When sibling duo Stefanie and Michael Broes founded moonbird, they reached out to us to help them develop a device to create personalized breathing exercises. Stefanie Broes shares the story about the successful collaboration that helped their product take off. 

MVPs are built on trust

Breathing exercises are a time-honored way to relieve stress, anxiety attacks and burnout: something that people are suffering from more than ever. The problem is, a lot of people don’t breathe the right way, which makes their relaxation exercises less effective. “To help people get to a calming flow, we wanted to develop a device and digital technology that calculates and displays everyone’s highly personal breathing rhythm,” says Stefanie.

As CTO Michael is more knowledgeable about hardware, the founders needed an external partner to provide software expertise. “It was clear from the start that if we wanted to develop a good minimum viable product (MVP), we would need close support from a strong technical partner,” Stefanie recounts. The founders started a search for the right company to team up with. “With big companies you end up talking to the account manager,” says Stefanie. “But when we met with Dashdot, the first meeting was with both founders, both experienced software developers. That gave us a lot of confidence.”

After meeting with the founders, the partnership with Dashdot quickly fell into place. “They came across as knowledgeable, with the right expertise in-house,’ says Stefanie. “They make their own apps, they know what they’re talking about.” At the same time Dashdot’s accessibility as a small team made the founders feel heard. “They felt like an extension of our team,” says Stefanie. “It really struck us how Dashdot began by just listening to us. That created an instant click and the trust we needed. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that everything is built on trust.”

On the same page

Since moonbird was just starting up, there were a lot of ideas that needed to be worked out. “Through workshops and sprints, Dashdot translated what was in our heads into software development,” shares Stefanie. “From wireframes in Figma to prototyping to using Linear for our tickets. We talked about what we wanted to do, and they converted that into a technical process without us even realizing it.”

As a startup, moonbird had a maximum budget they needed to keep a close eye on. But in order to prioritize features, Dashdot started with the founder’s wishlist and then produced a budget, instead of the other way around. “They said, tell us everything you want, we’ll budget it and then you can decide what is a must have and what is nice to have. They also shared their opinion based on their experience. We had the final say, but we went with their suggestions because they were in line with our vision,” Stefanie explains.

The result was an MVP that was intuitive and user-friendly, at the sharpest possible price. “Dashdot helped us figure out how we could get a maximum return out of a limited budget,” says Stefanie. “That was a stark contrast to other app developers we talked to, who simply submitted us a quote of four times the amount.” The close involvement of the teams also really paid off, says Stefanie: “Whenever we had questions, they were super helpful, supportive and available. They really got that this was essential for a startup that wants to gear up as quickly as possible, especially in the beginning.”

Ready for the next level

After carrying out user tests and further refining their device together with Dashdot, moonbird started selling and delivering their product. “They were busy times, but it’s very satisfying to have gotten to where we are today, thanks in part to Dashdot's support,” says Stefanie.

The partnership doesn’t end there though: Dashdot also had a hand in helping moonbird build up their internal expertise. “The project became too big, and moonbird needed permanent tech profiles in-house,” Stefanie explains. “Dashdot participated in the interviews with job candidates, since we didn’t have the right technical knowledge. This allowed us to quickly find the perfect profiles. If we do decide to partner up with anyone again in the future, Dashdot will definitely be on our radar!”

Need a partner to develop your digital product from A to Z? With Dashdot you always feel like you’re on the same team. Get in touch with us for a free call to create your product roadmap!