SingleMind

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead product management and marketing efforts for a manufacturing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind?

We had designed a new product we wanted to bring to the market quickly, so we engaged SingleMind to augment our development resources. We aimed to streamline the development process and promptly release the product to market.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SingleMind essentially advised us through the development process to ensure we made the right decisions for our product. SingleMind was involved in all aspects of the design process. They helped us develop a strategy to achieve our end goal and devised a plan for how we could bring our vision to fruition and meet our go-to-market deliverables.

We wanted to integrate our new product with a legacy system without disrupting our customer experience. We were experiencing challenges while trying to marry the new designs with the legacy product without completely departing from our original UX and the features our users were accustomed to. 

Our first initiative was to validate whether our design and architecture ideas were structurally sound from a product design perspective. SingleMind reviewed our product architecture plans and presented alternative solutions. Then, they shared their expertise in development languages and made recommendations to help us achieve our desired architecture dynamics. 

Once we considered SingleMind’s advice, we identified a knowledge gap within our development team and realized we needed to onboard a principal architect. Then, SingleMind provided us with a senior architect and other development resources to work alongside our team to do some of the coding.

The SingleMind team helped us understand how our new and legacy systems could be tied together and guided us to make informed, effective development decisions. They also designed the UI/UX and followed a rigorous QA and validation process before delivering the result. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five team members from SingleMind, including developers, a UI/UX expert, and a project manager. The project manager also acted as a senior architect and lead developer.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

We found SingleMind through a referral. When we met them, they asked great questions about our goals and the challenges we faced. They grasped our problem quickly and proposed practical solutions right off the bat, so we decided to move forward. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested roughly $500,000 in the project with SingleMind. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with SingleMind between January 2019–March 2021.

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

Ultimately, our product didn’t go to market due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, SingleMind gave us great UI plans that ranked highly during our initial market feedback sessions. They came up with innovative methods to get us from point A to point B without derailing the UX, and we’re pleased with the final designs and architecture. 

Before working together, we had designs in mind. Still, SingleMind sought to understand our goals for the product and identified design constraints that might have held us back from achieving our future vision. SingleMind did an excellent job understanding how our users interacted with our product and designed a modern, intuitive UX. 

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

SingleMind managed the project well and addressed problems as soon as they arose. They made several suggestions that improved our team communication and worked alongside us to integrate the project into Jira. 

We changed the project scope many times throughout the development process, and SingleMind was very flexible with us. The project manager always helped us redefine the scope and ensured our respective teams provided the required workflows on time.

SingleMind also did a great job communicating progress and setting clear expectations. They were realistic when committing to deliverables, especially as the project scope changed. They also integrated their QA and validation process into our workflow, which has benefited our internal team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SingleMind was a very confident, technically skilled development partner. I was particularly impressed by their comprehensive, consultative approach; they provided us with several options to achieve our goals. They always outlined each potential development decision's pros, cons, and trade-offs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing SingleMind could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very transparent about your project goals, objectives, and constraints. Being transparent will enable SingleMind to guide your development decisions and deliver the best possible outcome, rather than just executing what you ask for.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company, Ascendant Studios, is a video game startup in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on our first big title. I am a Producer (project manager), though I also handle auxiliary tasks that the development team does not have time for, such as social media and recruiting.

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

We hired Single Mind to overhaul our website to better represent the company and attract top tier talent.

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

Single Mind was recommended by a partner of ours. After speaking with several potential web developers, we chose SingleMind because they were both responsive to our needs and concerns and also had a good price point.

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

The ask was to create a website with three distinct pages. Our chief requirements were a clean, modern look that was on part with other companies in our industry, as well as a job listings section and a section about our team. SingleMind was able to accomplish all this through the use of Wordpress. We begun with a couple of meetings to nail down our requirements for the website and have SingleMind learn more about us as a company.

