Hired as a senior engineer at Maplesoft in 2008, Mr. Kelland was promoted and promoted again. He became vice-president of corporate architecture and engineering in 2010 as Maplesoft opened offices across the country. He oversaw product definition and sales generation, and conducted technical consultations with clients.
Mr. Kelland’s big focus was a software development group he created, which quickly attracted interest from company insiders. While the group received enthusiastic support, it didn’t quite sit inside Maplesoft’s core areas of consulting, reselling Oracle and Wesley Clover products and then integrating the technology.
In recognition that new companies often want a culture and breathing space of their own, Mr. Kelland proposed he break away from Maplesoft. The integrator accepted, with Maplesoft remaining a partial owner of the company and retaining a seat on the board of directors.
Tindr Solutions Inc. opened its doors in August 2011 with four people. Today, just over a year later, the company has tripled to 12 employees, and is expecting to hire two to three more software developers very soon.
“Our growth has been a function of us being clear about what we’re good at,” Mr. Kelland says.
“We know we’re really good at (helping) developers, for example. We talk to clients who are using that technology and work with them to do web opportunities for their business.”
Much of that growth also stems from Maplesoft’s support, says CEO Jody Campeau.
“When they need people … our consulting arm provides the people,” he says.
“We have a sales machine in Ottawa, and in the (National Capital Region), with the federal government and private sector. A lot of times, we’ll bring opportunities to them that we’re not interested in necessarily going after ourselves.”
Tindr’s technical services range from strategic project advice – meaning helping clients with market strategy and advertising software features correctly – to software development.
Additionally, the company positions itself as a cheap option for North American outsourcing. Given that its headquarters are in Gatineau, Tindr can take advantage of Quebec tax and research and development credits for technology.
Although Tindr is young, its client list already includes some big names: the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, Canadian Blood Services and Brookfield Renewable Power.
Tindr is now expanding into service-oriented architecture and enterprise integrations because of “aggressive uptake” from the federal government, says Shan Gu, the company’s new vice-president for that division.
This approach means the company is able to break down complex technology into simple building blocks that can be used for multiple projects.
“It’s reusable, it allows an organization to be flexible, and it gets services out the door very quickly. Government can do a lot more (with) less,” he says.
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