Founder | Digital Product Builder
I’m a social entrepreneur and digital product builder. I’m the founder and CEO of CivicReach - a startup and mission to leverage voice AI to make local government radically better at providing for everyone.
My mission is to build great big things that serve the builders, the users, communities, and society. I care about building (and helping others build) tech that brings more equity, access, and dignity.
💬 👉 To get involved with CivicReach, drop a line: ✉️ chip@civicreach.ai
📐 👉 Interested in the Research Triangle, NC tech community? You should be - follow me on LinkedIn for events/opportunities and check out Triangle Tech Night
Guides
How to (not) Build Alone: Leveraging Your Network as a Solo Founder
I'm an entrepreneur embarking on the journey of building a new company. The highs are high - there is truly nothing like the excitement of turning an idea in your head into something real and useful for folks.
www.linkedin.com
Where do I start?
Easily build and share beautiful presentations with Pitch. Start for free on pitch.com
pitch.com
How To Do Technology Better in Healthcare
‘Our healthcare system is broken’ is an ubiquitous phrase in digital health startups.
chipkennedy.medium.com
Startup Product Building 101
Last Updated: Monday, February 8th 2021 My advice for startup founders who are building web and mobile applications and could use some pointers on how to approach the world of product, design, and software engineering. This isn't an in-depth guide on how to build a product without software.
chipkennedy.medium.com
Engagements
CivicReach.AI
🏛️ Government Tech
Founder & CEO | AI/ML Architecture, Government Sales, Product Strategy, Founder things.
🌐 Voice AI for Municipal Government
📰 Triangle Biz Journal: An AI Aid for Municipalities
📰 Tweener Times: 30 AI Startups to Watch
Collective
📱 Social Media
Interim CPO/CTO | Marketplace and Product Strategy, Social Media Product Strategy, User Testing, Software Engineering
🌐 Non-Profit Social Subscription Network
The Amalgamation
🏛️ Government Tech
Product Advisor | Marketplace and Product Strategy, Product Architecture
🌐 Underutilized Small Business Collective
📰 Triangle Biz Journal: Startup's plan to get more contracts to minorities? Form a collective
📰 RaleighNC.gov: Fall 2022 Impact Partner Grant Winner
Guaranteed Health
🥼 Digital Health
VP of Product and Engineering | Digital Health Product Strategy, Product Architecture, Technical Product Management
🌐 Hybrid End of Life Healthcare
🎧 Podcast: The human side of technology with Chip Kennedy of Guaranteed Health
📚 How To Do Technology Better in Healthcare
📰 Axios: Exclusive: Guaranteed a dignified death
Parachute Health
🥼 Digital Health
Product Manager | Marketplace and Product Strategy, Product Architecture, Technical Product Management
🌐 ePrescribing Healthcare Platform
📚The Next Chapter: Parachute Health
📰 Built In: 48 Healthcare Technology Startups and Companies on the Forefront of Modern Medicine
Tastemakers Africa
✈️ Travel
CTO | Marketplace Product Strategy, Product Architecture, Technical Product Management, Software Engineering
🌐 Community and Travel Marketplace
📰 TechCrunch: Tastemakers raises $1M to sell Africa experiences to the world
📰 Skift: Top Travel Startups to Watch 2019
Periodikal
🏦 FinTech
Product Advisor + Interim CTO | SaaS Product Strategy, Wireframe Prototyping, Product Architecture, Technical Product Management
🌐Accountant Portfolio Management
NYC Office of Technology and Innovation
🏛️ Government Tech
Client Workshop + Engagement | Project Management, Mission + Brand Consulting
📰 NYC.gov: New York City Celebrates Open Data Week 2018
Collectively
Founder + Director of Studio | Team Management, Product Architecture, Mission + Brand Consulting, Community Engagement
🌐 Startup Product Studio
GoodWerk
📣 Political Engagement Tech
Client Engagement | Product Architecture, Web Development, Social Community Engagement
🌐 Millennial Political Engagement Platform
Agritecture + AgTech-X
🌳 Environment Tech
Client Workshop + Engagement | Project Management, Mission + Brand Consulting, Community Engagement
🌐 Urban Agriculture Community
Justice for Kurds
Client Workshop + Engagement | Product Management, Theatre Operations, Mission + Brand Consulting, Community Engagement
🌐 Cross-Cultural Initiative
📰 Theatre Mania: Bernard-Henri Lévy to Present Looking for Europe at the Public Theater (Theater Mania)
Media
CivicReach + Present
CivicReach Joins Primordial — Primordial ⚡️ Triangle Tech VC
We’re excited to welcome CivicReach to the Primordial community! Based in Raleigh, NC, CivicReach is a voice AI platform helping local governments and municipalities modernize the way they serve their residents. Learn more at civicreach.ai . Local governments are facing growing pressure—s
primordial.io
CivicReach aims to revolutionize government call centers with voice AI technology
CivicReach.ai is on a mission to better connect governments and the people they serve using artificial intelligence.
www.bizjournals.com
Bridging the Gap: How CivicReach is Revolutionizing Government Customer Service
Founder Shares · Episode
open.spotify.com
Chip Kennedy on LinkedIn: What's the future of AI in government? I can't tell you exactly. But…
What's the future of AI in government? I can't tell you exactly. But I'm incredibly excited. I see the right balance of intentionality and innovation…
www.linkedin.com
Chip Kennedy on LinkedIn: Thank you Mallorie Moore, Marlana Bunn, and Founders Live! Y'all are… | 13 comments
Thank you Mallorie Moore, Marlana Bunn, and Founders Live! Y'all are doing amazing things for the community and I'm honored to be a part of it. Getting to… | 13 comments on LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com
2024 AI-in-Government Accelerator Cohort Launches at CivStart in partnership with GovAI Coalition and NLC
Sixteen startups join the sixth year of CivStart’s unique accelerator focused on meeting the most pressing local government challenges.
