Mind Garden

What Mind Garden does

Mind Garden, Inc. is a California-incorporated, founder-owned publisher of psychological assessment instruments founded in 1994 by Robert B. Most, Ph.D. and headquartered in Menlo Park/San Mateo with a 1–10 person operating team. The company distributes a portfolio of validated, trademarked psychometric instruments — most prominently the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), and the California Psychological Inventory 260 (CPI 260, licensed from CPP, Inc.) — to researchers, professors, HR managers, consultants, counselors, healthcare organizations, and individual buyers across more than 30 markets. Distribution is direct-to-customer through the company's own e-commerce storefront (mindgarden.com) and the proprietary Transform™ online survey hosting platform, which handles data collection, automated scoring, and generation of Individual, Group, and Multi-rater Reports.

Mind Garden monetizes its instruments via a mix of perpetual report licenses, survey-hosting subscriptions priced per participant (e.g., PCQ Transform Survey Hosting at $2.75/participant with minimum-volume requirements), manual/trainer-guide one-time sales, and volume-tier discounts that scale with purchase quantity. The Maslach Burnout Toolkit combines the MBI with the AWS into a bundled burnout-pattern and root-cause assessment. The company maintains compliance postures for GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA (including a Business Associate PHI Agreement), and hosts data on Google Cloud Platform in Iowa. Customer segments are organized vertically around Human Services/Healthcare, Education, Research/Academia, HR/Consulting, and General Occupational use cases, with role-based navigation on the website supporting self-service buyer journeys.

Operationally, Mind Garden runs as a lean, founder-controlled business with no disclosed institutional investors, no parent company, and no M&A history. Leadership consists of Robert B. Most (President and founder), Timi B. Most (VP/CFO and co-founder), Gavin McGee (Chief Technologist since 2003), and a small customer support and customization team. There are no disclosed funding rounds, no acquisitions, no layoffs or restructuring events, and no app-store or API surface — the business is a focused, vertically-niche publishing operation with digital delivery as its primary growth lever.

Name

Mind Garden

Legal name

Mind Garden, Inc.

Website

https://mindgarden.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Psychological Assessment Instruments

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

akta.pro primary industry

Mental Wellness & Resilience Education (Non-clinical) (EDAAAHAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Mindfulness, Meditation & Stress Management Education (EDAAAHAD)

Keywords

• Psychological assessments
• Burnout measurement
• Leadership assessment
• Personality evaluation
• Survey administration

Headquarters

HQ city

Menlo Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Assessment Instrument Licenses: Mind Garden sells licenses to administer psychological assessments including the MBI, MLQ, STAI, and CPI. Licenses are typically valid for 3 years and customers must track reproductions or administrations.
2. Individual Reports: Individual assessment reports generated after survey completion. Prices vary by instrument (e.g., PCQ Individual Report at $15.00, Multi-rater Report at $75.00).
3. Group Reports: Group-level assessment reports summarizing average scores for organizational groups. PCQ Group Report priced at $200.00.
4. Transform Survey Hosting: Online survey administration platform licenses that include data collection with raw scale scores. PCQ Transform Survey Hosting Self Form at $2.75 per participant with minimum purchase requirements.
5. Manuals and Trainer's Guides: Physical and digital manuals for assessment instruments. PCQ Manual at $50.00, Trainer's Guide at $100.00.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mind Garden is a publisher of validated psychological assessment instruments and operates the Transform online survey platform for administering, scoring, and generating reports. Core instruments include the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), California Psychological Inventory 260 (CPI 260), and Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS). The company sells individual, group, and multi-rater reports through its direct e-commerce website for use by researchers, HR managers, consultants, professors, healthcare executives, and individual consumers.

Product overview

Mind Garden is a publisher of psychological assessment instruments operating as a platform-based model. The core product portfolio centers on validated psychological instruments including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) - the leading burnout assessment combining with the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) in the Maslach Burnout Toolkit, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) for transformational leadership assessment, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) measuring hope/efficacy/resilience/optimism, and the California Psychological Inventory 260 (CPI 260) for personality assessment. These assessments are delivered through the proprietary Transform online survey platform, which provides automated scoring and generates various report types including Individual Reports, Group Reports, and Multi-rater Reports. The company serves researchers, professors, HR managers, consultants, and individuals with products for assessing burnout, leadership, psychological capital, and personality characteristics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Transform: An online survey platform and assessment delivery system provided by Mind Garden for administering psychological assessments and generating reports.

