Connected ice bath app shipped on iOS and Android with 40+ wearable integrations, for a founder with no in-house tech lead
A smart ice bath needed an app that controlled the hardware, synced with Whoop, Oura, Garmin and Fitbit, and coached users from 10°C down to 3°C. I selected the development partners, steered the app to launch on both stores and held third parties to the standard the founder needed.
At a glance
- Client
- Monk, smart ice bath, London
- Role
- Lead technical consultant, fractional, December 2022 to June 2025
- Scope
- Partner selection, app delivery, Shopify site and technical architecture
- App
- Monk Cold Water Therapy Coach, live on the App Store and Google Play from November 2024
- Integrations
- 40+ wearables including Whoop, Oura, Garmin and Fitbit, plus control of the Monk ice bath
- Website
- discovermonk.com
The situation
Monk was building a connected physical product: a smart ice bath sold direct to consumers through a Shopify store, with a companion app that would control the tub, guide the user through cold exposure and track the effect on their health. The founding team had product and brand expertise but no technical lead. The risk in that position is well known. You pick the wrong agency, the scope drifts, the budget goes on the wrong things, and you end up with an app and a website that do not talk to the hardware or to each other. Laura Fullerton brought me in to be the technical voice in the room.
What I did
Selected the development partners. Wrote the brief and ran the selection for app and web development from brief through to appointment. The aim was a partner who could deliver a connected-hardware app with health data integrations, not just a marketing app.
Steered the app to launch. Acted as product and technical owner on the client side: scope control, sprint reviews, acceptance testing and release on both iOS and Android. The app controls the Monk ice bath (temperature, schedules, reminders), syncs with 40 or more wearables so users can see the effect of cold exposure on HRV and sleep, and runs guided acclimatisation programmes with breathwork and soundscapes that take a beginner from 10°C down to 3°C. It also works with any body of cold water, so it serves as a customer acquisition channel for the hardware, not just a feature of it.
Improved the website and architecture. Reviewed the Shopify store and the overall technical stack, and how the app, the hardware and the store fit together as one product.
Held partners to account. When work was not good enough, said so directly and got it fixed, without losing the relationship. That is the part Laura picked out in her recommendation and it is the part most founders find hardest to do themselves.
What made the difference
A founder does not need a full-time CTO to ship a connected product. They need someone who has done it before, can write the brief, pick the partner, and tell that partner when the work is not right. That is a fractional role and it is the shape of most of my engagements.
He's technically fantastic and brought so much expertise to Monk. I've never known someone to have the ability to directly call out third-party partners when their work wasn't good enough, but do it in a way where they still wanted to work with us, and do better.