TechHouse

TechHouse helps organizations better utilize their IT to streamline their operations and processes, so they can achieve their goals. TechHouse serves a variety of sectors including commercial businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions.

FOUNDED IN

1995

INDUSTRY

Information Technology

COUNTY

Manatee

REVENUE GROWTH

78% increase from
2017 – 2021

EMPLOYEE GROWTH

23% increase from
2017 – 2020

Kathy Durfee

CEO and Founder

How did TechHouse come to fruition?

TechHouse was born after my daughter got sick – I couldn’t take her to daycare, and my employer didn’t allow people to work from home. I decided to stay home with her, but I still needed a job. My sister and I were talking about finding something to do and using my skills. She suggested I start my own company and call it TechHouse because I was doing technology out of my house. That’s where it all started.

Initially, I had little interest in the business world. My bachelor’s degree is in Chemistry, and my master’s is in English Literature. When I graduated, I was fortunate to get a job at Accenture, a consulting company that offered technology training to individuals with math and science degrees. That’s how I got into the technology space, and even then, entrepreneurship wasn’t on my radar. Being an entrepreneur wasn’t something I planned, but I am so grateful for the opportunity.

How did leaving an organization who couldn’t offer remote work affect how you structure your own company?

I ran TechHouse out of my house from the beginning. After just two years, I had three employees working there with me. Since my two daughters were there as well, it became way too much under one roof. I got an office.

We worked in commercial office space until about ten years ago. Then we had a team member get hurt, and they needed to work from home. I realized we weren’t structured where that would work, but they were a great employee. They ended up getting another job because it wasn’t working well. I felt horrible about it. The whole company started because I had to do the very same thing. That’s why about ten years ago, we went hybrid, and eventually, we were fully remote about seven years ago.

Did already being structured as a remote organization make a difference with the pandemic?

100% yes. When I heard people talking about the challenges they were encountering, I thought, “Yeah, I remember that.” It was such a relief to have already figured it out. Trying to figure it out mid-COVID would have been ten times more difficult. I think it would have strained our team.

Can you tell us a bit about TechHouse and how your technology benefits customers?

We benefit our customers by solving their problems with a human-centric approach. Our problem-solving process is called the TechHouse BluePrint™ and it requires us to ask hard questions to uncover what is typically overlooked. We identify the key problems and create innovative, targeted solutions.

Some of our most-recognized work is with The TechHouse Data Toolkit™. This program extracts, transforms, and loads data from Excel Spreadsheets, CSV files, Access databases, SQL Databases, AzureAD, and more. It allows companies to analyze data from most sources to make more informed business decisions. We also have the TechHouse Data Loader™, which is like the Data Toolkit™ but doesn’t require TechHouse to connect to a client’s tenant

to extract the data. Instead, clients email us a file, and Data Loader™ uploads the data to the cloud where it is processed and cleaned. Then it’s ready to be plugged into Power BI or Excel for analysis.

For cybersecurity protection, we offer the TechHouse Cloud Alert Monitor™, which gives customers a proactive option for defending their Microsoft 365 tenant. When alerts are triggered by Microsoft Cloud App Security or Microsoft Defender, Cloud Alert Monitor will notify the customer or preapprove remediation tickets when necessary to save time.

We offer solutions in cybersecurity, data analytics, business processes, and more. Since we’ve been remote for more than ten years, we can provide organizations with the insights and resources they need to have a successful work-from-home operation.

What is TechHouse’s competitive edge?

I was talking with a customer the other day, and he told me he will always work with us because, “All I care about is that I can continue to work with good, knowledgeable, and helpful people.”

That’s what our team is – good people with excellent skills. Our competitive edge comes from our commitment to level the playing field, our creative solutions, and our friendly team.

Everyone in our company knows TechHouse exists to level the playing field. That’s why we’re all here. Our shared mission gives us the flexibility to have a wide diversity of thought in other areas. That wide diversity of thought means our creativity has no limitations. Creativity alone is not enough. Every team member is trained in the solutions we provide, most of which our team uses every day. More than one employee has told me that working here is like attending TechHouse university. One of the most praised courses is on critical thinking and creative problem-solving.

