Inspirational Women Leaders Of Tech: Judith Hurwitz of Hurwitz and Associates On The Five Things You Need To Know In Order To Create A Very Successful Tech Company

Know when and how to listen. You need to listen to the conversations in the market, what your customers and prospects are telling you as well as your own team. I use the rule of three.

As a part of my series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women Leaders in Tech”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Judith Hurwitz, president and founder of Hurwitz and Associates. She is known in the tech field as a thought leader, and is the author of ten books on leadership, technology, and analytics, including her most recent book, Augmented Intelligence: The Business Power of Human-Machine Collaboration.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have been in the technology industry for more than 40 years. I originally planned to get a Master’s degree in general journalism, when I was invited to apply to a science communication master’s program at Boston University. I was accepted into the program and began my foray into the computer industry at a computer magazine focused on the emerging area of distributed computing. Eventually, I took a position at a major financial services company in a department helping to introduce new technology to the business. I also spent a year as a programmer to get some in-depth experience. Later, I became a computer industry analyst, consultant, and writer. Over that period of time, I started three companies and co-authored ten books. I never planned to go in this direction but I took risks that made all the difference.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

I took a huge risk after spending 5 years at a well-respected analyst and consulting firm by starting my first company. It is not easy to strike out on your own. I was actually surprised that I was able to be successful with no funding and no experience launching a company. I was able to build a substantial business and well-respected brand. I also raised venture capital at a time when it was unheard of for a woman entrepreneur to take this path.

After a successful 10-year run, I left the firm and started two other companies. One company focused on enterprise software for the biotech industry. I spent many months interviewing leaders in the market to understand their needs and gaps that were holding the market back. I was able to create a company with several partners. We successfully consulted with major businesses and were able to bring our experience with software to a market that needed help in navigating the complexities of enterprise software.

My third business was smaller and focused on key emerging areas including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, security, and management of highly distributed computing environments. Working with a smaller team of experienced consultants was very fulfilling. During this period our team was able to help both emerging and large businesses position their offerings and explain the benefits of complex technologies to their prospective customers. Our team produced a significant amount of thought leadership writing — including 10 books that are both focused on technology and business. All three companies were different. I was able to take what I learned from each of these businesses and bring them to my next adventure.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I started my first business, I assumed that if I charged clients a very low consulting fee that I would be more successful. It is no wonder that I got my first project so quickly. I was pleased until I consulted with one of my informal advisors who explained to me that I needed to double my rate. I was shocked. I was scared but I took his advice and discovered that I got more business because my clients realized that I must be good at my job if I could charge that amount. It worked — much to my surprise.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

It is never easy to start a company. I faced many challenges ranging from the complexities of hiring staff to managing cash flow and creating offerings that matched customers’ needs at the right time and at the right price. One of my goals, when I started the company, was to create a persona of a larger company even though in those first months it was only me. When do you hire your first employee and how much do you pay? How do you have an infrastructure in place and manage growth? Too many companies spend too much money upfront before there is sufficient revenue. Scaling strategically is always the biggest challenge while providing a differentiation so that clients select your company even though there are more established companies in your market. Once I scaled the company you begin to realize that you are not just supporting your employees but their entire family. It is a lot of responsibility.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

First and foremost is my husband. When I thought about starting my first company, he encouraged me to take the risk. If he hadn’t encouraged me I am not sure I would have been brave enough to take the leap. In addition, I had many advisors who helped me on my journey. I relied on what I called my “kitchen cabinet”. These were individuals who I had worked with at my previous company for many years. I had built trusted relationships with these professionals who were leading businesses successfully. I discussed my plans with them for as many as six months before I launched my company. They reviewed my business plan, gave me advice about everything from the focus of the business to the pricing of services. There were at least 10–15 people who helped me get started. Other individuals were experts with expertise ranging from business strategy to sales, marketing, and public relations. One of my advisors even created my first logo on the back of a napkin.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Treat everyone with respect — not just the CEO but employees in their first year in the industry to up-and-coming leaders. Take advice from those who have great experiences to share and always give back to others when they are on their way up.

