MindSea

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VPE of a Series A startup. Our company provides a platform that we describe as the Operating System for DE &I.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire MindSea?

We needed staff augmentation very early on in our journey towards where we are right now. Specifically, we need backend developers (Elixir) and Frontend Developers as well (React). Mindsea was not only able to provide us with the developers for those roles, they subsequently provided us with Designers as well.

SOLUTION

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

Our Engineering leadership had some familiarity with Mindsea and so the introductions were made to get discussions started. We went through the project description phase, requirement gathering phase, estimation phase, and then an alignment on the kind of resources that we needed for the project. The Mindsea team was very professional through it all and very flexible in terms of adjusting to changes in requirements along the way.

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

The backend developer they provided was instrumental in the initial architecture of the platform. Additionally, he was the main developer in helping to get the project off the ground. Likewise, the frontend developers helped shape the development of the UI for our main project. The main project was successfully completed late last year and they stayed on to help us in our next phase of the platform development work.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We trusted Mindsea's internal recruiting process in identifying and selecting candidates. After that, we reviewed resumes that they submitted and picked from them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to release our first DE & I platform thanks to the support from the Mindsea team. The Mindsea team formed the bulk of our development team throughout that project and worked really well with our in-house developers to take that project to successful completion.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

At Mathison, we pride ourselves on creating a highly collaborative and inclusive environment. The Mathison team was right at home with this philosophy and fit in really well with our in-house team. They operated not as an extension of the team, but rather as part of the cross-functional teams that they worked on.

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

They provided us with high-skilled developers who showed time again that they could be trusted to handle critical assignments and complete them with high quality.

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

We were overall very satisfied with the Mindsea team and thoroughly enjoyed working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering at the University of Toronto. I also work in the Orthopedics Biomechanics Laboratory and Research Institute, which is part of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. I focus on machine learning for the healthcare industry, specifically analytics physiotherapy with inertial sensors in smartwatches. Additionally, I help manage the studies going on in our lab, as well as hundreds of patients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

We were taking a new study off the ground. Previously, we had validated our technology using commercial smartwatches to pull in data and analyze it using machine learning to predict when patients were doing physiotherapy. However, that wasn’t providing any feedback to the patients or physiotherapists, so we needed an app that could present feedback about how well and accurately patients were doing their physiotherapy at home.

We also wanted this app to show the feedback in real-time to patients and physiotherapists as patients were doing the exercises using the app. That way, when patients return to the clinic, physiotherapists would be able to provide them with advice and support as needed. We needed an external company to help us develop this app, so we hired MindSea.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MindSea helped us develop our app for Android devices, although we might create an iOS version in the future. We actually purchased Andriod tablets to be used for a study for both patients and physiotherapists using this app.

One of our requirements was using data from the hospital, but we had to adhere to strict regulatory guidelines. One of the solutions that we came up with was implementing a separate database to store our patients’ data, which was previously only accessible to Sunnybrook’s staff. MindSea helped us create this separate database to store patients' data and walked us through accessing it and interpreting it. Now, any debugging can be done using this database, which is accessible to MindSea.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with up to half a dozen people from MindSea at a given time, depending on the part of the project we’re working on. The project manager has been our main point of contact throughout this project.

How did you come to work with MindSea?

Someone from our lab was in charge of the initial development, and he came up with the idea for the underlying machine-learning technology for physiotherapy analysis. He identified various companies and interviewed them.

After interviewing MindSea, he got feedback from people who had worked with them previously. Ultimately, he chose them based on the interactions he had with them and their proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000 CAD (approximately $157,000 USD). Our initial contract was for $176,000 CAD (approximately $138,000 USD), but we’ve had a couple of additions along the way.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020, and our partnership is ongoing. However, it is on pause. After MindSea developed the app and the database, it was our turn to do all the work on the hospital side to get the permits and recruit patients to kickstart the study. We will have patients and physiotherapists using the app for the next 4–5 months, and based on their feedback, we will go back to MindSea and ask them to implement changes to the app as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The fact that we now have patients using the app in the clinic and have had great feedback from them so far is evidence that what MindSea did works. The app is very intuitive to use, at least for the first few patients and the physiotherapists, although we will tend to have some older patients using it who may need help. Still, the fact that we’re actively conducting the study is proof that MindSea was able to deliver what we needed based on the project’s requirements.

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

MindSea’s project management is very good. Based on previous experience, I was really impressed when they spent an entire day with us mapping out our exact needs so that they could have a thorough understanding of our project. They also helped us have a thorough understanding of what we were looking for regarding the app design. This was a very useful activity.