During this step, I appreciated SingleMind asking questions and diving into what was important to us as a company beyond the brief we were able to give them. Next, they presented us with a series of Wordpress themes to begin the website, as well as branding choices around colors and fonts. Once the selections were made, they created tons of mockups for us to review and revise until we settled on something that we all liked.

At that point, they promptly implemented it on a staging server and were able to revise new feedback that came up from seeing everything live online. Finally, they were able to handle everything about the website launch themselves, despite that not being part of the original contract. This last bit was very appreciated!

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

Their project manager was our chief contact, though we were also regularly in touch with their developer and designer throughout various stages of the process. I am unsure of how many folks were involved behind the scenes.

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

We don't heavily track things like click throughs or engagement, but our new website is much better at explaining who we are and what we do than our old site. It is much easier to update and automatically syncs with our job platform to ensure that everything is accurate and saves me a lot of work.

Everything scales beautifully regardless of what device it is viewed on, and SingleMind was great about keeping technological considerations (like load times or small phone screens) in mind at all times. Everyone on the team is very happy with the new site, and as its administrator I am too.

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

In addition to video calls at every major milestone, SingleMind and Ascendant shared a slack channel and private messages wherein SingleMind would share links to their progress and we could all ask and answer questions. We communicated multiple times a week, near daily when it came to the final stretch and launching the site.

All the materials and notes from our meetings were stored in a shared GoogleDrive location. I was the primary stakeholder on my side, and I communicated with our CEO and Director of Operations to make major decisions.

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

SingleMind did not just execute on the requirements that they were given and call it a day (as was the case with many companies I've worked with in the past). Instead of just asking for a checklist and getting our brand guide, they took the time to dive into what sort of company we were, what sort of people we wanted to attract, and what we wanted to say about ourselves in our digital presence.

They continued with this thorough and holistic approach throughout the process, making sure that they created not just what we asked for but what we actually intended with the product. They were not afraid to raise concerns with our proposed vision and work with us to arrive at a final execution that both met our needs, the tech requirements, and our budget. They were not opposed to changing requirements from us, while remaining cognizant of the budget. We came in right on target!

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

None. We felt like they were wonderful partners throughout this whole process.

Please describe your company and your position there.

BeyondHQ is a software platform that powers interactive location analytics for geographically distributed organizations. I am the Head of Product.

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

Initially we were in search of help augmenting our development resources to help get our product to market more quickly. That engagement quickly turned into a more strategic relationship that addressed needs on the product design and architecture fronts.

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

We looked into over 20 development firms based in the United States and Canada. Out of these, we selected 5 firms to contact based on their previous work and online reviews. After speaking with SingleMind and learning about their product development process as well as meeting with their team members on design and technology architecture, they seemed like the perfect partner for us.

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

Project Manager Defining and triaging backlog in 2-week sprints. Tracking budgets and sprint commitments, and working with the team to ensure a successful outcome (or manage expectations accordingly). Technical (architect / senior developer) Defining technical approach based on requested features, additions, and other changes.

Worked collaboratively with the developer to define, estimate, and document various technical requirements or limitations. Provided code review and implemented improvements to Continuous Integration model as well as inter-sprint team process. Creative / Design We had an existing design.

Thankfully, they were able to pick it up and run with it, making more changes as new features were envisioned, designed, and built. We think they understand our brand - everything they've designed has been incorporated in a way that enhances the existing design, without introducing complexity to the end user.

They've been involved at all aspects of design, from high-level strategy (who/what/why/how), to user experience design (user interactions), to visual design (polish). Embedded developer We needed a talented developer. They were able to quickly source an ideal candidate, and I'm happy to say that they plugged seamlessly into our team. They attend our daily standup meetings, and we communicate primarily through Slack and video call on a regular basis.

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

3 - technical architecture, software developer, design

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

We were able to spin out another version of our product within 3 months. This was crucial in our sales timeline. Our original engagement with them was supposed to be just the 3 months, but due to the quality and how quickly they work, we have stayed on with them and this is now an ongoing engagement.

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

Singlemind team is incredibly responsive. I always hear back from them We mostly communicate through Slack and track our work in JIRA on a day to day basis.

