MindK

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a FinTech Scale-up from Switzerland, with over 250 employees operating in Europe. We developed a tool that helps companies to automate their entire spend management, with a smart artificial intelligence leveraged software platform. My role is Talent Acquisition Lead in Tech hiring.

For what projects/services did your company hire MindK?

We hired MindK in order to help us set up our DevOps and Cloud division and to manage and support the transition from GCP to Azure.

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

We shortlisted a few vendors, however, MindKs approach was very fast, very professional and we received the exact right profiles that we were looking for. We felt understood and taken seriously in our needs. Also, the terms and conditions are very fair and we were very satisfied with the process.

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

We approached MindK in order to give them more information and a big picture on our situation. Who we are, what we do, what stages we're in and what we need. We had a very good kick-off meeting with MindK and our Head of DevOps and Cloud, where we could outline all necessary information and trust that MindK will get back with a proposal.

They cam back very quick with a first proposal including sending us profiles of employees that could be hired immediately for our temporary project. We agreed on the terms, then started interviewing the candidates and found our perfect match quite quick (after the second person interview only). We hired that person and everything went very smooth. MindK has been supporting along the way and always checked in with us.

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

We worked with one person, they are a DevOps Engineering specialist.

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

The cloud migration project could be accelerated and we were able to focus on other topics within DevOps and Cloud, such as security, thanks to the extra knowledge and workforce from MindK.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective, the communication went very well and all deadlines were met. There were no issues whatsoever at any time, even though they have all been working remotely from different countries the entire time of the project.

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

Their pace, level of service, and quality aren't always easy to find amongst vendors.

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

Nothing in particular.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of The Game Band, a game development company that builds web-based multiplayer games.

What challenge were you trying to address with MindK?

We’re expanding our existing web-only game into a mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MindK provides us with mobile app development. They’re building an app for Android and iOS using React Native for our game. The game is obtuse and complicated, and the team has been helping us build a skeleton and framework for the mobile application so we can bring it in-house for continued development and support.

What is the team composition?

We found them through a reference from another company. 

How did you come to work with MindK?

We work with 4–5 people from MindK at any given time. So far, we’ve worked with 2–3 developers, a QA specialist, and a project manager. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $250,000–$300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2021. Our engagement is ongoing and about to wrap up in June 2022.

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

The quality of MindK’s work is great, and it’s helped us get to the point we needed. We’re now able to hire in-house developers to build on what they created. Overall, they’ve done a great job kickstarting and laying the technological foundation for mobile development at our company. 

How did MindK perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly one-on-one meetings with the project manager and one of the main developers. We also do retrospectives on sprints with the QA specialist and project manager, so there’s a lot of good communication. As for tools, I have access to their Jira, and we use Google Docs, which has been very useful in terms of checklists. 

MindK is responsive whenever we have questions, even though there’s an eight-hour difference between us. They’re really good at responding as quickly as possible. They’re going through the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and they’re still maintaining communication and responsiveness even though we haven’t asked them to. This response speaks to their dedication to getting the work done and being available. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m happy with MindK’s agility, which relates to their communication. If we need to pivot on something, they’re ready to go in a different direction, and it doesn’t take a lot of energy to move that ship. The team is always there to dig in and help us out when we need to understand anything. Overall, they’re really supportive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve on from the project’s perspective.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of Levels.fyi. We help hundreds of thousands of professionals each month with their careers.

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

We hired MindK to build us a community forum where our users could interact with each other. It is also part of our strategy to attract more users with UGC.

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

We searched for many vendors online and after interviewing them, it was clear MindK had the necessary skills and competence to deliver our project.

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

We have designs / mockups in place and MindK was responsible for implementing the project end to end. We would have weekly meetings with the MindK project manager along with more frequent updates daily via Slack chat. The community was built in Next.js (technology based on React.js).

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

We worked with about 3 people primarily on MindK side. A project manager and two developers.

