"Starting and running your own business is hard" with Angie Sticher
/
Angie Sticher is a seasoned product delivery and operations director with experience shipping multiple significant software releases throughout her career at Palm, Apple, and her new startup, UrsaLeo. Angie’s focus on delivery and her time spent at Apple drives her desire to create intuitive, quality, and needs-driven products for UrsaLeo’s industrial clients.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I’ve been in the software industry since graduating from Auburn University, where I earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration/MIS. My career has given me the opportunity to learn and lead in roles that include technical support, technical marketing, licensing certification, program management, project management, and software operations management. All of these experiences have informed me how I think of software projects from start to finish and how best to deliver to users.
What inspired you to start your business?
After a brief hiatus from technology, I was approached by my friend and now the UrsaLeo CEO, John Burton, to consider starting a new venture. I’d had quite a long break from technology — three years to be exact — and was itching to get back so his ask was at the most opportune time. John and I decided to leverage our individual and shared networks to understand what gaps there were in technology. Numerous insightful discussions quickly landed us on IIoT as an opportunity for growth and technology expansion. We felt it was an industry ripe for disruption.
Where is your business based?
San Francisco, CA
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
We first sat down to consider the product we wanted to bring to market and then set about defining the right markets to go after. There was a fair bit of competitive analysis involved as well. Over time, we’ve pivoted away from our original idea as we’ve seen others enter the space and felt we weren’t providing enough of differentiation in our product offering. When we pivoted in Summer 2019 to focus on 3D visualizations for IIoT, I think that’s when we really hit our stride. Over the last year, we’ve brought on some great technical leadership to help further refine our offering and have seen a lot of activity with existing clients and now a growing pipeline of new customers.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook to some degree) has helped us get the message out to a broad audience. We have a killer PR team who pitches us to industry publications as well as technical publications. Finally, we’ve opened two new business offices for two of our fastest-growing markets – Manufacturing in Ann Arbor, MI, and Building Management out of Portland, OR.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
There have definitely been times in my career where I feel I’ve been measured with a different ruler than my male peers. I’ve learned over the years to channel my passion so it’s best for my team and their success. A lot of times women expressing passion for their work is seen as a negative so it’s been interesting and sometimes hard to navigate that perception. Ultimately, what I’ve learned to do is use my passion so that it results in great work and I believe that has worked well for me both personally and professionally.
How do you stay focused?
Each day I create task lists and write down key priorities with the flexibility to shift as they change. I also carve out dedicated time for what I call my “cocoon of concentration” that includes great music and noise-canceling headphones.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
We really think 3D visualization is the wave of the future in the IIoT space. Viewing multiple systems within a computer-based replica of a piece of hardware or manufacturing floor, or site, or building, will improve triage of failures and issues, create new opportunities for efficiency and maintenance improvements, and improve training across many locations.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
We use a combination of social media, focused PR, and industry sales outreach. As we continue to grow and have more use case examples, we will begin developing case studies and use these for PR and marketing efforts.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Starting and running your own business is hard. Don’t beat yourself up if you think it’s hard. It is. If it weren’t, everyone would do it. Think of the wins and the gains and be sure you’re doing what you truly believe is the right thing for you and your company. For me, being able to change industries that can have a lasting impact on global warming, efficiency, and how we view and evolve in the future is a big motivator for me.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
App – Probably the podcast app. I listen to first thing in the morning to news and insight podcasts. On long car rides, we listen to panel shows like Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me as well as women in technology and career growth podcasts.
Blog – I don’t really read blogs so much. I think probably the most read “blog” I go to is cookieandkate.com – a cooking blog by a vegetarian chef with the cutest dog. Her site ticks a lot of boxes for me: fresh, clean eating, cute dog, and pretty food pics.
Book – I’m really into the Wisdom of the Enneagram right now. A recent coaching session brought up the enneagram test and I was intrigued to see another personality test that I could use to understand myself (and even my peers to some extent) better.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Not that it’s my absolute favorite in how it’s designed, but Slack is a tool I use most. With our team being remote and spread around the globe, it allows us to keep in touch with one another and get quick resolution on issues similar to how we would in an office environment.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Sheryl Sandberg has been someone I have looked up to throughout my career. I saw her speak at Grace Hopper 2013 and everything she said resonated with me. I know she’s been criticized off and on in her approach but leaving the catchphrases aside, she has some great advice for women in reaching their full potential.
How do you balance work and life?
Even though I work from my home, I have a dedicated workspace so my family knows when I’m working and when I’m not. This is more valuable than you realize and I don’t think I’d be as successful in navigating working from home with my partner in the same space without my own area. And even though I tend to be “on” 24-7, I’ve learned what works for me, my family, and most importantly, my health and well-being. I need to turn it off at a certain hour, for instance, in order to sleep well. I may work on a weekend but I try to frontload that work at the beginning of the day when my partner is sleeping so we can enjoy all moments when we are both present.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Spending time with my people. The pandemic has made this quite challenging as of late but we do the best we can use apps like Zoom, House Party, and FaceTime. My partner and I took some time a couple of months ago to reconfigure our outdoor garden so that it would be possible to have a friend or two over to our home in a safe socially distanced environment and that’s been key to my mental well-being as I’m an extreme extrovert.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
We have some exciting growth opportunities coming along with some really interesting customers. I’m excited to grow our team and our user base and push our product roadmap forward.
How can our readers connect with you?
The best way to reach me is via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiesticher/.