Family Values, Ukrainian Excellence: Creating the Ideal Workplace | Adam Lehde, Ep 20
Episode Summary
Adam Lehde, co-founder of Happen Technologies, discusses building a hybrid software development company that partners US-based strategy with Ukrainian engineering talent. He shares his journey from mobile developer to entrepreneur, the cultural advantages of working with Ukrainian developers, and his philosophy of building a family-first company culture supported by community practices like F3 fitness groups.
Pull Quotes
Adam's wife challenging him on his always-on work habits with his own startup
“I think it's up to you to define what kind of company you're building. Are you going to build a company that you would work for?”
On Ukrainian developers' communication style versus typical outsourcing relationships
“That directness I was not used to. In my previous outsourcing experience, it was very like, 'Yeah, sure, we can do whatever you want,' kind of thing, and it was very passive. This was very direct.”
Adam's mentor at his first internship delivering career advice
“He told me, look, I can tell you're a little upset and I want to give you some tips for life. You're not cut out for this job. You're not going to make it in technology ever and you just don't have what it takes to be a developer.”
“The level of education is crazy. It wasn't until probably a year ago or so that I was reflecting on that with somebody and realized it makes total sense because of the way the economy boomed in technology there. People started leaving all kinds of jobs.”
“If this company is not allowing us the freedom to love our families better and spend more time with them, what's the point of it? And allow other people to do the same. Why are we doing it?”
Transcript
Hi, welcome to Tales From The Sky Lounge. It's a podcast about business consulting and venture investing. We get out there in the world and we talk to people who are making it happen and we get their stories. If you could like and subscribe, it would really help us get our story out there.
So today we have Adam Laddy. Hi Adam.
Hey Todd, great to have you today. Yeah, looking forward to chatting.
Well, why don't you kick us off and who are you and what are you working on?
Yeah, for sure. So Adam Laddy, I run a company with a co-founder called Happen Technologies. We do software development. We do both custom software projects and some staffing partnerships. We're located here in St. Louis, Missouri. I grew up around here. My partner is from Ukraine, so we met and do some staffing out of Eastern Europe. Yeah, looking forward to chatting with you today.
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