Sketch Development Services is a consultancy that helps organizations improve how they build and deliver software using Agile, Lean, and DevOps practices. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sketch Development Services founder and CEO John Krewson to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
John Krewson’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Krewson said:
“Professionally speaking, I have two great passions. The first is sketch comedy, which I pursued for a while. It took one brief appearance on SNL to realize I didn’t want to be on SNL—I wanted to run a company like Lorne Michaels does it. I leaned into my other passion (software development) for almost two decades, then started Sketch Development Services. We have teams of brilliant software engineers and consultants, and we use methodologies inspired by the sketch comedy world to help some of the world’s largest enterprises build better software.”
After moving back to St. Louis from New York City, I worked on and over software product teams in various organizations. That was enough to help me spot certain trends and realize I could help companies correct problems that seemed to plague every organization. That’s when I knew it was time to start Sketch. The secret sauce that’s helped Sketch (and by extension, our clients) become so successful is in realizing what those two industries have in common.
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Krewson shared:
“I realized early into my career that I learned more about how to build great software from SNL than I did from my MBA. They start trying to act like an assembly line, and they build an enormous amount of bureaucracy into their processes.”
“In environments like this, first you think of everything you need, then you design the whole thing, then build everything, then test, then go into maintenance mode. This makes it take a long time before you have anything of value, and it also prevents you from responding to good ideas once you’ve already started building.”
“The answer to this is to unlock greater agility by taking cues from how sketch comedy troupes operate. We like to call it the “Pitch, Sketch, Launch” approach. Start with a small audience when Pitching, increase the audience size when Sketching. Based on how they respond, you can feel confident in the quality of what gets Launched to the entire world.That’s where the name of the company comes from, and my better half gets credit for coming up with the perfect name.”
“My primary responsibilities are to hire the right software developers and consultants, give them what they need to succeed, then stay out of their way. We create self-organizing teams (both internally and for our clients), which means my job is to set goals, establish a feedback loop, and become a proxy for the end user. How the team reaches those goals is completely up to them, as long as things keep moving in the right direction.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Krewson reflected:
“At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I drove to each employee’s house to drop off ingredients for a mixology class we were going to teach each other over Zoom. That physical, personal interaction with each person (and their families) felt so good at a time when that connection was a rarity. The mixology class itself comes in a close 2nd. We made hot buttered rum and a French 75.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Krewson explained:
“We’re a consultancy, so… it depends. Our core offerings can broadly be lumped into categories like these:
- Custom software development
- Product management consulting
- Cloud management
- DevOps consulting
- Atlassian tooling
- AI adoption
Almost all of our clients use us for at least one of those things. Most use us in multiple categories. Our best clients will use all of the above.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Krewson noted:
“We’re constantly evolving. We started as a pure consultancy. Then we got into software development services. Then we became AWS partners to provide world-class cloud management. Then we became Atlassian partners to help companies fine-tune their tooling. Now we’re helping the companies that are early adopters of AI.”
“We don’t look at this as a series of transformations, though. We found a formation that adapts well to change. The same core approach has worked for us through all of this evolution, and it’s helped us (and our clients) be undaunted by whatever the future holds. The truth is that we’re still doing the same thing: using technology as a means to increase productivity.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Krewson highlighted:
“We work for a lot of high-profile clients who like to keep some level of anonymity, but I love this example of how we helped a pet care business launch a new enterprise application within three months, saving the day after their previous partner left them high and dry.”
“In the SMB world, I’m fond of the story about how we helped a manufacturer reduce the time it takes them to produce a bid from hours to minutes. In the startup world, we recently helped Jobsprk launch an AI agent that helps with resume writing. This one was fun because the client was amazed by what a single developer could produce in just two weeks.”
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Krewson assessed:
“Sometimes cliches become cliches because they’re true: every business is a software business now. In that regard, our TAM is almost the whole world. We’ve helped startups, SMBs, and the Fortune 50. We even work with government agencies. As far as what we’re actively pursuing, we’re leaning into the finance, insurance, and life sciences (healthcare, pharmaceuticals, etc) verticals. We do a lot of great things for marketing agencies and consumer goods companies, too, but we’re uniquely qualified to serve some of the more tightly-regulated industries.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Krewson affirmed:
“Unlike a lot of consultancies, everyone on our team rolls up their sleeves. Our deliverables aren’t slide decks. Normally, the deliverable is working software. Other times, the deliverable might be a 400% increase in software deployment speed.”
“The other thing that surprises a lot of people is that we’re faster and less expensive than software development companies that offshore or nearshore. Our hourly rates are higher, no doubt, but we deliver so much faster that the price per engagement or per outcome ends up being lower.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Krewson emphasized:
“We want to help enterprises adopt AI in a way that’s safe, scalable, and productive. That includes companies that are slow to adopt AI for compliance reasons, like healthcare and finance companies, plus government organizations. We’ve already been helping those companies become more productive for the last 10 years. Now we want to help them embrace a future in which small, nimble, scrappy companies will kill some of the legacy giants. We’re already doing this, so the future is now to a degree, but we want to expand this offering.”
“A mantra at Sketch is, “We’d rather be good than big.” As simple as that statement is, it’s easy to misinterpret. While we don’t see growth as a bad thing, we do see it as a potential inhibitor to delivering great services. So our growth goals are secondary to service quality goals. And that means becoming the best provider of software development and consulting services on the planet.”
Additional Thoughts
Any additional topics you’d like to cover? Krewson concluded:
“Yes, my new book! Pitch, Sketch, Launch: What Sketch Comedy Can Teach Us About Product Development explores the overlap between creating great sketch comedy and great software products.”