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

Project was delivered on time and all deliverables were met. The team went above and beyond to ensure the product is something consumers would love. MindK goes beyond the bare minimum of delivering a project, they actively work with you to ensure the project is the best work it can possibly be. I see MindK more as a partner rather than a vendor. They've actively improved our product by testing it for themselves and contributing valuable feedback from the perspective of our future users.

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

Excellent communication and management throughout. There were times where we forgot to include things in the specs and the Project manager would suggest or point out things that were missing. The team is highly detail-oriented and top-notch.

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

I was impressed with how fast MindK was able to deliver the project and their expertise. They've clearly done many many projects and have the expertise to know what needs to go into a project even if we don't cover it in the specs. The project manager was excellent to work with and managed the project from start to finish without any issues.

The quality of work and the interactions with the team felt akin to anyone that I've worked within the Bay Area in technology. MindK's expertise is for real and the bar is high. This isn't your typical outsourcing shop, MindK has top-notch engineers and PMs.

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

None.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO of a Switzerland-based consulting company Radenia AG. We provide digital transformation, business, and IT sourcing consultancy for international businesses ranging from early-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

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

Besides business consulting, our company provides clients with IT sourcing services and acts as a general contractor combining deliverables from several vendors. When our client needs software development, we help them find suitable IT company based on their project needs, preferred tech stack, etc. We hired MindK to help several clients develop complex platforms and solutions.

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

MindK was recommended by another trusted company. As a result, we chose them among 5 others because they offer turnkey end-to-end project development, demonstrate a high degree of ownership over deliverables, and have a lot of satisfied customers.

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

We started with the discovery phase that resulted in a project specification document. Then they provided us with design mock-ups for approval. There was a large scope of features and a number of complex integrations with third-party systems, so the project lasted for over a year. Key technologies used - NodeJS, ReactJS, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ.

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

They provided us with a large team including CTO, Senior Business Analysts, Tech Lead, Project Manager, designer, DevOps, 5 developers, and 2 Quality Assurance specialists.

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

While I cannot share the product we developed, I can measure the success of how fast we set up a team of necessary specialists and how flexible and good they were in handling scope and short-term changes. Our client and I are very pleased with MindK in terms of communication, flexibility, quality, and responsiveness. They have qualified professionals, certified project managers in the team, and a well-turned cooperation process, which is also a thing we like about them. We’re very satisfied internally.

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

As the entire project was quite big, we decided to use iterative Waterfall, which means that we split the whole process into several releases. We used Slack for communication, web conferencing for stand-up meetings to receive feedback and make sure everything is on track. They always were able to discuss and solve any issues quickly and directly which was very impressive.

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

One of the most impressive things is their ability to deliver end-to-end solutions from scratch at such high quality starting from design to product launch and further support. It's very rare that such a medium-sized company can provide full-lifecycle product development services. Another thing that impressed me is their willingness to dig deeper and understand the project details and needs to provide maximum business value. I plan to keep on cooperating with MindK in the future.

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

It's been a pleasure to work with MindK, it was a good experience, so I have nothing to say in terms of improvement. They delivered what we expected at a good velocity and we are satisfied with the result.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are dancing studio in Prague, Czech Republic for kids and adults. My position is operational director.

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

Due to increasement of students, classes and employees we were needed to automate our business proccesses using CRM and OMS (it's not about financial trades but we called it so) systems. In additional, when COVID began, we had to launch online classes instead of live.

Mindk helped us to create an automation around the zoom api to make these proccesses scheduled. Now we are working on the new website for our customers that will be also integrated with our system.

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

• Good portfolio in area of the solution we needed
• Recommendation from friend
• In additional to english, they speak my native language, so communication was easier

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

1. We had some thoughts how we should automateour business proccesses, so we had a first meeting where we descirbed the problem and discussed possible ways to solve it
2. Mindk made a discovery phase, then they offered us a solution and the estimated project price. Also we have fixed requirements during this step, so we understood how to generate invoice faster and get rid of extra service we used for this.
3. We signed a contract to develop our system in a few phases a) CRM system (module) that allowed us to get leads, contacts, turn them into students, send mailings, notifications etc. b) OMS system (module) where we have all our students, classes, payments with invoices, even visits of the classes and needed reports. We are still improving this system due to COVID restrictions.