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

Singlemind is incredibly flexible, both in finding time for us and in supplementing our needs. They have been able to provide a cost-effective solution for us that we could not find with any other partner we spoke with.

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

We also needed help in marketing, but Singlemind doesn't do marketing! They are focused on providing the best product development solution.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chairman & CEO of Origins FTD Inc., a for-profit company, and a sister organization is Origins FTD Foundation, a non-profit public charity. We’re focused on maternal and child health and we’re developing a mobile health educational platform to address the four million live births every year in the United States to men and women that are conceiving.

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind?

The educational platform that we are developing is focused on fetal origins of disease and the epigenetics behind fetal origins and how they are biologically programmed between the mother and the fetus during gestation and postnatally between the mother, father and support group, up to baby’s age 2. We have a huge medical library that includes outcome studies, articles on gestational, gestational diabetes, various complications the family might encounter during the nine months of pregnancy and also postnatally the problems that they might encounter or questions they might like answers to as it regards parenting.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contracted with them to integrate our various partners’ software into a mobile health platform that will exist in the cloud and be available to pregnant women and their husbands or partners and families on a smartphone. It would also be available on a laptop or a tablet.

They’re developing a downloadable application. It’s an interactive, educational platform that we’re building. We’ve developed an Avatar who does weigh management, yoga, and is our primary interface between our medical library and the pregnant woman and her support group.

SingleMind’s job is to make sure that the gamification that is exhibited is integrated into other software languages that are available from our marketing group. They deal in Java, JavaScript, Drupal, and a variety of languages.

Once we launch the product, SingleMind will then move into an operating mode where they move from software development into digital marketing along with one of our other digital marketing partners.

What is the team composition?

They have a wonderful group of professionals that deal in the world of digitization and digital media. The main person I interact with is Cort (President/Founder, SingleMind). We’ve had as many as eight people working on the project. A core group of four has worked on the initial prototype of the Avatar. Peripherally, there were another 3-4 people who would be called in to do various bits and pieces of the contract.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

I did an extensive analysis of people that SingleMind competes with. I found them to have the broadest base of talent. They were better able to handle the complexity of the software project all under one good manager, Cort. He has a number of directors in his group that have also been around the block and have done some serious work for very large companies.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2017 and the work is ongoing.

We contracted with them to integrate our various partners’ software into a mobile health platform that will exist in the cloud and be available to pregnant women and their husbands or partners and families on a smartphone.

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

It’s a huge project. Cort has made the comment that this is like trying to boil the ocean. I have an app with an Avatar on my phone that I have been able to show to OBGYNs, to the National Institute of Health, to the National Institute of Child Health and Development, to a variety of other people in the maternal and child health area. Then, I can weave my own narrative around showing somebody the icon on my phone.

 We’ve got four pieces of content. When I or somebody else pokes on the app on my phone, they could see a little video on gestational diabetes. They could see a little video on breast feeding. That is a measurable piece of content that gets somebody’s attention immediately.

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

There’s a lot of flexibility that exists within their group. They’ve been very easy to deal with. They’re incredibly smart people. From my standpoint and the due diligence I did on over a dozen different software integrators, their competence is extraordinary. They’re very professional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The biggest thing I’d give them credit for is their heart. This is a project all about doing good in the world and their team get it. If you were a fly on the wall in one of our meetings, your mouth would drop open with awe over the level of compassion and empathy and heart that this team has shared with me. They’ve been extraordinary listeners.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re very open. Cort and the team have integrity. They have goodwill in how they’re dealing with me.

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I work for Final Strike Games. We’re an independent game studio located in Bellevue, Washington, and our primary focus is multiplayer titles. We just spent three years developing our first title, which we’ve only recently announced.

I ran operations at First Strike for about two years and just recently moved into a production role. I’m now overseeing all of our outsourced art.

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind?