MindSea is also very responsive and has quick turnaround times. We identified 1–2 minor bugs along the way, but they rapidly corrected them and didn’t interfere with the patient data collection.

Additionally, they’re very good at communicating and giving feedback along the way to ensure that we know at which stage of the project we are. For example, we’ve used different applications like Trello to see what they’re working on. They also created a Slack channel for us so that we could get instant feedback. In addition to that, we communicate via email, and we’ve had weekly meetings at certain points of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MindSea’s project management distinguishes them from other providers; they’ve done a very good job in that regard. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of something that MindSea could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make full use of the initial engagement meeting and come prepared, being willing to input your own thoughts about what you want. However, keep in mind that MindSea is also very capable of helping you walk along this process and determine your project’s needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a full-service marketing agency for the digital health industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We've completed marketing work on behalf of MindSea, but we've also taken on comarketing initiatives with our agency and MindSea.

SOLUTION

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

MindSea is a team of incredibly talented and collaborative people. It was a no-brainer for us to work with them and recommend that others do, should they have the opportunity to do so.

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

Marketing automation, website building, content development, messaging, strategizing around the digital health industry, podcast production (Moving Digital Health), business reporting, and more.

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

Four. CEO, Head of Sales, Head of Creative, and Product Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have succeeded with MindSea in:

• Understanding key needs and developing solutions for the digital health industry.
• Supporting website development and copywriting
• Building a valuable co-marketing relationship
• Developing communications about why MindSea is the best at developing applications for the digital health industry

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

Adjectives that come to mind about MindSea's style include:

• Detailed
• Creative
• Collaborative
• Kind
• Ambitious
• Thoughtful

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

I've worked with a number of designer and developers over the last decade. MindSea has some of the most talented designers and developers I've encountered. AND- typically when you come across such talent in this space, it's paired with strong egos. The MindSea team exhibits such professional humility.

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

I wouldn't be comfortable talking about areas for improvement for MindSea without sharing how that relates to the shortcomings my team has brought to the partnership, and this doesn't feel like the correct forum to do so.

The MindSea team truly was professional and expert. While there are always areas for improvement, they truly exhibited excellence with their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an early-stage motion recognition API company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

We hired them to develop an application for physical therapy, which was sort of a proof of concept (POC) of our technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MindSea has developed two Android apps to be used in clinics. One of them is for patients to use their smartwatches to track their own physical therapy performance. The other one is for practitioners. There’s also a web portal associated with it for managing users. The staff developed a Wear OS app that runs on the connected Android smartwatch. 

The app allows physical therapists to onboard patients and assign exercises and diagnoses in an initial appointment. The patients can use their respective app to go to an exercise library within it and watch videos with instructions on how to do them correctly. As they perform the exercises, they’re connected to the smartwatch, which tracks reps, compares their performance to their personalized baseline, and gives reports on their progress and accuracy to motivate them. 

All the information is securely shared and provides objective data for the therapist to treat the patient. 

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Reuben (CEO). 

How did you come to work with MindSea?

I didn’t select MindSea, one of our founders did when I came on board. However, I was familiar with the team because I had shortlisted them for another development project for a startup I worked with. I think the staff was hired because of their expertise in the medical technology space, and the fact that they’ve won awards for their work both in Canada and the US. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $135,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in December 2020, and it’s ongoing. The main project is now completed, so we’re currently working on a few more revisions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This has been an elastic kind of project where not all details had been predefined. Even so, we came in around 13% over estimates, which is pretty good. MindSea always has been able to find workarounds when we’ve had changes in the scope — they’ve been good and agile partners. 

Our business has gotten quality work from their team. Before the revisions, the delivery of the final product took a little longer, but that’s because of the dynamic nature of the project, not so much because of the developers themselves. The cost has been slightly higher than estimated, but that’s usually how things work out. 

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

Our team has held weekly meetings and used Trello. We’ve also used Figma to review designs together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MindSea seems to attract quality people. Our project has had a few personnel changes — which is normal in the tech business — and the newly hired employees they’ve assigned to us have been really talented. 

I like that initially, the staff spent a good amount of time doing UX research before diving into the design — that was appropriate and professional and helped us understand our customers better. MindSea’s real strength lies in their UI/UX research processes which allow them to be more effective. They are not just focused on the customer that’s hiring them, but also on the end user experience. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team can get better at estimating scores. We’ve had some situations in which a Scrum phase gets a low score on its estimate and when we dig deeper into it, it suddenly has a giant Fibonacci number on it. A phase can look small, but it can involve 10 subtasks to complete it. 

