Startup
Success Stories
Sphero
(Specdrums)
1. Startup Situation
Specdrums was an idea out of the CU Idea Forge lead by Steven Dourmashkin. When Specdrums and Kelsus met in late 2017, Steven had already put together a team of 5 people and raised $200,000 on Kickstarter for their musical rings.
Kickstarter backers were anxious to receive the rings they had ordered, the due date was looming, a bluetooth enabled iOS app was partially completed, the hardware rings were in production, and an Android app was woefully incomplete.
2. How Kelsus Helped
Specdrums needed help with Android development, mobile user experience design, back end architecture guidance, and general lean startup consulting.
Jon Christensen worked directly with Steven to discuss needs around user experience and startup execution, and one of Kelsus’s Android developers developed the Android app to MVP.
Shortly after Kelsus started working with Specdrums, they were acquired by Sphero — operating as a well funded startup within Sphero — and as part of Sphero Kelsus has continued with lots of user experience consulting and rewriting of both iOS and Android mobile apps.
3. Highlights
- High praise over CES demos from Wired, Engaget, CNET, and Rolling Stone.
- Cross company collaboration with Sphero team building hardware, firmware, bluetooth SDKs, and CI/CD and Kelsus building mobile apps and some back end features.
- First version of app already internationalized and GDPR compliant.
4. What They’re Saying
""I really appreciated the willingness of Kelsus to work with us early on and quickly share our vision for Specdrums. We've continued to work with their team post-acquisition since they've become a strong software development partner and have proven to be critical to the success of our product."" Steven Dourmashkin | Specdrums Founder / Sphero Product Manager