Kay Henze: Don't Go It Alone

[00:00:01] Hello and welcome to My Biggest Lesson, the show that brings you the key learnings from

[00:00:06] the most influential founders, executives, and investors in the Colorado tech community.

[00:00:10] My name is Adam Burrows.

[00:00:12] And I'm Chris Erickson.

[00:00:13] Together we are the co-founders of Range Ventures, an early stage venture firm based in Denver.

[00:00:19] You can find out more about what we're up to at range.vc.

[00:00:25] Our guest this week is Kay Henze.

[00:00:27] Kay most recently was the CEO of BEN, formerly the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, where

[00:00:33] she built advisory boards for over 200 local scaling companies.

[00:00:37] Prior to BEN, Kay has an incredible track record as a board member and executive for a number

[00:00:42] of fast growing companies, including Ent Credit Union, Sector 7, Zayo Group, and Verizon.

[00:01:03] Kay, thanks so much for joining us.

[00:01:05] Kay Henze Oh, I'm so happy to be here, Adam.

[00:01:06] Great to see you.

[00:01:07] Kay Henze Well, to start out, love to hear what you're

[00:01:10] up to now.

[00:01:11] And then I know you recently left your role leading BEN.

[00:01:14] We'd love to hear a little bit about that experience.

[00:01:16] Kay Henze Yeah, you bet.

[00:01:17] So I've been the CEO and executive director of BEN Colorado, the Blackstone Now Bridge Entrepreneurs

[00:01:24] Network.

[00:01:24] It was an amazing experience working with really the best of the best of the Colorado entrepreneurs,

[00:01:30] and we have so many.

[00:01:31] Kay Henze And so I have recently turned those reins over, and I'm now the CEO emeritus and

[00:01:36] board member.

[00:01:37] And part of the reason for that transition was that the whole time that I was at BEN, I

[00:01:43] was also serving on a number of paid private company boards of directors, and I really enjoyed

[00:01:48] that work and the strategy aspect of that.

[00:01:51] And so I'm very much focused on my board work.

[00:01:55] Today, I serve as the chair of the governance committee of a $10 billion financial services

[00:02:01] company.

[00:02:02] And I'm in some conversations about some other opportunities to expand service via boards.

[00:02:09] Kay Henze Fantastic.

[00:02:09] We'd love to hear your experience at BEN and give you a really unique view over the Colorado

[00:02:15] tech ecosystem and how it's evolved.

[00:02:18] Just love to hear how you found that experience and how you found the ecosystem evolved over

[00:02:23] your tenure there.

[00:02:24] Kay Henze Yeah, you bet.

[00:02:24] I mean, so I actually joined BEN originally as an advisor in 2016 and really enjoyed it,

[00:02:31] really enjoyed working with the entrepreneurs and tackling their strategic challenges and

[00:02:35] helping them get to the next growth stage.

[00:02:37] And it's not really a place I ever necessarily envisioned myself.

[00:02:41] My background's all in technology and telecommunications, and 60% of the BEN portfolio is in technology.

[00:02:46] So it wasn't a big leap, but a very different world than being an operator.

[00:02:51] And so I joined as the CEO in February of 2020.

[00:02:55] So it was an amazing first couple of years.

[00:02:59] And what I'll say is that in that pandemic year, boy, you know, the entrepreneurial grit

[00:03:05] and spirit and ability to pivot was on massive display.

[00:03:09] It was incredible.

[00:03:10] And they really needed support and they really needed assistance.

[00:03:15] And so from that period of time, I've really seen the ecosystem grow and expand, not only

[00:03:21] from the number of companies that are started here, but the resources available to them.

[00:03:26] The capital structure continues to change and grow with companies like yours, the Greater

[00:03:32] Colorado Venture Fund.

[00:03:33] And it was a weekly occurrence to field calls from other capital providers who may not be

[00:03:40] based here, but we're like, we're in Florida, but we'd like to get more involved, right?

[00:03:44] So we've really seen it grow and expand, which is super exciting.

[00:03:48] And then the last thing, just because I think this is another important element, you know,

[00:03:51] last three years, four years, I think in a row, you know, Colorado has also been voted the

[00:03:57] number one place for women to start a business.

[00:04:00] And we're seeing that in the ecosystem.

[00:04:02] So in the four and a half years that I led it, we onboarded over 50% of all new advisors

[00:04:09] were women.

[00:04:10] In one of our partnership programs, 68% of the entrepreneurs that we supported were women.

[00:04:15] So we're really also seeing kind of the ecosystem expand in a really beautiful way.

