Grinn

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder and CEO of MedThings

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

MedThings creates medication adherence solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Grinn to accomplish?

• Take over management of FW-development
• Release working pilot-FW
• Release final FW

SOLUTION

How did you find Grinn?

Got contacted by local sales person from Grinn

Why did you select Grinn over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Grinn were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Grinn has been manageing FW-development for MedThings. This has been done by using a Manager in Grinn with severeal developers. Spec and priorities has been controlled by MedThings. The collaboration has been very good, where the Grinn-team is just as integrated in MedThings daily development as internal resources. In this way we've been able to keep a steady progress over time and delivered as expected to customers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We managed to get our product ready for the market and have now transitioned into support-related work. Grinn as been a key part to achiving this.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Having a dedicated Manager has been very important. The work-flow for us has been very good. Deadlines in this business are always hard, but Grinn has, for the most part, been able to deliver on time. The times where deadlines has passed, we've seen dedication in completing tasks from the dev-team with long hours and weekend work.

What was your primary form of communication with Grinn?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

For us the most important has been the single individuals that we now are running on the project. This is very competent people with long experience and knowledge.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Grinn could have done differently?

In the beginning of the project, too many resources was put on the project, and the general efficency was not good compared to the cost. After some adjustment, we found a sweetspot that has worked great for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Hempel A/S

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We make specialized coatings for several industries; Marine, Energy & Infrastructure. Trusted coating solutions worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Grinn to accomplish?

• Materialize our envisioned product in terms of electronics

SOLUTION

How did you find Grinn?

Referral

Why did you select Grinn over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Grinn were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Grinn assisted with designing the hardware/electronics and evaluating different solutions to fit into the design. They produced prototypes and provided great testing support to enable further product development. All embedded software was also provided by Grinn and they worked in tight cooperation with our mobile application developers to ensure smooth hard-/software integration via API's.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Product is undergoing field testing at present and a new company is being formed to bring the product to market. Grinn always delivered on time/cost.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Always on time and always ready to listen to new input and pivot if required.

What was your primary form of communication with Grinn?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Great communications and willingness to venture into new technologies and solving problems a long the way. They really understand the meaning of "Team" and cooperation - always willing to take ownership on actions. Great partnering company overall !

Are there any areas for improvement or something Grinn could have done differently?

We are very happy with all of the outcomes. Due to Grinn's popularity (for obvious reasons) it might get more difficult/timely to use their services in the future but so far no issues!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder and CEO of a first-of-its-kind wireless speaker system that allows users to play audio on multiple speakers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Grinn?

We hired Grinn for their IoT development services. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Grinn has developed our loudspeaker circuitry and related firmware. They've also co-developed our wireless transmission technology. For each project, we've provided specifications for Grinn to use as they develop each deliverable from scratch. The final product we're working towards with Grinn will allow users to connect multiple battery-powered speakers to build an audio network even when there aren't any power outlets or WiFi available. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with Grinn's CEO and founder, developers, and project managers. 

How did you come to work with Grinn?

Grinn's services were referred to us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested around €175,000 (approximately $192,000 USD) with Grinn. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Grinn began in December 2019, and it's ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Grinn has laid the groundwork for the development of an entirely new wireless transmission technology. I can't go into too much detail, but they've helped us reach all of our development goals and technical specifications. 

How did Grinn perform from a project management standpoint?

I am satisfied with Grinn's project management through GitHub. There have been system bugs, which are expected on this type of project, but Grinn has addressed them well. We're using Slack and Google Meet to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Grinn's level of customer service is far higher than what I've experienced at other companies — they're communicative and responsive. Additionally, I've been very impressed with Grinn's ability to understand our needs and how they challenge our specifications to optimize our solutions. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Grinn is growing rapidly, and it can be hard for them to allocate enough teammates to fill our projects. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I want to let future customers know that what they see from Grinn is what they'll get. Grinn is honest and their executive-level leadership is very straightforward and trustworthy. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of Flowplan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Grinn?

We hired Grinn to improve our own version of our IoT device in order to make it more robust and scalable.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We got a recommendation, had some meetings and decided to go with Grinn. They've shown great capabilities and competencies.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We had our first version of our device, and Grinn implemented a new design, with several features, mostly in regards to network technology and the addition of battery.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have had the same architech from the beginning, that has been in charge of our project, and Grinn has used several different resources for specific areas of the project

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have more than 2000 active installations today, and are scaling quickly. The solution is plug-n-play and powered off a single battery.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have weekly status meetings, and ongoing communication on Slack and Grinn's project management tool, where all tasks and projects are easily available.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have a lot of different competencies and quality in-house equipment. They are able to act quickly. Our main person of contact has a really good understanding of our project, which makes development and communication a lot easier.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We have several things that could have been done faster or easier from the beginning, but it's impossible to avoid, as development is an iterative process

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Konekt, a Design Solutions company focusing on IoT and AI technologies. Konekt helps our customers Design, Plan, and Develop IoT and Smart solutions that involve users, cloud, app, and sensors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Grinn?

