Chip Kennedy

Chip Kennedy

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 serve social service agencies across the US.

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

Notes from the Arena: Being a Founder in 2025
How to (not) Build Alone: Leveraging Your Network as a Solo Founder | Published May 2024

Media

Speaker: Triangle AI Summit | 2024
Pitch Winner: FoundersLive, Raleigh-Durham | 2024
2024 AI-in-Government Accelerator Cohort Launches at CivStart in partnership with GovAI Coalition and NLC | 2024
Pitch Winner: Raleigh Founded’s Pitch Please | 2023

Resume

→ founder + ceo @ CivicReach ☎️

→ co-host @ Triangle Tech Night 📐

→ volunteer @ Raleigh-Durham Startup Week 💡

→ co-director @ Christmas in the City 🎄

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→ speaker @ Triangle AI Summit 2024 🤖

→ former technology + product consultant for startups 🤝

→ former advisor @ Collective 📱

→ former advisor & interim CTO @ The Amalgamation 🪧

→ former VP of product and engineering @ Guaranteed Health 🧑‍⚕️

→ mentor @ Five One Labs 🇮🇶

→ mentor @ Gaza Sky Geeks 🇵🇸

→ 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 💡

→ software engineer, theatre tech @ Justice for Kurds

→ consultant, @ NYC Office of Technology and Innovation

→ 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 for helping startups grow their platforms, ideas, and communities.

Now, I’m the founder and CEO of CivicReach - a platform to help government and non-profit social service agencies meet residents with dignity, speed, and clarity. We have a hard-working team, kick ass advisors, and a 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 🍛.

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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.

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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.

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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 was a good friend to projects and companies I've worked with and a truly amazing individual. I believe that companies have a responsibility to support the local and online communities around them and Digital Ocean practices this responsibility well.
A dedicated and uniquely amazing non-profit bringing socks, connection, and attention to communities in need across New York City. Their mission, social media, and daily work is an important reminder for us all to get to know our neighbors.

Credits

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My avatar is from Naddya Adhiambo Oluoch-Olunya from Nalo Studios (@nalostudios)

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Notion Icons from NuttLabs

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Photo Credits:

Links

Workshops

Resource Library🏛️Digital Product Building for Government🚀Digital Product Building for StartupsThe Library