[00:04:22] That's great.

[00:04:22] And, you know, you see it reflected in the data too.

[00:04:24] My partner, Chris, recently posted the recent pitch book data on venture funding.

[00:04:29] And if you look at Colorado, while it's still way too low and anemic, we were 3x the national

[00:04:34] average in funding going to female founded companies.

[00:04:37] So hopefully we all continue in the right direction there, but we continue to be the

[00:04:40] leader on that dimension.

[00:04:41] Yeah, it's great to see, you know, change takes time.

[00:04:43] And as long as we're moving in the right direction, it's really encouraging.

[00:04:47] We're seeing the same thing on the BIPOC side, right?

[00:04:49] Like access mode is now here, right?

[00:04:51] We're seeing it also in founders as well as in advisors and a continued increase.

[00:04:57] And so I'm super excited about that because in the end, a more diverse ecosystem will provide

[00:05:02] a better outcome for all of us.

[00:05:04] Absolutely.

[00:05:05] We spoke about this a little bit before we started recording, but, you know, it's interesting

[00:05:08] in it, Ben, you guys would help companies that were high-flying venture-backed companies

[00:05:14] all the way to bootstrap founders who never raised a dime and never intended to.

[00:05:18] Just curious, how did you straddle those extremes?

[00:05:22] Yeah, it's fascinating.

[00:05:23] First of all, I mean, the ecosystem is just, you know, flush with so many amazing people.

[00:05:29] You know, the core of how Ben works is it's really all driven by what are the needs of

[00:05:34] the founder and the entrepreneur.

[00:05:35] The whole process starts with what are the strategic challenges they face?

[00:05:39] And so capital may be one.

[00:05:42] Navigating their own board of directors may be one.

[00:05:45] Moving into a different market might be one.

[00:05:49] You know, expanding into the market where they are.

[00:05:51] And so it really starts with what do they need?

[00:05:54] And then we create a non-traduciary advisory board that takes different forms, but it's

[00:06:00] all based on that need.

[00:06:02] So the difference in terms of whether they're bootstrapped or whether, you know, they're at

[00:06:07] a series A or series B certainly comes into the conversation, but doesn't come in in regards

[00:06:13] to how we support them other than the advisor groups that we select to work with them.

[00:06:19] That makes sense.

[00:06:20] I'm going to put you in a tough spot here, which I know you've worked with so many great

[00:06:23] companies in Colorado and your job was to support the whole ecosystem.

[00:06:27] Now that you're not officially at Ben anymore, you can answer this question, which is if

[00:06:31] there's one company you want to highlight that you're particularly excited about locally right

[00:06:34] now.

[00:06:35] Oh my gosh.

[00:06:37] You know, there are so many.

[00:06:38] There really are.

[00:06:39] I mean, from a SaaS perspective where you guys really focus, you know, Workbrite is amazing

[00:06:45] right now.

[00:06:46] They're growing.

[00:06:48] They've got great leadership.

[00:06:49] They've got a great infrastructure.

[00:06:51] They're filling a need that is definitely needed.

[00:06:55] Spectora obviously has just had, you know, an amazing acquisition.

[00:07:01] Poppins Payroll also comes to mind.

[00:07:04] A husband and wife team who continue to lead that forward.

[00:07:08] The other thing, you know, Inc.

[00:07:10] 5000 came out a couple of weeks ago.

[00:07:13] There's about 10 Ben companies on that list.

[00:07:16] Some of them are early stage.

[00:07:17] So, you know, Mom Juice, which is not in your space, but isn't on the list, but it's a super

[00:07:22] fun, you know, and they're coming out with a non-alcoholic version.

[00:07:26] So there's many.

[00:07:29] Absolutely.

[00:07:29] Well, I think one of the cool things about this ecosystem too that you're alluding to

[00:07:32] is it's so diverse.

[00:07:33] People ask us all the time.

[00:07:35] Okay.

[00:07:35] What's the area, the vertical that Colorado is strong in?

[00:07:40] And I think one of the beautiful things is we've got an incredible SaaS ecosystem, as

[00:07:44] you alluded to.

[00:07:45] We've got defense.

[00:07:45] We've got natural foods, right?

[00:07:47] We've got some consumer products.

[00:07:49] You get Crocs is, you know, the original, you know, company there, but a lot have spawned

[00:07:52] from that.

[00:07:53] And so we've got such a diverse ecosystem, which I think must have made it fun for your role

[00:07:57] too.

[00:07:58] And all the different advisors and mentors that you got to work with.

[00:08:00] It was super fun.