In additional we developed a submodule for online classes. It creates zoomin meetings by schedule, allows certain students to join so we have all visits data still stored in OMS. Mindk offered us a solution based on PHP Laravel and VueJS for the client side. As I wrote above we started ftom the discovery phase, then we were running development in 2-weeks sprints. Before launching there was a final testing phase, after launching we have a support phase.

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

1 Project Manager 1 Designer (part time) 1/2 Frontend developers (middle, senior) 1/2 Backend developers (senior) 1 QA (middle) 1 DevOps (part time) 2nd Backend and Frontend were hired for a period when we had to launch the CRM and integrate it with OMS in the same time + when the COVID restrictions began. Also we were communicating with CEO, CTO and Head of QA on the earlier phases of each sub-project/module. And we discussed invoices and payments with Liliya (CFO).

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

• we got rid of all routine works I needed to do including 2 my colleagues
•  leads automation helped us to increase the amount of students (and income) in 200%
• data modules (validation, verification, automatic scheduled imports and synchronization) allowed us to join the sport union of Czech republic that gave us additional financial and insurance options and the government support. Due to this we are stiill have new ways and ideas to grow.
•  customer notification module helped to decrease time spent daily by the studio administrator from 6 hours to 30 mins
• So as a summary due to this software we increased our incomes, do not need to hire extra people (at least for now) and our customers are getting all the information in time and we have great positive feedback

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

We used JIRA to track our tasks and sprints (I also used trello for my local proccesses and we moved tasks from that service as well). The code repository is stored in gitlab, where we have automated deployment to the live and test servers. We used skype mostly for our calls with PM, then there was slack for some period we needed to communicate with the entire team. Deadlines were ok and no extra money were paid from our side. Even due to COVID they had a possibility to make some pivot and develop the online system for us.

I absolutely loved the communication experience with PMs. We had 3 of them during the project development and I did not need any extra minute to transfer the project experience from one PM to another. We had meeting notes after each meeting so I had a possibility to remember some things in a month after the meeting

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

I had to say that we were working like a team of good friends but professionals at the same time. Most of time we were communicating with PM but it had not affected the result. I loved the option that I have a possibility to have a personal meeting with any person from our project (and with PM if I need any clarifications or have some ideas I need to discuss if they will work.

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

I was happy with their work. I am sure that there are thingsto improve on their side but I did not see them during our work on the project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company provides services in energy efficiency and energy management. I am the CEO.

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

The goal was to upgrade existing modules of the system and make the system up and running effectively for the end users. Eventually we ended up having the team rewrite the system.

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

We selected them out of blue, upon a recommendation and were skeptical at the beginning of our cooperation. We have high demands for the system and many developers including in-house ones failed to deliver to set expectations.

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

We provided detailed technical specifications on functionalities of the modules to be upgraded/developed, which the team reviewed, provided their feedback. Prior to the project start we got acquainted with competences and education of each member involved in our project.

After finalization of the assessment we were provided with the project plan with the team assigned , deliverables and dates.

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

We worked with 2 full stack developers, 2 QA engineers, a devOps, a project manager, and technical lead. At different stages the team composition was ajusted to the tasks.

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

The system has become more reliable, free of bugs, and user freiendly.

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

The project manager provided progress reports on weekly basis. We had skype meetings on as-needed basis. The routine communication was done through Trello.

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

They gave us confidence in our complex web application that it can run effectively. The experience from working with the system is smooth and easy now.

The Mindk CEO is an extraordinary person, who cares about long- term relationship with clients and is not afraid taking responsibility for the end result. We enjoy working with the team as they have qualifications to deliver and make your bold ideas a reality.

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

None.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior product manager at a multinational wholesaler of goods and materials for the construction industry. Our organization is a group of companies. We sell our goods either directly to construction companies, many of which are members of our various brand concepts for home construction, or through several hundred retail stores, some of which we own and operate, while the rest are independent members of our various retails brand concepts.

