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Kieran Snyder of Textio at the Seattle Female Founders Conference
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Kieran Snyder - https://twitter.com/kieransnyder - is cofounder and CEO of Textio - https://textio.com/ Here's her talk from the Seattle Female Founders Conference. If you'd like to attend a future Female Founders Conference, you can learn more here: http://www.femalefoundersconference.org/
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Introduction to Textio
Kieran Snyder introduces Textio, a company that analyzes job postings to enhance their effectiveness. She highlights the company's impressive funding of $29.5 million and its commitment to diversity, with 50% of the team being female or non-binary. This segment sets the stage for understanding Textio's impact in the tech industry.
"to our next speaker Sharon Schneider who is the founder and CEO of texty oh so I actually started hearing about text EO last year from a number of YC alumni who used and loved text EO so they use text..."
Kieran's Journey to Textio
Kieran Snyder shares her personal journey leading to the founding of Textio. She discusses her background in engineering and writing, her education in linguistics and math, and her experiences at Microsoft and Amazon. This segment emphasizes the blend of skills that shaped her entrepreneurial path.
"so before tech CEO Kieran held product leadership roles at Microsoft and Amazon so I'm really excited to have you meet her today and so welcome Karen hey how many of you had heard of text EO before to..."
The Early Days of Textio
Kieran reflects on the early days of Textio, founded in late 2014, and the significant decisions that propelled the company forward. She emphasizes the importance of understanding product and engineering while navigating the challenges of starting a business. This segment highlights the foundational aspects of Textio's growth.
"thank you so you can do this too right I'm going to show you when you leave today you look yes I'm ready so a little bit about me too fast there we go um those are some old pictures of me um I grew up..."
The Power of Teamwork and Sports
Kieran discusses the influence of sports and teamwork in her upbringing. She shares how coaching her daughters in basketball reinforces the values of teamwork and tenacity. This segment connects personal experiences to professional success, illustrating the importance of collaboration.
"exciting but really my whole life in one way or another from childhood all the way on up was about the statistical measurement of language with math I chose linguistics because I didn't want to pick b..."
Transitioning to Technology
Kieran narrates her transition from academia to the tech industry, initially hesitant about working in software. She describes her time at Microsoft, where she honed her skills in computational linguistics and product development. This segment showcases her evolution into a technology leader.
"forever um that's me is a little kid that's me on the upper right in middle school I've always had a flair for performance with a mullet by the way still it was willing to do that and that's me in gra..."
Writing and Bias in Tech
Kieran highlights her writing journey and its impact on her career, particularly her studies on bias in performance reviews. She discusses how her viral blog post on bias became pivotal for Textio's mission. This segment emphasizes the intersection of writing, technology, and social issues.
"co-founder and I who I will talk about in a minute we're both technical co-founders okay so everything to do with sales and marketing and business operations and fundraising was all really really new ..."
Founding Vision of Textio
Kieran outlines the founding vision of Textio, focusing on the concept of Augmented Writing. She explains how data-driven insights can enhance communication effectiveness in various contexts, such as job descriptions and investor pitches. This segment delves into the innovative approach that defines Textio's mission.
"most of my blogging is at Tech Co um but you know I was really writing a lot again always an engineer always a writer when Jensen and I decided to start tech Co we had a really clear vision okay and I..."
Building a Trustworthy Co-Founding Team
In this segment, Snyder discusses the importance of co-founding with someone you trust, sharing her experience of starting Textio with her husband, Jensen Harris. She emphasizes the complementary skills they bring to the table and how their personal relationship strengthens their professional partnership, despite the challenges it may pose in fundraising.
"raised our seed round with us this was never gonna be a business right it was never going to be like we're ready to go out the door with a go to market plan of helping Kickstarter entrepreneurs aren't..."
The Importance of Diverse Skill Sets
Kieran Snyder elaborates on the diverse backgrounds of her and her co-founder, Jensen Harris. She highlights how their unique experiences in language, statistical modeling, and user experience design contribute to Textio's mission, showcasing the value of having a well-rounded team in a tech startup.
"walk through quickly five decisions that either I made or we made together that I think have accelerated our growth and hopefully there's something useful in it for you the first one may or may not be..."
Aiming for the Big Players
Snyder shares Textio's ambitious vision to compete with major players like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. She discusses the necessity of starting small while maintaining a bold aspiration to transform how people write at work, emphasizing the importance of focusing on specific problems to build a successful product.
"yeah we're not we're not bored Jensen's background is in always a complement to mine so well I have been deep in language and statistical modeling and building software forever Jensen was a musician h..."
