“I learned over time the value of just getting everyone to get on the same page and move in a direction, albeit imperfect– because you can course correct. You can inspect and adapt as you go,” Phil Reynolds says, “It wasn’t about me being right, it was more about building alignment in the team.”

Phil first founded BriteCore, a cloud-native platform for P&C insurers, and almost two decades later co-founded DevStride, a strategic project and portfolio management solution. The idea for his second company came from an issue his team came across at the first. 

DevStride was co-founded by four people, one being Phil’s wife. He walks us through how he wound up with those co-founders and what it’s like to work alongside his life partner. 

In this episode, Carol inquires about Phil’s removal from his role as CEO at BriteCore. They get into the idea of a leader giving up their position if it means the company will be more successful with someone else, even as the founder. 

Later, he goes into the important distinction between hiring great people and hiring seasoned people. They also talk about chatbots and the future of bots versus humans for customer support.

Learn more about Phil Reynolds and DevStride.

You can find more information on all our episodes at Vertical Elevation, and you can find Carol on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.