Profile: Andrew Wolfe

Name: Andrew Wolfe

Current Jobs: Founder and CEO, Skiplist

Current City: Cleveland

Hometown: Mentor

Q: What is it that you do at Skiplist?

We inspire and assist the world’s organizations to innovate. Skiplist provides software consulting services to SMBs and large enterprises around the United States. We focus on emerging technology like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing as well as sophisticated web and mobile platforms. In addition, we help companies build and drive their technology roadmaps so they can achieve their missions.

Q: What’s a problem that you are working to solve?

Every company that operates in today’s world requires technology to operate effectively and we’re ensuring that they get the technology they need to operate. Software projects fail at an alarming rate (more than 68% of all software projects fail) and we are solving this. We take a very thoughtful approach to projects, programs and roadmaps that gives us an incredibly high success rate (96%+) with our work.

Q: What’s a lesson you’ve learned that has helped shaped your work?

Failure is only failure if you quit. The biggest indicator of success in anything is the ability to get up after being knocked down and keep going. This requires discipline, grit and willpower that is often times difficult to muster. However, if you can and you can run towards your fears, you’ll win; it’s only a matter of time. The other thing is ultimately something everyone learned in Kindergarten, but it's profoundly powerful: treat people the way you want to be treated. If you treat the people around you with respect and kindness, you’ll be treated the same.

Q: What’s a trend in technology or innovation that you believe doesn’t get enough attention?

It’s not really a technology or innovation, but it is enabled / accelerated by both: flatter organizations. As technology and innovation can assist more in coordination, alerting, analytics and reporting, the need for management is being reduced. This reduction in management reduces costs, increases organizational agility, pushes decision making ability to the most informed people and ultimately allows for organizations that were once slow moving to become nimble. Once executives realize this, they continue to reduce the size of their organizations and it really becomes a feedback loop. I fully expect this reduction in management to accelerate in the coming years as off the shelf information systems become more intelligent and more ubiquitous in addition to companies investing in custom solutions to their core differentiators.

Q: What’s a recent book, podcast or news story that you found interesting?

What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz. Many executives try to create a culture based on platitudes and value statements, but don’t consider the actions that they take that may provide a counter example to the culture they want to build. Changing values into virtues is an exciting concept and I found the advice in the book immediately useful for my day to day job.

Q: What is your favorite place in Ohio?

Lake Erie on a nice cool summer night.

Q: What makes Ohio special to you?

These are my people. You can travel the United States or even the world and you will not find people who are nicer, more hard working, who care more and frankly have more integrity. We have a rich history of moving the world forward and I hope to continue that tradition.

You may connect with Andrew on LinkedIn here.