In 2016, when the company was first founded, we had a very basic website up. Our team hadn’t thought too much about it because we were quite small and laser-focused on development. We’ve grown substantially over the years, and, with our game announcement coming up, we realized that we wanted a more professional-looking site.

Our goal was to have a site that reflected our company’s culture and brand while highlighting our amazing team and our new game. We also wanted to make sure that we had links on our site to our publisher’s website, because that’s where the game was going to be hosted.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We told them what we were looking for, but didn’t give them much to go off of as far as the design of the site. We showed them a colleague’s website that we liked and went from there.

At the beginning of the project, we hadn’t announced the game yet and couldn’t send any initial images or assets. SingleMind took the reins on that and presented us with a bunch of different template options. We were working on a six-week timeline, so they showed us a variety of different styles and designs, rather than designing from scratch.

The team built two versions of the site; one that they launched before the game announcement, and another that could be launched afterward. Chris (Chief Creative Officer, SingleMind) was able to program the link for our game to take users from our website to a beta sign-up page on our publisher’s website. He also wrote code that linked their site to their company logo on our site. In addition to creating links, the team implemented a widget from our external HR platform.

What is the team composition?

I spoke primarily with Damon (Director of Operations, SingleMind), and he took care of scheduling and email communication. Chris was the engineer who handled coding and would jump on calls with Damon to answer technical questions. I occasionally communicated with Cort (CEO, SingleMind) and the CTO at SingleMind.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

We found out about SingleMind through a referral from one of our partners. We called a couple of different firms and eventually reached out to Cort. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from March–May 2019.

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

We have a functional, fast, and nice-looking website that accurately reflects our team and company culture. We were really happy to have our team showcased on the site. Also, the new HR integration has worked wonderfully. We now have a much easier time processing applications and collecting revenues.

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

We couldn’t be happier with their approach. We had a lot of internal changes happening while we were trying to build this site, and SingleMind was transparent in letting us know how long tasks would take. They were more than happy to take on extra work and still delivered within our deadlines.

We made a lot of requests, and there was a very strict final deadline, so their adaptability went a long way. Everybody, especially Damon, was so responsive. We communicated primarily via email and delivered some assets to them via Google Drive. We also had several calls on Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were extremely personable and friendly. We had a great relationship throughout, and I am so glad that they were a small team. They genuinely care about what they do and even reached out to us after a gaming conference to see if we were still liking the site.

Also, at one point, towards the end of the project, we were having trouble with our link requests, and their CTO somehow managed to find a solution for us. He made it work without us having to use another option that would’ve taken more time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no, there isn’t. We threw a lot of stuff at them, and they were never fazed by it. They were transparent with us throughout the whole process. I would definitely work with them again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The best way to go about working with them is to be as transparent with them as they are with you. They’ll give you details about executions and dates, so make sure to let them know about changes that are coming. They can handle changes and will work with you to meet your deadlines.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the president and chief strategy officer at LearningMate Solutions. We’re an EdTech and media solutions company.

For what projects/services did your company hire SingleMind?

We needed to perform a UX/UI audit on a new cloud platform designed for state and local education agency officers.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to evaluate the design of our initial prototype and obtain guidance for incorporating best practices and design principles into our MVP build.

How did you select this vendor?

We spoke with a handful of consulting firms around the world. Our decision to work with SingleMind was guided by their team's experience, understanding of the design process, willingness to be flexible, and availability to complete the work within our schedule.

Describe the project in detail.

They evaluated our existing prototypes several times and discussed the nuances of their feedback.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a couple of UX resources and a project manager.

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

We were able to make specific improvements to our platform design that will improve its ease of use and efficiency.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

My internal team found it easy to work with SingleMind’s team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were easy to work with and had a deep knowledge of technology and user behavior. Their consultant-like approach was quite helpful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It doesn’t get better than being on schedule and within budget.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a music technology startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind?

We needed someone to transform my conceptual drawings and algorithmic sketches into something that was practical and functional.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a very specific task: iterating my idea. The best way to showcase the platform and its purpose was to develop an app. It isn't designed to be customer-facing; it's a proof of concept for potential partners, team recruits, and fundraising.

