Mike McSherry

Entrepreneur

-EY Entrepreneur of Year Finalist
-Geekwire Best Consumer Product of Year (Swype)
-Swype Top Grossing App in App Store

Frustrated with Status Quo. Re-invent!

Slack, Airbnb, Hiya, Glowforge, Porch,

I successfully co-founded several companies in Mobile. I wanted to try and do something more meaningful, with a larger purpose. Healthcare was interesting for those reasons. The CEO of Providence Health (3rd biggest hospital in country) convinced my team and I that incubating an idea within Providence would be a great launching pad for ideation and commercialization.

The successes and failures are more pronounced in startups. As CEO, you wear the ultimate responsibility of success and the ensuing challenges of inventing an idea, product, company, business model, etc.

I thrive on working with the same team for 20+ years in creating several globally successful businesses (Boost, Swype, Xealth). The trust, camraderie and shared commitment to a goal is my greatest reward.

My greatest frustration is the market's tolerance for change and acceptance of new technology/business models. Institutional bureaucracy on the purchasing side and the required 'selling' to convince the establishment should be unecessary. A good product 'sells itself'!

There's no single mistake. Over/undercapitalization. Poor hires/poor culture. Too early, too late. Wrong idea. Not executable. Competitive dynamics. Incremental vs exponential improvement.

Team is everything. Hire well...

1. I don't have all the answers. A strong network helps at key decision junctions (co-founders, advisors, industry experts). You still have to make a decision. In-decision is a decision...though overutilized it breeds discontent and lack of conviction.

2. Have fun. Startups are and can be stressful. Xealth is my 6th startup I've co-founded. I'm less stressed at key times with greater reliance and trust on all the preparation steps we've made to this point. I possess a greater optimism that the chips will fall my way and let's have more fun with the team in the process. Don't let your startup consume too much of your life, family, friendships. You'll move to another idea, company, startup....not so your family.

3. Find a core team, stick with them, succeed with them. Co-founder trust, respect and loyalty have been my winning recipe!

McSherry is currently CEO of Xealth, which spun out of Providence St. Joseph Health in 2017, to help health systems organize, integrate and deploy digital health initiatives that achieve measurable results. Prior to Xealth, McSherry was CEO of Swype, an innovative touchscreen keyboard which made communication easier, faster and more inclusive. Swype was installed on over one billion smartphones and tablets and sold to Nuance. At Nuance, McSherry led the team that managed Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and other early mobile voice recognition platforms using the company’s Dragon technology.

McSherry brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, co-founding several other consumer electronics businesses including Boost Mobile, which is now Sprint’s pre-paid service. Drawing from his background in consumer engagement with electronic devices, McSherry has made it his mission to connect the things that matter.