Finding the 'Nexus Between the Undone and the Possible': Janice Kephart's Entrepreneurial Journey

Breaking barriers between government expertise and private sector innovation is the hallmark of our latest featured entrepreneur, Janice Kephart. As the visionary behind ZipID, she's transformed the complex Form I-9 process into an elegant software solution that protects employers nationwide. With 20 years as a biometrics expert, Janice identified where government solutions fell short and created a platform that streamlines compliance while authenticating employee identities. Her journey from federal lawyer to tech founder demonstrates how specialized knowledge combined with entrepreneurial vision can solve critical business challenges in unexpected ways.

Hi, Janice! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

We are a fully compliant software-as-a-service web platform serving every employer in the United States, automating the Form I-9 process, required by federal law for every new hire in the US, to prove legal authorization to work. We are digital transformation in this niche space. The I-9 Form looks innocuous but has over 96 combinations of IDs acceptable for completion, and a total of over 548 varieties of those IDs. 

Employers are required by law to determine that the ID is legitimate and matches the new hire. That is impossible. We supply a fully transparent workflow where no employer needs to understand the I-9 to be fully compliant, and employers build trust in the workforce from the beginning of each hire with our identity authentication.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

When the first check to my team cleared, and that check was written by me. 

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

When I realized the government had a problem that could only be solved in the private sector, and that perhaps I was the only person in the country that could triangulate the solution based on my subject matter expertise, access to government leadership (inside track on solutioning), understanding of compliance, and deep knowledge of identity issues and solutions.

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

Biometrics. I have been a biometrics/identity SME for 20 years, but infusing biometrics means that not only is ZipID streamlining a required federal government form, but that ZipID is helping employers ensure confidence in their hires, that the new hire is who they say they are. With remote workers, identity fraud in hiring has become such a big deal that DOJ has prioritized indictments in identity theft, due to the related issues of foreign national espionage that the government with its programs cannot address in a manner truly helpful to employers. Employers can be fined massively even for innocent mistakes. In short, biometrics helps ZipID assure what the government cannot: that the new hire is who they say they are, and legally authorized to work in the US.

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

With ZipID, I had two developers that failed outright. Then I found one, but made the colossal mistake of making a solution that required that anyone anywhere be able to use the software, be an Apple app. While the build had to be pulled from Apple and start over as a web platform, with lots of wasted time and money, I learned what to look for in a developer, what matters in teamwork, how builds happen, and mostly, effectively design ZipID into a fully automated and amazing UI experience it is now that I am so proud of!

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

I am the most atypical of entrepreneurs: a federal government subject matter expert lawyer whose work took an unexpectedly public turn as an international spokesperson for national security-related identity policy - but ultimately, the biggest joy came from problem-solving around identity technology. My access to government from the inside out, understanding the limitations of government but also helping develop the overall strategies and solutions to get the government where it should go, I could see the fine line of where government solutions could go no further and required the intervention of the private sector. Pinpointing that nexus between the undone and the possible, and underlining with a clear vision, has enabled me to solutions for the private sector where the special sauce is derived directly from my subject matter expertise and problem-solving. How fun is that?

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

The road of adversity is strewn with many hues and sizes of pebbles, and you'd better have your best walking shoes on when you start! 

Want to dive deeper into Janice's work? Check out the links below!

• Check out Janice's Wikipedia page
• Visit ZipID's Website zipidapp.com
• Identity Strategy Partners' website identitystrategy.com
• Connect with Janice on LinkedIn: Janice Kephart
• Subscribe to Janice's Substack: Apolitics and Poetry
• Find Janice's music on Spotify
• Listen to Janice's audiobook: Cherokees of the Smoky Mountains