At times, they’ve also rolled out with bugs that we wished they had caught before. However, these are pretty minor quibbles. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more you can invest at the beginning of the project, the fewer surprises you’ll have later on. Take the time to make sure that your requirements and business objectives are as clear as they can be and are very well understood to make the most out of the relationship and send the staff down the right path.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder of a company called Constant Health, which is a digital platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

We have a brick-and-mortar operation called Bariatric Medical Institute and have been doing medical weight management for the last 17 years. We understand the clinical side of weight management and wanted to get into the technology side. However, we were super apprehensive about getting into tech because the complexity of building a good app can be incredibly difficult. Building an app itself can be easy, but building a good app is hard. We wanted to find experts that could help us do build an app we could be proud of.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did a little bit of everything in this complex development project. There are five parts to it: the Android version, the iOS version, a clinical portal, a patient front web portal, and a service-side portal. It was a large-scale endeavor, so we broke the project into bite-sized pieces. We wanted to work with a team that was adaptable and able to work with us as we went forward.

When we first started, the scope was just the iOS build. There were two reasons for this: the expense of building the app for various platforms in a native environment and our desire to pinpoint common mistakes through testing to learn from them in future builds. By starting off with one platform, we helped ourselves avoid similar mistakes on the second platform.

We had a little bit of design work, to begin with. We were working with a company here in Ottawa, but they only deal with design. They were partnering with another development agency, but we decided to abandon that engagement because we were worried the designs wouldn't make sense with the development if we were working with two separate partners.

After reviewing their mockups with MindSea, we saw that there was a lot of rework to be done. Our previous partner was designing a solution for a hybrid platform rather than a native one, so the mockup only provided a somewhat general idea of how the project should go.

What is the team composition?

I'm very hands-on, so I met with their entire team at the start of the project. I flew out to their office and met with 10 people: three developers, four designers, the CEO, and everyone else on the team. Since then, I primarily worked with a project manager, who is also the lead designer.

As time passed, I've been more involved with the developers as well. I have been lucky enough to work with the same lead developer who is doing the server and iOS work. The project manager and lead developer are the people that I regularly interact with.

How did you come to work with MindSea?

We may have found them through Clutch. From there I met with their former CEO, who I'm still friends with. He was great at his job, despite only being there for a month. They seemed to understand what we were trying to accomplish better than the other teams we considered. We met with five different agencies, and MindSea seemed like the best fit.

At the time, Bill (Former CEO), had gone through a fairly meaningful weight loss himself and appreciated the issue we were trying to solve. Aside from them being able to make pretty solutions, they also had a real belief in what we were trying to do. That was what allowed us to start working with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent at least $400,000–$500,000 at this point.

MindSea has a share of Constant Health, which was part of the deal. They worked at cost to help build out the app because it was such a robust project. Our work evolved from there. Through government funding we received, MindSea actually has lent us some of their employees to go on our payroll. It truly is a partnered venture that we're doing together.

What is the status of this engagement?

I agreed to get going with them in September 2020, and the project is still ongoing. We're still using them for Android work. With two of their employees also doing some of the work on our internal payroll, we are doing all the server, iOS, and web portal work internally.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app is a tool for clients to work with clinicians in a more seamless manner. For weight management, it's hard to track and communicate issues or success between appointments. It is usually one of three things: the person is incredibly successful, the person is not so successful but the clinician doesn't know until they come back, or the person is not so successful and chooses not to come back out of embarrassment.

Through their help with our product, we've been able to remove embarrassment and feelings of failure during this process because of the real-time feedback for the clinicians through a client's struggles. From that standpoint, it has been incredibly successful. In a typical weight management program, there's about 40% attrition, and we currently have about 14% attrition.

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is awesome through Slack and definitely not a problem. I learned working with technology is like building a house. There is definitely scope creep and changes through the process that complicate things. We either learn new things, problems present themselves, or there are new features you want to build out, so I definitely take some blame in terms of delays.

I'm sure some of it is on their end too. Things like staff turnover or people are getting spread too thin with multiple projects could both be issues. They're about average when it comes to deadlines, but I wouldn’t put all the blame on them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team I work with is phenomenal. Warren (Senior Product Designer & Design Team Lead) is a rockstar who I couldn’t be happier with. We've become genuine friends and the same can be said about the teammate who onboarded us.