What challenge were you trying to address with MindK?

They had an engagement with one of the companies in our system. When our central digitalization unit was formed on a group level, the product they were working on was adopted by us, as were the team members.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built an application to enable construction companies to offer homebuyers an easy and safe way to select the materials and products to be installed in their new home. It’s a web application that works on mobile but it’s not a mobile app. Their team built the solution from scratch and built the frontend in React.

The application has two sides to it. One side is where the construction company sets up the selection of the materials and manages the selection process. The other side is where the home buyer browses the materials and products, makes their choice, and signs for it digitally.

What is the team composition?

I work with Maryna (Project Manager), Andrey (Web Developer), a QA specialist, Nataliia (Full Stack JS/Android Developer), and several HTML developers.

How did you come to work with MindK?

The digitalization department inherited the engagement with MindK. They were our go-to partner when we needed more hands-on deck.

How much have you invested with them?

Our investment was in the range of $200,000–$999,999

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in August 2019.

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

The solution’s frontend is user-friendly and looks modern. We’ve conducted a lot of research and interviews with users on both sides of the platform. The feedback we receive is generally really good. I’ve been very happy about that. The number of bugs is low.

It’s clear that everything was well thought out because MindK discovered scenarios we hadn’t discussed, coming up with great solutions. It’s so comforting to know that they see the whole picture and take full responsibility. It’s made all of the difference.

How did MindK perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle project management through Jira; it works really well. We communicate through Slack and Google Meet. We have a regular standup that has ranged from a daily cadence to three times a week. Their team implements a very agile way of working. Maryna is brilliant. She’s really proactive and in control. I can sleep well at night because of her.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with their proactiveness. Whenever we had a problem, they always came up with a good solution. It was never left to me to have to fix something. Additionally, their team members are genuinely nice people. I’ve enjoyed spending time with them. I even went to visit them in person.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it’s been a pleasure.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t treat them as an outsourcing company, treat them as team members because they have so much to contribute if you let them. They’re extremely competent so don’t put yourself in a situation where you’re ordering things transactionally. Make sure you’re an actual team and that you’re discussing problems and solutions with them. If you do that then you’ll have a much better product in the end.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is creating an app to expedite the music creation process. My position is Chief Experience Officer

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

MindK built the entire experience, both the web app and native apps. They provided a PoC, then MVP, then beta launch. Our goals were to prove the concept, gain momentum with investors and roll out the product.

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

We won a contest that MindK had to build our project and continue working with them because it's been such a pleasant, seamless experience.

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

The scope of work was a native iOS and android app in addition to a web app. All of the pieces needed to co-exist and work together with each out. The project ran in an agile format - after deciding on and prioritizing functionality for each major step, sprints were created to focus on specific pieces.

Key deliverables include subscription functionality, uploading of thousands of melodies to the system, creation of the web interface, and launch. The app was a PWA and used reactjs as the primary tech.

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

Main team: that we worked with on a weekly basis

• 1 pm
• 1 BA
• 1 QA
• 1 mobile dev
• 1 web dev
• 1 account person

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

We are pre-launch so no measurable outcomes except for investments that were driven by having a working prototype. The project has been going smoother than I could have imagined and this is why we'll continue working with them in the future.

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

The PM was great. She and I communicated on daily basis and was very detail-oriented. We used Slack for primary communications then had video calls twice a week. Timelines were broken out by sprints and sprint items were defined in sprint planning at the beginning of the sprint.

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

There was no communication lost being in different time zones. It's the first time I've worked with a dev team a distance away that didn't have major (or any, for that matter) hiccups or have things lost in communication.

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

I wish we could snatch them and make them a part of out team.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a precision health platform, and we are leveraging genetics to create personalized health recommendations.

What challenge were you trying to address with MindK?

