The Tech Entrepreneurs Of Autism
Employees of VenturesATL, one of the autism-focused tech firms that is growing, even in the … [+]
In the early 2010s, a wave of tech start-ups arose with the goal of employing adults with autism, building on the claimed skills of these adults in software testing and quality control. Most of these tech start-ups failed to survive: casualties of the offshoring and competitive price pressures of the software testing and quality control jobs they focused on, as well as an overhyping of the tech skills of most adults with autism. But a few of these start-ups have survived and even grown, and they point to possibilities in this niche market of employment going forward.
The wave of autism-focused tech start-ups was generated in good part by a glowing New York Times
New York Times
Three start-ups from that period were able to navigate this competition, and continue to do so: AutonomyWorks, Ultranauts, and VenturesATL. Their success is due to the unusual skills and missions of the individual entrepreneurs who founded and continue to lead them, the teams they have built, and their ability to pivot and adapt to changing markets. Though the business lines of these companies differ, a common pivot has been to higher-level data and AI-related services.
This past month I went back to these three companies to get an update from their founders on their current employees, product lines and marketing, and how they see their company’s future, including the impacts of AI on staffing.
As summarized below, chief among their themes:
· They know they need to continue to adapt, given the current tech headwinds: These headwinds include the ongoing automation of basic data management functions, budget reductions for tech services among private sector companies, and the role of AI in eliminating entry level tech positions.
· Autism employment can be a marketing advantage in some cases, but it is not sustainable if the company does not perform: This advantage rapidly fades if the quality performance is not present.
· Increasingly they are facing tradeoffs between their employment goal of maximizing and diversifying job creation and their need adapt to automation and AI: The dual forces of automation and AI are increasing the roles for more experienced and skilled engineers, and reducing the number of employees needed in less skilled positions.
· Despite the competitive challenges, they have no plans to leave their roles, and hope to mentor a next generation of autism-focused businesses.
AutonomyWorks
David Friedman
1. Background: Launched in 2012 by David Friedman, and headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois outside of Chicago. Prior to founding AutonomyWorks, Friedman served as president of marketing for Sears Holdings, and before that as an executive at Razorfish, the global marketing and technology company.
2. Current employees: As of May 2024, 75 employees, around 60 of them with autism or related conditions—up from the 12 employees a decade ago, in 2014. Employees are recruited mainly from the autism and neurodiversity organizations in the Chicago area.
3. Business lines: Three main business lines:
Data management – Audit and validate websites, product data, and production systems. Ensure compliance with standards, brand guidelines, and customer requirements.
Digital marketing operations – Implement and maintain digital marketing campaigns. Report and optimize performance.
AI/Automation – Build and manage data sets and processes necessary for the creation and management of artificial intelligence and automation solutions. A partnership with UiPath
UiPath
4. Some of the Customers: MIQ (digital marketing), Grainger (data management), NEC Leasing (transaction processing), Dentsu (AI/automation).
AutonomyWorks employees at one of its locations.
5. Looking into the future: “I believe that autism-focused businesses have a future. People with autism really are talented. We see it every day in the work done by our team and in the feedback from our clients,” Friedman explains.
“I think that there are a few different options worth exploring in tech and beyond: (i) the place-based model (most of these businesses will be consumer oriented, but there are business-to-business models as well), (ii) supplier diversity, linking to the diversity initiatives in major companies, and (iii) focus/specialization: people with autism are most successful when they can build knowledge and expertise. By focusing narrower business or solution niches, autism focused businesses can build expertise and clearer differentiation.”
Ultranauts
Rajesh Anandan
1. Background: Founded in 2013, by Rajesh Anandan and Art Shectman, two MIT-trained engineers. Originally named ULTRA Testing and later changed to Ultranauts. Initially focused on software testing services, quickly evolved to quality engineering and test automation, then expanded to data governance, and recently launched a suite of AI products to improve team and individual workforce performance. Anandan has continued to the present as CEO.
2. Employees: Employees in 30 states, 75% of whom are neurodivergent. Job applicants sourced from a network of neurodiversity focused websites, blogs, influencers, and social media groups. Goal of ongoing upskilling of employees, as business evolves.
3. Business lines: 1. Software quality services launched in 2013 (software test automation, software quality diagnostic, quality engineering consulting), 2. Data governance services launched in 2019 (data quality management systems, data lineage solutions management), 3. HR technologies launched in 2023 (Team-X, Coach-X).
