For Hence co-founder Steve Heitkamp, building starts with a simple conviction: that what you are creating is specific and necessary.
Steve Heitkamp has spent much of his career working at the intersection of complex problems, technology and entrepreneurship.
Before co-founding Hence, he worked in counterterrorism and counter-proliferation and later spent seven years at Palantir Technologies. More recently, that experience has taken him into entrepreneurship, building an AI and enterprise technology company with roots in Rwanda.
During a recent visit to African Leadership University, Steve sat down with students and alumni to share what that journey has taught him about building: from understanding a problem deeply and finding the right co-founder to knowing when to iterate and when to stay the course.
Start With the Problem
“Building what matters starts with the conviction that it should exist.”
For Steve, that means understanding the problem deeply before becoming attached to a particular solution.
During the conversation, he took students through some of the decisions founders face as an idea moves from possibility to reality: finding the right co-founder, listening closely to the people you are building for, knowing when feedback calls for iteration and recognising when difficulty is simply part of building something worthwhile.
It was an opportunity for students and alumni to move beyond entrepreneurship in theory and hear directly from someone who has navigated those decisions himself.
A Good Pitch Starts With a Good Story
During the Hot Seat, ALU alumna China Viola, a Financial Risk Manager at ICEA LION Group who is currently building insurtech solution E-Klaims, asked Steve what makes one pitch stand out to an investor.
His answer came back to storytelling.
Being able to tell the story of what you are building in a way that feels authentic, he explained, is what allows people to connect with an idea, believe in it and want to know what comes next.
For ALU’s emerging entrepreneurs, it was a reminder that building a strong venture requires more than a strong product. Founders also need to understand why their work matters and communicate that conviction to the people they hope will join them.
That is also why access to industry experts matters.
Bringing builders like Steve into conversation with ALU students gives emerging entrepreneurs the opportunity to test their thinking against experience, ask the questions that arise when ideas meet reality and learn from people who have already made difficult decisions along the way.
Because sometimes the next step in building what matters begins with getting the right person in the room.
