MINDSCAPE History
In January of 2000 Pete Brand and Paul Ferrier were running their own Internet companies. Pete was running a company based in Grand Rapids, Mich. and Paul was running a company in Muskegon. The two were brought together through a common mentor from Muskegon and the journey began. Pete was very impressed with the quality designs Paul was producing for the Web and Paul loved the cutting-edge functionality contained within the websites Pete’s company was creating. Almost immediately, they realized if they brought those two skill sets together they could create something powerful. They decided to merge the two companies.
In October 2001, Pete and Paul decided they wanted to build a company which would be intensely focused on delivering a return on investment to the clients they served. The passion they shared for delivering this value gave them the motivation to start MINDSCAPE with Mark Swanson and Steve Olson, who had both previously owned their own companies. MINDSCAPE centralized their office to Grand Rapids on March 1st, 2007.
The early years of MINDSCAPE didn’t happen without the typical pains of a small business. Beginning within a month of September 11, 2001, flexibility of the small staff and the willingness to occasionally go without a paycheck proved to be the saving grace. It seemed as though every time they were thinking it was time to call it quits, the phone would ring and another client would be on board. Although the initial 18 months were very challenging, annual revenue slowly and steadily increased. In 2005 Aaron Brander was brought onto the team, with great experience working for larger companies and a very organized approach and intense attention to detail under his belt. Revenue increased nearly 30% due to the processes we put in place with Aaron’s guidance.
Profits began, and early 2006 a second programmer, Brian Timmer joined MINDSCAPE. Brian was a talented programmer who had the ability to come up with creative solutions to the most challenging obstacles on the Web. The quality of developments took a huge leap forward. Processes and Web marketing were the focus of 2007. Revenue exploded nearly 75% - so did the growth of the staff.
In summer of 2008, MINDSCAPE formed an alliance with the nationally reknowned brand consulting and advertising firm, Hanon McKendry. They relocated to Hanon McKendry's offices at 25 Ottawa, across from the Van Andel Arena. Since then, more staff continues to be added to improve client communication and to provide even better service.
What's in store for MINDSCAPE? We're seeing significant interest in webTRAIN® as a platform and we continue to enjoy new clients and new projects.
