Our Mission
KinTech™ Build With Me exists to turn aspiring founders into successful entrepreneurs by providing the hands-on guidance, technical skills, and community support needed to launch a real product.
Too many people have great ideas but never take action. They get stuck in "tutorial hell," overwhelmed by endless courses and conflicting advice. Or they start building without validation and waste months on the wrong solution. We created this program to solve both problems.
The KinTech™ Philosophy
KinTech™ is more than just this program—it's a philosophy about creating opportunities and supporting people in building meaningful careers and businesses.
The name "Kin" reflects our belief that the best growth happens in community. When you join a KinTech program, you're not just a student—you're part of a family of builders, creators, and entrepreneurs who support each other through the challenges of starting something new.
We believe in:
- Learning by doing – Real progress comes from building, not just consuming content
- Community over competition – Your fellow founders are your greatest resource
- Validation before building – Talk to customers first, code second
- Shipping over perfection – A launched MVP beats a perfect plan every time
- Sustainable growth – Build a business that works for your life, not the other way around
Meet Your Instructor
Shanell Guardo
Founder & Lead Instructor, KinTech™, LLC
Shanell Guardo is the founder of KinTech™, LLC, with over 15 years of experience leading large-scale platform transformation initiatives. She's led engineering teams and driven enterprise-wide platform adoption at leading cloud providers—building the systems and processes that enable teams to deploy safely and ship faster.
Her career spans the Department of Defense (leading the MHS GENESIS deployment—the DoD's electronic health record impacting 9.6M+ beneficiaries across 1,300+ military and federal healthcare facilities), federal healthcare IT, and fintech. She understands systems thinking, managing complex technical programs, cloud infrastructure, and what it takes to ship software that works.
But this program isn't about building at enterprise scale. It's about building smart as a solo founder.
Right now, Shanell is building GetWorkKin™, a platform dedicated to second-chance employment and economic mobility—merging technology, community, and dignity to create access. That means she's making the same decisions you will: choosing between tools, setting up GitHub workflows, deploying to cloud platforms, writing tests, managing costs, and shipping features while learning what works.
Why this matters: Shanell isn't teaching from memory or outdated experience. She's building right now, in 2025, using modern tools, navigating current pricing models, and solving real problems. The curriculum is based on what she's actually doing—not what worked 5 years ago.
Philosophy: Systems Create Equity
"Systems are the most powerful way to create equity. Fix the system, and you change the outcomes."
This belief drives everything at KinTech™. We don't just build tools—we build systems that remove barriers and create opportunity for people who've been overlooked. That's why GetWorkKin focuses on second-chance employment. That's why Build With Me teaches you to build products with accessibility, inclusion, and real impact baked in from day one.
Education & Credentials:
- Master of Engineering (MEng), Systems Engineering - University of Virginia
- Master of Business Administration (MBA) - East Carolina University
- Bachelor of Science (BS), Economics - Fayetteville State University
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- U.S. Air Force Veteran, Medical Service Corps Officer
What Shanell brings to Build With Me:
- Real-time experience building and launching GetWorkKin (a live product, not a side project)
- 20+ years of technical program management and leading platform transformation initiatives
- Deep expertise in cloud deployment, CI/CD pipelines, GitHub workflows, and modern DevOps
- A track record of leading engineering teams across military, federal, fintech, and leading cloud providers
- A commitment to building technology that creates equity and removes barriers
This isn't a course taught by someone who built something once, years ago. This is taught by someone building now, navigating the same challenges you will, and sharing what's working in real-time.
Success Stories
Our first cohort is launching soon, and we're excited to share success stories from founders who complete the program. Check back here to see what our alumni are building!
Ready to Build Your MVP?
Join the waitlist and be the first to know when the next cohort opens.
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