(S)heStarts: Do tech startups need a techie founder?

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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?

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“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

[/pullquote]LaunchKC pitch competition winner Laura Steward ran genomic sequencing and oncology clinical trials businesses for GE before leading VideoFizz. The company’s product is a mobile app that allows users to create personalized video greeting cards using a smartphone. Her take on the question? “I hope the answer is no, because I’m certainly not (a techie)!”

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.