Mindecs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own a collection of businesses and websites related to finance verticals. They tend to be content and information services. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindecs?

I was impressed with their value proposition in the past and thought they’d be a strong fit for app development after a recent acquisition of a site and mobile app.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on developing the app and the website, which is built on WordPress. The app is hosted in a DigitalOcean environment.

What is the team composition?

There were three people working on the app. 

How did you come to work with Mindecs?

I was introduced to them through another technology company was that a marquee customer. At the time, there was nothing for Mindecs to take on for our company. Ultimately, I decided to work with them when we had the chance.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $2,500–$10,000 on their services.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–June 2020.

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

I’m happy with their work. They consistently delivered quality outputs and offered updates along the way. It was a good experience.   

How did Mindecs perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very communicative, easy to speak with despite the difference in time zone. When we had feedback for them, they were responsive in incorporating it into their future work. They hit deadlines and responded to our inquiries on time. We get responses from them within 24 hours. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re strong in their ability to grasp my vision and requirements, translating our goals into code. I didn’t have to walk them through wireframes and concepts multiple times because they understood our needs immediately. They were able to guide me through their process as well, which made them feel like a member of my own team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a bit more forceful with their recommendations because they have a good understanding of the industry. Partners should want to lean into that knowledge.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take advantage of the kickoff calls that their team offers. That’s effective in laying the foundation effectively for the relationship.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called eSSENTIAL Accessibility. We work in the IT industry, specifically in digital accessibility, and my title is chief technology officer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindecs?

It is always a challenge to find the right people with the required experience, especially with real experience. I needed someone to help bring in new developers, especially with expertise related to digital accessibility.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team helped us to find software engineers with specific requirements, such as knowing some technologies and frameworks, processes, and how our existing platform works.

We wanted someone that knows the methodologies and knows how software development is done from the beginning to the end of the release. Finding those people that have that experience was quite difficult, but they worked with us closely throughout the entire process to ensure we got what we needed. Flexibility is also something we were looking for in their resources.

What is the team composition?

There are 6–7 people right now, but we will increase the number of people over time.

How did you come to work with Mindecs?

My colleague found them somewhere and passed their contact information to me. I felt quite comfortable with Mindecs. I had several conversations with Viktor (Co-Founder) and we exchanged our thoughts. I let them know how I see the interviews and screening people, and they adjusted.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for a year already. It is an ongoing relationship.

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

I have some KPIs for measuring the performance of the work we are doing. I give all the feedback to Mindecs on market levels. Over time everyone was benefiting from that and benefited because they were hiring more experienced people. The quality level increased from my side and I am happy right now because we finally got software engineers that are on the level that I am satisfied with.

It isn’t always black and white; there is always something in the middle and I expect that people might not be able to do everything, but if they are capable to learn, they are capable to explore and do the research. In other words, they should be in a position that puts me in a zone where I feel comfortable when I say we have to resolve the problem. We don’t know the solution, but we need to find out. They are problem solvers. My KPIs are defined pretty clearly by specifying what I expect, and I am measuring that as well. 

How did Mindecs perform from a project management standpoint?

So far, their ability to manage the project has been very good. Flexibility, availability, and discipline are all things I can say are on their side. They personally take care of things. They aren’t a big corporation where you have to wait for 30 people on 30 levels to approve certain things. They are problem solvers.

They improved their screening process. I told them to change the way I review candidates. I simply give them the code to review, and by them reviewing it is the best way to determine their knowledge, how they think, as well as their experience.

If you give the engineer part of the code and ask them for their opinion on it, that person has to go through multiple combinations, and then you can easily determine how they think, and maybe put in traps so that they can catch those which is also good. I gave that idea to Mindecs and they loved it.   

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a company, they give me a lot of flexibility as well. Sometimes when I am working with people it seems like after a trial period there is a difference in the work from what it was at the beginning, but they will find someone else for me.

They cover a lot of the situation that so many companies do not cover. Flexibility in their work is really something I appreciate. Comparing to the competitors, they are great, and I am really happy that they do that. I hope the conversations we have had in the past have helped them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Like Elon Musk said once, there is always room for improvement. You can always find anything to improve on. They can maybe build things like a platform for tracking the progress. Maybe we should stop using Google Sheets instead of using a dedicated platform. I am not involved in such a company that provides software development services, but there are probably some improvements.

Any complaints I have had were always constructive. Most importantly, because Mindecs is a small company, they are willing to change many things in order to improve processes because that is their business. If they can improve on anything, it will, of course, increase their business as well and they understand that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would simply recommend them. If you want to feel comfortable, work with Mindecs.