We have hired Grinn Global for several projects within Agriculture, Smart Sensors, and Automotive.

SOLUTION

How did you select Grinn and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Grinn Global after a review of several other local vendors but as they also came highly recommended from some of our business partners the choice was easy.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We have worked with the Grinn Global design teams on hardware development for both small connected sensors and larger IoT projects where we have hardware development from the idea phase to final production and product launch. In all phases of the project, the team has supported and helped us achieve our goals with expert precision.

How many resources from the Grinn team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work with one or several project managers but are directly communicating with the team on day-to-day issues. The team members we have interacted with are all very professional and helpful.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Currently, we have been part of several projects with Grinn that are at different stages of the product lifecycle. The latest is in production and selling in Denmark, previous projects are ramming up at the moment.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

During the projects, we had initial design review meetings and that transitioned into daily communication on slack, skype, and weekly meetings over video conference, where we resolved more strategic issues with the team.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They offer a complete package of everything needed to create world-class hardware products, from design to production. On top of this Grinn Global consists of highly professional, motivated, and pleasant people from the Founders to their project teams. This is unique and very satisfying for us as a customer.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

In the initial design phases, we produce heaps of documents that supply direction and requirements for the projects, the transformation of these to tasks could be more transparent.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at sani nudge — we monitor hand hygiene in hospitals and nursing homes. We use an automated system in real-time to track the location of healthcare workers so sanitization happens at the right moments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Grinn?

We didn’t have the internal knowledge to develop the hardware for our product. We had a lot of offers from companies in Denmark to develop it, but they were very expensive and since we began as a startup, we didn’t have a lot of funding. To reduce the cost we looked to Poland to develop our first hardware device.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Grinn develops our main hardware for our IoT devices that monitor the presence of individuals in a hospital, which includes the electronics and firmware that go into the project. I am an electronic engineer and designer, so I supplied Grinn with the business logic and case, product requirements, and some simple prototypes. The prototypes I created gave me some early insights into the development that I was able to share with Grinn. 

Together, we developed the concepts further and began the actual development. There were several prototypes completed with rapid prototyping before they delivered the final products. We’ve developed two different devices with them and are currently working on a third. 

What is the team composition?

I work with 4–5 teammates depending on where we are in the development phase, but I have two main points of contact. 

How did you come to work with Grinn?

We connected through a Danish cooperation partner who helped us with designs in the past and is well versed in the radio communication and protocol we use — they recommended Grinn to us. We realized Grinn had experience developing other applications that had the same hardware components as ours and had the same expertise as the Danish companies, so we decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $410,000 with Grinn. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Grinn in March 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve been able to produce two working devices with Grinn. The first one has been used with patients for about two years now and has had no issues — they’ve provided us with high-quality firmware and hardware. 

How did Grinn perform from a project management standpoint?

Even if we don’t contact them every day, they are always accessible. Otherwise, we communicate with them on a weekly basis — if there are any problems, they are involved right away and help us solve them. We have ongoing coordination and communication and they really feel like a direct part of the company. 

We work in a scrum and divide testing and retesting responsibility between us. It’s not only their responsibility to set up the project, but also to meet our deadlines, which they do. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver what they promise and the feedback on the concept development we initially did with Grinn was very positive. We have limited resources, and in contrast to larger companies who are very strict about their services because it is costly to develop hardware, Grinn is flexible but firm about the cost of their development services. 

Their experience in our industry, including network protocol and Bluetooth, is very impressive. They bring their experiences from other projects to ours, which allows us to quickly find solutions to our issues. They really understand our project and the work that they’re doing for us, from networks to radio communication. They’ve proven that we did a good job hiring them based on their experience — I’m glad I followed my gut and hired them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I am very happy with their work and our partnership. On our side, we’d like them to do more testing, but that is dependent on whether or not we can get more funding and pay them to take over some of the processes we do internally. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise customers to be involved in the business logic as much as possible and to get started with them from the early stages of project development because they have so much expert knowledge. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a CTO of fiber optics sensing company. We develop innovative sensing systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Grinn, and what were your goals?

We had an idea of a new type of fiber optic interrogator. We were looking for someone who would provide full coverage of practical development based on our input (architecture/PCB design/FW and SW development).

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a company that shares the same "can do" mentality and enthusiasm. After initial talks it was clear that we do overlap in terms of project trajectory.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started with a clear explanation of the basic working principle (interferometry) and constraints. The next step was diving into the HW requirements. Both HW reauirements and SW constrains were fully proposed and implemented by Grinn. Grinn was also responsible for CE testing of the final product.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with 4-6 people among which there was CTO,SW architect, HW developer, PCB designer, Test engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The performance of the designed interrogator was up to spec. It required additional debugging and small HW improvements, but the general outcome was very positive.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We worked together quite some time ago, so the management style and tools used for project management most likely evolved and changed. However, we did enjoy the 1:1 collaboration between out engineers and Grinn. The short communication path and almost day-to-day contact was an important aspect of our collaboration.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Grinn shared their "can do" mentality and their very practical approach to solving problems. Putting attention on important goals/milestones and working together on finding the right solution was something we appreciated.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Some of the aspects of the development process were too lean (risk planning, design reviews, testing procedures). However, I expect that those points are handled different after those few years of company growth.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m part of the founding team of a small startup located in Denmark.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Grinn?