They've been crucial to developing an minimum viable product (MVP) of the mobile application. We work very closely to achieve what I want it to do and how I want it to make people feel. They've created it from the ground up, bridging the gap between our challenge and the results we were looking for. I supply detailed schematics and flowcharts of inputs and outputs. They aren't in a programming language, but their inputs, process, and outputs are extremely clear. That's what they need. 

The product will eventually be platform agnostic, since it's a hybrid between a language, an operating system, and an application. We knew that the best way to explain it to a potential partner would be through an iOS app. Although this isn’t the technology's final result, it will likely be one of its offshoots. It will eventually be part of the company's development plan. 

What is the team composition?

I was in contact with up to five team members, but primarily talked to three people. The team was small enough that everyone understood everything they had to do. I was glad that the crew was compact.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

They were recommended to me by a design firm in London who initially consulted on the demo's look and feel. They knew that SingleMind had the right combination of technological capabilities, a team with a musical background, and an understanding of musical concepts. That was important because our project is stretched tight between those worlds. It would have taken more time to explain the concept to programmers who didn’t understand musical concepts.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

We wanted a working demo with some functionality by the new year, and the product successfully made sound by Christmas. Within two and a half months, we could hear it was going to work. The initial set of work was set out in an extremely concentrated way which was great.

The first phase is being used as a demo, but we're refining and extending the technology. Currently, it's on hold as we wait for funding to come in. I intend to continue working with SingleMind for a significant amount of time.

During the first three demos, the person turned around and said they had goosebumps. Anyone using the demo should have goosebumps. SingleMind continues to exceed any measurable metric we give them.

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

Their performance is exemplary. The lines of communication are always clear, and they are extremely responsive. No one has ever turned around and said they couldn't do something. They always come back with a solution, cost, schedule, and clear breakdown of the work involved. All I need is transparency and clarity about information and deadlines, and they've hit everything.

Their project management is personal, and I don't feel like they're working on anything else. I have their full attention when I need it. I have all the information I need about what they do, where they are, and what it costs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've gone far beyond the brief, and put in more energy and imagination than the budget would normally command. They've assured us that our project is great. In a way, they've become partners rather than contractors. I wasn’t expecting that, but it has been one of the best things.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To get the most from them, take them information about what you want to achieve rather than how you expect they'll do it. The reason we work so well together is because I told them which results I was looking for and what I was going to put into it. They're great at envisioning the complex connection between those two things. They were hungry for the diagrams and technical information, and they understand the effect that we want this to have.

The other thing that helps it work is the fact that I'm prepared to spend face-to-face time with them mapping it out. That helps everyone understand what we want and how we're going to achieve it. We don't get frustrated because we know exactly who they are. We've seen them work, which is important for us. It was great to spend time hacking out ideas and ensuring they would work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of smart data company. We make enterprise software that people put in their data centers.

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind?

The enterprise software industry is a big and slow-moving marketplace. I saw the opportunity to create a new product that would complement that space, yet have a different trajectory in terms of people buying and using it. We understood what it needed to do because we’re subject matter experts, but we still needed help building it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first went through a collaborative process where SingleMind listened to our pitch and asked questions. We created the architectural specifications and further refined it with their help. Then, we broke that down into a multi-phase development process. We helped some, but they were the key drivers of the project.

They developed our web app and there’s nothing else like it on the market. The tools currently in the enterprise software space revolve around research and computer science. It’s all very textual and the traditional approach relies heavily on menus. Our product is the exact opposite of that. It’s very light on menus and emphasizes graphical displays instead. The app consists of two distinct pieces that fit together seamlessly. One section enables users to draw things, while the other section facilitates administrative tasks like saving, sharing, renaming, and organizing documents.

What is the team composition?

