CEO Spotlight: Doug Chapiewsky of Kanso Software
Doug Chapiewsky: Owner, CEO & President, Kanso Software
Doug Chapiewsky is leading Kanso Software through a reinvention of a 25-year-old company into a modern sustainable entity going forward. As CEO and President, he oversees the company’s ongoing efforts to expand the Kanso platform into new markets.
Prior to joining the company in 2012, Doug founded a telecommunications software company that was sold to a publicly-traded Israeli firm. He started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories and held a variety of engineering and management positions.
Doug earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. Mary’s University and an advanced degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Please describe what your company does today.
Kanso is the Japanese art of simplicity. We develop software products that significantly simplify the management of difficult societal problems.
Our mission is to serve tribal, public housing, homeless and non-profit agencies, bringing simplicity, transparency, and empathy to their daily operations with best-in-class, user-friendly, and affordable software.
Our core product, Doorways, transforms data into knowledge, providing clarity into all aspects of housing management operations and the people being served. With our software, our clients ensure that their scarce resources are utilized for those most in need to get the right people in the right shelter and receiving the right assistance.
What aspect of your team or company culture are you most proud of, and how are you maintaining it?
Every person at Kanso is highly desirable in the marketplace and chooses to work here. We have a mature staff that understands the importance of purpose in a professional career. This forms a foundation for our great work environment where we deliver superior software products that compete with companies much larger, in a culture adhering to core principles such as humility, empathy, integrity, and teamwork. We bring joy to the workplace while serving large societal problems.
What is the most important thing you're working on right now, and how are you making it happen?
The market opportunity is too large for our current team velocity. We are working on a short burst of growth to launch our product into new markets that are in dire need of our solution. To accomplish this, we are raising a small amount of growth capital to strategically position us for top-line growth in 2022.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received as a CEO?
Few things in life are fatal and you must stay in traffic moving forward. As CEO, you signed up for this task which requires extreme resilience, intelligence, and risk tolerance. You must have a high tolerance for pain as you lead consistently under all conditions.
What has been the most meaningful aspect of your engagement with the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network?
Becoming a member of BEN Colorado has been transformative for me as a CEO and leader of my team. Prior to BEN, I was very disillusioned at the quality of principles within today’s business world, especially that of software in Colorado and Silicon Valley. The VC and private equity model of fast returns on meaningless applications were disheartening and contrary to everything we do. Kanso Software was living by conscious capitalism before anyone heard of stakeholders or ESG investment. But I could not find a single entity that was willing to help a company like ours who may not be a unicorn and quickly enrich the already wealthy shareholders.
Until I was accepted into BEN. Here I found kind and caring Colorado executives who have had much success and were willing to lend a helping hand. The extraordinary insights and coaching I have received have been incredibly generous and nothing short of brilliant. Everyone I have met associated with BEN exhibits principles and wisdom that have renewed my faith in the Colorado business community.
I consider BEN resources to be very impactful to the future success of Kanso Software.
For this, I am eternally grateful.