From Code to Community: Mindera’s Journey of Autonomy
Mindera, founded in 2014, has grown into a global software development company with more than a thousand people across Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, Romania, Brazil, and Morocco. From the beginning, its ambition has been to reimagine how people work together by creating an environment where happiness, autonomy, andcollaboration guide performance more effectively than control and hierarchy.
This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:
Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace
Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution
Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.
In an industry where projects are often short-lived and contracts are driven by sales targets, Mindera chose another direction. Its focus has been on long-term partnerships built through small teams of two to seven people who operate as independent units. Each team takes responsibility for its own outcomes, deciding how it works and creating direct, lasting relationships with clients. This closeness to the user avoids the detours of management layers and allows solutions to emerge directly from those writing the code.
That closeness was recently put to the test as the IT sector faced sharp fluctuations, shaped by recession and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. While many companies responded with layoffs, Mindera relied on the trust it had builtwith its clients. Teams worked openly with partners to anticipate staffing challenges, sometimes even being the first to raise concerns. Because of these transparent conversations, employees could be shifted between projects and, in some cases, clients accepted additional people not immediately needed as a gesture of reciprocity.
The result was that Mindera avoided layoffs altogether, strengthening its sense of being part of an ecosystem where mutual support is more powerful than contract terms.
Inside the company, autonomy proved vital in this period of uncertainty. Teams were not constrained by layers ofapproval but could act quickly, suggesting solutions, talking directly with clients, and reallocating resources. A small orchestration team supported these efforts, helping connect people without becoming a bottleneck. The model showed its strength by keeping employees engaged and productive while many competitors were forced to absorb bench time or cut staff.
The same spirit of openness extended to financial decisions. Mindera maintains three salary proposal and review cycles each year, but when a major client bankruptcy left one hundred employees suddenly without a project, thecompany postponed one cycle. Rather than hide the decision, leadership discussed it openly in the weekly ThursdayQ&A, answering questions and explaining the reasoning. This transparency turned a potentially destabilizing event into a shared problem that could be managed collectively.
Feedback too has become a natural part of daily life. It is so ingrained in the culture that it rarely requires formal intervention from above. When conflicts arise, they are addressed first within teams, reinforcing the idea thataccountability and learning rest with those closest to the work. In this way, autonomy, transparency, and collaboration are not just abstract values but practical tools for navigating challenges.
Mindera also began experimenting with new ways of engaging clients beyond project delivery. A new role was created to connect clients in similar domains, fostering a community of shared learning. In one case, the company organizedin-person discussions on the impact of AI in retail, bringing clients together to exchange experiences and concerns. These events, structured as open forums, allowed participants to explore opportunities and risks collectively, strengthening trust not only between Mindera and its clients but also among the clients themselves.
Growth continues to be seen as the consequence of quality rather than an end in itself. Teams are encouraged to expand their projects organically through client success, without pressure to chase targets. Even as the company isbacked by private equity investors who expect growth, it resists top-down demands for numerical goals, choosing instead to trust that sustainable expansion will follow from strong relationships and good work.
Mindera shows that principles of decentralization, ownership, and user closeness can thrive well beyond the manufacturing contexts where they first became visible. Its teams operate with the autonomy of entrepreneurs, its pay system reflects collective judgment rather than managerial decree, and its relationships with clients go deeper than transactions to create a resilient ecosystem. These practices illustrate how the essence of RenDanHeYi can be translated into the digital economy, where software is no less dependent on trust, accountability, and human creativity than any other industry.
More than a decade after its founding, Mindera stands as an example of how autonomy and collaboration can fuel resilience in turbulent times. By choosing dialogue over secrecy, ecosystems over transactions, and shared responsibility over hierarchy, it demonstrates that organizations can weather crises without sacrificing people. In doingso, it contributes to a wider movement of companies experimenting with new ways of working, showing that the same principles which reshaped manufacturing in China are today helping reshape technology on a global scale. For Mindera, the path ahead is about continuing to deepen its partnerships, nurture communities, and let growth emerge naturally from the quality of its work.
