Remdev Studio 2021 year in review
Sweden, Stockholm. Warm hotel and socks with funny pigs. Swamped with emails, requests and decisions, I decided to take some time out to reflect on our achievements in 2021 and share some thoughts.
Looking back, I can honestly say it was an amazing year. Insane, emotional, jam-packed with talks and events, stressful and rewarding. From the challenges we solved and the knowledge we gained to the metrics we achieved and the people we met, it was all intense and exciting!
500k ARR growth
2021 was a year where we grew a lot as a company and as individuals. As a Health & Fitness product studio, we launched in 2020 but only generated revenue for the first time in 2021. While we had nothing in February 2021, we achieved 500k+ ARR for the year.
When analyzing the reasons for such growth in this overcrowded market (especially in Eastern Europe), I can say it was down to three things: Team commitment, niche and approach.
Reason 1 — Team commitment and persistence
The scale was intense, and many good and bad decisions were made in different areas. Because the company was bootstrapped, the first goal was simply to survive. But just surviving makes it impossible to move a company forward. However, thanks to the team’s commitment and willingness to learn, we managed to execute a few growth strategies and easily adapted to the changes.
We spent a lot of time refining our approach, brand interaction guidelines, processes and all the rest. We iterated and learned. The simplest formula — do, analyze, do better — eventually worked. The willingness to get better at what we do and implement best practices and insights for our partners is what makes us constantly assess our work and methods. I would say that without a team working more than 10 hours a day, this would be impossible.
Reason 2 — Focus and passion
Focusing on the Health & Fitness niche was a starting goal because we believe health challenges are among the most important ones to solve. This market is in its best shape right now, and we see the opportunity to expand further in it with our expertise. Everyone has health issues, and by growing in this market, we can impact millions of lives. And we are passionate about doing just that. This is what drives us and what helps us to grow.
Reason 3 — Not just a team for hire
The third reason is our approach. The word “outsource” is spoiled today. It is often associated with something of low quality, low price and considered only as a second option. And the association is made because many providers are incompetent and cannot provide what they promise to deliver. Moreover, the approach of “dev shops” diminishes the quality and perception of the product development market. This is especially relevant to the Eastern EU market. We hate it and want to avoid it entirely. As a secondary goal, we want to prove this market and rid it of the notoriety it has gained. For this reason, we only focus on “from the ground up” solutions or big challenges that allow us to share our ideas on how to solve the challenges, not to execute in a dummy fashion. We work as a team. And it’s really important to us.
Over 19 health and wellness partners
We are passionate about working with companies that are tackling the biggest challenges in the health market. We love helping them create products that more efficiently communicate their solutions and provide value. The success of such companies is the greatest motivation for us. During 10 months in 2021, we worked with 19 companies and completed 11 projects that impacted people’s health or wellbeing in one way or another. I can say that it was our first step in contributing to this market, and we see the results.
The most interesting challenges in 2021 were Allbry, which allows students to get amazing support from counselors in schools; ProgressMe, a solution to improve self-esteem and address eating disorders; and Specialist Pharmacy — the first personalized medication prescription service in the UK; and many more. And we’re proud of all of them.
2000+ qualified leads
The Digital Health market is a really exciting place to be right now. Digital Health startups raised 6.7 billion more in the first three quarters of 2021 than in all of 2020. And it seems like this trend is only kicking off.
When we started selling, our target was pretty much everyone. However, as we explored the Health & Fitness startup market and learned from it, we noticed the demand for pre-seed startups with MVP requirements. The most interesting was the one with a CTO and medical advisors in place. We started working with a couple of startups, but as you can understand, the resources in such companies are limited, which sometimes doesn’t allow us to see the results and value. Currently, we’re aiming for more scale-up companies with seed rounds that have proven MVPs that work and are looking for a complete commercial solution.
21 team members with one passion
We love health and we’re always trying to find team members who share the same values. In 2021, we were excited to start working with people who are passionate about health and technology. We built an incredible team of professionals in different fields who together created amazing experiences and delivered value.
While working together, we identified core values that we share and want to follow: listening, transparency and a willingness to do everything we possibly can. And, of course, we didn’t forget about the corporate culture. Even in the hardest times, we were able to do some activities :)
More than 100 interviews
This past year we established our HR department and conducted almost 100 interviews with candidates for QA, engineering, design, PM, etc. While there were many issues, incidents and unsuccessful hires where we faced all kinds of problems, I can now say that we have a fantastic team and are only going to get stronger as we head into 2022.
Not just fancy words, but tangible proof
We build great products. The functionality, interactivity, smoothness — everything is created for the user to have an amazing experience with the application and feel they are getting value in the most fun and interactive way. In 2022, we established our own ETE (Engagement, Trust, Emotions) design approach. This approach helps us connect with users on an emotional level and build trust for the solution. This is even more important in the digital health market. You can read more in the article by our art director.
By working with so many companies and products from “the ground up,” we developed several technology templates that we can use for various problems within the Health & Fitness market and accelerate our time to market. This includes authentication, appointment systems, chats and much more. In addition, by collaborating with highly talented software architecture specialists, we were able to create easy-to-plug-in modules that can be integrated into any app in a matter of hours.
Security is also one of the most important components in the health market, and our templates make the application compliant with the latest medical standards.
On a way to a new purpose
The end of 2021 was incredible and gave us a new perspective on the company’s future. A trip to Sweden and participation in the Norrsken Impact Hub helped us to focus more on what’s important and clearly communicate the purpose of what we’re doing and why. This led to some interesting new decisions about the company’s strategy, some of which we are excited to implement in Q1 of 2022.
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Tackling Digital Health challenges and need help? https://remdev.pro
