We’re spotlighting one of the many innovative and forward-thinking companies within our portfolio, Brevity, and their founder and CEO, Kelvin Johnson.
What was your professional background before becoming a founder?
I majored in finance & accounting at Villanova University, and got my Master’s Degree in Accounting & Professional Consultancy. I landed my first job as a staff accountant at Ernst & Young, but my parents kept telling me I wasn’t meant to be a CPA. That led me to join consulting at Navigant (now Guidehouse) where I became really good at cross-selling and up-selling services. I wasn’t going to make any income back on those sales until I moved up the ladder, though, which wouldn’t be for another ten years. I also saw that my clients weren’t necessarily implementing the recommendations I was selling.
Next, I landed at a company called ThrivePass and was hired as their fifth employee. During my time there, the company grew its annual revenue by five times within two and a half years. The CEO, Wade Rosen, told me I had the makings of a tech CEO at 27. He said that when I matured and came up with a good, viable business idea, he would be one of my first investors, and he kept that promise.
After ThrivePass, I started my own consulting business, Humble Warrior Advisors. I started helping early-stage founders get to the next major milestone because of my cross-functional background, and in these early days, the idea for Brevity was starting to brew.
What was your “Aha” moment that sparked the idea for Brevity?
In my early days running Humble Warrior Advisors (before AI’s popularity), I found myself helping entrepreneurs craft and deliver a persuasive pitch for fundraising purposes. In September 2020, with the help of my co-founder and CTO, Eric Nelson, we launched Brevity’s first product as an AI-powered pitch software. The name “Brevity” was a subtle nod to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the quote, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”
How has Brevity grown since starting?
Despite a horrible market at the time, we had five institutional investors believe in us, but we needed to tap into larger markets with bigger sales teams to stay afloat. Since those early days, we have grown our annual recurring revenue tenfold since inception. We’ve worked with Fortune 1,000 companies such as Honeywell, SAP, Siemens, Carfax, and MSCI, to name a few.
We’ve raised $3.8M in funding thanks to the support of our investors, including friends and family of mine who became involved early on in our initial round. We were introduced to Bronze Valley through another one of their portfolio companies, and are grateful they were one of our first investors.
What’s ahead for the company in 2025?
We continue to lean into our company’s differentiators that set us apart from competitors, being realistic, relevant, impactful, and convenient. We focus on providing pre-configured, role-playing drills and top curricula for customers. Recently, we launched a cell phone service so you can call Brevity to practice an upcoming presentation or conversation, and receive a verbal score.
In 2025 and beyond, we plan to continue to grow our case study library, boost our customer engagement, and focus on ease-of-use.
Founder to founder: What’s your advice to other entrepreneurs?
If you don’t have a 9.5 out of 10 passion to solve the problem, don’t do it. You can find all the best mentors to help you, but when your bank account is low, and you don’t know how you’ll make payroll, what will you do? There’s a possibility that this will happen multiple times throughout your journey.
There is a lot they don’t teach you in MBA programs, like how to deal with strategic partners. You need to learn to create your own point of view, have your own conviction, and know when to take a non-consensus view.
Thank you, Kelvin, for sharing your story about Brevity and for the helpful advice for new founders! We look forward to your progress in the year ahead.
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