add subtle movements throughout the app. Taking design cues from the films themselves, we created a clean, usable UI that fits well within the Star Wars universe without distracting players. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: UX/UI Design, Web Development, Mobile Development, Quality Assurance ### Torace GOAL: Mentorship programs in both the K–12 and Higher Education spaces play a critical role in educational development, but managing these programs has historically been very challenging logistically. Torace set out to streamline the management process and vastly improve mentorship programs. DESIGNING A COHESIVE EXPERIENCE: Every design decision we made was evidence-based and backed by our thorough research, journey mapping, and user flows. To elevate specific features and components within the greater experience, we designed a handful of small micro-interactions. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Strategic Consulting, UX/UI Design, Web Development, Cloud Services ### DTN GOAL: DTN sought a partner to help it unify disparate solutions and streamline future enhancements. To help, MentorMate assembled and scaled dedicated mobile and web development, quality assurance, and design teams to suit its client’s needs. MULTIPLE ENGAGEMENTS: Our first engagement with DTN was to build an Android™ version of the existing DTN ProphetX iOS app. After its release, we then turned our attention to creating a feature-rich web portal for the product. We also worked with DTN to create the free DTN Ag Marketplace iOS app. It removes common hurdles and allows producers to set goals, manage inventories, discover unique selling opportunities, and even conduct end-to-end grain sales. As DTN has grown and acquired other companies, merging and navigating records has become a challenge. We worked to integrate the systems into one cohesive interface with data parity across the platforms. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Strategic Consulting, UX/UI Design, Web Development, Mobile Development, Quality Assurance ### Junior Achievement GOAL: Design and develop an entirely new version of the JA Finance Park simulation, a program that introduces students to topics like employment and income, budgeting, spending and saving, credit and debt, financial decision making, and investing and risk management. IMPROVED TRACKING AND REPORTING: In addition to updating the look, feel, and features of JA Finance Park, we paid close attention to the CMS that feeds the back-end of the simulation. After cleaning up and streamlining the process for making changes to the data in the templates, we added a dashboard for volunteers, teachers, and staff to view student progress. This was something that was missing from previous versions of the program but vastly improves tracking and reporting capabilities. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: UX/UI Design, Strategic Consulting, Web Development, Mobile Development, Quality Assurance ### Visana GOAL: Bring to life Visana, a platform that provides those suffering from endometriosis and similarly painful chronic conditions access to best practice care through personalized digital experiences. SCALING UP AND ENSURING HIPAA COMPLIANCE: Using an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach, we rearchitected the entire solution and built a secure AWS environment to process, maintain, and store personal health information (PHI). IaC ensures that the underlying infrastructure is auditable, repeatable, and scalable. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Mobile Development, Cloud Services, Quality Assurance ### PocketWaters GOAL: Bring an MVP app to the market that would enable fly anglers to locate fishing spots via location-based services; add angler reports for rivers and streams; connect with retailers, guides, and instruction; journal their angling activity, and share and connect with the fly fishing community in order to increase their success and enhance their enjoyment of angling. A PHASED APPROACH: Phase one features will drive user engagement and market validation, while phase two will capitalize on that to connect users to industry-side providers, such as retailers, guides, or charter services. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Mobile Development, UX/UI Design     ### Medibio GOAL: Medibio came to MentorMate in late-2019 with a program of work which was required to scale one of their technology platforms, ilumen, migrate it to a new AWS platform, boost its security, and add some feature enhancements. ADDING SECURITY WITH AWS: We took an infrastructure as code (IaC) approach while building ilumen and its underlying infrastructure. Using IaC to deploy and configure the needed AWS services makes the process visible, auditable, and repeatable from end to end. As we were building, we also kept the Well-Architected Framework in mind and addressed the Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, and Operational Excellence pillars. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Web Development, Mobile Development, Cloud Services, Quality Assurance ### HB Healthcare Safety®, SBC GOAL: An unfortunate side effect of healthcare organizations, like hospitals, that depend on people taking care of people is the inevitability of witnessing the impact of human error. Accidents involving the wrong medication or dosage, a delayed diagnosis, or a misstep during an operation can have dire consequences for patients and providers. Often the individual health care provider working in these faulty systems is blamed when these events occur, as opposed to fixing the broken processes and systems. This results in a cycle of shame and blame that does very little to fix the root of the healthcare system issues. HB Healthcare Safety®, SBC (HBHS) identifies the system and process failures that create the vulnerabilities allowing unfortunate care outcomes and undesirable experiences. FIXING VULNERABILITIES IN HEALTHCARE: HBHS developed the Safety Learning System’s® (SLS) Safeware® to guide, facilitate, and capture all possible opportunities for improvement identified during the standardized case review process. After parting ways with its previous technical partner, HBHS brought the Safeware® platform to MentorMate but it required some critical improvements to better achieve its intended goals. As soon as HBHS came to us, we conducted a code and architecture review to identify flaws and prioritize bugs. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Strategic Consulting, Web Development ### AgJunction GOAL: Design and develop the Whirl app to help farmers increase productivity and maximize their ROI. A NEW APPROACH TO FARMING: Whirl is packed with easy-to-use features, from quickly setting up and calibrating a vehicle profile, including implement profiles, to creating an auto-steering path (straight A-B line, A+ heading, contoured, or pivot point) and saving it in the Whirl app for future use. The farmer can quickly select any saved path in Whirl and engage the Wheelman system to accurately autosteer the tractor along the path. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Strategic Consulting, UX/UI Design, Web Development, Mobile Development, Quality Assurance ### Savage Kitchen GOAL: A robust app that would not only act as a handheld identification guide for edible invasive plant species but would also provide GPS-enabled, crowd-sourced maps of foraging locations as well as recipes and preparation tips. OFF THE GRID SOLUTION: One of the major features we added was offline, cached pins. Since foraging largely takes place in the wilderness, cell reception isn’t always reliable. We added the ability to store the data locally in the app and then upload it when cell reception is available. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Strategic Consulting, Mobile Development ### POPS! Diabetes Care GOAL: Develop a mobile app that empowers people to manage their diabetes  on their own terms SIMPLIFY HIPAA-COMPLIANT DATA SHARING: Our solution syncs the user's smartphone to a glucose meter through a mobile app interface. User data is shared with healthcare professionals through a cloud-based, HIPAA-compliant network. Users may choose to share their data with family members to reinforce the management of healthy habits in a holistic way. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Mobile, Web, UX/UI, iOS ### Foss Swim School GOAL: Ease class registration, survey completion, and enable a deeper engagement with customers with a new digital platform.  TOOLS THAT REDUCE BARRIERS TO LEARNING: Our experts collaborated with FOSS to design and deliver a robust web experience that supports communications between customers and staff. iPad-based questionnaires provide outlets for parents to share comments and concerns in real-time. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: backend, database, strategic consulting, UX/UI, iOS, AngularJS, .NET, SQL Server ### Mobile App Development for Building Brave GOAL: Create a digital platform for women to connect with mentors and grow both professionally and personally. TAILORED ADVICE MEETS ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: MentorMate partnered with Building Brave to develop the second iteration of their mobile app. The team incorporated two unique features that set Building Brave apart from other mentoring apps. Based on their interests, Building Brave users join mentorship circles that consist of several mentors of whom they can ask questions — anonymously if they wish. Secondly, the app gives businesses the ability to create private communities within the Building Brave platform to support the career development of women in their organization. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: iOS, Android, UX/UI, QA ### E-commerce Development for SafetyNet GOAL: Give customers peace of mind by creating an insurance platform that pays out should a policyholder suddenly lose their employment. INSURANCE REIMAGINED: MentorMate worked with SafetyNet to determine how best to bring this new insurance platform to life. The team built a Stripe-integrated, responsive website that could easily take secure monthly payments from customers. The website also has a built-in rules engine, the ability to create customized insurance documents in real-time, and an admin portal that SafetyNet’s customer service teams use to evaluate and pay out claims. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: iOS, Android, Web Development, UX/UI, QA ### Web Development for World Marrow Donor Association GOAL: Give doctors around the world the means to quickly and more efficiently match patients with life-saving bone marrow donors. MODERN MEDICINE: MentoMate modernized WMDA’s database architecture and built a system that easily handles multiple data sets for their network of over thirty-three million donors spanning fifty-five countries. The data is housed in a web portal that doctors from around the world can access. A doctor simply inputs pertinent details about their patient and the portal returns any potential matches.  TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Cloud, Web Development, SQL, PHP, UX/UI, QA, Strategic Consulting ### Homes for Heroes® GOAL: Streamline payment processing and serve a growing user base with a modern digital platform. SCALE PLATFORM AND IMPROVE PAYMENT PROCESSING: We built a custom responsive web application that combines content management, customer management, workflows, and a new payment system. The application securely increases engagement and improves the buying and lending experience for Homes for Heroes' real estate agents, lenders, home buyers, and home sellers. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Web, UX/UI, QA, PHP, Project Management ### The Great Northern GOAL: Promote cultural programming on a dynamic digital platform that flexes with a growing organization’s needs. EVOLVE STRATEGIC MISSION WITH A FLEXIBLE PLATFORM: Administrators using The Great Northern’s new responsive web application benefit from a CMS that supports a high degree of customization and control so its digital presence remains fresh and engaging throughout the year. The Great Northern has a polished and flexible platform that can reliably support its evolving mission TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: UX/UI, QA, Cloud, Frontend, Backend, Web Development, Strategic Consulting ### Kaviva GOAL: Create a platform solution that improves health management, benefits awareness and enrollment by connecting insurance companies, providers and employers with members. TARGETED CONTENT USERS NEED: The app allows employers, benefits companies and health plans the ability to deliver curated content users seek; with push notifications, banner ads, SMS or email. After a brief questionnaire, Kaviva automatically promotes well-being through gentle guidance, education and feedback. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, Backend, Database, iOS, Mobile, Software Testing, Java, Web ### Adventium Labs GOAL: Leverage technology to increase student-to-student collaboration and information retention in the classroom. TECHNOLOGY INSPIRES COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: iNeuron, a collaborative app for iPads, offers expertly-designed, self-paced lessons in neuroscientific concepts via an interactive, learning-oriented game. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Mobile, iOS, Backend ### Spok GOAL: Create a customized HIPAA-compliant messaging system for providers and their teams. COORDINATING CARE THROUGH INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS: We designed software that allows teams to customize their communication preferences so messages reach them on their preferred devices. Smartphones or tablets can be used to receive secure code alerts, view patient updates, check lab results, prioritized two-way administrator messaging and more. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, iOS, Microsoft .NET, Software Testing, UX/UI, Web   ### WeVest GOAL: Put the computing and predictive power of a financial planner into the hands of consumers PERSONALIZING INVESTMENT GUIDANCE: We partnered with WeVest to build a responsive web app and proprietary algorithms that provide recommendations to save against short and long-term goals. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Backend, Database, Financial, LAMP, Marketing, Software Testing, Strategy, UX/UI, Web ### Twin City Outdoor Services GOAL:  Build a centralized, cloud-based solution to help property managers catalog and maintain their investments. MANAGING WORK VISUALLY: We built an app and desktop tools allowing property managers to view a map of a given building and log Points of Interest, or problem areas, by touching the screen of their smartphone. STREAMLINE COMMUNICATIONS: 1Spot is also designed to eliminate wasted time and simplify workflows.  Using geolocation, site layouts and issues can be viewed at any given time.  TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Backend, Database, Microsoft .NET, Mobile, Software Testing, Web ### OperaDDS GOAL: Give dentistry professionals access to a communication dashboard they can access from a smartphone or a computer. RAPID ON-DEMAND CARE: OperaDDS allows users to send HIPAA-compliant messages to their team members. The platform includes several components. The online collaboration portal, Chorus, enables secure email communication, patient progress tracking and lab data review. Chorus ensures team cases and conversations are always efficient and always available. SINGLE-TOUCH MESSAGING: The Pager functionality gives teams the ability to send single-touch messages. Members can customize their communication preferences and even select messages from preset options. ### blackriver GOAL: Create a tool to bring the data-driven and social elements of the cycling experience together A PLATFORM TO ENHANCE EXPERIENCE: We worked with blackriver to design an app that helps users find, track and curate social cycling experiences. blackriver is as much a place to share photos and find cycling inspiration as it is a tool that facilitates connections between riders and the local shops they support. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, iOS, Microsoft .NET, Mobile, UX/UI, Web ### Venture Solutions GOAL: Increase digital relevancy with a white label SaaS solution. A DIGITAL SOLUTION TO SUSTAIN PROFIT: We helped Venture Solutions modernize its business by developing a mobile compatible and web responsive software concept that gives end users access to financial planning features. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: UX/UI, Web ### InboxDollars GOAL: Build upon internal developers' capabilities to satisfy more users via mobile screens. ENGAGE MOBILE USERS: Leading the technical strategy behind the InboxDollars mobile applications, our developers built and continue to refine application layout and design, security recommendations, SDK integrations, and their positioning on app stores.  TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Dedicated team, frontend, iOS, Android ### EVINE Live Goal: Integrate the streaming broadcast with online access for viewers seeking a complete shopping experience. MULTI-SCREEN CONTENT ENGAGEMENT REALIZED: EVINE Live, wanted to facilitate multi-screen content consumption enabling viewers to watch, shop, chat about and share their purchases without jarring or distracting their customers. To do this we designed an interactive shopping portal that combined streaming and online media to create an integrated user experience.  TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, iOS, Software Testing, Strategy ### NativeX GOAL: Engage new users on mobile devices with a better platform. CAPTIVATING IN-APP ADVERTISING: We designed a new advertising platform, several websites and apps with predictive analytics capabilities, helping NativeX make an impact and crack the mobile advertising market. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, JAVA, Microsoft .NET, Mobile, Web ### Early Learning Labs GOAL: Build a digital tool to optimize early childhood assessments and supports kindergarten readiness. HARNESSING DATA TO SUPPORT STUDENT ABILITY: We developed a technology suite that improves student performance monitoring and helps educators and administrators can make more data-based decisions for classrooms and districts. Long term progress goals can be met and education practices can be better understood. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: LAMP, Mobile, Strategy, Testing, UX/UI, Web ### Trane GOAL: Building operators need to respond quickly to customer calls. EVOLVING TO SATISFY TODAY’S CUSTOMERS: The Trane Tracer BAS Operator Suite mobile app we built transforms HVAC system management providing a platform for data-driven services for monitoring and high-performance buildings. FULL-ACCESS REMOTE CONTROL: The Trane Tracer Building Automation System Operator Suite mobile app places the controls in the hands of building operators, allowing for quick and efficient adjustments, from monitoring equipment and temperatures to managing alarms. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, Java, iOS, Mobile ### U of M IGDILab GOAL: Use software to track literacy development and facilitate research initiatives therein. CAPTURE DATA TO IMPROVE LITERACY: We worked with U of M researchers to build an application that measures young children’s literacy levels and language skills more effectively, but also equips teachers with data that can inform more effective lesson plans and assessment strategies. The software makes the work of research more efficient, as it supports more rapid and less costly testing of hypotheses. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Backend, iOS, Bluetooth, Mobile ### Venture Solutions GOAL: Design software solutions so consumers can easily manage multiple finances. CONCEPTUALIZE, ARCHITECT A WHITE LABEL, MULTI-TENANT SAAS SOLUTION: We designed software to give users the ability to see and interact with mortgage statements. This solution allows users the ability to pay statements on a month-by-month basis or set up a recurring payment schedule. Users can also manage multiple mortgages at once, view their current month and historic months along with viewing escrow and tax payments. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Strategy, UX, Web   ### Little Peanut on the Go GOAL: Create an app to organize childcare information and streamline parents’ ability to share it. FULL-STACK MOBILE DEVELOPMENT: Little Peanut on the Go, available in Google Play and the Apple Store, allows parents to create profiles for each child including medication emergency contacts and necessary instructions. Parents can create packing lists and care schedules, then share those with caregivers as many times as they need. While parents are away, they can check the app to view status posts caregivers have left cataloging progress throughout the day. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, Backend, Database, iOS, Microsoft .NET Mobile, Software Testing, UX/UI, Web, Xamarin ### Jostens SchoolWay™ GOAL: Simplifying school-­to-­home communications by transforming the smartphone into an updates and resource hub. RELAYING SPECIFIC UPDATES OR CRITICAL FACTS: The Jostens SchoolWay™ app features real-time push notifications sent by administrators and a feed that gathers customized news for users. The statuses can be text-­based but also support the distribution of multimedia content including photo galleries and documents. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, Marketing, Mobile, Software Testing, Strategy, UX/UI READ THE CASE STUDY ### Agile Frameworks GOAL: Help multi-disciplinary engineering firms realize the benefits of the MetaField software program. IMPROVE PROCESS & QUALITY: Agile Frameworks saw an opportunity to use smartphones on job sites to help reduce time and errors. REAL-TIME DATA INTEGRATION: The app needed to interface with a variety of client systems, including accounting, CRM and project management. MentorMate teamed with Agile’s internal development staff and provided supplementary resources. Components of the solution included experience mapping, mobile application design, mobile application development, mobile app infrastructure integration, platform applications and back-end web platform development. ### Escali SmartConnect™ GOAL: Integrate kitchen and bathroom management into holistic health regimens while keeping track of recipes and nutrition. WELLNESS MANAGEMENT: Escali saw an opportunity to combine the proactive awareness of a smart kitchen scale with the ability to track results on a smart body weight scale in an app. TRACKING + ANALYSIS: The Escali SmartConnect™ Body Scale allows you to track weight and BMI (Body Mass Index) with the same simple app. It also sends weight measurements to the Escali SmartConnect™ app, which analyzes 35 nutrients from a selection of more than 8,000 food items. Users can create a food journal along with viewing measurement conversions to better proactively manage health. ### MyMeds GOAL: Help patients remember, track and understand their prescriptions. TRACKING PATIENT PRESCRIPTION INFORMATION CAN BE COMPLICATED: Patients are often hospitalized because they fail to follow medication instructions properly. This care and cost can be prevented. IMPROVING DOSAGE ACCURACY WITH MHEALTH: The MyMeds patient medication manager available for iOS and Android devices with added web functionality allows a user to make up to ten profiles for themselves and family with customized medication reminders. All records are stored on a HIPAA-compliant server. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, iOS, Mobile Software Testing  ### France 44 GOAL: Customer loyalty is critical to liquor and charcuterie distributor France 44. The challenge is mirroring an artfully crafted customer experience in a mobile app. BUILDING AN APP AND BRAND LOYALTY: We created an app that allows customers to explore the wines, spirits, and beers available at France 44, mark their favorites, write tasting notes and find recommendations based on personal tastes and preferred selections. Customers can create shopping and wish lists or organize their favorite drinks by style, mood, or occasion. TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, Backend, Database, iOS, Mobile, LAMP, UX/UI, Web ### MobCon GOAL: MobCon US, a top mobile and strategy conference, needed a next-generation digital campaign and app to build community. A MOBILE EXPERIENCE BUILT FOR INTERACTION: By selecting from a list of breakout sessions, users can create a personalized agenda and view the full list of available activities, sponsors, speaker bios, and session descriptions. CONNECTING THROUGH NETWORKING: The app also includes a lead retrieval feature. Users can also connect their Twitter account and tweet directly from the app.  TECHNOLOGIES/SERVICES: Android, Java, Lamp, Mobile, Software Testing, Strategy, UX/UI ### Project with Obasf Project with Obasf ### Project with Royal Bank Project with Royal Bank ### Project with AstraZeneca Project with AstraZeneca ### Project with LandOLakes Project with LandOLakes ### Industry Recognitions - Top 10 Custom Software Development Companies - 10 trusted software development outsourcing Co. - 7 Top Web Development Companies in the USA: 2023 - Top Web Development Companies And Developers - Bulgaria: Top IT Outsourcing Destination - CENTER FOR INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP - BA Project of the Year 2021 - Top Employer in Bulgaria - Top Twin Cities IT Consulting Firms 2020 - Minnesota Top Workplaces 2020 - Twin Cities Best of Business - Software Company - Largest IT Consulting Firms in the Twin Cities - Best Minneapolis Software Development Agencies ## Key Clients - AstraZeneca ## Packages ## Locations (4) ### Minneapolis, MN (Headquarters) - 1350 Lagoon Ave, Suite 800 - Minneapolis, MN 55408 - United States - 50 - 75 employees - Phone: + 16128234000 ### Sofia, Bulgaria - 67 Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov Blvd. - Sofia 1592 - Bulgaria - 301 - 400 employees - Phone: + 35928622632 ### Göteborg, Sweden - Pepparedsleden 1 - Göteborg 431 50 - Sweden - 2 - 5 employees - Phone: + 46317761000 ### Asunción, Paraguay - 4855 Carlos M. Gimenez - Asunción - Paraguay - 101 - 150 employees - Phone: +(595-21) 327-9463 ## Contact MentorMate [Send a message](https://clutch.co/profile/mentormate) ### Connect on Social - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mentormate/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/MentorMate/) - [X](https://twitter.com/mentormate) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/mentormate/)