[00:08:01] And I'll just add one to that, which is aerospace, right?

[00:08:04] I mean, you know, second largest aerospace economy in the country, advanced space, which,

[00:08:10] you know, just has a couple of satellites on the dark side.

[00:08:14] I mean, just amazing, amazing things that are going on right here in Colorado.

[00:08:18] No doubt.

[00:08:19] No doubt.

[00:08:19] And robotics too.

[00:08:20] Yeah.

[00:08:21] Some great companies.

[00:08:23] Great companies.

[00:08:24] Yeah.

[00:08:24] There's no shortage of new stuff.

[00:08:26] And quantum.

[00:08:26] Quantum.

[00:08:27] Yeah.

[00:08:27] Yeah.

[00:08:28] Okay.

[00:08:28] I want to shift to the main focus of our discussion today, which is your biggest lesson.

[00:08:34] Obviously you've seen a lot, both in your career pre-BEN and been in all the different

[00:08:39] companies.

[00:08:40] What's your biggest lesson you learned?

[00:08:42] Yeah.

[00:08:42] You know, the biggest lesson I've learned and I learned it early on, but it just gets reinforced

[00:08:47] literally like every day and certainly in the BEN ecosystem as well is don't go it alone.

[00:08:52] Right?

[00:08:53] Like it's really sometimes easy.

[00:08:55] I think especially when you're the CEO or you're the founder, right?

[00:08:59] And people are looking to you for all of the answers to feel like somehow you're supposed

[00:09:07] to be able to provide everything to everyone.

[00:09:10] And it just isn't realistic.

[00:09:13] And so, you know, that's really the core of BEN is about don't go it alone.

[00:09:18] Right?

[00:09:18] Like there are hundreds of people in Colorado, literally, who are willing to volunteer their

[00:09:25] time to work with a founder or a CEO or really anyone.

[00:09:30] And, you know, I also have to say, Adam, it's a lesson I relearn almost every day.

[00:09:37] It's not like a one and done, but that's really kind of my biggest lesson that again,

[00:09:42] has stayed with me forever and continues to be with me.

[00:09:45] I love that.

[00:09:46] And it is so hard for founders because it is a lonely job, right?

[00:09:50] Being at the top.

[00:09:51] And especially as a first time founder, I think you have a little bit of this insecurity

[00:09:55] complex where you say, I've got to present confidently all the time, right?

[00:09:59] I'm always selling my investors say, always be selling and never show, you know, show

[00:10:03] vulnerability or weakness.

[00:10:05] But then you can take that too far.

[00:10:08] You can, you can take it way too far.

[00:10:11] And, and, you know, it, it comes in all different forms.

[00:10:13] I clearly remember, you know, I started my career, spent 23 years at Verizon Wireless.

[00:10:18] I left as the chief marketing officer of the largest division.

[00:10:22] We had 28 million customers and we're generating over 25 billion in revenue.

[00:10:29] And in that role, right?

[00:10:31] Like, you know, you were supposed to always be representing the brands.

[00:10:35] And I remember, honestly, the chief, the chief HR officer making a comment, almost exactly

[00:10:43] what you just said, right?

[00:10:45] Which was don't, don't ever let them see you be weak, right?

[00:10:50] Especially as a woman in technology, right?

[00:10:52] Don't ever let them see you be weak.

[00:10:54] And so, you know, you're like, oh, I have to have this persona.

[00:10:59] I have to be larger than, than life.

[00:11:02] But the only way that you can even do that for eight, let alone 12, 15 hours a day is

[00:11:08] if there is a whole ecosystem and environment around you, that when you're not up on that

[00:11:14] stage, when you're not in front of the investors, when you're not raising capital, that you can

[00:11:18] actually go to and say, I'm not really sure that that pitch went well.

[00:11:23] And how do I make it better?

[00:11:24] And will you help me do that?

[00:11:25] Right?

[00:11:25] It is a very humanizing aspect, I think, of kind of some of those big jobs, especially

[00:11:31] when you have that external pressure from wherever it's coming from, right?

[00:11:36] To somehow be larger than life.

[00:11:38] I love this topic because it is something that we see with nearly every company in every role

[00:11:45] executive too, right?

[00:11:46] It's make sure you have, I think somebody's called it your personal board of directors.

[00:11:49] That's one way of phrasing it to make sure you've got people that you can go to and be

[00:11:54] vulnerable with.

[00:11:55] I think some of the challenge though, I'd love to hear how you think people should approach

[00:11:59] this.

[00:12:00] We do see, okay, a founder does recognize, I do need to bring on advisors.

