(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
Digital Sandbox KC nabs $950K to continue regional startup impact
Already with a lasting legacy of growing the area entrepreneurial ecosystem, Digital Sandbox KC has received significant support that should fuel its program for years to come. The proof-of-concept incubator was recently awarded a combined $950,000 — $450,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and $500,000 from the Missouri Technology Corporation. The two grants will…
Victor Hwang: Individual entrepreneurs hold the key to making America great again
Victor Hwang posed a riddle to a TEDx crowd gathered in Georgia. What five-letter word was overlooked during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and almost never mentioned by the candidates or at the party conventions? The answer is rooted in overcoming inequality, said Hwang, vice president of entrepreneurship for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. “I’m…
Startup newbie: How researching entrepreneurship in Medellin led me to Kansas City
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. When my wife Megan and I visited Kansas City this past January as part of our “city shopping tour,” there was much that impressed us and led to our decision to make it our new home. In many respects, we chose Kansas City…
Buildings and bus stops: Rebecca Tombaugh paints KC — sometimes with a stick
A lack of clear direction felt liberating as Rebecca Tombaugh unrolled a 12-foot piece of heavy paper in her backyard and got to work, she said. The 59-year-old artist had been tasked with painting a mural of sorts for the Nonprofit Village, a coworking spot that soon would open at 31 W. 31st Street. It’s…