Products and services

• Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) The leading measure of burnout assessing emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment, available in multiple forms for medical personnel, human services workers, educators, and general occupational use.
• Maslach Burnout Toolkit Combines the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) with the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) to assess both the pattern and extent of burnout plus the likely causes in organizational settings.
• Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Benchmark instrument measuring transformational leadership styles and behaviors, helping individuals assess their leadership approach and how they are perceived by colleagues.
• State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Psychological assessment instrument for measuring state and trait anxiety in adults.
• Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) Measures psychological capital characterized by hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism (HERO). Available in Self Form and Multi-rater Form with associated individual, group, and multi-rater reports.
• California Psychological Inventory 260 (CPI 260) 260-item true/false assessment evaluating personality characteristics including dominance, sociability, responsibility, self-control, and leadership potential for professional and leadership development.
• Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) Companion assessment to the MBI measuring six areas of work environment: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values that may contribute to burnout.
• Transform Platform Online survey hosting system for administering psychological assessments, collecting responses, and generating automated reports including Individual Reports, Group Reports, and Multi-rater Reports, with SSL-encrypted data transmission.
• PCQ Individual Report (Self Form) Interpretive report of an individual's PCQ Self Form scores with PsyCap profile, comparison with norms, and developmental recommendations; priced at $15.00 per unit with volume discounts available.
• PCQ Group Report Calculates and summarizes average PCQ Self Form scores for a group of participants with group standard deviation and PsyCap strengths analysis; priced at $200.00 per unit with volume discounts.
• PCQ Multi-rater Report Interprets and compares ratings of an individual from multiple raters against their self-rating for 360-style psychological capital assessment; priced at $75.00 per unit with volume discounts.
• Maslach Burnout Individual Report Interprets individual AWS and MBI assessment scores, provides burnout profile comparisons, and recommends action steps for remediation.
• Maslach Burnout Group Report Calculates and summarizes average AWS and MBI scores for organizational groups, identifying areas contributing to burnout with intervention guidance.
• Transform Survey Hosting (Self Form) Online survey administration platform license providing data collection with raw scale scores for psychological assessments, priced at $2.75 per participant with a minimum purchase of 20.
• Assessment Manuals and Trainer's Guides Physical and digital manuals and trainer's guides for assessment instruments, including the PCQ Manual at $50.00 and PCQ Trainer's Guide at $100.00, providing details on reliability, validity, and instrument administration.

Quantifiable outcome

• Validated by 35+ years of research
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CPP, Inc. (The Myers-Briggs Company)coreTechnology or IntegrationCPP, Inc. (operating as The Myers-Briggs Company) is a licensor of psychological assessment instruments published by Mind Garden. Mind Garden publishes CPI 260 and other CPP instruments under license. Customers purchasing CPI 260 must meet educational qualification criteria or complete CPI certification through The Myers-Briggs Company.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Myers-Briggs Company (CPP): Publishes widely used psychological assessments including MBTI and CPI instruments under license to Mind Garden. Comparable as a publisher of validated psychometric instruments for enterprise, academic, and coaching markets.
• Hogan Assessments: Publishes personality and leadership assessments (Hogan Personality Inventory) widely used in executive selection and development. Directly comparable product category — validated personality/leadership instruments sold via license/report model.
• Psychometrics Canada: Publishes validated psychological assessments (e.g., Emotional Intelligence, 16PF) for organizational and research use. Comparable as a specialized psychometric publisher serving researchers, HR, and consultants.

Broad incumbents

• Pearson Clinical: Major publisher of clinical and educational psychological assessments (e.g., WISC, MMPI). Overlaps with Mind Garden in psychometric publishing and global academic/clinical distribution, though operates at much larger scale.
• Wiley (Everything DiSC): Publishes the Everything DiSC suite of workplace behavioral assessments. Directly comparable as a publisher of validated behavioral/leadership instruments sold to HR, consultants, and trainers globally.
• SHL (CEB/Gartner): Provides large-scale psychometric assessments for talent acquisition and leadership (e.g., OPQ). Comparable in selling validated assessment instruments into enterprise HR/talent use cases, with deeper digital platform.
• DDI (Development Dimensions International): Leadership assessment and development provider for enterprises. Comparable in selling leadership assessment and development tools to HR and talent management buyers.
• Saville Assessment (WTW): Publishes aptitude and personality assessments (e.g., Wave) widely used in recruitment and development. Overlaps with Mind Garden's enterprise assessment licensing and report business.
• Korn Ferry (Hay Group): Global organizational consulting firm offering leadership assessments and development tools. Comparable as a buyer-facing channel for psychometric instruments sold into HR and executive development.
• ETS (Educational Testing Service): Develops and publishes standardized assessments for education and workforce. Comparable as a long-standing publisher of validated, research-grade instruments with academic and enterprise channels.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/mindgardeninc

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mind Garden