[00:12:04] I do need to have people around me, but they bring on the wrong advisors.

[00:12:07] They bring on people who are, for lack of a better word, people who are kind of out for

[00:12:13] themselves, are leeches we see trying to just grab equity or any angle for themselves.

[00:12:19] Yeah.

[00:12:19] How do you think founders make sure they find the right advisors who they should actually

[00:12:23] listen to?

[00:12:23] Yeah, it's a great question.

[00:12:25] And I think it's a journey, right?

[00:12:27] Like, I think you've got to be very thoughtful about who you're going to share your business

[00:12:33] with.

[00:12:34] And, you know, in Colorado, because there's organizations like Ben, right?

[00:12:38] Like, you can do some things before you actually get into a whole conversation about equity.

[00:12:43] But I think fundamentally, it has to start with a connection.

[00:12:47] It has to start with a really robust kind of conversation that hopefully is about open-ended

[00:12:56] questions, right?

[00:12:57] And a dialogue that ensues on both sides.

[00:13:02] It has to come from both sides, right?

[00:13:05] And what I always would ask the entrepreneurs after some of those initial conversations with

[00:13:10] potential advisors was another series of questions.

[00:13:13] Who resonated with you?

[00:13:15] Who challenged you?

[00:13:17] Who made you think about something that you've been ruminating on?

[00:13:21] And maybe you've kind of got some clarity, right?

[00:13:24] Who did you feel aligned to?

[00:13:26] And I think the other mistake that is made when you're building an executive team, when

[00:13:31] you're building a board of directors, when you're seeking advisors, is you actually want

[00:13:35] to find the people that aren't necessarily like you.

[00:13:38] You want to find the person that is happy and excited about doing the work that makes you

[00:13:46] tired, right?

[00:13:47] Like, you want to round yourself out.

[00:13:49] And it's the same thing with your board of directors.

[00:13:51] And the last thing I'll say is that sometimes if a board is already in existence and you have

[00:13:57] an independent to fill or you have some seats to fill, you also have to look at what's the

[00:14:02] configuration and the skill set on the existing board and where do I need to fill a gap?

[00:14:07] So if the board is mostly financial investors and there's not a product person or a marketer

[00:14:15] or a chief technology officer, right?

[00:14:17] Those are gaps that you need to fill.

[00:14:20] And so you might have to really stretch beyond your own ecosystem or your own network to find

[00:14:26] those right people.

[00:14:28] I think that's a really great point.

[00:14:30] There's a couple of points there I want to parse out.

[00:14:32] But that point around making sure you find people who complement you, particularly we see this

[00:14:38] when somebody is going to hire an executive role.

[00:14:42] Hey, I'm a product person.

[00:14:43] I'm a CEO.

[00:14:44] That's my background.

[00:14:45] I'm going to go hire a head of marketing, right?

[00:14:48] And anybody who comes in as a candidate is going to sound like they know a lot about

[00:14:51] marketing to me.

[00:14:53] Making sure you have that advisor like you or a background like yours or somebody else

[00:14:57] who's really done this for many years at the highest level, who's seen and interviewed

[00:15:00] lots of people who can really say, hey, this person really knows their stuff or this person

[00:15:05] doesn't.

[00:15:06] I think it's super critical.

[00:15:08] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:15:08] And that's a great example, right?

[00:15:10] Don't go it alone.

[00:15:11] If you're about to hire a role that you've never hired for, you're not exactly sure.

[00:15:16] Like, how do I smoke?

[00:15:18] How do I see through the smoke stream?

[00:15:19] Bring some people in to help you, right?

[00:15:21] And again, they'll be willing to do it in various stages along that journey.

[00:15:26] The other point that you said that I wanted to double click on was about people who challenge

[00:15:32] you.

[00:15:32] And this is another, I think, kind of common mistake and temptation that we see founders.

[00:15:37] Again, their job is so hard.

[00:15:38] They feel like they're getting beat up by customers, investors all day.

[00:15:41] It can be really tempting to just want someone who's a cheerleader, right?

[00:15:45] And I think that can play a role.

[00:15:46] We see this to the detriment of them sometimes too.

[00:15:49] If they get someone who is only a cheerleader, founders will always gravitate towards who's

[00:15:54] telling them what they want to hear.

[00:15:55] How do you give it?

[00:15:56] Have you given advice to founders to rebut that?

[00:15:58] And also maybe mentors as you guys train mentors for Ben, how do you serve as an effective

[00:16:03] mentor to make sure that you're not just acting like a cheerleader?

[00:16:05] Yeah.

