Startup leadership truth
A Solwey Consulting leader who moved from big tech to startups says the shift is ‘harder, messier, and far more rewarding’ — hire for culture first, align business and technical goals, and create space for engineers to thrive. (x.com)
Solwey Consulting is an Austin-based boutique software consultancy founded by Andrew Drach and Monika Jociunaite in 2016, according to the company site and Crunchbase. ( ) Andrew Drach is listed as CEO and co‑founder and holds a Ph.D. in engineering; TechCrunch ran a profile of Drach on Dec. 10, 2021 that traces his path from academic research into boutique software consulting. ( ) Solwey’s service offerings on its website include UX/UI design, full‑stack web and mobile development, data science and machine‑learning consulting, which Crunchbase and the firm’s project pages both list as core competencies. ( ) The firm cites public client work including a NASA‑linked app project reported in local press, while third‑party listings on Clutch show typical client engagements running $50,000–$200,000 and hourly rates of $100–$149. ( ) Solwey regularly publishes leadership and scaling guidance — for example the posts “Great Tech Leadership or How to Scale Without Killing Innovation” (Nov. 3, 2025) and “The Tech Leader’s Guide to Scaling Teams, Culture, and Communication” — that explicitly frame technical choices alongside business priorities. ( )
