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TJ Muehleman
Founder and CEO of Standard Co.
TJ Muehleman is the Co-founder and CEO of Standard Co., a company he established in August 2013 and has been leading for over 10 years.1 Based in Seattle, Washington, Muehleman describes himself as someone who builds things, primarily focusing on database-related projects.1
Professional Background
Muehleman's career spans several entrepreneurial ventures and leadership roles:
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Standard Co: His current company helps organizations measure their impact through various data-driven tools.1
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We&Co: Prior to Standard Co, he co-founded We&Co, a LinkedIn-like platform for service professionals in the hospitality industry.1
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Tech Talent South: He worked as an instructor, teaching Ruby on Rails.1
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ThePort Network, Inc: Held positions including VP of Product and Technology, and Director of Engineering.1
Projects and Initiatives
Muehleman has been involved in developing several notable projects:
- Standard Data: A survey tool used by ministries of health and NGOs for epidemiological data collection.1
- Standard Education: A data tool for school districts to track student progress.1
- NTDeliver: A system for tracking donated commodities in low and middle-income countries.1
- Database of Nachos: A personal project reflecting his love for nachos.1
- Bicycle Commute Club: An initiative to encourage last-mile cycling.1
Education
Muehleman holds a degree in Management with a focus on IT from the Georgia Institute of Technology, which he attended from 1996 to 2000.1
Personal Traits
Known for his hands-on approach, Muehleman is described as someone who actively participates in various aspects of his business, from conceptualizing and coding new features to deployment.2 He maintains an active presence on social media platforms, sharing insights about entrepreneurship and technology.34
Highlights
Small company life: "I have an idea for a new feature. i'm going to concept it, code it, and deploy it". 1 week later the feature is live and being tested.
Large company life: "I have an idea for a new feature. I need to contact 15 people, the legal department, PR, someone named 'Clyde' in marketing, the engineering team, and Pope Francis to get buy-in for this change". 6 weeks later the feature is live and being tested.
Don't let people tell you the problem with innovation at large companies is remote work.
Data is cool. But data for impact? That's my jam. About 2 years ago we were approached by a large school district in Georgia.
"Hey, we've heard Standard Co does some cool data things in global health. Any thoughts on helping a school district do more with data?" "Um, hadn't really thought about it? But sure, let's give it a shot!"
[that's how all of my business deals go down by the way]
We started to work with this school district to highlight data that was falling through the cracks. Things like:
Kids who were about to be chronically absent Kids who underperformed on milestone achievement tests Kids who were supposed to graduate but were trending behind in their credits
We created a tool that updated these kinds of data points, and many, many, many more on a nightly basis, keeping the school district in tune with what was happening with their students. Things that would take their data team weeks were now done automatically each night. Instead of wrangling data, the team was able to focus on what really mattered: the students.
At the beginning of the school year, the district created an initiative to find the kids our data highlighted as unlikely to graduate, get them back into school, get them the credits they needed, and graduate as many as possible.
Yesterday the district reached out to me to say the final data was in. Their dropout rate was reduced by 42%. That's about 200 kids who graduated this year that otherwise wouldn't have. TWO. HUNDRED. KIDS.
Data people tend to get hung up on the visualizations we build or the APIs we create or the ETLs that are breaking overnight. But what really matters, what's really neat, is seeing an organization determined to USE the data to make a difference. That's super cool.
In the fall we're rolling out 2.0 of what we call Standard Education. It'll bring more data, more dashboards, and hopefully more impact. Can't wait!
