(S)heStarts: Do tech startups need a techie founder?
November 4, 2015 | Elizabeth Usovicz
Welcome to our new series exploring news and views on men, women, start-ups and the entrepreneurial experience.
Elizabeth Usovicz
Do tech startups need a techie founder? Yes. No. Maybe?
Three Kansas City startup founders provided three perspectives on the technical expertise question. While their backgrounds and development paths differ, they all agree that end users are an important variable in the technology equation.
Technical expertise: yes or no?
“Technology products are less about the technology, and more about the problem they’re trying to solve for end-users. Technology is the means to that end.” – Elizabeth Usovicz
Steward believes that a CEO must express a crystal-clear vision to the technical side of the business.
“I have an open line of communication to my technical resources. I represent the target end user: a female market. I have male developers, so I defend the perspectives of my end users, which can be different from what the development team thinks.”
Chris Cheatham, CEO of ClaimKit, brings his knowledge expertise as a claims attorney to the company’s insurance claims document management solution. Being a domain expert is essential, but he doesn’t believe that being a techie is a must-have.
“I see myself as identifying the different elements that make the software work for the end user,” he said. “I’m the connection between our customers and our coders.”
iShare Medical CEO Linda Van Horn has a viewpoint shaped by her computer science and MBA degrees, and her combination of software and healthcare expertise. In the compliance, certification and regulation-driven world of interoperable electronic medical records software, being a techie is a must-have.
“You need a technical background – and you also need to understand the end product and market,” she said. “Many of the tools in the healthcare marketplace today don’t flow well. They’re designed by tech people who don’t understand healthcare. A founder needs to understand both the software and the healthcare context.”
Software development: in-house or outsourced?
A startup’s software development path also depends on the company’s founder and target market. Steward and Cheatham each worked with an outsourced development partner, but each led the development of the blueprint for their software.
“I mapped out the interface I wanted, and then asked, who can build it?” Steward said.
Cheatham took a similar approach, outsourcing to an agency and then a development shop before hiring in-house expertise.
“I take on the onus of design,” he said. “I’m intimately involved in developing the wireframe.”
iShare’s custom platform was built in-house from the beginning. Van Horn led the complex data modeling and database development with an internal team that includes both men and women developers.
“Every data element in every field on every screen is critical to this medical records exchange infrastructure,” she said. “I needed talented people who understood both healthcare and software. It didn’t matter to me if they were men or women.”
Techie or non-techie, all three founders agree: technology products are less about the technology, and more about the problem they’re trying to solve for end-users. Technology is the means to that end.
Elizabeth Usovicz is a topline revenue strategist and principal of WhiteSpace Consulting. Her career includes leadership roles in corporate, startup and consulting environments. She can be reached at elizabeth@whitespacerevenue.com or @eusovicz on Twitter.
Editor’s note: In July of 2015, Startland News collaborated with WhiteSpace Consulting to conduct a whiteboard conversation with women entrepreneurs in the Kansas City region. Women entrepreneurs shared their perceptions about launching and leading companies, and identified topics for ongoing discussion. As a result of this conversation, Startland News and WhiteSpace Consulting have developed (S)heStarts, a blog series that explores the entrepreneurial experience that women and men share, as well as perspectives on how their experiences are unique.
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Startup life and marriage: A spouse’s perspective
Editor’s Note: Dan and Gina Schmidt agreed to share their experience of how startup life has changed their relationship and family. This is Gina’s perspective; see Dan’s here. Opinions expressed this commentary are the author’s alone. A little over six years ago, my husband, Dan, approached me with a business idea. “Emerging Business CFO. That’s…
New batch of techies, educators to revamp learning with Lean Lab
After recently announcing it would award $100,000 for education startups, the Lean Lab on Thursday unveiled the five entrepreneur teams that represent its third cohort. The non-profit for the first time opened its fellowship program to accept international teams, reaping it more than 50 applications — some from as far as Iran and Bulgaria, said…
The Nerdery launches hiring spree at KC office
Nerds abound in Kansas City. Or at least the Nerdery’s local expansion seems to indicate as much. The software design and development firm has added 14 staffers in the last 18 months and is now launching another hiring spree. The Minneapolis-based firm — which opened a Kansas City office in late 2014 — plans to…
Kansas City Developers Conference cultivates community among techies
Hundreds of hardcore techies are gearing up for one of Kansas City’s largest gatherings of developers. The eighth-annual Kansas City Developers Conference is expecting more than 1,300 attendees from regional corporations, startups and universities on June 22. With a focus on building the Kansas City community, the conference features loads of workshops, panel discussions and…