We needed help with software development within the field of Bluetooth and NFC communication. We wanted to find everything we needed in one place so we hired Grinn.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began our collaboration with Grinn by presenting them with simple mock-ups and prototypes for our electronics, which helped demonstrate the basic functionality of the product. We wanted to build a game for children that has tiles that pop out of a board using electromagnets and permanent magnets, with the tiles being read by NFC technology. The software inside the electronics is based on development kits.

We had whole-day meetings with their electronic software developers creating specifications for the project, minimum requirements, and so on. Many of the things that we needed to do required a lot of research, such as our custom-made electromagnets that needed to work with NFC technology. Grinn delved deep to find out if it was possible to do considering the proximity of strong magnets when doing radio communication. 

We kicked off with a one-month sprint, during which Grinn did proof of concept research and investigated the technologies that we needed to use to see if what we wanted was possible. Their team did mock-up tests to figure out how much power would be needed for this project. 

We finished the main task, which was the electronics and firmware development, but we still work with Grinn because they are creating other tools for us to use in our production. They also support us for firmware updates so that we’re able to run new types of games.

What is the team composition?

We’ve interacted with a handful of people but I’ve mainly been in touch with two people. There’s a whole team supporting them consisting of electronic designers, software designers, a firmware designer, and a project manager. They also had someone in charge of the visual and the mechanical design portion of the project.

How did you come to work with Grinn?

We received recommendations from other Danish companies and compared all our options, taking into consideration the different cost estimates. We thought that Grinn could handle the task as they had both the electronics and firmware experience to get the product developed. That’s why we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between €100,000–€300,000 (approximately $120,000–$370,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We got in touch with them in December 2019 for the discovery phase and kicked off the project in January 2020. It’s an ongoing partnership. The main project is completed but we’re in touch on a weekly basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re still in the process of getting the product out to the market so we don’t have any hard metrics yet, but everyone from all sides is happy with the product.

How did Grinn perform from a project management standpoint?

I would honestly say that this isn’t their strongest area. We handled the management of the project on our side, but there are other areas where they really shine. It’s the reason why we’d choose them again. 

We had weekly online meetings though we did do 4–5 in-person meetings in Poland at the start of the project. We use Slack to communicate.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

The people we’ve been working with are very skilled and great at finding solutions to problems. They’re creative and not locked in their way of thinking, completing tasks one way or another.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on their project management capabilities and maybe provide a better overview of the project status, tasks to be done, and timelines. This is their weakest point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk to them. I recommend Grinn because they’ve done good work and we’re happy with our end product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a comaony that provides tracking solutions for a wide range of sectors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Grinn?

We have been in a collaborative collaboration with Grinn to build state of the art and ahead of the competition hardware.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were connected with Grinn through refferal, we compared them with 2 others but in the end the open mindset and collaborative spirit made us decide for Grinn.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We are now in the proccess of building our second tracker with Grinn, which builds on the learnings of version 1. But in essence it is a redesing from a hardware perpsective. Grinn helped us out with brining new / emerging hardware components to the table. As well as a redesing (simplification) of the way the hardware components and the firmware works together. They also optimized the existing IP components we have created together in version 1

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

on average 3: A lead architect / PM, a hardware engineer, a Firmware engineer. For visionary debates Grinn adds specialists from the company to the debate as required / useful

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The tracker we jointly build has generated massive traction (albeit not ready for the market yet). We are conducting trials with large cargo shippers as well as airlines. The fact that we managed to get a patent on our automated flight mode proves grinn knows what they are doing. The components for this to work were created by the grinn team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is very effective both firms believe communication is key especially when there is a physical distance between the companies. So we found a near perfect way to organize this.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We've run into brick walls many times but the team at Grinn always found ways to get the issues solved. They don't only make the hardware they trully put in the effort to understand the problem you are trying to solve and proactively think along side with you.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

In our cooperation i can't really think of anything right now

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Simplewire

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Digital tagging of electrical installations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Grinn to accomplish?

• Develop new concepts

SOLUTION

How did you find Grinn?

Word of mouth

Why did you select Grinn over others?

Had heard good things and after talking to them, felt they fit our needs

How many teammates from Grinn were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Don't have time to write this. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Delivery of prototypes and production ready design.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We're working very much one on one, so the project management is sparse and on a week to week basis. 
The initial project estimate was rough, as it should be given the explorative nature of the project, but still precise enough, and most impressive, isn't too far from what has been the reality so far.

What was your primary form of communication with Grinn?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The specialist we have assigned is very skilled, and has a very broad and deep knowledge of many disciplines, which allows him to select the best path forward very quickly and precisely. On top of that, he has extensive knowledge about our exact field, which is very rare. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Grinn could have done differently?

Nothing that sticks out or hinders the collaboration.