With the team that I have been dealing with thus far, it's a friendship as much as it's a business relationship. That is always something that I want to strive for because I believe in real partnership. Lots of people talk about partnership, but it’s not always achieved. They came through on that end.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The price became an issue at times because the number of hours they originally estimated was way off. They came down on price because their estimations were off, but that's probably the biggest issue. we faced. They resolved this, but they were 40% off their estimated hours required to build the product. That was a big deal and pretty problematic. 

They did rectify it as best as they could. I have to be reasonable as well; they’re not going to work for free, and that has been the only real issue we've had with this project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be involved. When I talked to the team, I asked what I can do to make their jobs better and easier. The difference is having someone from the company involved on a regular basis. We had a Slack channel, and I was always involved in meetings. When problems came up, I always responded within a couple of hours maximum. That makes a big difference.

From their perspective, it is super helpful because it allows them to get answers quickly and move faster. From my perspective, it was helpful because I understood the process and associated problems that occurred. That made a big difference in understanding their pain so they could appreciate my pain. Issues become more of a conversation at that point, as opposed to just working in our own silos.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a network for independent insurance agencies. We provide business services and technology solutions that help independent insurance agencies grow. When an agency becomes a member of our network, they get access to insurance markets as well as a whole suite of business services and tools. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

We wanted to give insurance agency owners access to their business information at the tip of their fingers. For example, our tools would help them understand what happened to their business yesterday, which clients they needed to be concerned about today, and where their additional revenue opportunities were. 

We turned to MindSea to help us build a mobile solution that addressed those questions and more.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

MindSea developed a mobile app that provided insurance agency owners insights around their business so that they could take action. It was a cross-platform solution built using React Native. Our engineers did the backend while theirs worked on the frontend.

One of our concerns around mobile app development was adoption — we wanted to make sure that we were building something that our users wanted. Insurance agents aren’t the most tech-savvy population, so we needed to make sure that our mobile solution would be something that they’d actually want to use.

Initially, MindSea helped us understand what the feature set would need to look like. I brought some sketches that I’d brainstormed with some others in the company, working with their team to bring them to life. They did a bunch of workshops to explore user personas, looked at what our users cared about and how that varied across the audience, and then started talking about features.

All of this culminated into a feature-value matrix that plotted all of our ideas out. This helped us understand the value that our solution would have for our users, and it became a really good foundation for our product roadmap and MVP. 

What is the team composition? 

We had a designer who also ran the show as a project manager. She drove all of the meetings and made sure things stayed on track, but she also gathered requirements and translated them into designs. There was also a main developer who oversaw a team.

How did you come to work with MindSea?

I looked at five companies that came in through a mix of referrals, cold emails, and Clutch. I mostly wanted a partner that thought how we thought to meet us where we were. We knew our customers really well, so we didn’t need a giant deep-dive to learn about our customers. MindSea struck the right balance between analyzing our target users and respecting our institutional knowledge.

I’d also add that it was great to see them work through some of our initial technical questions like when we were choosing the right platform for our app. MindSea was the only company that I talked to that said they couldn’t be sure which platform was right for us until they fully understood our scope. That showed a lot of humility and trust in the process. 

How much have you invested with them?

We paid about $100,000 between the first meeting with MindSea and getting the app live in app stores.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in October 2019, and we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was really important for us to build an application that was beautiful, easy to use, and intuitive — something that users wanted to put their hands on. Our app is a data-intensive experience, which is hard to make easy to navigate. 

But, that’s what we got with MindSea. They took our ideas and solidified the UX design in the exact right direction for us. The team had great ideas around how to resolve complicated UX issues, and the end quality exceeded my expectations.

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

MindSea was really good about always hitting deadlines. They pushed the agenda forward to drive future development and were transparent about how things were trending.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Again, what set them apart was their ability to strike a balance between meeting us where we were and pushing us to adopt other best practices. We could see that manifest both in their agile process and the actual end product. 

During discussions around feature sets, they would work to understand why we needed a feature before gently pushing back to guide us toward a better mobile experience — even if we might’ve given something up in the process. It was a compelling, healthy way to think through problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have a lot to say on this front.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Projects always work out well when both parties are clear and transparent. Just be honest and straightforward with what you need, even during tricky conversations. MindSea will do whatever they can to make that happen. If they can’t, they’ll explain why and help you work through a different solution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Myluxierge. It’s a two-way e-commerce platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

They offer a blueprint service. They layout the blueprints of the app and a pitch-deck. Basically, they got it to the point that I could bring it to an investor

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After the blueprint service, they designed a prototype. We went through testing on the prototype. Once we had that feedback, we revised it. We had three versions, and by then, we concluded the prototype. The team also put together an outline for the future app after the MVP was released.