Our work requires a lot of change, adaptability and patience, all the while providing great service. We actually have a “no jerks allowed” policy. We strive to not only have work/life balance but also to have a healthy and sustainable work environment.

Speaking of your team, what is the company culture at TechHouse like?

Our team members are selected based on our company values: adaptability, creativity, dedication, and expertise. Each team member brings unique experiences and skills celebrated at TechHouse—creating a culture that feels more like a family dynamic. We can achieve our goal and our mission in part because we celebrate the uniqueness of our team and the work they do. Over 50% of our core team members are women – something you rarely see in the technology sector.

Each team member shares the same belief that we can change the world one person, client, or organization at a time. Our company is driven by one question – Is this helping somebody?

Since you’ve been remote for a while, how do you keep your team engaged?

If people care about each other, then remoteness becomes much less of an issue. If your driver isn’t, How can we make sure we hit 10% but Hey, John, I heard your mom wasn’t doing well, are you doing okay? That makes all the difference. How do you maintain your relationship with your family in a different state than you? Or the people you care about? It’s the same concept in the workplace.

What are some challenges you faced while growing your business?

Balancing family and work was a big challenge. I had simultaneous roles like many people to today – sister, daughter, wife, mom, and small business owner. When people have all those different roles, making choices can be incredibly difficult. I tried to solve it in a lot of unhealthy ways. Most of which was by not sleeping enough trying to fit it all in, which was more counterproductive, if anything.

If I had to do it over again, I probably would have redefined some of those roles myself. Looking at my daughters and the young women who work with me, I am impressed with how much better they set boundaries and address work/life balance challenges. They see these roles somewhat differently than I did. I’m from a generation where wives did certain things, mothers did certain things, and business owners did certain things. The generation before me, you weren’t all three of those.

On the other side of that, what are some of the goals you have for your company?

I would love for us to be helping every small, mid-market business on the planet. We keep trying to reach and help as many people as possible. I’ve had numerical goals in the past, and sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But that’s not why we exist. That’s not what we want to do. We’d love to have many employees expressing their talents and contributing to their communities.

There should be zero technical advantage for any organization to be large. If that were true, everybody who wanted to run a small, mid-market business could. We are determined to address that – at least from the tech side. A world with a level playing field would be an amazing world.

What are some meaningful moments you had as CEO?

There are so many of them. When COVID hit, a customer of ours took their little bit of manufacturing equipment at their warehouse and brought it to their house. They ran their facility out of their home because we had already set up their operations in the cloud. They called to say thank you, which I thought was the sweetest thing. There are moments when somebody joined the company and wasn’t sure where they were going or where they wanted to end up, and they get their first technical certification because they identified this is where their talents really are. Or the moment where a team member who came into marketing found that the accounting department is where they thrive. When we offered free classes in our community and over 100 people attended to learn. When we help anyone gain momentum and shine. Those are the moments where I feel confident in saying what I’m doing has meaning.

What does it mean to be selected as an Honoree this year?

I’m so grateful. There can always be a lot of noise in your head about, Is this the right direction? Is what we’re doing working? Our company is better just by filling out the application for the award. But then to be selected as an Honoree is validation to us and to the team that we’re on the right track.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank?

It’s so hard even to pinpoint because there have been so many people I’d want to thank. All the customers who are willing to put their trust in us. The employees that show up and are in alignment. The community who provides affirmation and guidance like GrowFL. My family that’s so supportive. Indeed, there are so many people who have helped us get to where we are.

What is your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

When I started my business, I was in my early 30s. In the beginning, it can be hard to separate what you believe from what you think you believe. It helps if you have confidence in your vision, believe in what you think the world should be, and how you would like to see yourself in the future. Try to give yourself some quiet time – preferably each day; it can be 10 minutes. It could be in the parking lot before you drive home. Truly visualize what you want things to look like. If you keep that in mind, then the difficult decisions, even if all the answers look bad, one of them usually rises as the answer that is most going to align with your vision. Filter through the chatter. Give yourself time to think about where it is coming from. It takes practice. It takes a lot of just sitting with yourself, and it’s not easy, but it is essential.

"Try to give yourself some quiet time – preferably each day; it can be 10 minutes. It could be in the parking lot before you drive home. Truly visualize what you want things to look like."

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