We hired MindK to address a number of different challenges with us, from building a website on WordPress to running certain ads to start ranking on search results.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first thing they did for us was built our website on WordPress and develop full functionality there, which we didn’t have on our old site. We wanted to build some pretty complex features into the WordPress platform.

After that, they started optimizing our pages for conversion to increase revenue and to make sure we were optimizing for search terms as well. They connected the front- and backend using an API to enable our WooCommerce implementation.

What is the team composition?

I mostly interfaced with Ruslan (Head of Frontend Development, MindK), but I know he had a team of a few engineers working with him as well.

How did you come to work with MindK?

My company had worked with them for a long time on AdWords, and when we decided to make this change, we knew we could rely on them because of our history together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $50,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from July 2018–February 2019.

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

Our biggest goal was to finish the project ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which we were able to accomplish. That had a notable impact on making our commercial operations more stable, and eventually, more lucrative over the holiday season. We now have a couple thousand people visit our site every month, and we’re growing month-over-month.

In the long term, the ability to automate certain commerce features has been incredibly helpful in allowing us to focus our energy on other aspects of the business. Their development is really reliable and lived up to the standard of quality that we had experienced in all of their other work.

How did MindK perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a very agile implementation when they roll things out, and they also listen and work closely with us to incorporate feedback. They were able to give us specific milestone dates, and they stuck to those dates.

We were directly involved with testing, which made communication much easier. Ruslan would be up at all hours of the night to take calls with us and make the necessary adjustments, which we really appreciated. He’s a great manager and leads his team very effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve known them for a long time, and I can tell you confidently that they are different from your regular agency that just wants to charge as much money for their work as they can get away with. MindK is completely results-oriented and outcome-driven.

I’ve heard of them turning away business because they don’t think it’s a good fit. If they don’t believe they can really deliver what you need, they won’t take your money, which demonstrates a lot of character.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re really good at what they do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define the project as clearly as you can up front. Work closely with them and trust them to get the job done for you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of content and publishing at a think tank centered on the economic, social, and democratic development of 23 countries in central and eastern Europe. I’m responsible for strategy and research.

What challenge were you trying to address with MindK?

We initially needed to redesign our web portal, but then we expanded the scope to have them support our entire internet presence.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started the collaboration by redeveloping and redesigning our web portal. MindK built the entire backend and helped us design the site's main page and overall structure. On top of this, they’ve built a couple of smaller websites for us and some event pages. We requested that all websites be done on WordPress.

They’re currently working on the portal’s subscriber interface, implementing features I want to be included as well as additional ones they've come up with. They developed a centralized database of subscribers that categorizes them based on country, sector, and access level and enabled us to target and communicate with specific subgroups. They’ve also introduced live streaming and blogging capabilities.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people from their team on a regular basis: a project manager, a lead developer, and two additional developers.

How did you come to work with MindK?

We first met MindK when they took part in an IT and business services gathering we hosted. When we reached out to candidates, MindK was one of only two companies that responded and was willing to deliver the portal in 30–40 days, as we requested. They had the best offer and wanted to prove that they could meet our deadline.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2017. We expected to have the new version of the portal by mid-February 2018 but they delivered by the end of January. 

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

While we’re not yet using all the portal’s functionalities on a daily basis, its layout and functions have contributed significantly to the audience growth we’ve seen. MindK finished the portal when they said they would, which allowed us to test it before we launched the new site. The last ten months have proved that they were the correct choice.

How did MindK perform from a project management standpoint? 

We communicate, assign tasks, and track progress over Slack and Trello and have calls every one or two weeks, depending on what’s being done at the moment. I have direct access to the lead developer, in addition to our project manager.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m quite demanding and I come up with demanding tasks, but they never tell me something’s impossible. They start every conversation with, “this can be done,” which is huge. If it turns out our exact ask is impossible, they’ll come up with something that enables us to achieve a similar goal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

A few things might have taken more time than I wanted, but that could have been due to myself. There’s been nothing serious.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They’re particularly prone to developing solutions during calls and brainstorming sessions, so make sure to have a good chat with them. Talking with them also helps me explain our requirements better.