Starting with Job Posts
In this segment, Snyder explains the strategic decision to focus on job postings as Textio's initial offering. She discusses the challenges faced by companies in recruiting and how Textio aims to provide value by improving the quality of job descriptions, leveraging her existing relationships in HR to gain traction.
"people but you gotta aspire there you got it you got to build it so it's usable by people who are not linguist not engineers not data scientists the fact that we've done this together wouldn't work fo..."
Starting Small with Job Posts
Snyder explains the strategic decision to focus on job posts as the initial product offering for Textio. She highlights the opportunity to address significant issues in recruiting and diversity, leveraging her background in HR to create a solution that delivers real value to companies.
"start-up if you're making something that's really really predictive right that actually when you type in a word processor cat talked about XE was analyzing job post is actually more for writing job po..."
Finding Your Unique Market
In this segment, Snyder discusses the importance of identifying a unique market niche for startups. She reflects on how starting in HR tech allowed Textio to build relationships with Fortune 100 companies, contrasting this with the potential pitfalls of entering the more crowded sales and marketing space.
"could actually prove that the platform works we had unique relationships to get us started so if we had started out in sales and marketing which by the way every investor that we first talked to asked..."
The Impact of Rebranding
Kieran Snyder shares the transformative experience of rebranding Textio in 2016. She explains how the rebranding was not just visual but also involved changing the narrative around the product to emphasize its value, leading to increased customer engagement and sales.
"job function hires and so when we're ready with products for those other domains they know us in fact one of our challenges is people try to give us data for other domains ahead of our desire to be in..."
Selling Value, Not Ease of Use
Snyder discusses a key lesson learned during Textio's early sales efforts: the importance of selling the value of the product rather than its ease of use. She illustrates how focusing on tangible benefits, such as faster hiring and improved diversity, resonated more with potential customers.
"is very stark contrast before and after the one on the right looks like an enterprise product it wasn't just about the look and feel though it's also how we talked about the product so our director of..."
Evolving the Sales Model
In this segment, Snyder recounts the evolution of Textio's sales model from an individual seat-based pricing to a flat fee based on the number of open jobs. This shift not only improved revenue but also enhanced customer satisfaction by allowing broader access to the platform.
"why people buy the product and so all of the rebranding and the way we talk about the product have contributed to an acceleration for us because people read it differently you buy it when you saw the ..."
The Surprise of Enterprise Sales
Kieran Snyder shares her initial shock at receiving a significant enterprise sale check, highlighting the learning curve she faced as a first-time CEO. She reflects on the importance of adapting to the realities of enterprise sales and the impact of pricing strategies on business growth.
"subscribe so if you have a thousand jobs open you pay a flat fee for 12 or for 24 months and you add as many people as you want in fact you should out everybody because the product will work better fo..."
Licensing as Part of the Product
Snyder emphasizes that the way a product is licensed and priced is as crucial as the product itself. She discusses how Textio's pricing model was designed to align with customer needs, allowing for greater access and usage, which ultimately contributed to the company's success.
"important decision for us changing the way we licensed the product you can see what happened in our a revenue graph you can see the before and after you can see that we were going along and then you c..."
Building a Data-Driven Partnership
Kieran explains how Textio collaborates with its customers to enhance the platform's effectiveness. By sharing outcomes data, customers contribute to a virtuous cycle that improves the product for everyone involved. This segment highlights the importance of customer partnerships in driving innovation and the value of shared data in creating a better user experience.
"their customers so they have a lot of incentive to share data already because the product works better for them and they if they do right so they don't have to just use everybody else as aggregate mod..."
Changing the Narrative in Media
Kieran reflects on the media coverage of Textio, noting that while initial press was positive, it often focused narrowly on bias rather than the broader vision of augmented writing. She discusses the efforts made to shift the narrative towards a more comprehensive understanding of their mission, emphasizing the importance of storytelling in shaping public perception and business success.
"gonna deliver on the bigger vision we need to change the narrative we want these stories this is important to us but we don't want to be pigeonholed as a bias play that's not what we are we're writing..."
Key Takeaways for Founders
In her closing remarks, Kieran shares essential advice for aspiring founders. She stresses the importance of choosing the right co-founder, starting with a manageable problem, and recognizing that product licensing is integral to success. Kieran encourages entrepreneurs to aim high and not let external perceptions limit their vision, reinforcing the idea that founders should define their own paths.
"and we've been broadening as we go um and you can see just in the last six months since we really brought this term big people are talking about Augmented writing as the category and it's the category..."