Seven to Watch: Tech Talent South co-founder jumps into tech entrepreneurship

Betsy Hauser Idilbi felt she was missing out on something big.

She stood on the outskirts of Charlotte’s burgeoning startup scene, enviously watching her friends develop innovative apps that grew into bustling businesses. Having spent most of her career in physical product development, Idilbi longed for the freedom that came with creating a digital product and building an enterprise around it.

So after leading a product development company into a successful merger, the 34-year-old Tar Heel from Cramerton decided to go back to school.

“I talked to my husband and I was like, ‘I’m going to do this. I’m going to go out on my own for a little bit,’ ” she said.

For three months, Idilbi left Charlotte and moved to Chicago, where she would invest about $15,000 to enroll in the Starter League, a renowned computer coding boot camp that teaches beginners how to use code, such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, to build sophisticated Web applications.

The experience was life changing, she said, but raised a nagging question: “Why the heck did I have to come all the way to Chicago to experience this?”

Then one night, over a few beers, Idilbi and Richard Simms, the only other Southerner in her class, decided to take what they learned in the Windy City to cities across the Southeast.

Together, they formed Tech Talent South, a tuition-based coding academy that has enrolled over 1,000 students since 2013, has campuses in seven cities and generated nearly $2 million in revenue this year, Idilbi said.

In an age when there’s increased focus on the lack of women in technology, Idilbi’s efforts to bridge those gaps – six of her 11 salaried employees are women – have won her citywide accolades. Case in point: In August, she was named Charlotte’s “Emerging Leader” Chief Information Officer of the Year by the Charlotte Business Journal.

“I probably cried because it really meant a lot to me,” she said. “To say that we’re having that much of an impact on the city that I love, where I grew up, there are just no words.”

From ‘Little Idea’ to big ideas

Idilbi’s emergence into tech-based entrepreneurship came after she dabbled in other industries.

She earned an advertising degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and worked in public relations for two years. Later, she started a company that sold various products online.

She soon landed at Little Idea, a Charlotte-based product development firm that specialized in prototyping new products, sourcing manufacturers and developing packaging for clients and their inventions. As company president, she spearheaded its merger with Enventys, an innovative-product development firm.

“It was a feather in my cap and a really exciting moment,” she said. Yet, she wondered, “what’s next?”

Her search took her to the Chicago coding camp, where she and Simms formed their idea for a company that aims to educate.

With $10,000 of their own money, they launched the first Tech Talent South program in Atlanta in October 2013. Two months later, Idilbi learned she was pregnant with her first child, a girl named Sercie.

Motherhood didn’t slow her hustle.

In February 2014, Tech Talent South launched an Asheville campus. Two months later, boot camps in Charlotte and Raleigh opened. Academies in New Orleans, Dallas and Jacksonville, Fla. opened this year.

Idilbi expects to keep that momentum in 2016, when the school adds new classes and makes moves to grow globally: “I believe that someone in Zimbabwe should be able to be in a TTS class the same as someone in Charlotte,” she said.

Also in 2016: a new addition to Idilbi’s family. She and husband, Jason, an attorney, are expecting a son in April.

“Parenthood is a lot, and running a company is a lot but I love both,” Idilbi said. “I don’t think a lot of people walk into their job everyday and think it’s the best thing ever.”

A boss who cares

So what makes it the “best thing ever”? That’s easy, says Idilbi: The “young, scrappy” people who work there.

She calls them family: She often sends them photos of her children. She cries when they hit professional and personal milestones. And, she worries about their well-being.

“We’re not paying like a bank and these people are working harder than anyone I know,” she said. “I care a lot about them personally and sometimes I worry about how much time they’re putting in and (the effect on) their social life.”

For Zack Kirchin, the school’s director of product and curriculum, those qualities are what makes her a good boss.

She’s efficient, sympathetic and community-oriented, he said. She cares for her instructors and students, often meeting with them outside of class at the Smelly Cat coffee house in NoDa.

Melissa Nemec, the school’s director of community operations, first met Idilbi as a Tech Talent South student. During a job interview over the phone, she was taken with Idilbi’s energy, which “just bounced off the phone,” Nemec said.

“I forced her to be my mentor,” she said. “She’s one of those superwomen.”

This story was originally published January 1, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Seven to Watch: Tech Talent South co-founder jumps into tech entrepreneurship."