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people, including Taylor (VP of Client Experience), Thomas (Developer), Katie (Product Designer), and one more.  

How did you come to work with MindSea?

I found them through a Google search. I was impressed that they developed a company-proposal software that I had used. They offered services that we couldn’t find elsewhere. They explained the blueprint process, the deliverables, the timeframe.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $18,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in mod-November 2019 and we concluded in March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the product was amazing. We built a functional prototype and it’s exactly how I wanted it laid-out. They turned my idea, my vision, into a fully functional prototype. Now, once I have investors, I just need to go to them to build out the final product.

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

We had meetings twice a week. And at each meeting, they updated me on what they had done.

Every email went to the entire team. They were great with corresponding. If I were to send an email, they always responded quickly when I had questions or concerns. Taylor was awesome because he gave a lot of advice as a founder of a new company. He was very helpful and took me step-by-step through the process of finding an investor.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was the team. They became vert invested in the app. They were very excited to work on it, and the app demographic fit the team that was working on it. Every week, they were very excited, very involved, and gave me some awesome feedback that helped evolve the platform. I hadn’t even thought about some of the ideas they proposed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared. When working with them, they appreciated that I had a very detailed business plan. Before contacting them, I laid everything out including the features I wanted and how I wanted it to work. Obviously, a lot of it had to be revised, but when I handed it to them, it was a very smooth process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a company in the health and wellness space that’s developing a device intended to measure biometrics within the body. I’m the director of product development there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

We’ve undergone the development of a wearable prototype and a mobile app. After prototyping the app, I decided to evaluate the partnership we had previously. We entered an app redux with them to evaluate the code of the mobile app created by the other firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In addition to the app redux, they handled creating new designs and wireframes for the mobile app. We went through the blueprint process during which they developed the app prototype in Invision. The app was functional and displayed our features in a whole new UI/UX that was levels above what we had previously.

What is the team composition?

My main points of contact were the project manager and head UX designer. 

How did you come to work with MindSea?

I had personal connections to their company and had seen some of their previous work. Based on that, I was inclined to ask if it was possible to collaborate. From there, we went into a workshop session, and they provided a whole new level of organization and creativity. That’s what sealed the deal and convinced me to hire them for this work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $20,000 on their work. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2019, and our teams plan to continue to develop collaboratively moving forward.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We did user testing through their team. Based on the workable prototype the provided us, we did a comparative analysis of the app that was previously developed. All user testers preferred the MindSea app. They received plenty of positive feedback on the UI/UX side. 

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

They introduced our company to Slack as a communication and collaboration tool. On their end, they used Trello. They met all the deadlines we set because they were at a whole new level of organizational capability. Their team kept us in the know about budgeting, action items, and progress. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’d been working with another team that wasn’t as invested in our product as we would’ve hoped. MindSea was invested in our product and offered up suggestions to enhance our UX. They challenged us to tighten up our firm and make difficult decisions about our product. Everything was clearly defined through this high level of engagement. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was such a positive experience that I struggle thinking of things they should improve upon. We’ve asked them to support the app, but they didn’t have the capabilities in-house to pivot from our former subcontractor. However, they were willing to find external resources for us to fill the gap. Even when they didn’t have a specific skill, they found resources to fill the need immediately.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’ve had software development troubles, MindSea can be used as a rescue. They provided a full service that was unlike anything I’ve experienced in the past.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of customer experience at SalesRight, a SaaS product that allows sales teams to increase sales using interactive pricing guidelines. I work directly with customers to make sure they’re getting the best out of our product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

We’re a startup that only had an idea when we hired them. We needed a partner to take us from the blueprint process through the design and development of our web app. Our goal was to get an MVP with a quality UI/UX from the engagement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After explaining the product to their team, they completely took it over, starting with the blueprint process. They developed several iterations of  UI/UX design options as well as QA and user testing. All of their efforts led to the creation of a mobile-compatible web app. 

During the build, we were scaling up our own internal development team. So, shortly after they produced the MVP, they transitioned it over to our team. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of one designer, two developers, and a QA team. Our designer was also the project manager.

How did you come to work with MindSea?

