2020 Startups to Watch: backstitch shifts tech conversation to company culture, communication
January 22, 2020 | Anna Turnbull
Editor’s note: Startland News selected 10 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2020’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch.
Employers can win the fight against disengaged workers, said Jordan Warzecha, noting the battlefield stretches from right outside his company’s Crossroads offices to the coasts and beyond.
Elevator pitch: Backstitch provides organizations in effective technology to communicate better to their employees.
• Founders: Jordan Warzecha, Stefanie Warzecha
• Founding year: 2012
• Amount raised to date: $2.45 Million
• Noteworthy investors: Serra Ventures, KCRiseFund
• Programs completed: Techstars Sprint Accelerator Class of 2016
• Current employee count: 17
“Every week it seems we are discovering a new company that is based right in our backyard that is a perfect fit for our technology,” said Warzecha, co-founder and CEO of growth-stage Backstitch — a startup that aims to mitigate the impacts of poor internal communication by helping companies engage their employees directly, a problem costing companies upwards of $36 billion a year.
“We feel like we are still just scratching the surface of the type of customers that we serve,” Warzecha said, noting the startup has long placed its focus on companies with massive employee rosters — and Kansas City has plenty.
2020 will see the startup take on a new position, placing emphasis on aiding businesses as culture around communication continues to shift, he added.
“What separates us in the market is our investment in customer success. It is not just, ‘Here’s technology, go run with it.’ Its, ‘Here is technology and we are going to strategically work with you on how to implement it,’” explained Warzecha.
Click here here to connect with Backstitch.
The development of new resources for customers at large/enterprise national and multinational companies will further drive growth for the company in 2020, made possible by the success of a recent funding round, which included participation from the KCRise Fund.
Stefanie Warzecha and Jordan Warzecha, backstitch
All in all, 2020 is about growth for the startup — which relocated to Kansas City from Detroit in 2016 — and the path to success is clear, Warzecha said.
“We are growing on all fronts: sales, development, and customer success. For us, we provide a leading-market technology … What separates us in the market is our investment in customer success.”
Strategic partnerships and team growth will also fuel the year ahead, Warzecha noted, citing experience gained in 2019 as a driver for what’s to come.
1) United American Hemp
2) Tesseract Ventures
3) ELIAS Animal Health
4) Healium
5) Fishtech
6) Draiver
7) Backstitch
8) Stenovate
9) Boddle Learning
10) Destiny
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Thirsty Coconut buys country’s worth of smoothie machines, hops state line
When opportunity knocks, entrepreneurs must throw risk out the window and do whatever it takes to open the door, said Luke Einsel. “[This was] really the deal of a lifetime,” said Einsel, founder and CEO of Thirsty Coconut, detailing a business deal he struck with 7-Eleven stores across Mexico late last year. The transaction saw…
WIRED together: How mentorship led 22 women to a million-dollar investment
Collaboration among like-minded women forms a dangerous advantage, said Sheryl Vickers and Audrey Navarro. The duo helped found WIRED — Women in Real Estate Development — to foster mentorship and investment among women in the male-dominated and individualistic commercial real estate world. “We believe we have a leg up in the industry because that siloed,…
Founder facing gender bias: Don’t call me a victim; call me investors
It’s like pulling teeth to get key investors and resource organizations to help push female entrepreneurs forward, said Carlanda McKinney, citing implicit bias and a lack of effective support mechanisms. “I don’t think it’s intentional at all. I think it’s a byproduct,” said McKinney, co-founder of Raaxo, an online tech platform used to design and…
Even gatekeepers struggle to bring KC’s women-led companies in from the cold
Female entrepreneurs are falling behind as a new generation of highly-scalable startups rises in the Kansas City, said Darcy Howe, reporting too few women-led firms even approaching KCRise Fund for investment. “My experience with those ‘Hey, I hear you have money’ calls that I do get [from female entrepreneurs] — many of them are not…