The team construction varied throughout the process, but we worked with six people in total. Richie (CTO, SingleMind) was heavily involved in the prototyping phase but eventually rotated out of the project as the process continued. Chris (Chief Creative Officer, SingleMind) is the coordinator and our primary point of contact. A couple of software people joined the project, along with a few others. Cort (Founder/President, SingleMind) is always involved when he needs to be.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

The first project I did with them was in 2008 with a different company and they were recommended to me. I’ve come back to them a few times because they know what it takes to build a web app and the infrastructure behind it. For this project, they listened carefully to what we knew we needed to build.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $200,000 and $1 million thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

What we did was new, so it’s not like SingleMind could copy what someone else had done. As simple as the app is, it has a lot of complex interactions underneath it that we hid from people. The quality of their code is high and has limited bugs.

I can count on them to deliver within the number of hours we agreed on. Our success is the result of the process they’ve set up and their persistence to understand what needs to get done. They don’t go into development ill-prepared. They’ll take the time to sufficiently define a project scope and execute on it. The reliability of their development process is remarkable.

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

SingleMind utilizes a development process that works well for them. They break a project down into tickets and allocate time for each one. Then, they give me an estimate of what they think it’s going to take to deliver each phase.

They’re a big fan of Redmine and Slack, which works really well. Chris helps architect and coordinate things. His leadership is a significant factor in the success of our projects with them. He’s an experienced, driven, and actively involved team member. We have regular short meetings several times a week to make sure everything is on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with other firms in the past who say they can do good work, but don’t think about the big picture. SingleMind has a good understanding of the whole process from ideation to implementation and beyond. They’re able to take our ideas and turn them into functioning code. Most vendors don’t have it together as much as they do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am part of a large cultural institution. We have a bookstore that is largely for students, but also open to the public. We sell sheet music to the general public and all around the world, and have an e-commerce site that we started in 2010. 

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind?

The goal when we built our new site was to accurately display as many items as possible, while having the site be searchable and browsable for our customers. We sell up to about 30,000 items online and in-store, we carry more than 80,000. The big problem with the website was that there was no real way to categorize thousands of SKUs and to display them well. There was no search or browse function that met our needs. We were only able to get about 7,000 or 8,000 items online and they were a mess to navigate or to find. 

The other part was to develop a workflow in the backend where our buyers, our sales associates, and our shipping manager could all use and understand the statuses of orders. We needed to categorize orders, when to ship them, and how to mark them wherever they were in various stages of the order. It was a big frontend need and then the backend was like developing a whole new workflow and processing orders. We imagined our order volume was going to go up significantly, which it did. We needed to be able to manage that on the backend.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We completely threw away the old website because it was so bad. SingleMind built it from the ground up after we submitted basic wireframes to them. It’s built on Drupal 7. They did the nuts and bolts of starting a website from scratch: advising on security and integrating our payment processor. They couldn’t really initiate a new payment process on our behalf, but they walked me through the steps of how to do it and made sure everything was up and running and secure. 

They handed all of the technical work with the shipping integrations. When someone orders something, we go through and we can create a custom shipping label for them. They built those features into the website, as well as the entire order management interface. They didn’t really do design work except to smooth out the theme a little.  They did offer design services, but we decided to do that in-house to save some money and to match the institutional theme. 

What is the team dynamic? 

We had a project manager who is my main point of contact. We had one lead developer who we dealt with a lot and then we had one or two other developers who did some initial work. We had a couple of other guys along the way who did some smaller projects.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

We put an RFP [request for proposal] for the project and SingleMind responded to it. They were on a budget and very realistic with what they could do with that budget. We received such a range of budgets in the proposals that I questioned whether some of the companies even read the RFP. SingleMind came with a very professional response that addressed what we had asked for. After speaking with them on the phone, we liked their approach the best.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2012 and the work is ongoing.

The bulk of the work was completed in December 2012. We now have an annual contract with them for hosting and general support and updates on the site. If we need little things done here and there, we are billed at an hourly rate, though if I ask them a question or send them an email, they don’t just start billing me. They maintain a spirit of a contract, which is why we’ve continued our relationship with them. It’s been very easy to deal with them.