You learn more from your mistakes than your successes. When you are successful you take it for granted that you know what you are doing. You don’t take the time to analyze the project to see what you could do better in the future. When you fail you naturally focus on what went wrong. Failure is humbling but it makes you stronger when you learn from your mistakes. Don’t rest on your laurels — you need to keep growing, learning, and changing as the market you are focused on evolves. Spend more time listening than speaking. When you listen to your customers’ needs and problems you will be much more successful in anticipating opportunities and understanding threats.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. We’d love to learn a bit about your company. What is the pain point that your company is helping to address? What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

My company focuses on helping our customers be able to explain and position their offerings so that their prospects and customers understand the value of their products or services. My motto has always been that customers will not buy what they don’t understand. I have seen many impressive technology companies with great products fail because they cannot demonstrate the value of their offerings to prospects. My other belief is that you cannot overwhelm your customers or prospects. A prospect may be excited about the business problem that a product can solve; however, if the prospect is overwhelmed with the complexity of the offering they are not likely to buy. I help my customers figure out how to optimize their products so that there are easy ways to get started so that they can make progress and demonstrate value to their bosses. I call this, “what can I do when I wake up tomorrow morning.” We also help our customers by being honest with them about the way they are going to market with their products. We don’t just tell them what they want to hear. We show them what is wrong but also how they can fix their positioning in order to be successful. This honesty has been effective. Not only do we get repeat business from those customers but when they move to the next company, they bring us to help.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We are focused on creating customer benefit studies for our customers. It is not enough to simply say, “we have a good product that you should buy.” Rather you need to be able to demonstrate the business and technical benefit of a technology solution. The best way to achieve this is by gathering information from current customers who have been successful in using technology solutions. By gathering detailed data and then aggregating the information (anonymously so that customers will talk honestly) you can have proof of value. We ask some open-ended questions that allow our team to gain insights that can’t be captured in a simple survey. Combining results with specific details about how customers were successful creates a compelling result that can support both the marketing and sales organization. Another benefit of this offering is that we share the details with our clients so that they understand the nuances of what customers like and where they are looking for help or new features and functions. We are also able to help our clients better position their offerings based on customer feedback.

Let’s zoom out a bit and talk in more broad terms. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in Tech? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?

While women in technology have made significant strides over the past ten years it is not enough. Women are typically underestimated — especially in technology markets. It is still a male-dominated market and an old boys network. Women often find themselves encouraged to move into marketing or public relations rather than in technical areas. When I mentor young women I urge them to gain as much technical expertise as possible as early as possible. When I see events or sessions focused on “women in technology” that tells me that women are viewed as a novelty rather than the norm.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?

It is acceptable for powerful men to act aggressively and boldly in business. When women act the same way, they are viewed as pushy and difficult. It is a hard balancing act for women to be both aggressive and bold while maintaining a non-threatening persona. It is hard to achieve. Encouraging women to mentor up-and-coming women in tech is one of the answers. It might sound obvious, but too often women who have been successful in tech are threatened by emerging leaders because it was so hard for them to gain their own success. I often find myself encouraging emerging women in tech to acknowledge their strengths, successes, and knowledge without apologizing.

What would you advise to another tech leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill. From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth or sales and “restart their engines”?

When you reach a standstill you need to view that as an opportunity. Take a step back and analyze your business objectively. What made you successful in the first place? When a business has managed to create sales and repeat business over time they are doing something right. Where did things stall? The best way to move forward is to talk to customers that you have built a relationship with over time. What do they like about your business? What would they like to see you improve? Find advisors who have taken their businesses to the next level who are willing to help. Don’t just focus on your failures but on the next adventure. What are the problems that you didn’t address in the past? What are the new opportunities that you could focus on that your competitors may be missing? A great exercise is to assume that your company doesn’t exist and you can start from scratch — what would you do now without a legacy and without the complexities that are holding you back.

