Ted Kriwiel

I’m a data analyst and a father and a software developer and a baker and a writer of run on sentences. Labels are tricky. I’ve started three companies and one nonprofit which makes me a “founder.” Webster’s definition for the word “founder” is: to flounder. That’s not true. But of course it is.

I know how to build dashboards that people care about, because I’ve built lots of them that no one looked at. I know how to build software people use because I made a lot of it that never was. To be a founder is to know the sting of defeat. (And try again.)

I’ve learned by being a part of some truly stellar teams like Taking Cara Babies and Good Inside. I’ve worked with large companies and small ones. So many patterns remain the same.

I know about software. I know about data. I know about systems and processes and culture and how to meet people where they are at. I know these things because I’ve experienced all of this.

I know about nonprofits because when I was 22, I raised $30,000 from family and friends to start a nonprofit in Ghana. I learned (rather quickly) that nonprofits are 1% started and 99% sustained. Half a million dollars later, we’ve helped eight girls fundamentally change the trajectory of their life. We provided a safe home called the Yellow House where they could thrive. This January, thirteen years later, the oldest girl from the house started college. She’s studying business; she’d like to be an entrepreneur.

I’m a father and a friend and a starter of things who can’t keep sourdough starter alive. We all contain multitudes.

I would like to stop writing sentences that start with “I.” I’d like to know more about you.