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

The first year after we opened the new website, our online sales increased 45%. People can find what they’re looking for. I’m always surprised at what people actually end up buying — the search and browse function is clearly working properly if people are able to find the more esoteric pieces they order. The website was very well received compared to our previous site that completely lacked a search function. We’re really happy with it.

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed exceptionally well, especially with them being on the West Coast. Their response time is very quick. I’m always amazed. We do things at lots of different times. Sometimes when we have to do scheduled maintenance, we’ll do it around midnight on the East Coast, which means they’re still starting it at 9:00 pm their time. I know they’re not actually a 24-hour shop, but I feel covered 24 hours a day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t nickel and dime us. They give me very honest answers. I don’t feel like they’re constantly trying to upsell me on doing certain things. Since it has been about five years, in the next year or so we’re going to have to make the investment again to build a new site. They’re going to be on the list of people who I want to submit a proposal. I’ve talked to them a lot about it and they have offered to do research for me regarding a new site’s path. 

I value their honesty most. They give realistic answers. I’ve been talking about moving off of Drupal onto another platform and they’ve been honest that it’s not their expertise but they’re willing to take a look and see what we’re doing. 

It’s been a very good, open, honest relationship. At times where they do have to bill for certain things, it’s very upfront. I understand what’s happening. Overall, there is good communication and honesty. I’ve really been satisfied with our relationship with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issue is because they are based in Portland, sometimes if I’m at work early in the morning and I see something is wrong, it might take them a couple of hours to get back to me. They’re actually really good at being on our time. I can usually get a response by 6:00 or 7:00 am on the West Coast.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of a video platform that allows brands to collect, curate, edit, and use consumer-generated content for marketing purposes.

What challenge were you trying to address with SingleMind Consulting?

We needed the whole platform built from start to finish.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We started completely from scratch. Initially, we needed a minimally viable product (MVP) and started on a Ruby on Rails platform. SingleMind helped with the design to some extent as we needed the MVP to be developed on a budget. They did a good job of ensuring it still looked good but wasn’t too expensive on a platform level.

We had a couple versions of the Rails platform and database. We used a lean startup method: build, test, and iterate in a cycle. It was a content management system, which had a database, and it involved three different user roles; admin, sponsor, and what we called, shooters. The work also included a lot of keyword tagging and database material, some video processing, and we built an API into the system.

What is the team dynamic?

We had three members of their team working on the project. One person was working on the frontend, one person on the database admin, and one on things in between such as the API specification.

How did you come to work with SingleMind?

I had worked with Cort, the founder, previously when I was with another company, so for this new venture I decided to work with who I knew. There were other considerations at the time as well, but I liked SingleMind. There was some ideation, as well as the overall consultation, and scaling the project in the right way. I felt I fit really well with them, and that they could make stuff happen.

How much have you invested in them?

$10,000–50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012, and the work was completed in mid-2013.

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

I was able to get funding because of their work, which was the main goal with the MVP. I got into an accelerator here in Portland, run by Jaguar and Land Rover, which was what we wrote the API for.

People that came across the platform thought it was great. They commented on its applications, such as the video collection, and also how easy it was to tap into it via API. The automotive industry liked it and was interested in pulling video footage from cars and putting it on our platform to be instantly shared.

How did SingleMind perform from a project management standpoint?

They did really well—they are personable people. In terms of communication, they were really transparent and were always available if I had questions. They kept me up to date on how much time and budget had been used. 

I saved some money by doing parts of the project management myself. They helped with scope, and set up a project management ticketing management system using Redmine that was easy to use. They stepped in and did what they had to do to get the project completed within budget and without expanding the scope too much.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated that they were willing to embrace a startup that didn’t have a lot of money. They treated me just as well as their bigger clients and never made me feel any less important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Perhaps on the architecture side, but I can’t attribute that to them; it was more on my end. I can’t recall anything I was frustrated about. Development is development and has its frustrating parts. However, as they communicated so well, we didn’t reach a point where there was a lot of frustration.