Heather Stevens

SOFTWARE PRODUCT EXECUTIVE

After spending a quarter of a century driving software solution strategy and execution for product companies of various sizes and stages, I can confidently say that startups are my jam: the earlier the stage the better. I thrive in an environment where I'm elbow deep in everything that is building products that customers love that solve real world problems. More than that, I love exploring a product space to find new problems that need to be solved. A good product idea starts with solving a problem. A great product idea gets to the root cause of that problem, often identifying other problems to be solved.

Over the span of my career leading product and engineering teams, I've seen 5 companies through successful exits and celebrated several successful funding rounds.

My life’s journey has been long and meandering. I started out at a magnet high school for math and science, only to realize that I was not a huge fan of math and science. This naturally led to a degree in Aerospace from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University focusing on... math and science (this decision was really the result of watching Top Gun too many times). It wasn't until I found myself in a job where I needed to use my math and science skills to solve the problems that I really cared about that I finally found the love.... and the rest, as they say, is history.

I'd like to say that I have scads of interesting and impressive hobbies, but really my hobbies are cooking, eating, and distance running. The running bit is really just to counter the eating bit, though interestingly I started running around the same time my career took off and since then, I’ve run over 10,000 miles, including two full marathons, about a half dozen half marathons, and over a dozen Army Ten Milers. I think that the running grounds me and allows me to contemplate who I really want to be when I finally grow up.