[00:16:07] You know, from both perspectives, they will both gain so much more, right?

[00:16:13] By actually leveraging the skill sets that are around the table.

[00:16:17] And so I think that's really where a lot of that conversation starts.

[00:16:21] When we onboard advisors, so first of all, all of the advisors in Ben are fully screened

[00:16:29] and are all referred.

[00:16:30] So you can't go to the website and sign up to be an advisor, right?

[00:16:33] The first step is somebody in the ecosystem has to refer you.

[00:16:36] And then there's a full vetting process.

[00:16:38] And part of that vetting process is to understand their skills and abilities, but also understand

[00:16:43] their intent, right?

[00:16:45] And is that intent really about giving first and paying forward or not?

[00:16:51] And if it's not, then they're just not invited, quite frankly, to move forward.

[00:16:57] But we also go, I'll also go back to, we meet around specific challenges.

[00:17:05] And so it starts with the problem statement.

[00:17:08] And so that starts to eliminate, I'm just going to cheer you forward, right?

[00:17:14] Because there's a real problem that has to be solved.

[00:17:17] And I think that's also really important for the entrepreneur, because if the entrepreneur

[00:17:22] can't articulate what the real problem is and what the strategy is, not the tactic, but

[00:17:30] the strategy, then there's a whole nother series of conversations that have to happen to start

[00:17:36] off with.

[00:17:37] And so it's very similar when you're building a board of directors or you have a board of

[00:17:42] directors.

[00:17:43] The strategy is what the board is going to help you with first and foremost, and then

[00:17:48] the governance.

[00:17:48] And so that strategy alignment is absolutely critical.

[00:17:53] And the CEO has to have it, the board has to have it, the advisors, everybody has to

[00:17:57] have it.

[00:17:57] And if you can't ever get there, it's not going to be very productive.

[00:18:02] I totally agree.

[00:18:03] And just to pick up that thread about board of directors, I know you mentioned that's the

[00:18:07] phase of life that you're transitioning into right now full time.

[00:18:10] And you've been on a number of boards.

[00:18:13] How do you think about the most effective way to be a board member yourself and be part

[00:18:17] of that strategic team?

[00:18:19] Yeah, I'll take it back to, you know, don't go it alone, right?

[00:18:22] The role of the board is very well defined.

[00:18:26] And the role of the board is about helping guide the strategy, helping ensure that there's

[00:18:32] resources to fulfill the strategy.

[00:18:35] They're there to represent the stakeholders and the shareholders of the company and ensure

[00:18:40] that there's good governance.

[00:18:41] So the role is clearly defined.

[00:18:45] It, you know, it varies based certainly on the company and the size of the company and,

[00:18:50] you know, all of those aspects of it.

[00:18:52] And sometimes it's hard.

[00:18:54] I'm an operator, right?

[00:18:55] I have, I'm a former CEO of a $10 million scale up company myself, right?

[00:19:01] Like I'm used to being in the weeds.

[00:19:03] And so I do have to check myself sometimes and be like, you're not the operator.

[00:19:10] You're here on strategy.

[00:19:12] And the other thing that's really important is the rest of the board, right?

[00:19:16] Like really great, high performing boards will check one another in addition to making sure

[00:19:24] that whether it's in the room or whether it's the call before the call, right?

[00:19:28] Or any of those elements of it.

[00:19:29] And they'll invest in their own entity as a board of directors in their own culture, right?

[00:19:36] And in their own identities.

[00:19:38] So, you know, I, it is a challenge sometimes to make sure that you're in the role, but that's

[00:19:44] what makes a great board is that it's clearly defined and they're not in the day-to-day.

[00:19:49] In a smaller company, they also need to be willing to do a little bit more than in a bigger

[00:19:54] company, especially in regards to opening up their network, but they're still not the

[00:19:57] operator, right?

[00:19:59] That belongs to the founder and the CEO.

[00:20:01] Okay.

[00:20:02] Thanks.

[00:20:02] I'm really excited for you to transition to the next phase of your career and any company,

[00:20:06] you know, would be lucky to have such a thoughtful strategic leader to help them, you know,

[00:20:11] build their own personal or company board of directors.

[00:20:13] So thanks again.

[00:20:14] Where can our listeners get in touch with you or follow along with what you're up to?

[00:20:18] Yeah, you bet.

[00:20:19] Thanks so much, Adam.

[00:20:20] It's been so much fun.

[00:20:21] So I'm active on LinkedIn at Kay Henze.

[00:20:24] And then you can also find me at email, Kay at Kay Henze.com.

[00:20:28] Thanks again, Kate.