In your specific industry what methods have you found to be most effective in order to find and attract the right customers?

There isn’t one simple strategy to attract the right customers. You have to begin by understanding your own business and what you excel at and where you are best positioned to help your potential customers be successful. The focus can’t be on your need for cash or to keep your staff employed — if that is your only goal, you will fail. You need to focus on client opportunities where you can provide real value. Your goal should, of course, be revenue growth but you should also be looking to build your brand and reputation so that new clients will seek your help because of your success with other customers.

Based on your experience, can you share 3 or 4 strategies to give your customers the best possible user experience and customer service?

Our business is based on services, not software, so our strategies are based on spending time to understand the goals and objectives of our clients. I often ask, imagine that this project is completed, what will a successful outcome look like? Beginning with outcomes allows you to then plan your steps based on where your client wants to be in the future. You may have specific ideas of what you want to deliver to your client; however, you need to listen carefully to what they need and where their pain is. It is legitimate to push back when your experience indicates that they are headed in a dangerous direction. Customer service strategy and planning is a collaborative process. You need to be truthful with clients when it appears that they are making mistakes but offer them alternatives that will help them succeed.

As you likely know, this HBR article demonstrates that studies have shown that retaining customers can be far more lucrative than finding new ones. Do you use any specific initiatives to limit customer attrition or customer churn? Can you share some of your advice from your experience about how to limit customer churn?

It is obvious that maintaining an existing customer is the best strategy. Focusing on executing on the needs of the client and helping to make them successful is the best thing that you can do to retain a client.

Sometimes, however, things are out of your control. For example, there may be a change in leadership so that the clients that you have worked with successfully over the years are forced out of the company or lose their budget. Sometimes a company’s strategic direction has changed so dramatically that your skills or areas of expertise no longer apply. In the technology market, businesses get acquired and the leaders of the acquiring company have their own set of preferred partners. In the world of technology, nothing is black and white. No one approach to customer retention works forever.

Here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to create a very successful tech company? Please share a story or an example for each.

Here are my five rules for success in the tech market:

1. Follow the pain but don’t follow blindly. Focus on a real problem that your potential customers have that has not been adequately addressed by competitors. At the same time, make sure that you are not simply following a hot trend that might not be as significant as the hype indicates. Often these hot technologies are either too early or too complicated for the short term. Investigate these emerging areas but make sure that you plan based on both short-term and long-term strategy and execution plans.
2. Know when and how to listen. You need to listen to the conversations in the market, what your customers and prospects are telling you as well as your own team. I use the rule of three. When you hear that same issue from multiple constituents you are on your way to figuring out a strategy for success. If you are looking at a specific strategy that isn’t top of mind with customers or prospects you may need to revise your strategy.
3. Watch out for emerging players in your market. When you have initial success with your products or services it is important to be ready for competition. The better you have done in targeting an important customer problem, the more likely you will run into aggressive competition. You need to be prepared. Be humble and ready.
4. Politics are toxic. When leaders only listen to people who agree with them there is a danger in being lulled into a false sense of security. The voices of those employees who are smart, care about the business but express different views must be listened to. These voices are often bringing up issues that have been ignored and could impact the future. It takes strong leadership to instill an environment that encourages collaboration, honest conversation based on mutual respect.
5. Build relationships with influencers, thought leaders, influential customers, and partners. For example, work closely with bloggers and writers so they understand your strategy and they can become fans of your company. How can you make these influencers successful so they will be friends of the firm? Make sure you don’t assume that they will support you if you don’t support them. Create events based on small groups of influencers, customers, and prospects. These events can be incredibly effective in influencing the ability to drive new sales.

Wonderful. We are nearly done. Here are the final “meaty” questions of our discussion. You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would say that if you focus on creating success by involving employees at all levels of the company. New employees, for example, see things that long-serving staff members don’t see. Listening to all voices and giving them a seat at the table to get their insights and perspectives are critical. It is also imperative that everyone is treated with respect.

Thank you so much for this. This was very inspirational, and we wish you only continued success!