Ascendum Solutions

BACKGROUND We are in the process of creating an app designed to help individuals understand their eating and exercise habits while fostering healthier lifestyle choices. I serve as a co-founder and the CEO. OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE Many people strive to maintain healthy habits but often struggle to do so. Relying on diets is not a long-term answer; methods like calorie counting and meticulous meal logging can become tedious. Despite the increasing health awareness and the popularity of wearables and activity trackers, two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and one-third are classified as obese. Choozini™ draws on our co-founder's two decades of experience as a surgeon, working with individuals for whom changing behavior is crucial for their health. It integrates cognitive behavioral theory, gamification, and machine learning principles to assist users in adopting and maintaining healthy habits. The app provides a simple and efficient way to analyze daily eating and exercise habits, empowering users to take control of their actions. Choozini™ is engaging, rewarding, and encourages social interaction, becoming a reliable part of users' daily lives. The app features appealing visuals to track progress, a personalized gaming experience that rewards incremental achievements, and offers health-related incentives through accumulated points, along with tips and support connections. We sought a mobile app development partner to turn our vision into reality. SOLUTION After interviewing various independent contractors, offshore firms, and three American mobile app developers, we chose Sourcebits. UI/UX (user interface/user experience) is critical for our app. We have in-house development capabilities and needed a partner to provide a compelling design to enhance user experience and give us a competitive edge. The partnership encompassed strategy, design, and ongoing support, which Sourcebits managed for nearly six months. RESULTS & FEEDBACK We are extremely pleased with the outputs from Sourcebits. The project was handled very professionally, with both a project manager and a senior designer assigned to us, and we had the chance to collaborate with two additional team members. Sourcebits met all project requirements within budget and on schedule. What stands out about the team is their enthusiastic embrace of our concept, professionalism, and personal approach. Looking back, we would have preferred our developer to engage more directly with the Sourcebits design team rather than through the project manager, as this could have minimized later clarification delays for our developer.