Halifax has a really tight-knit tech community, so we knew about them because they’re local. They had an excellent reputation in the community, with experience with projects similar to ours. 

In our early discussions, we found that they’re really strong with mobile developments, and we knew that we eventually wanted to move our web app toward mobile. We liked that they had that mindset from the start. It was also helpful to be able to meet them in person because of our proximity to one another. Because of all of that, we chose to hire them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged them in July 2018 and launched our product in February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When they completed the MVP, they passed it off to our dev team. We’ve been growing rapidly since then, converting multiple paying customers. The positive feedback we’ve received speaks volumes to the work they put into the design and build of the app.

They also delivered a product that our product team could develop further. We’ve released multiple features since then. That also speaks to the quality and clarity of the MVP.

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

We enjoyed the unique team setup. Because our project manager was also our design lead, we had a more direct connection to the product itself. We valued that personal touch and created better relationships as a result.

The project manager had a thorough understanding of our product this way. We used Slack and email to communicate, but we also had in-person meetings. Our project was always prioritized by them, and communication was excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated the uniqueness of having our product designer double as our project manager. It definitely stood out to us. Also, even though they’re a smaller team, we were always confident in their abilities. They brought a ton of experience to the table, which earned our trust. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything that comes to mind. With relationships, you get out what you put in.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re excellent, so be sure to engage with them. Don’t hold back from building a strong relationship early.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and founder of my own app development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MindSea?

I wanted to deliver a photo app as close to the launch date of the iPhone 4 as possible. Time to market was my main concern. I could have either ramped up on iOS development and made the app myself or hire a team to help bring the product to market a lot faster.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MindSea helped us develop several apps. The most successful products are a suite of apps that replicate the experience of sitting in an old school photo booth. In particular, there are two apps that are thriving right now. One of them is designed for recreational use such as taking selfies with friends. The other is more capable, designed for people who want to set up photo booths at events.

While I was involved in the development process day-to-day, my focus was on the overall design. We worked together but MindSea built the app. Initially, the app was for iPhone. MindSea ended up porting it to Android. They helped develop other versions for the iPad as well as a universal iteration. As iPhones and iPads changed with various screen sizes and different iOS iterations, MindSea has been the one bringing it forward for each new device and operating system. Their team also built software, which made it easy for me to quickly deploy branded versions of the app.

What is the team composition?

From QA to development teammates, I’ve worked with probably 15 people over the course of our collaboration. MindSea has design, development, and test teams who are experiences on both iOS and Android platforms. They also have a seasoned web team who helped build web components for a couple of my apps.

How did you come to work with MindSea?

I searched Google to find that a lot of app dev companies were overseas with non-English speaking teams. It seemed that there was always going to be a go-between which didn’t seem efficient to me. I found MindSea online. I held a typical interview and hit it off with the founder, who understood my vision for the initial app. I talked to the team members who would be helping to write the software. There were no layers between me and the people who were actually getting their hands dirty with the software.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in 2010, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

MindSea captured my vision for the app really well. In the app store, the first product performed well. It was featured in the list of top 10 photo apps for the first couple of years. We made our Android version because Amazon asked us to develop an iteration exclusively for their app store. Businesses contacted us to port the app for their respective stores and each was willing to pay for that privilege.

Without MindSea, I wouldn’t have built the app in time for the iPhone 4 release. They were able to perform development tasks in parallel, which I would’ve had to do in series. It would’ve been a much longer process to launch the app without their team. If I didn’t have them onboard to help bring my ideas to light, some products might have never seen the light of day.

How did MindSea perform from a project management standpoint?

We hold video calls but MindSea uses Slack and Trello religiously. With Trello, we can see what’s been triaged and what’s being worked on presently. We’ve used slack for any day to day communication. When we had big releases and had more than just one person on their team working, the scheduling was met with the same rigor with which they used their organizational tools.

There was no software for a long time in the development process. I really appreciate and resonate with their design process. Before any software is written they work extensively to first explore, document, and design the software. They call it their blueprinting process. They rightly want to make sure that a product is captured on paper when it’s inexpensive to make changes and explore different ideas. It was a super helpful process, helping save time, money, and consternation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MindSea has struck a great balance between being big enough to produce world-class work and small enough that I could reach out to teammates directly. There wasn’t a huge chain of command that filtered my messages. I didn’t have to navigate a huge bureaucracy. Their size is a great asset. No one’s phoning it in. They really care about their work and even take pride in it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to carve out time to visit Halifax—it's an amazing city!