www.civstart.org
Lauren Romer on LinkedIn: Another successful Pitch Please in the books! It is always a great time…
Another successful Pitch Please in the books! It is always a great time when the Raleigh Founded community comes together, but it's even better when we get…
www.linkedin.com
Resume
→ founder + ceo @ CivicReach ☎️
→ co-host @ Triangle Tech Night 📐
→ volunteer @ Raleigh-Durham Startup Week 💡
→ co-director @ Christmas in the City 🎄
—
→ speaker @ Triangle AI Summit 2024 🤖
→ former technology + product consultant for startups 🤝
→ former advisor @ Collective 📱
→ former advisor @ The Amalgamation 🪧
→ former VP of product and engineering @ Guaranteed Health 🧑⚕️
→ mentor @ Five One Labs 🇮🇶
→ mentor @ Gaza Sky Geeks 🇵🇸
→ former advisor, interim chief technology officer @ Periodikal 🧮
→ former product manager @ Parachute Health 🪂
→ caregiver to my Dad, ALS patient
→ former chief technology officer @ Tastemakers Africa 🌍
→ partner nyc open data week 2018 📈
→ speaker @ impact summit 2018 💡
→ founder and former director of studio @ Collectively 🚀
→ former lead software engineer @ Referrio 📝
→ B.S. computer science @ Case Western Reserve University 🎓
→ caregiver to my Uncle, long-term brain tumor survivor
→ former software engineer @ Lean Dog 🐶
→ former paper boy @ The Patriot Ledger 🗞️
About Me
I've spent 10+ years as an entrepreneur, product builder, and software engineer with a passion of helping startups grow their platforms, ideas, and communities.
Now, I’m the founder and CEO of CivicReach - a platform to help local governments deliver radically easier, more equitable, and affordable government communications and services to everyone. We have a hard-working team, kick ass advisors, and a social mission that inspires me every day.
From 2021 - 2023, motivated by pandemic lessons at the personal level and society level, I worked specifically with digital healthcare startups. As the VP of Product and engineering at Guaranteed Health, I lead healthcare product, engineering, and technology strategy and execution. I also worked at Parachute Health where I had the privilege of building and scaling their medical ordering platform for medical facilities, suppliers, manufacturers, and health systems, all to improve patient outcomes.
Pre-pandemic, I was CTO of Tastemakers Africa: a community platform centering Black experiences, Black voices, and Black stories across the world. It was the best startup I’ve had the opportunity to build with (and had the best founder I've had the opportunity to run a company with). We built a travel experiences marketplace at scale, created a global virtual community, and brought on fantastic investors - including Precursor Ventures and Flybridge Capital.
On the come up, I found my way in the startup world by founding and running a startup studio: Collectively. We brought on extraordinarily talented product designers and software engineers to work with startups, venture capitalists, and accelerators. We built digital products for some amazing mission-driven organizations and ran discovery sprints for the NYC Mayor's Office. I’m most proud that we created a valuable community at the intersection of impact startups and product freelancers.
Outside of technologist-ing, I'm always (trying to be) training for my next marathon 👟, reading about politics 🇺🇸, and learning cooking from youtube 🍛.
As a builder: I think the harder the problem, the better.
I care about clarifying + subdividing challenges, using + creating data ethically, and creating products that make us all better.
As a founder: I care about building products that bring communities together, building teams that challenge and inspire each other, and scaling up while holding true to mission.
As a human: I think the internet is a beautiful place, in moderation.
I care about civic engagement, solving systematic societal inequalities, and supporting organizations that work with those who need it most. I'm a critical optimist - never losing appreciation for a challenge, while channeling the innate difficulty into motivation.
Causes I Support
Hollie's Hub for Good: Support and Resources | DigitalOcean
Our community is full of innovators and technologists who are leveraging their skills to create tools, resources, and events with missions focused on a new blueprint for peace and prosperity. As always, we're inspired by our community - by you - and we're committed to helping bring your impactful ideas to life.
www.digitalocean.com
Christmas in the City - A non-profit organization bringing Christmas to sheltered and homeless children in Boston.
We do 100% of everything with volunteers - 15-20 managing the mission year-round, and 2,500 for events - making sure that 100% goes to those we support. Many volunteers were once kids at the party and come back to give back. Our event volunteers return again and again, and many tell us it's the best day of the year.
christmasinthecity.org
HOME - KNOCK KNOCK
Socks are the most needed, but least donated articles of clothing to help the homeless. We aim to break down stigmas and help those in need by sharing socks
knockknockgiveasock.org
The Greater Boston Food Bank
The Greater Boston Food Bank works passionately to end hunger across Eastern Massachusetts by providing our neighbors in need the healthy food they and resources they need to thrive. As the demand for food during the COVID-19 crisis continues to rise, GBFB remains committed to our mission.
www.gbfb.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Surveillance Self-Defense is EFF's online guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices. Privacy Badger is a browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web.
www.eff.org
Credits
My avatar is from Naddya Adhiambo Oluoch-Olunya from Nalo Studios (@nalostudios)
Notion Icons from NuttLabs
Photo Credits:
- Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
- Photo by Liam Edwards on Unsplash
- Photo by Eduardo Barrios on Unsplash
- Photo by Barney Yau on Unsplash
- Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
- Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
Links
Workshops
Resource LibraryDigital Product Building for GovernmentDigital Product Building for StartupsThe Library