4. Some of the Customers: BNY Mellon, Comcast
Comcast
Goldman Sachs
Pfizer
5. Looking into the future: “Ultranauts plans to continue to evolve our core business of software quality and data governance services to keep pace with changing market needs. This includes the development of a new suite of services to help mid- market enterprises better leverage their data assets (with services like the CDO Accelerator, AI Pathfinder, and Data Governance in a Box) and a new defense-ready structure to provide quality engineering and test automation services to government customers and prime contractors. Ultranauts also plans to continue to develop and scale up our HR technology solutions including Team-X and Coach-X, which provide a path for the company to have a positive impact beyond its own organization and shape a more inclusive future of work for everyone.”
Chet Hurwitz
VenturesATL
1. Background: Founded in 2018 by the husband-wife team of Chet Hurwitz and Sara Barron, parents of a son with autism. Hurwitz, an attorney, had been a partner at PwC (formerly Price WaterhouseCoopers) and executive at IBM
IBM
2. Current employees: 25 employees, 23 of whom are on the autism spectrum/neurodiverse. Grown from six employees at the end of the first year of operation in 2018. Employees drawn mainly from the Atlanta area. Hurtwitz explains,
“Our operational model has been that our employees work in our Atlanta office so that they can benefit from the support of our management team and from working together on teams.
“We have noticed an interesting trend in the last 18 months as many of the strongest applicants are individuals with substantial work experience who better are positioned for success in our environment than the traditional workplace environments. In this regard, we have hired several neurodiverse employees in their forties who have brought substantial technical skills and workplace experience.
“The primary skills we look for include a solid level of familiarity with Excel and other parts of the Microsoft Office Suite, some demonstrated capacity for problem-solving, and an interest in working in a collaborative team environment. We do not view coding or AI/Machine Learning experience as necessary for the work we currently perform for our clients, but we anticipate that such skills may be desirable in the future as we continue to expand our service footprint into adjacent areas.”
3. Business lines: “We currently operate two lines of business. The primary line of business (90% of revenue) is a Data Management Service which utilizes the focus, attention to detail, and affinity for methodical tasks of our employees. The work may involve the initial entry of raw or unstructured data, the migration of data across applications, the validation or “clean up” of existing databases and the real time compilation of data to facilitate management reports and analytics tools. We have provided this service to a wide range of data-dependent tasks including (but not limited to) the following business processes:
Customer Relationship Management– we provide a validation and research function for new or existing customer databases (frequently managing tens of thousands of rows of customer data).
Strategic Pricing– we provide research and analysis of competitive pricing to enable a client to adopt an optimal pricing strategy in a dynamic (inflationary) pricing environment
Finance & Accounting -validating information in a client’s accounts payable system and the entry of revenue data that will be placed into a client’s monthly financial reports.
4. Some of the Customers: “Our primary Data Management clients have included a large regional insurance agency, a large telecommunications company, a prominent private equity firm, a commercial real estate firm, a global professional services firm, and a statewide nonprofit.
“Over time and multiple engagements we have earned the trust of our clients so they give us roles that are increasingly technical and/or important. One of our clients initially had us “clean up” the problem areas in its database of existing clients. As a result of our success, they have asked us to handle the initial entry of the data for new customers (3,000-5,000 per month). They have also asked our team to resolve an increasingly complex set of issues including industry designations and corporate hierarchy issues.”
5. Looking into the Future: “To state the obvious, there is an ever-growing need for such organizations to succeed given the demographic wave of adults on the autism spectrum (and the modest increase in autism employment in the traditional labor market). There are several factors which may determine to the success of autism-focused businesses:
· Focus on the Business Dynamics- At VenturesATL, we were determined to operate only those businesses for which there is real commercial demand for the service and where the jobs align with the strengths and interests frequently found in the autism population.”
· Disciplined Approach to the Scope of Business Activity- It is often suggested that an autism-focused company perform a service outside its sweet spot and model. This can lead to distraction and “mission creep” into areas that may be less sustainable.
· Effective Relationship Building-These autism-focused businesses can grow when there is effective outreach in the local communities. Some of this can occur because within a local geographic market where members of the business community may have a philosophical or personal interest in the success of the autism-focused enterprise. However, excellent client relationships have developed from outside our geographic market because we have become recognized as a high-quality cost effective provider.
· Impact on Business Partners- Our impact is measured not just in the number of individuals on the autism spectrum employed by Ventures ATL. Another very key area is the impact we have on the corporate clients with whom we work. One result of successful engagements with Ventures ATL is that these companies are now more willing to hire neurodiverse employees themselves and, given their size, they can move the needle even more than the autism-focused businesses. This is an important way in which the positive impact can be leveraged.”
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And a final word from Brian Jacobs, venture capitalist and managing partner at Moai Capital, who has invested in several autism-focused businesses (including Ultranauts). “These autism focused businesses directly employ a small number of persons in our autism community. However, they have values far beyond their numbers. They provide a model of workplace culture—patience, peer supports, and managerial supports. They also serve as inspiration for the next generation of autism-employment entrepreneurs that the autism community needs.”
